Civic Group A JTCC

This is a Hasegawa kit. The main issue I found is that the suspension set up is far too high. To get a realistic touring car ride height I had to lower it about 5mm (120mm in scale). I had to do some serious surgery to various suspension parts and the inner wheel arches. I used a lot of the plastic / wire tie wraps that come with lots of kids toys which are attached to various suspension parts by very small holes that I drilled. As the wire is bendy it means I can adjust things like the wheel camber which is handy to get the touring car stance correct. Unfortunately I only have photos after i've done the suspension mods and none during the work as I've only recently joined the 21st century and got on line. The blue lob on the boot / boot spoiler is blu-tac! Photos follow. Comments welcome.

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This pic shows the negative camber on the wheels:

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i think you did a great job modifying the ride high..

if i'm not mistaken, it is an old kit from hasegawa..
with fancy stripes around the body, i say you have to be very careful with the decal

anyway,
keep us posted..
will follow this one for sure

Looks good, down to the ground, very nice

Thanks for the positive comments. Dealing with the ride height was very difficult but the result was satisfying.

ben_gsr2s: You're right, it is an old Hasegawa kit & those decals look very easy to ruin! All part of the challenge of modelling!? Do you know if Hasegawa decals respond to Micro Set & Sol?

I like the high and will follow this one for sure too.

Cool project!!! that Civic looks mean lowered!!! good luck with the decals!!!

great job on the stance! this would look great next to the jaccs accord :) I would be careful with the decals as well, I'm sure its going to be a little brittle. I have the STP version which i refuse to touch for now. will definitely keep an eye out for this build

Thanks for the positive comments. Dealing with the ride height was very difficult but the result was satisfying.

ben_gsr2s: You're right, it is an old Hasegawa kit & those decals look very easy to ruin! All part of the challenge of modelling!? Do you know if Hasegawa decals respond to Micro Set & Sol?

hi..
personally, hasegawa isn't my top-pick.. usually i went for tamiya.. but i have built hasegawa lancer Evo III before.. and from my experience, the decal works well with micro set / sol..

just sharing

Cheers guys. The decals scare me, even if I manage to get them on properly there's a chance of ruining them with the laquer top coat, which I've done before. Any tips anyone? Is it a case of light mist coats then polish out any orange peel effect?

bri g: I haven't seen an STP version, my brother 'viccario' has a yellow / green BP version, can you post a picture?

ben gsr2s: Thanks for the advice, that's good news about the micro set & sol.

Anyway, lots to do before the decals!

Looking great so far, I have seen at first hand the effort that you had to put in to get the lowering to look just right with the negative camber. I will use the same method on my one too! You also need to carefully remove the side moulding on the doors as the racing version ran without it. I have done this but not managed to get the slight 'inward' appearance that remains once the moulding is removed on the real thing. You can see what I mean when you look at the picture on the box art.

updates?

Sorry, no updates as yet as I've been on holiday. I plan to tackle the side trim next. Hopefully in next few days. I'm not the fastest model maker in the worls as my brother Viccario will confirm. Too many on the go at once and not enough time with young family!

Finally managed a bit more progress. I had a go at removing the side trim to achieve the inward concaved look when the side moulding is removed for the race version (see box art). This was really tricky. I used a small round file and ended up also filing away the ends of the wings & bumpers as you need to keep the file flat & parallel to the body. So a fair bit of filling and reshaping, plus rescribing was needed. I have done the first coat of white primer and think the results are quite good. Having done it and knowing now how difficult it was I'm not sure if I would recommend removing the trim to other modellers! But if you're going for a realistic body finish it has to be done! Photos follow:

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looks a good job on the filing work there!

Good results, that must have been a pain.

Yes it was a pain! So much concentration needed that I got a headache, all part of the fun of modelling!?