Box art love/hate

[BuggyDad]

I will soon be building a model which it seems to me most don't do box art, the TD4. I don't intend to either. Partly it is an an unloved body design anyway, but I think the painting is part of that. 

Anyway, it got me thinking. Which models would you not hesitate to do box art? And which the opposite? For me I think it's the Hornet. Nearly always seen in box art and I would do the same. Absolute classic in the black and stripes.

And which would I not? The TD4 is definitely one. But what about a car that can be a real stunner if set free from its box art? I haven't quite worked that out. Top Force maybe? 

[simalarion]

Its probably obvious but you are of course not thinking off all the replica Rally/FF1 models etc, as these models do not count as the term "box art" either i believe.

The Grasshopper is for me a must to Box Art, there i painted other parts like the bathtub & wheels etc but Its such an Icon to be so it has to be box art on that one. Others would be Subaru Brat, The Hornet, Sand Scorcher, Bruiser.

[Saito2]

Personally, I tend to do anything from the first 100 in box art or minimally in the alternate paint schemes provided by Tamiya if I have multiples. The reason is, I read the guidebooks and catalogs front to back constantly as a kid and having them box art is like having those photos "come to life" for me. Since I'm not connected to models after that, I feel more free to experiment. If I ever had a Gravel Hound (not likely), it wouldn't be box art.

Another factor is Tamiya seemed to put a lot of thought into those earlier buggies' appearance i.e.: the Grasshopper mimics a grasshopper, the Hornet evokes a hornet, etc. and I don't feel I can improve on that too much. I don't what the heck a Plasma Edge is and I certainly am not bound to whatever the box photo depicts.

[Kpowell911]

Controversially, I think box art only matters on the Touring Cars. I get so excited to see a boxed Cosworth on eBay only to flick through the photos and see someone has painted it the wrong colour. I saw a yellow Integralle WRC Martini the other day, and Ive lost count of how many people have gone non box art on various R34 JGTC’s from the 90s. Anything off road? Go your own way IMO

[Mrowka]

I ignore box art.

I remember when I was a little kid, looking at some static model, and thinking to my little self "neat car, too bad the decals are so dumb..."

And then it dawned on me....you don't have to use the decals!

[Willy iine]

@BuggyDad There are over 50 models I built with and without box art so best one takes a look at my profile page (profile/about me or hit my signature below) for which cars I decided to do either as examples if interested.  Some cars are fantastic in box art.. but some just aren't to me, at least.

Some cars turn out great both box and custom livery too..  

Typically the legendary or iconic cars like M38, Egress, Avante, etc I like doing box art, but some cars like the Astute, I did custom..  there's just too many to list here.

[Kowalski86]

The only box art that I'd consider going with is the box art based off of real rally/touring cars, but even then I'd make minor changes like removing the rally lights from the Audi Quattro.

Re-releases? I'd try out my own ideas, make my own "color editions", or even go with a whole other look of my own like my "Sand Frogger".

[Mad Ax]

Great thread!  And for me, tough questions...

Sticking with buggies / monster trucks / non-race-livery-specific replicas:

What would I definitely do boxart..?  Well, I have a few cars in boxart that I've bought used or built before I'd found my own style, but generally, I don't do anything boxart.  Probably the only thing I would like to have in boxart is a Sand Scorcher, because the original design is so iconic, but I already have 3 Scorchers and none are boxart, so I don't know if it will happen.  Actually a red Clod would be nice, and a red Mud Blaster, if only to recapture the spirit of the one I built from new when I was young.  Thinking about it, I really love the grey edition Clod Buster, but it's a heap of money to spend on something I'd be afraid to drive.

Other things I have done or plan to do boxart is the Tamiya trophy truck / baja truck series.  Originally I painted my F150 in plain green, but now TBG are making the bodies again, I want to put it back to standard and paint it in the classic boxart racing colours.  I've got a Desert Fielder, and I bought a repro decal set for the Toyota Prerunner to build a replica, and I painted my Asterion in the Chevy S10 colours, so I can have a shelf of classic trophy trucks ready to race together if I ever find two friends.

As for definitely not boxart - nothing really springs to mind.  I don't think there's a design I specifically don't like.  Tamiya's design team have done a great job on most things.  The special colour editions less so - the green edition Grasshopper for example was a cheap cop-out, the graphics should at least have been re-coloured to complement the body colour.  The Black Edition Super Clod could have been better - the door text gets lost under the side stripe.

But for me, the livery decision is rarely about whether or not I like the boxart, it's about being unique on track.  I build my cars to be driven on track (even if I don't race them competitively), and I hate having a car on track that looks like everyone else's.  If I did boxart when I was younger, I'd go as far as putting the alternate race number on the body, so we'd never have two cars wearing the same race number on track.

