Tamiya Castrol Nissan Skyline R32 Gr.A 1/24. Photographs.

Tamiya Castrol Nissan Skyline R32 Gr.A 1/24 completed 5th April 2020

Background:

Whilst on holiday in Japan in November 2019 I was touring the secondhand model kit shops I found 3 R32 Skylines in the "junk" section - meaning kits that were either started, incomplete or both. This one was about £5 and had been painted white with the interior and engine started. The decals were sealed and unused but yellowing. The box - very yellowing and smelled of tobacco a litle, and also of musty room and secondhand model kit shop. I have to presume some Japanese guy in Tokyo started this build many years ago and it's sat for a long time with no further progress. I'd like to think I did his beginnings justice.

Pros:

Usual Tamiya high quality, with a decent engine, chassis, suspension and interior. Good proportions. Good wheels and tyres, the right amount of shine on the chromed parts. No fitment problems.

Cons:

The engine is just the road car version with a replacement part or two in the engine bay - not accurate to any Group A R32 engine photos I found. But it's a good basis for starting from at least. No front tow hook supplied. Some of the decalling - particularly the rear wing and front grille is a triumph of idea over execution in fiddliness. The ancient decals broke in a few places, notably the Castrol on the passenger door.

Verdict:

Great stuff as usual for Tamiya. It's an old kit but a good one.

Build notes:

Completed in about 5 weeks, concurrently with 3 other R32s. Extra details include the electrical shut off and extinguisher buttons on the front wing, interior wiring, seatbelts, fuse box and other details in the interior and PE bonnet pins and front tow-hook. In the engine bay there's a lot of extra detail including the strengthening struts, wiring, boxes and such, plus some scratchbuilt parts. I used several Gr.A (or copies) as reference for building the engine bay, but I was conscious to keep it different from the Calsonic R32 I was also building - for variety as much as anything else. The painting instructions call for the wheel spokes to be a gun metal grey but as I dislike cars with dark wheels, I went for white and I'm happy with that. As the rear wing decals were so fiddly, this is masked and spray painted instead.