ausmicro.com Project Car!

This topic has 43 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 19 years, 3 months ago by shauny.

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- September 19, 2004 at 9:38 pm #12344
  Aaron
  Keymaster
  Posts: 2146
  Yup! It s about time but I m finally going to start working on a very unique project car!
  
  It s a Mazda Mx-5 (Miata) 1998 model, running on a 01 chassis.
  
  Some of the initial pics are in my Member Gallery (link in sig), but here s a teaser!
  
  --
  Site Owner Guy.
- September 19, 2004 at 9:56 pm #55589
  jamiekulhanek
  Participant
  Posts: 2563
  Nice! you got a back seat etc to go in that?
- September 20, 2004 at 12:07 am #55591
  z-beam
  Participant
  Posts: 2265
  i bet a certain someones happy with that!!!:smiley2:
- September 20, 2004 at 1:30 am #55592
  Aaron
  Keymaster
  Posts: 2146
  Jamie, it’s being built from an Aoshima kit, has complete interior, choice of hardtop, soft-top and open. Dunno what I’m going to do fo rthe cockpit yet.
  
  z-beam, I think she was a little skeptical until she saw how well the chassis fits wrt wheelbase and track.
  
  A.
  
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  Site Owner Guy.
- September 20, 2004 at 1:06 pm #55596
  dgs73
  Participant
  Posts: 2179
  that’ll look even better whan it gets it’s decals…:smiley2: lol Nah looking good Aaron… coming long well. Got a colour picked yet?
- September 22, 2004 at 1:43 am #55637
  z-beam
  Participant
  Posts: 2265
  do i spy with my little eye 2 packets of listermints supporting the body:smiley2:?
- September 22, 2004 at 1:16 pm #55639
  dgs73
  Participant
  Posts: 2179
  yeah, I just noticed that too… must’nt have body clips in place yet… what’s going to happen round the front of it Aaron? Noticed it was chopped below the line of the bumper…
- September 22, 2004 at 1:50 pm #55640
  kevsta
  Participant
  Posts: 974
  Be interesting how the body clips and front tab are going to be made.
  
  I’ve seen other custom bodies use some light weight balsa wood shaped and glued to the front of the body to accept the front tab.
  
  And for the body clips, would you rip them out of an old banged up i-waver shell ?
  
  Or would you use adhesive velcro strips ?
  
  Hmm.. can you make side body clips out of those listerine pocketpaks ?
- September 22, 2004 at 10:17 pm #55642
  Aaron
  Keymaster
  Posts: 2146
  *laughs* I have partially marked out the positions for the side mounts and I’m probably going to just a velcro underbonnet mount.
  
  The front bar needs to be glued onto the car, but I’m doing zero assembly of the bodywork until after I have mounts in. Side mounts from an iWaver shell will need to be spaced ‘in’ from the sides as it’s a bit wider – honestly it _may_ suit a MR02 better but I don’t have one.
  I was intending on used epoxy filler (ie Bog) to build up the the side mounts then attach them to the shell…
  
  Yes they’re listerine thingos, I really don’t have much modding gear around here at the moment as we’re moving house again at the end of October and never really got settled here.
  
  Colour will be Silver to match the 1:1 although I will run a 1998 front bar on it and not the 2002 front bar. (2002 kits are hard to get, I have two, but one is probably sold …)
  
  A.
  
  --
  Site Owner Guy.
- October 28, 2004 at 5:09 am #56503
  Aaron
  Keymaster
  Posts: 2146
  We have progress!
  
  Tonight I mounted the side mounts (taken from an iWaver EVO shell. To do this I filled the door sections with about 4mm of Plasti-Bond giving me a flat section to mount them to.
  
  Then the side mounts where taped in place to provide driveable clearance. Getting the height at the rear and front by taping a 3mm piece of sprue across the tops of the tyres. This gave a universal gap around the foamies of the test chassis.
  
  Once they were taped in place I epoxy’d (Araldite) and end of each mount in place. When it had just about ‘set’ I popped of the tape and made adjustments before boding the whole mount in place.
  
  It took a bit of fiddling to get it ‘right and it still looks awkward on a narrow chassis.
  
  Then I started work on the front mount….
  
  --
  Site Owner Guy.
- October 28, 2004 at 5:13 am #56504
  Aaron
  Keymaster
  Posts: 2146
  For the front mount I have taped the front bumper bar in place and started cutting down a front tab (again from teh iWaver EVO).
  
  The final goal will be to use two locating pin holes on the inside of the body roughly between the headlights.
  
  This is where the lower part of the plastic kit chassis mounts. I will cut the front section off the kit chassis and epoxy that to the front tab from the EVO.
  
  This gives me the kit radiator visible through the grille opening, the cut-down evo front tab sits tight against the inside bottom of the front bar, giving frontal impact re-inforcement, while using the stock body mount points lets me get a secure mounting with all the detail of the radiator.
  
  Then…..
  
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  Site Owner Guy.
- October 28, 2004 at 5:15 am #56505
  Aaron
  Keymaster
  Posts: 2146
  We mounted it onto a “Wide” Chassis fitted with alloys.
  