Generally, when I choose to go non-boxart, I also don't use the standard decals, unless they're sponsor decals that can be put wherever and still look scale.  I tend to come up with my own name and livery for monster trucks, I put my own race colours on my buggies (I have various different race liveries depending on what mood I'm in) and generally don't put the name of the buggy anywhere - I usually just put my own fictitious race team name and fictitious main sponsor name on it and fill the rest out with generic sponsor logos.  For race buggies, I tend to stick with RC-specific sponsors.

For on-road cars my process is much the same, except I'll put more thought into coming up with a scheme that looks properly scale, like it could really be used on a 1:1 race car, and I'll either use genuine race sponsor logos or make my own fictitious company names.  I'm not into replicating existing liveries, but I'll take inspiration from them and work my own theme in.  Also as I'm lazy, I tend to work the scheme to complement the body lines and make for an easier masking job that's less likely to bleed.  Usually I leave space for a race number on the doors and bonnet, although I totally forgot about that on my CRX body design, so the race numbers have to go on the rear quarter windows.

I totally get what @Kpowell911 says about touring cars painted the wrong colour - every time I do a custom livery on a touring car (especially with the original Tamiya body) I'm well aware that I'm ruining its resale value.

There is - however - a big caveat to all this "I don't do boxart" stuff - and that's that I like putting vintage buggy boxart on touring cars.  I've recently retired my Honda Civic body that was painted in Frog colours using re-re Frog decals (it's on a 2wd chassis, so naturally it must have a 2wd buggy scheme), and on the shelf right behind me now is an R33 Skyline wearing Super Sabre colours and decals (actually that wasn't planned, I'd painted it silver as a street car, then I decided to race it, so I went through the back-catalog to find a 4wd buggy with a silver base colour and bought some repro decals).  For a long time I wanted to paint my Desert Fielder in original Hotshot colours (I even have a repro decal sheet around here somewhere just for that purpose).

Another thing I really wanted to do is to build a fleet of early 2wd buggies, in boxart, but with Sand Scorcher bodies on them.  So my Scorcher would have Scorcher boxart, a Frog would have a Scorcher body in Frog colours, a Hornet a Scorcher body in Hornet colours, and so on.  I think it would make for an awesome scale display, at least until buggy designs got too wide for the Scorcher body.  Unfortunately it's a big financial commitment to do all that, so it's unlikely it'll ever happen, although I did once paint a lexan Kamtec Baja body in Bear Hawk colours and put it on my Bear Hawk for some vintage racing.

[GeeWings]

I’ve not got an Avante yet but for me it would have to be box art. I’ve never really seen it bettered and it’s so nostalgic for me.

The Grasshopper too although I’ve seen lots of non-box art versions that have looked fantastic. 

Most others I think I would go non-box art. My first purchase when I got back in to Tamiya was an Egress. I’ve never loved the box art so went custom (Cat XLS inspired) with it and I’m glad I did.

I’ve still got a spare shell and decals so will go closer to box art at some stage (but a darker body). 

[alvinlwh]

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[simalarion]

3 minutes ago, alvinlwh said:

On the subject of box art, I seem to notice Tamiya is doing less box art. Instead they are just putting photos of the finish article on generic boxes?

I like the BBX box though, really got that classic nostalgic feeling from it, that i also think Tamiya went for.

Its seems its mainly the RC Kits from the time i where a kid I really would like to the BoxArt. I think there is 2 reasons for me 1. They are still stuck on my memory from when i was a kid and could not afford them but wanting them badly. 2. I find the BoxArt back then better (i probably brainwashed myself as a kid though, reading that Tamiya magazine until it fell apart).

Just a Picture off a Replica car is not something i consider BoxArt. So when a buy a Rally 1/10 i will try to make it look like the Real Rally model, that i do not even consider

[markbt73]

I used to never do box art - I thought of it like the "Serving Suggestion" photos on food boxes. That's one way you can do it, but there are others. I completely understand why nothing else but completely correct box art (or looking just like the guidebook photo) will do. But it's not my style.

One thing I have become a fan of in recent years is something I think of as "box alt": using the stock decals in the stock locations, but with an alternate base color. My Bigwig is maroon insetad of blue, for example, but has the orange and yellow stripes. I also had a baby-blue Hotshot and an orange-and-yellow Falcon for a while, both with "correct" decals.

Strangely, one place I never do box art is on restorations, usually because I can't bring myself to spend money on the correct (or repro) decal sheet. If a car has its original body in box-art colors and it's in decent shape (like my Boomerang) then I'll keep it. But if I'm replacing or refinishing the body, I'll do my own thing.

I do have one new Grasshopper kit waiting to be built, and that one will be a 100% correct box-art shelf queen, because I've had many Grasshoppers over the years and none of them have been box art,  or been treated kindly.

[Pylon80]

I always wonder, when it comes to racing liveries with lots of decals, how does one even sell a used shell? Yet you see it all the time on FeeBay. Unless you did a really terrible job (nail clipper wheel arches, non-PS paint peeling off everywhere and wrinkles in the decals) how could you bring yourself to sell 30hours of your handy work? Then if you won't sell it, sticking to box art should not matter. Do your own personal twist instead, like @Mad Ax and others have mentioned.

