Tamiya Toyota GT-One TS020 '98 - F103 15th Anniversary

Not a Gundam or a model kit in the classical sense, but i built up a RC car. Browsing through the net I stumbled upon the super awesome looking Toyota GT One Le Mans car from 1998/1999.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_GT-One 

Tamiya made an 1/10 RC kit and i had to have it :)

Now the kit is of course long out of production but i managed to order a body from ebay, it's lexan/polycarbonate - a flexible plastic (good for crashing) that you paint from the inside.

 

The chassi the body/kit uses is a Tamiya F103, originally a RWD pancar type Formula 1 chassi but it works well for cars as well. Not any F103 but I got the 15th Anniversary edition from yahoo auctions Japan in a fairly mint condition.

The 15th Anniversary edition is pimped out to the max with carbon and aluminum parts :) 

 First step is cutting out the body, I use a hobby knife and just make thin cuts over the plastic, then i can break/rip the unneeded parts off - this looks much cleaner than cutting it out with scissors.

 Drilling holes for the rear wing.

 Aaand the cut out body.

 You need special Lexan color to paint, which is flexible like the body. Regular color would just splitter off.
Got ahead of myself there and bought a can of the wrong red..., you usually only need one can for a car. The black is for the rearwing.

 Pre-marked masking for the windows came with the kit. It's always a good idea to shake the cans long and well. Also if its a bit colder, put them in a warm water bath before spraying, this will result in a finer spray mist!

 Voila!

A little bit paint leaked trough the masking tape, but you can easily polish it away with a bit compound.