Shako.....Oh Wait...Enter Zokusha

Well I decided that with the paint job being a bit more flamboiant it can no longer be just Shakotan. As Shakotan style is usually more subtle or near stock(kyusha) body lines. Zokusha comes from both Bosozoku and Kyusha. Well enough with the talk and onto the pics.

Yeah, just a couple of pics. Hope to have some decals and clear coat on it soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Shakotan Celica Update: Some Paint!

So after debating on what type of paint job I wanted to go with, I decided to go with a bright white base coat and some patterns in baby blue and dark blue. There might be a fourth color, but I am not 100% sure just yet. This style is found mostly bosozoku cars, but you can also find it on some of the shakotan rides as well. These paint schemes are similar to the ones you will find on old and new race cars. Some of the most popular patterns are the Falken tires patterns found on there drift cars and Advan Racing patterns. I think my next build will get the Adavan pattern.

So far I have the white base with pattern "phase 1" in baby blue. It's far from perfect as its the first time I put patterns onto a build. In a couple of days masking for "phase 2" will go on. It's the first time that I add patterns onto any build. I have done two-tones before, but nothing like this so it's far from perfect. There are a couple of spots that need touch up, but not just yet since most of those spots will get covered by the next color.

I know it's only a few pics and the last 2 pics are smaller, thats because I took them with my phone. It's all I had time for. So stay tuned for my next update on my Mark 2.

Thanks for stopping by.

1967 Impala: It's Blue!

Alright, so let me run this down for you real quick. When I first got into building model cars it was due to the LowRider scene. I actually only completed one and the rest were either not done or turned into hoppers/dancers....So lets fast forward to 2012 and I'm at it again. Back to basics I guess.

I am using AMT's 67 Impala Super Sport. It's the "street machine" series with the bright yellow car on the box art. It's a pretty nice kit. Nicely detailed frame, chassis and interior. The only down side was the body details, the window trim was pretty much not there and some flaws on the body lines made it soft. The panel lines needed to be deepened to not lose them in the painting process. I spent about 10 hours on the body alone. Plenty of sanding and trimming, then some more sanding and well, trimming. After all that I primered it with some duplicolor sandable primer to find the scratches. After some more sanding I threw on some Tamiya fine gray primer and it was ready for some real paint. I used Testors one coat De Ja Blue and wet clear gloss right before we got rain, perfect timing. The hood on the other hand, well it's back to square one. I removed the putty that was in the rectangle shaped vent. It wasnt holding up well, it kept cracking. So I am going to fill it in with some styrene, should do the trick. The suspension is set up to be raked up on the front side. The rear is dialed in, but the front required a bit more work. I ended up making some tubular style upper control arms and adding a bit more length to the bottom control arm. I'ts not done, but ya kinda get the idea.

I hope to have more done tonight on the other Projects. You can see my MarkII and Celica peeking in that last pic.

Thanks for stopping by.

Celica & MarkII Updates

Here's a small update on my Celica and MarkII.
I was debating on what type of lip spoiler to use, it was either a mild chin type spoiler, a FOHA style or step it up a notch and slap a Jay Leno style chin spoiler...haha, Jay Leno it is...check it out.

It needs a bit of cleaning up along the outer edeges, but so far I'm loving the way it looks.
The MarkII got some bumper work done. I had to fill in some gaps and add a bit of missing details of how the bumpers actuall mount up. The side skirts also gome some putty and styrene treatment to add a bit of flare. The wheel choice was changed as well. The Work Miesters needed too much work to get them the way I want them. So I opted on a set of Aoshima 18" VIP Gartmier wheels with a bit of a change. I used the stretched tires from the work wheels and added extra lip for some more depth.

Thats about it for now. You can see my Impala in the back there, it's primered and ready for some paint...That will be the next update as I have made some goodies for it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Shakotan Celica XX: WIP's

Aaaahhh, Cali. You gotta love it at times. The sun, ocasional rain, snow in the mountains, the girls and days like today make you wish that the sun part will be around. But nooooo it's 8:30am and its foggy, gloomy and no sign of the sun yet. Not only that, but it's suppose to rain tonight! Your probably thinking, "WTF does that have to do with your Celica build??" Well for one, can't paint! It's do damn cold and humid and second, my sinus' are kicking my ass today so I officially am not enjoying the day in more than one way.

Now onto my builds, oh did I say builds?? yup, that plural. I'm currently working on 3 builds, 2 of which I'm hoping to finish for the Citrus Nationals in Riverside on May 19th. But if I keep getting days like this, I will have to enter them as WIP's.