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  Site Owner Guy.
- October 28, 2004 at 5:19 am #56506
  Aaron
  Keymaster
  Posts: 2146
  The tyres didn’t look right though….
  
  So out came the proper 1/24th scale tyres – they’re a perfect fit on WIDE Mini-Z wheels in internal diameter and width. The extra circumferance filled out the wheel arch gap in the rear perfectly. Sadly the same trick int he front causes clearance problems. Then again this chassis has clearance probs with a massively massaged R34 shell.
  
  Next step will be to mate our proper chassis to the body and finish the front mount.
  
  --
  Site Owner Guy.
- October 28, 2004 at 11:13 am #56508
  betty.k
  Participant
  Posts: 2487
  it’s always a battle between looks and function when lowering the front. you may have to make 2 front tabs, 1 for driving and 1 for show. but it’s coming together nicely so far:8ball:
- October 28, 2004 at 1:21 pm #56510
  MiniKing
  Participant
  Posts: 182
  Very nice Aaron you should definatley fit the interior that would look sick…..Should spray it a nice candy red….and stick on some some phat looking chrome or white wheels……topless mini Z very cooool….:D:D:D
- October 28, 2004 at 3:17 pm #56521
  Aaron
  Keymaster
  Posts: 2146
  Getting an interior in will be ‘impossible’ but it’s going to get:
  * inner door trims
  * Dash top
  * rear shelf
  * Tops of seats, windblocker
  * steering wheel (or as much that I can fit)
  
  Still tossing up putting in a light kit as well.
  
  --
  Site Owner Guy.
- October 28, 2004 at 3:41 pm #56524
  dgs73
  Participant
  Posts: 2179
  coming along very nicely Aaron… the wide rims look cool as. Cant wait to see the end product!:approve:
- October 31, 2004 at 9:26 pm #56628
  Impreza
  Participant
  Posts: 1124
  Nice to see you having time to tinker Aaron, looks good so far and a velcro mount for the body just gave me a great idea:)
- December 9, 2004 at 5:53 am #57442
  z-beam
  Participant
  Posts: 2265
  any updates yet Aaron, i remember you mentioning lavender with a pearl coat over the top…
  
  got some time to shoot some progress pics?
- December 9, 2004 at 4:05 pm #57447
  Aaron
  Keymaster
  Posts: 2146
  First coat of the base colour Lavender went down and thanks to the Tamiya paint frothing a little out of car I’ve had to do a lot of rubbing back. Planning to recoat the thing this weekend.
  
  A.
  
  --
  Site Owner Guy.
- December 31, 2004 at 2:36 am #57744
  Aaron
  Keymaster
  Posts: 2146
  Well it’s time for an update!
  
  Today I repainted the base colour and got a decent coverage without the bubbling and sag I had before.
  
  It’s come up quite well off-the-can but I’ve really got to get an airbrush and start learning 😉
  
  The Tamiya Pearl gloss clearcoat really added some highlight sparkles which look amazing in real life, but in the pic not so flash…
  
  A.
  
  --
  Site Owner Guy.
- December 31, 2004 at 2:45 am #57745
  Aaron
  Keymaster
  Posts: 2146
  The pic above repeated in this post….
  
  You can see the sparkles which are silver/gold on the base colour, and the seperate hard-top that will be interchangeable with a soft-top style roof or no roof at all!
  
  Next step will be brush paint the accents, like the headlight & tailight recesses, window framing etc. Then we start putting it all together!
  
  The chassis is now complete with IRF7317 Fetted electronics, ausmicro.com ball-diff, bearing set, purple wheel nuts, and some nice soft rubber.
  
  Not going crazy on the chassis as it’s a “Mx5 static that can be driven rather than a RC MX5”
  
  Hopefulyl a little more will be done before I go back to work on the 4th!
  
  A.
  
  --
  Site Owner Guy.
- January 5, 2005 at 4:37 am #57808
  z-beam
  Participant
  Posts: 2265
  i hope your first day back in the office was as good as how this car looks! im lovin it!
  
  tamiya just released two new colours in theyre range of transparent effects. colour shifting metalic/pearly effects. the one i got (and used:smiley2:) was a purple/green, the other pink/gold.
  
  im at the same stage with my newest project, the supra…
- January 5, 2005 at 6:27 am #57817
  betty.k
  Participant
  Posts: 2487
  i really like it too, even though it’s a girl colour!:D
  
  it’s a shame the pearly stuff doesn’t show up well in the pics, in person it looks wild! really smooth work bloke!:smiley2::8ball:
- January 5, 2005 at 6:36 am #57818
  z-beam
  Participant
  Posts: 2265
  i just noticed the bodyclips aswell, what did you do for the front mount?
  
  cheers for the set you sent me betty!
  
  girly colour for kitty! or are you claiming it as your own now Aaron?
- January 5, 2005 at 6:24 pm #57825
  Aaron
  Keymaster
  Posts: 2146
  *laughs* there is a certain destiny for the car when finished 😉
  
  Front mount is a cut down Lancer mount tab on the body that has the body mount pins from the plastic kit grafted onto it. Essentially the Lancer mount butts up inside the front of the lower edge of the bumper with the internal mount pins actually between the headlights. There is a radiator section visible through the grille that forms the base of the mount.
  
