FINISHED - Toyota Sard Supra GT - Tamiya - 1:24 Scale

[CDW]

This 1:24 Toyota Sard Supra GT is a model that was stored in my garage for more than a decade. When I dug it out and opened the box, found the decals had aged to the point of no return due to heat in a non climate controlled environment. After writing Tamiya USA an email and paying less than $5, I had a brand new decal sheet to replace the old worn out one that came with the kit.

This is going to be the subject of my next project. It's a rather simple kit to build but the colorful decals make it interesting to me. Can't remember the last time I built and painted a straight gloss white model.

 

Edited November 15, 2020 by CDW

[Egilman]

Oh I'm in, an inscale, gloss white finish, I'm sure you'll do it justice....

 

I stay away from high gloss white finishes, never been able to get one to lay correctly, they always look like big blobby drips....

[Landlubber Mike]

I'm in too!  Great to hear about Tamiya's customer service, how nice of them!

[Old Collingwood]

Just seen this  "Upss  re my other comment"    now I see your next project  - this will be cool.

 

OC.

[marktiedens]

Being a retired Toyota mechanic,I will have to watch this too!

 

 

Mark

[CDW]

55 minutes ago, Egilman said:

Oh I'm in, an inscale, gloss white finish, I'm sure you'll do it justice....

 

I stay away from high gloss white finishes, never been able to get one to lay correctly, they always look like big blobby drips....

I plan to do this with Mr Color flat white lacquer, then clear coat it with gloss lacquer. The quick drying time of lacquer should help avoid the blobs I hope.

[CDW]

9 minutes ago, marktiedens said:

Being a retired Toyota mechanic,I will have to watch this too!

 

 

Mark

When I was in high school, a friend bought a new '71 Toyota Corolla, just the basic model which sold for around $2,000 brand new back then. Shortly after he bought it, he was involved in an accident that did some fairly major damage to his car body. He felt certain the new car would be totaled by the insurance company and he would get another brand new car. In the meantime, he abused that car in so many ways it was ridiculous, but nothing he did ever seemed to hurt that car...it just kept right on going and going. The insurance did not total the car, instead they repaired the body. His mistreatment of that Toyota and the way it held up and ran as fine as a sewing machine convinced me of the quality of the Toyota's. You just couldn't kill them. Great cars! And cheap back then, too.

[Old Collingwood]

4 minutes ago, CDW said:

When I was in high school, a friend bought a new '71 Toyota Corolla, just the basic model which sold for around $2,000 brand new back then. Shortly after he bought it, he was involved in an accident that did some fairly major damage to his car body. He felt certain the new car would be totaled by the insurance company and he would get another brand new car. In the meantime, he abused that car in so many ways it was ridiculous, but nothing he did ever seemed to hurt that car...it just kept right on going and going. The insurance did not total the car, instead they repaired the body. His mistreatment of that Toyota and the way it held up and ran as fine as a sewing machine convinced me of the quality of the Toyota's. You just couldn't kill them. Great cars! And cheap back then, too.

In the UK we have a series called  "Top Gear"  its a car test program  - anyway they tried to Kill a Toyota 4x4  dropped it  - set fire to it  and it just would not die, it was bashed up but still ran.

 

OC.

[Edwardkenway]

Mmm  a GT racer, some of best racing is tin tops, mainly because they tend to get closer than open wheelers. 

I'm in!!

[CDW]

Construction began with sub assemblies and some painting. The underbelly is painted in flat white with certain portions of it done in silver/aluminum as per the painting instructions. Other various shades and colors are used on sub assemblies, again as per the painting instructions. The only view of the car engine/transmission is what can be seen under the car, so nothing above that is modeled saving on the parts count.

 

[Old Collingwood]

Nice start mate  - looks a good moulding from what can be seen.

 

OC.

[Canute]

Cool, an IMSA style  racer. I'm in.

[CDW]

Made a little more progress with the install of the differential and rear suspension.

 

[marktiedens]

10 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

In the UK we have a series called  "Top Gear"  its a car test program  - anyway they tried to Kill a Toyota 4x4  dropped it  - set fire to it  and it just would not die, it was bashed up but still ran.

 

OC.

Yes,the Toyota`s were pretty good,but the strongest cars I worked on were SAAB`s.  You could literally not wear them out.  Had a dealer take one that had a few hundred-thousand miles on it & tied the gas pedal to the floor,started it,& walked away. Several hours later it ran out of gas.  They re-filled the tank & it still started & ran fine.  If you remember those SAAB-Barber mini Indy cars,the engines were taken off the assembly line in Sweden & put into the cars with no modifications other than a dry sump oiling system & increased turbo boost. They never had an engine failure!            Then GM took them over.

