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.
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