The first one is Aoshima's Toyota Celica XX Garuchan seires. It comes with a lowered stance and some of their Kai series wheels that gives this on a semi shakotan look. I bought this kit back on 2001 at my LHS with the intentions of only using the wheels for another project I had going at the time...haha, I know I'm not the only one that does it..As of a month ago I decided to start on it. Out of the box the stance is not so low and the wheels stick out more than I like. Even if that was the intention of this kit, I personally didn't want it. So I filed away at the inner wheels arches and "rolled" the fender lips. I also lowered it some more to my liking. I started to prep the body for primer by sanding away any mold lines, deepened the panel lines and sanded the body down for the primer to grab onto it. I chose to use Aoshima's Techno Shadows wheels with Hippari tires instead of the kits SSR MKII's, well because I used them on my Shakotan 280ZX already...haha. Next, was the option to use a star shaped exhaust that comes in the new Aoshima "extra posie" sets. They are pretty much bosozoku parts and wheels in a bag.

The 2nd one is a 1967 Impala Lowrider. Hmmmm, something different, something that originally got me back into the hobby some 15 years ago. Even though I have only built one Lowrider and tinkered with a few others at the tender age of 16, I still consider this one my 2nd Lowrider build. I chose this body year do to it curves and aggressive looking front end. It's the Super Sport edition as well, so it's got some balls under the hood and I'm keeping it that way. I using AMT's Street Machine series, it has some pretty good details. Seperate frame and chassis, suspension components are not molded into the chassis and the engine is nicely detailed with some nice extra goodies. There are some down sides to the kit that I ran into and trying my best to fix. First was the bodies panels lines and details around the windows. The panel lines were deepend, one had to be made by the rear window and trunk lid, or else it would look like a lift back Impala. Around the window trims, the body was trimmed down a bit so they can stand out and not get lost when the paint goes one. The hood had some gaps all around, so styrene strips where added to fill that in enough to a more resonable gap. I decieded that I want the front end in a raked up pose, so the rear was dropped as far as possible and the front end was brought up. The front end had to be reworked in order to go in the up position. I made some tubular style A-arms and added a bit of round stock to the lower control arms to pivot them in position. I'll have to take pics of that, just noticed that I didn't do so. I went with Pegasus "D" wheels with their new stretched look tires with thin white walls. As for paint, I'll be using Testors De Ja Blue and Wet look clear gloss. Should be nice.

The 3rd one is a Toyota MarkII for an online forum contest, Stance Wars. I have absolutely no actual progress on this one. It does need work to fit the bumpers on correctly, but it's gonna be bitchin. Slammed stance and some deep offset wheels is always sexy. I am using Aoshima's Welds D1 kit. don't let the cover fool you either as it doesn't come with any D1 interior parts. Yup no gutted interior, no roll cage, hell not even the correct seats to make a replica Weld MarkII drift car. It's all cosmetic, wheels, body kit and decals give it the look of the D1 car. I have chosen to not use the decals from the kit, I'll be saving them for something else. I'm not using the wheels it comes with, I'm not even using the ones in the pictures...It's going to be a slow progress as I'm concetrating on the first 2 builds at the moment.

Here are the pics, I know FINALLY!

Thanks for stopping by. Hopefully I can have some more updates soon.

Projects, Projects, Projects!!

PROJECTS! Everyone has them, not many want to finish them. I for one have several projects that I wish to finish. Will I ever? Do I really want to?? Well at some point yes and of course I do.....I think.

For me, the WIP is what I like most. Making parts, customizing parts from other cars to fit, painting, adding that extra detail is what makes me want to build. If I told you how many projects I have going, you would probably think Im either lazy or crazy...

Here are a couple of projects and future features of a few fellow builders currently have going.

Karl has a Tamiya Skyline R33. He is has decided to toss an engine into it and has added some sweet details

Victor has been working on a Tamiya Honda S200. He too decided to toss an engine into it and some great progress as well.

Last one, not really...Jorge. He has a Revell Datsun 510. He is slapping a Honda F20c engine into his. Talk about a go-kart with balls...

You can find all of these guys along with many other great builders on the Model Scientists forum.
http://modelscientistsforums.ipbhost.com/

Stay tuned for my current projects.

Thanks for stopping by.

Flushed Civic EA

With the reissue of Tamiya's Honda Civic EA, there has been several great looking builds. This is one of them. SPC forum member Win'th from Thailand has tackled this kit and added some extra flare. He cut open the hood and added a B16 with a snail big enough to swallow a baby bird. He kept the engine bay as clean and simple as possible as it is done on real project cars. Scratchbuilt intake manifold and charge pipes are just a few details that have been added. A rusty hood covers up the beastly little engine while the rest of the body is done up in white and a baby blue front lip spoiler to catch the attention of the front mount intercooler. It's rocking the ever loving BBS RS wheels with some low pro tires and some negative camber to tuck them into the wheel wells. For the interior you can notice that it has some bucket seats and a hatch bar, but thats all you get to see for the interior. Under in the rear suspension you get a peek at some aftermarket control arms and the subtle camber affect.

"model Tamiya civic ea
custom [resin] engine b16a turbo
colour type R
wheel [resin] bbs
craft square [resin]
Flush style
enjoy..."

All pics were taken by win'th


So there you have it, thanks for stopping by.