Wednesday, February 8, 2012


This car was the second in my WWII show rod mash up series. I took the Hasegawa 240 Z and turned it into a Japanese fighter. The body was contoured and the roof line changed. The rear wheels were huge and had to be tubbed in. This one sports the twin turbo V-8 from the Knight Rider KITT model. It allowed me to run the exhaust into some can mufflers mounted to the fender wall and then out the side of the body. The engine is super detailed and has every wire and hose it would need, I even scratch built a hood release mechanism. The interior is decked out with a samurai sword shifter and e brake handle, and the headliner is a rising sun battle flag. The fuel tank is in the back, plumbed and fitted. The license plate on this one reads “DVINWND”, and is mounted to the rear with a cool drilled out bracket. I incorporated two huge air horns behind the grill as an inside joke…like the car would creep up on you and surprise you with a blast! (Pearl Harbor humor is not funny but I liked the touch).

As you can see the paint is a little strange. It simulates the pealing and chipping the IJN fighters showed in the war. I painted the whole car body with aluminum metalizer paint then sprayed over that a coat of IJN aircraft green, I then hand-picked the paint off with a #11. It was finished with the ID yellow chin patch and some exhaust smoke from the pipes. The glass is all custom made because the body shape was too altered to use the kit glass.

The base is meant to simulate the wood of a carrier deck, complete with trap door panel and some Japanese writing.

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