Tamiya 1/48 Toyota Tom’s 84C By Herbert Pfeiffer

Introduction

This is a typical Tamiya kit with great detail, fit, and finish. The engine detail is quite good and I will display the car with the engine cover off (more later). The car with finished paint and decals is quite attractive.

The Build

The build is customary Tamiya, with good instructions and illustrations. I followed the kit construction sequence, except where for painting purposes it was best to build sub-assemblies. Several tips will aid in your assembly work:

1. When installing the exhaust and turbocharger sub-assemblies I positioned the body in place before the glue could set and adjusted the details to fit the openings in the body.

2. The same action helps to position the overboost dump valve exhaust in the body opening. This is a tight fit, so take care.

3. Delay the installation of major support struts from the cockpit rear bulkhead to the rear suspension assembly. When you have this complete, install the struts and suspension and align them before the glue sets.

4. The fuel refill ports have lots of tolerance. They must exactly fit the openings in the body. Again, glue both refill ports in place and fit the body on. Adjust the ports to fit the openings and set them aside and allow the glue to set.

The wheels look great, so I left the optional wheel covers off for display purposes.

Painting

I don’t use an airbrush. I prefer Tamiya aerosol lacquer paints. The outboard body seam is quite prominent and needs to be sanded smooth. After removing this seam I sprayed 1 coat of gray and two coats of white Dupli-Color primer. Tamiya primer is great but rather expensive. Tamiya’s directions for the use of their aerosol lacquers recommend multiple, thin coats, sprayed 30 minutes apart, with five days of drying time at the minimum. I followed these directions to the letter, with one mist coat, two coats of medium coverage, and two wet coats. The paint is soft when dry, so I allow 2-3 months (!) for the paint to cure before polishing it. I always have other models to work on.

More Painting And Decal Application

The red kit decals designed to fit over the window area didn’t seem quite right to me. Instead I painted this area. I used Dupli-Color “Bright Red” (number DSGM398) aerosol paint. This is a good match to the decal’s color. The instructions recommended a mix of Tamiya paints for the rear spoiler but I used their Light Gunmetal instead.

Sometimes it is difficult to see inside a car model’s windows, so in this case I did not paint the inside of the body. That was the case here. I did use the recommended Light Blue for the instrument panel, but it looks weird in a racing car. I would suggest semi-gloss black instead. I didn’t tint the side windows as suggested, either. The “Cartograph” decals are the usual high quality and they are easy to apply. I used only Microset decal solution to the front number 36 decal.

Polishing The Body

I have had bad luck with clear coats in the past so I didn’t use any. To polish/wax Tamiya aerosol lacquers I use the following approach:

1. Use a light touch, particularly on edges and corners or you might rub right through the soft paint.

2. Clean with Novus Plastic Polish #1.

3. Polish with Novus Plastic Polish #2.

4. Clean with Novus #1.

5. Lightly polish with Novus #2.

6. Clean with Novus #1.

7. Wax lightly with Meguiar’s Auto Hi-Tech Yellow Wax No.26.

8. Clean with Novus #1.

I use soft white flannel for both application and rubout when polishing. Here’s another tip: go to a fabric/sewing shop and buy a yard or two of baby diaper flannel for just a few dollars, and cut it down to a size that you are comfortable using.

Problems

You always have some problems with a build and here are a few that I experienced with this one:

1. Rear cowl fit. When bare (i.e., unpainted) the rear cowl fits the rear cab bulkhead quite nicely. It has a single small locating pin to attach it to the body, With paint build up the pin isn’t sufficient to hold the cowl in place. I’ll use the lazy man’s way and display the car with the cowl to display the engine and rear suspension, which are nicely detailed. To attach the rear cowl properly, you should fabricate some locating and attachment pins using Evergreen plastic rod and sheet stock, with 2 cut straight pins to hold it.

2. By the time you glue everything together, the bottom tray warps a tad and as result one wheel is not resting on the ground like it should. It’s not bad, so I chose to ignore it. The proper fix is to cut off the wheel off the offending axle, glue the wheel to the rear axle support, and then fiddle with its alignment until the wheel rests on the ground like the other three (hopefully). Then clamp or hold the wheel in position until the glue sets.

3. I got the side mirrors reversed and glued in the wrong position as well. They stuck up like rabbit ears. So I removed them, repolished them, and reattached them-in the correct location this time. The tiny protrusions on the side window are NOT locating pin for the mirrors; I think they are meant to be a window hinge points.

4. Building a model that looks good enough so that the Automotive Editor wants you to write an article about it (Mission accomplished-Ed).

Happy Modeling!