JDM Style Acura RSX Type S

This project represents a radical break from my usual fare of traditional hot rods, customs and drag racing subjects. I suspect that among those who know me this may come somewhat as a shock. So an explanation is in order. What would motivate me to build a tuner import? Well, to begin with I’ve always liked the concept and have admired many a well-turned-out ricer in my day. Back in the late 90’s when I was planning a streetable sports car for my driving pleasure I briefly considered a supercharged Series 1 MR2, but eventually built a hopped up Frogeye Sprite complete with tilt nose, 1380 cc motor and 5-speed instead. In a sense that was a kind of retro rice rocket in its way.

So anyway, at this year’s NNL West I fell for an Aoshima Pagani Huayra. Once I had time to contemplate that highly detailed and totally contemporary kit I realized this was a style of build that I would have to work up to. I’ve always loved sports cars and road racers but as kits these “moderns” are engineered quite differently from my usual diet of ancient 60’s era AMT, Monogram and Revell kits. I wondered if I might have something contemporary in my stash that I could use to hone my skills. It turned out that I had a Revell Acura RSX Type S tuner kit in stash which I had won as a door prize many moons ago at an IPMS show. It’s actual an extremely well-engineered and thoroughly modern kit, with lots of tuner bodywork options and many of quite highly detailed. Not really in the same league as the mega-parts-count Aoshima Pagani, but the basic approach is fairly similar. I thought it would a good start in getting into this style of modeling.

Of course I couldn’t resist making some changes to the bodywork much as I would have with one of my -hot rod projects. In this case I filled the v-shaped indentation on one of the 2 tuner-style custom noses that come in the kit (red area in the picture below), and also cut out the filled in grilled opening and installed some mesh to allow the radiator to show through. The radiator itself is finished in aluminum paint and a home –made decal of an ARC Brazing, Ltd. logo (they make radiators, intercoolers, intakes and exhausts for the tuner and drift world).

Other than that the build is largely out-of-the box. The body is painted in Duplicolor Toreador Red Metallic paint with the rear wing and stock hood finished in home-made carbon fiber decals which include decorative decal motifs. The rear wing repeats the ARC logo and on the front I repeat the sponsor decals arrayed across the leading edge of the doors along with a dragon figure and the phrase “Tao of Acura RSX” in kanji characters. The various silver JDM style hop up parts logos on the bodywork are from a Hobby Design JFM sheet I bought. The quality is absolutely first rate. Everything is sealed under Duplicolor Clear, and once it’s properly cured I will give it a good polish.



The interior is straight from the kit and detailed out in red pseudo leatherette (Testors Flat Red Acrylic) and matte black (Duplicolor Black Primer). The same is true of the motor which is detailed out in various shades of Testors Metalizers. The wheels one of the two kit optional tuner wheel sets, finished in Testors Metalizer Brass.



Still left to do is the glass work, which on these modern cars requires a good deal of detailing, and then final assembly.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

This project is now completed! Lots of new things to watch out for, like cleanly gluing surface mounted windows and trimming them out with their black surrounds – basic stuff for modern cars but a brave new world for this modeler whose subjects have never seen the far side of the 1960’s! This kit was well ,engineered and the parts fit excellent so there were no technical challenges that weren’t inherent in the way contemporary cars go together. I had thought about modifying the stance but the way the suspension was constructed in this kit gave me pause – it was unfamiliar territory and I thought I’d wait for another swing at a contemporary car before I start fooling around with stance.

Overall an uneventful and interesting build working in a subject area that, when it comes to doing things in scale, was a brave new world for me.

Below is a summary photo showing the final details as they appear on the completed model. I’ll post the final beauty pics ijn the Showroom in the next day or so.

As always, thanks to all who followed along…

Thanx for lookin’,
B.