 

 

Mark

Edited November 9, 2020 by marktiedens

[CDW]

Just now, marktiedens said:

Yes,the Toyota`s were pretty good,but the strongest cars I worked on were SAAB`s.  

Mark

 

Were the Saab's from the 70's? I remember back then when they had some real fans of them, but they were one of those cars you didn't see around very often, an odd-ball. There were a couple of families I went to church with who owned Saab's. If I remember correctly, they had an odd number of cylinders, not 4, 6, or 8. I heard people rave about their crash test safety ratings.

[CDW]

I worked on getting the car body prepped, then gave it a good coat of Tamiya white primer. I'll give it a wet sand tomorrow before I lay down any color coats. There is a little bit of masking and painting to do all around the window openings with semi-gloss black once the paint has had plenty of time to dry.

 

[lmagna]

I'll enjoy watching this one Craig. It comes a little closer to my favorite group of racing cars. The Sports Racing/Prototype/ GT cars of the 60s. You don't even want to know how many of those I have in my stash in this scale! Some of them are even built,  but my Ford GT40 MKII and Porsche 908 were done so many years ago that they are getting a little shabby.

[marktiedens]

12 hours ago, CDW said:

 

Were the Saab's from the 70's? I remember back then when they had some real fans of them, but they were one of those cars you didn't see around very often, an odd-ball. There were a couple of families I went to church with who owned Saab's. If I remember correctly, they had an odd number of cylinders, not 4, 6, or 8. I heard people rave about their crash test safety ratings.

They had some early models that had a 2 cycle engine,but that was before my time.  I was referring to cars from the late 70`s into the 80`s (the 900 series).   Everything I worked on during that time period had a 4 cylinder engine - many of them turbocharged.   I worked on them from the early 80`s until 2013 & only saw two 4 cyl. engine failures.    In the mid-90`s GM decided to put a poorly designed V6 in many of them - bad decision!   

 

 

Mark

[CDW]

Just now, marktiedens said:

They had some early models that had a 2 cycle engine,but that was before my time.  I was referring to cars from the late 70`s into the 80`s (the 900 series).   Everything I worked on during that time period had a 4 cylinder engine - many of them turbocharged.   I worked on them from the early 80`s until 2013 & only saw two 4 cyl. engine failures.    In the mid-90`s GM decided to put a poorly designed V6 in many of them - bad decision!   

 

 

Mark

Thanks for the info, Mark. I was unaware that GM acquired Saab.

[CDW]

After a wet sanding with a 1000 grit sanding sponge, let the car dry, then applied a coat of gloss white Mr Color lacquer.  I am satisfied with it so far. The model gets a lot of decals which will considerably change the bland white look of it.

 

[Old Collingwood]

Very clean smooth finish mate.

 

OC.

[Edwardkenway]

That white gloss finish looks fantastic 😃

[CDW]

Thanks gentlemen.

 

A dry fit before I add the interior pieces. Body needs a little more drying time before I begin masking around the cockpit windows for the black trim.

 

[Old Collingwood]

Looking  really nice smooth paintwork  and shasis  looks like a good fit.

 

OC.

[Egilman]

9 hours ago, CDW said:

I am satisfied with it so far. The model gets a lot of decals which will considerably change the bland white look of it.

It is monochromatic for sure, plain white always is, but bland? Not hardly......

 

That is a slick speedster my friend, the white gloss looks perfect.....

 

The colorful decals will only make the slick white look even better....

 

Very Very well done....... (and a bit of envy)

[CDW]

1 minute ago, Egilman said:

It is monochromatic for sure, plain white always is, but bland? Not hardly......

 

That is a slick speedster my friend, the white gloss looks perfect.....

 

The colorful decals will only make the slick white look even better....

 

Very Very well done....... (and a bit of envy)

Thanks. It's the lacquer that does the trick. It lays down well with little buildup, so it doesn't hide detail. There is also the benefit of fast drying time. Even so, I am going to give it until tomorrow before I do some detail masking and painting around the windows. 

[Landlubber Mike]

Looks great Craig.  White is not an easy color to lay down in big swaths like that.  Well done!

[CDW]

Finished up the cockpit area and roll cage, then test fitted the body to the chassis with interior. Everything on go.

 

[Canute]

Your blue wheel inserts look sharp, Craig. The whole cars is coming along nicely.

[yvesvidal]

Looking great. Any way you can push out the rear wheels, so that they fill up the wells entirely? 

Ideally, you would want the rear tire flanges to be flush with the fender extensions.

 

Yves

Edited November 11, 2020 by yvesvidal