u/DaveGoose

I really love this kit, This is my second RF and 4th Tamiya ND MX-5 overall (Roadster 1 | Roadster 2 | RF 1). The RF kit comes with BBS wheels and Recaro seats. I left them out to make a more base RF. I will keep those parts to make a club roadster one day. This is built as a Japanese spec vehicle.

I mixed my own paint, was trying to recreate the Mazda color Eternal Blue Mica. Its not exact by any means, but I think its a decent facsimile.

Happy with how the build came out.

Panel lines are a great opportunity to add realism and depth to your model.

The reason to scribe them is usually they are kind of shallow, once you add in primer/basecoat/clearcoat you can lose the lines almost entirely. The panel liner won't really flow into them without some scribing.

Pic 1: What you need for this? A Scriber, A Panel Liner, some sand paper, cotton swabs and enamel thinner.

Pic 2: Not scribed, just the model out of the box

Pic 3: I usually scribe out a line about 15 times, but you can adjust this based on the kit. Scribers can be bought at any hobby store, Hobby knives can work in a pinch but they are not great. After you scriber, depending on your scriber the line bight be a bit rough, just give it a quick sand so it is flush.

Pic 4: The kit is done and you are ready to add panel liner

Pic 5: I use Tamiya Panel liner but other companies have their own. Panel liners are generally an enamel, thats the secret to them, Use the included brush with them and let capillary action take the liner across the line. I use black, but on lighter color cars like white sometimes black can be jarring so a grey works a bit better.

Pic 6: You will most likely have some blobs outside of the panel, thats not an issue, as long as you are working with an acrylic or lacquer based paint then enamel thinner or mineral spirits will not affect it, just use a cotton swab and remove it.

Pic 7: The black lines now give the illusion of depth and separate the panels.

EDIT: Be careful not to slip out of the line you can cause a bad scratch, be light on pressure until you get a good groove.

Wanted to do this version for a while, Decent kit. I shaved off the body molding so it is more accurate to the actual truck. Painted in Mica Blue over Sparkling Silver. This vehicle never came in blue but I thought it would look nice. A little tricky to line the bed and cab up so they aren't at an angle to each other but I mostly got it.

Great kit!. This is basically a snap kit, sort of designed to build a bit like a Gundam kit I have heard. Good fitment, This is curbside and everything is molded into the chassis, other then that the body and interior have great detail. The only thing I added was mesh in the front grills so the intercooler can be seen. (Kit comes with a grill part but its not able to be seen through).