Nissan R32 GT-R "Going to finally finish it" WIP#3

Progress is rolling on with the GT-R and I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel with this project, even though it is several years further down the line then I planned. All of the alterations to the engine bay have been done, including the repairs to the cracked filler around the bulkhead. This has now been primered and painted in the body colour along with the underside of the floorpan. Luckily, there was just enough paint left in the rattle-can for me to re-paint these areas via the airbrush.

Once the chassis section was finished, I moved onto painting the engine, exhaust system parts and engine bay components. Everything was given a couple coats of Alclad primer prior to painting the items in their relevant colours. I first airbrushed the whole engine with Vallejo metallic black as the base colour for the main block. Next I hand brushed the rest of the individual areas in the various colours I had chosen for the engine. Some parts i was not happy with how they looked, so I then re-painted them a different colour to improve the look. The exhaust system was brush painted with steel colour with the centre box painted in gunmetal. 

Once the engine painting was finished, it was glued in position followed by the exhaust system parts underneath.The turned aluminium rear muffler had the inner surface painted blue, then the back of the opening painted black to make it look like the dark inside of the real thing. The engine bay items were now all fitted after they had been painted, just leaving the hose from the radiator to the engine block to be done. The one from the engine set was too small to fit this engine, so the main hose section was cut off and a new one fabricated from some plastic rod. After several attempts, I got a new shaped hose to fit and the two parts were joined together then fitted inside the engine bay.

I next test fitted the body and interior to make sure there was no problems of fitment since the engine was fitted. Over the past few days, I had been thinking about gluing the bonnet in the open position rather than having it opening and closing. The hinges still needed some adjustment for the bonnet to shut properly, so this swathed me in the direction of gluing it in the open position permanently.

Now we come up to the current stage of the project. These photos were taken a couple of nights ago once the final assembly had finished. The roof liner needed a littler repair done to the panel I had inserted in the glazing section. I also made a couple of sun visors to finish off the lining and cover the two locating pin holes at the front. So once the glazing was glued in place, the visors, interior mirror and wipers were all glued in place. The rear light clusters were also glued back in place after giving them a clean up and replacing the Bare Metal Foil on the backs of them. 

Now that the hinges were glued in the open position, they were both painted black before fitting the body back in place. The final things I did to the body before fitting it was to re-paint the badges on the rear and side of the body. As soon as they were dry, the body was fitted and the bonnet placed onto the hinges. I am still wondering whether to glue it on, or leave it loose in case I need to remove it for some reason later down the line.

All that needs to be done now is finish off some detail painting and add the front light lenses. The model will then have some of my printed number plates added to finish her off. My R32 is almost finished, finally after all these years. The next post on this project will be of the finished model in a few days time.

Nissan R32 GT-R "Going to finally finish it" WIP#2

Work has progressed over the last couple of weeks on the GT-R, apart from a little interruption of a new four legged member to the family. We decided to get ourselves a cat a couple of weekends ago, it has been a long while since we lost of last one and we decided it was time t get another. So meet Winston, we got him through the RSPCA and he is about 9 to 12 months old. So the training to keep him out of my hobby room has begun!

  

Now that the introduction to Winston is out of the way, on with the GT-R.

As the engine position has been sorted out, I started to make up the exhaust system for the model. First I made the downpipes from the turbos out of plastic rod, heated up with a hairdryer and bent to shape. Once I was happy with them and they were glued onto the turbos, I continued with the front section from the downpipes to the front box and rear section to where it goes over the rear axle. These were made from some thicker plastic rod and shaped by the same method as the downpipes. 

Somewhere in a box, there is a turned aluminium rear muffler, but where that box has been hidden since the house move has baffled me. So it was time to get the mini lathe out and turn up a new one. My first attempt came out too small, so a second attempt was done using larger diameter aluminium rod and after a couple of hours work, success. A new muffler that looks better than the aftermarket one I have got (somewhere!).

In the underside of the body, there is a hole for the plastic kit muffler to locate in. So I drilled a hole in the new muffler, glued a piece of brass wire in it and this just locates in the same hole. To finish this section of the exhaust off, I used another piece of plastic rod, bend and filed it to shape and size. Then drilled holes in the end of the rod and middle of the back of the muffler and glued together. Exhaust system all finished apart from a few minor adjustments to be done later. 

As was said in the last post on this project, the bonnet needed to be resprayed due to a sink mark in the paint. I was also toying with the idea of using some carbon fibre decal instead of painting. The carbon fibre decal was the path I chose to take, not just on the bonnet, but on the rear spoiler and fuel filler flap to.

Both outer and inner surfaces of the bonnet received the carbon fibre treatment then was given a coat of gloss clear to seal it. I also gave the body a couple of coats of clear as this was looking a little dull from the original clear coats. I will give the body a couple more coats of clear before it is finished. Now I have to turn my attention back to the chassis and repaint the engine bay, then the engine, exhaust and other parts of the engine before final assembly begins.

I think Winston is either trying a sneaky way of slipping into my room to get to the window ledge, or he is interested in taking up model building. We will have to wait and see!

Any comments on this and any other projects are welcomed.