  The colour isn’t so much a colour shift but a pearl (Tamiya Clear Pearl) which just gives sparkle and shine. It’ll look sweet with a good few layers of polish 😉
  
  No further progress unless you count a little more work on the chassis.
  
  A.
  
  --
  Site Owner Guy.
- January 8, 2005 at 5:34 pm #57871
  z-beam
  Participant
  Posts: 2265
  how many coats of the pearl transparent did you use Aaron?
- January 9, 2005 at 3:55 am #57875
  Aaron
  Keymaster
  Posts: 2146
  About 5 coats there. Wouldn’t want to do more really.. At the moment it’s still nice and subtle 😉
  
  A.
  
  --
  Site Owner Guy.
- January 9, 2005 at 8:50 pm #57887
  peteWah
  Participant
  Posts: 1020
  Aaron the car looks sweet mate, Hope that inspiration was not from Daves room LOL (Cadbury purple, sexually frustrated man colour) although purple is my 3rd fav colour, Green is the best…
  
  z-beam: I like the sound of the purple/green paint you are talking about, Is that a green like your WRX or different ? &
  If you mixed in a gold with that combo would it look any good do you think…:smiley2:
- January 11, 2005 at 3:48 pm #57933
  dgs73
  Participant
  Posts: 2179
  hey!!! Nuff ‘o that! Me no frustrated…:D Nice choice of colour, Aaron… its coming along nicely…:smiley16:
  
  Edited by – dgs73 on 11 January 2005 10:50:18
- January 11, 2005 at 4:39 pm #57937
  peteWah
  Participant
  Posts: 1020
  Just shit stiring, Something your good at, not a direct stab:smiley2:
- January 11, 2005 at 5:04 pm #57938
  dgs73
  Participant
  Posts: 2179
  uh, ok… oh, and if I remember right, Z-beam used the purple/green pearl paint on his Camaro shell I think… have a look in his gallery
- January 11, 2005 at 7:41 pm #57941
  z-beam
  Participant
  Posts: 2265
  nope, the tamiya ps46 spray (purple/green irredescent) hadn’t been released at the time i did the camaro. i got in time for the supra tho…
- January 12, 2005 at 2:13 pm #57958
  dgs73
  Participant
  Posts: 2179
  oops… my mistake…:blush::smiley2:
- January 12, 2005 at 8:55 pm #57966
  Aaron
  Keymaster
  Posts: 2146
  Once we’ve moved house I intend to try the automotive 3 can packs you can buy from Autopro etc.
  
  They’re the real deal in terms of process etc and shoudl give some wild reults on hard bodies….
  
  A.
  
  --
  Site Owner Guy.
- January 13, 2005 at 3:59 am #57973
  hakhawk
  Participant
  Posts: 79
  yeh, theyre just a tryout pack for the $1000 a litre stuff. if u have friends that work at autopro, or autobarn like me, they can get em for u cheaper!! im gonna use some when i do a good body.
- January 17, 2005 at 9:50 pm #58039
  z-beam
  Participant
  Posts: 2265
  Quote:
  
  Once we’ve moved house I intend to try the automotive 3 can packs you can buy from Autopro etc.
  
  They’re the real deal in terms of process etc and shoudl give some wild reults on hard bodies….
  
  A.
  
  how much do they want for that package ?
- January 17, 2005 at 9:56 pm #58040
  Aaron
  Keymaster
  Posts: 2146
  Somewhere between $50 and $100 depending on where you go – average seems about $70…. Not cheap… but shoudl do a few bosies, it’s base colour, the flip colour and the clear
  
  A.
  
  --
  Site Owner Guy.
- January 19, 2005 at 11:44 pm #58077
  z-beam
  Participant
  Posts: 2265
  its the flip coulour id want, have you seen it on its own?
- January 24, 2005 at 2:55 pm #58206
  arch2b
  Participant
  Posts: 69
  you don’t be chance have ausmicro decals?
- January 24, 2005 at 7:07 pm #58222
  dgs73
  Participant
  Posts: 2179
  hold this thought!! i’ll be back…
- January 24, 2005 at 8:28 pm #58227
  Aaron
  Keymaster
  Posts: 2146
  ausmicro.com Decals will be available from http://shop.ausmicro.net in a few days.
  
  A.
  
  --
  Site Owner Guy.
- January 24, 2005 at 8:36 pm #58228
  dgs73
  Participant
  Posts: 2179
  …and i’m back. Oh look!!! There we go!!!:D
- January 24, 2005 at 8:38 pm #58229
  shauny
  Participant
  Posts: 12
  Nice job Aaron Its looking great. I myself am about to do a Fujimi 1/24th scale Nissan Skyline R34 custom job, so i hope i could do something like this quality
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