I am doing a modified box art at the moment: a Porsche 911 RSR with a different silver and not quite all the decals. I don't like how PS-12 looks (that color should be kept for backing ) and I never quite liked how Martini ruined the 911's body lines with that livery. All very personal opinions here :) If I ever sell this car, I will sell the chassis alone and keep the shell as a fond memory.

Old shells can be stacked and will use up almost no storage space and weight almost nothing. Like skateboarder keep their old worn-out and even broken boards, so can RC drivers keep their old cracked and scuffed shells. I remember when I started driving RC cars in Nagoya, the track had this 'cemetery of shells' with hundreds of old shells, badly damaged from hard use. There were stacked on top of cupboards in the work/setup tables area. I was told (using google translate :D) that these were left by racers over decades or RC driving and did not quite belong to anyone in particular anymore.

[Pylon80]

2 hours ago, GeeWings said:

I’ve not got an Avante yet but for me it would have to be box art. I’ve never really seen it bettered and it’s so nostalgic for me.

The Grasshopper too although I’ve seen lots of non-box art versions that have looked fantastic. 

Most others I think I would go non-box art. My first purchase when I got back in to Tamiya was an Egress. I’ve never loved the box art so went custom (Cat XLS inspired) with it and I’m glad I did.

I’ve still got a spare shell and decals so will go closer to box art at some stage (but a darker body). 

I don't know buggies very much. A quick search shows Egress' in the dreaded grey. So I take it the one in the picture above is yours? It looks stunning in black.

[BuggyDad]

2 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

Another thing I really wanted to do is to build a fleet of early 2wd buggies, in boxart, but with Sand Scorcher bodies on them.  So my Scorcher would have Scorcher boxart, a Frog would have a Scorcher body in Frog colours, a Hornet a Scorcher body in Hornet colours, and so on.  I think it would make for an awesome scale display, at least until buggy designs got too wide for the Scorcher body.  Unfortunately it's a big financial commitment to do all that, so it's unlikely it'll ever happen, although I did once paint a lexan Kamtec Baja body in Bear Hawk colours and put it on my Bear Hawk for some vintage racing.

I love this idea! 

But, 

 

too wide for a scorcher* body? My widest RC car has a scorcher body! 😁

*I know, lexan, but near enough. 

[BuggyDad]

Thinking about it, I had pretty much ignored box art until my Lancia Delta, for which I found myself with a similar opinion to the touring car view, that the racing livery was an important part of it. So it was either that or if I'm doing something different then it bears no relation and is a street car. I'd probably be of the same view with another rally/touring shell generally, but I don't really like most of them. And a Martini Lancia is just iconic. I have a 911 RSR shell too but I bought it with a different 911 idea in mind, so it's not that car at all really. My Fake Falcon has to be box art precisely because it's a fake, trying to look like a Falcon. 

[ThunderDragonCy]

Mostly non-box art. I think my original Thunder Dragon and my current Hotshot 2 are the only boxart I ever did. I like to change the base colour at least. That's on buggies. 

On touring cars I have a couple a bit more box art. I guess there is more scale model nostalgia with those. 

[davidwj95]

When I got back into collecting in the early 2000s any of the first 100 would have to be box art but I'm not fussed at at all now.  I've never seen an alternative colour I like on the thunder dragon though. 

[Kol__]

I like a mix of both tbh. Some cars I feel do deserve to be built and remembered as the classics they are, the 58080 Astute for example. Even then though, I often find myself wanting a second one to do my own thing with and use a runner.

The Top Force is definitely one that would be a prime candidate for non-box art @BuggyDad👍  ...I've got a custom one brewing in the works myself🤫😉

[Badcrumble]

I have yet to do a box art car.

I have the MB-01 on pre-order. That won't be box art.

My TD-4 won't be box art when I eventually get to it.

My MF-01X Escort has an alternative sticker set waiting for it.

Weirdly, I have purchased a shell and stickers so I can do box art for one of my cars. Except that I don't have the correct wheels and it will be on the wrong chassis 

[technics]

Great thread! Both have their place. It’s funny it is true that it is difficult seeing a solid colour painted shell to what was an iconic livery. 
 

I’ve gone both ways, and will continue to do so. Whatever is exciting at the time!

 

[RichieRich]

I generally do my own art especially for my race buggies. BUT, I have done box art for the ones that have racecar livery. Sometimes, I do similar to box art but I'll change a color or two and/or mix/match decals. I the only ones I've done a true box art are my Bruiser, FF03 Jas Civic, FF01 Castrol Civic, CC01 FJ, and weirdly my Dyna Storm and Ultima Pro XL. I have three Kyosho race buggies that started out with my own paint, but as they've been restored, I've switched them to box art. These would be my Turbo Ultima, Turbo Optima Mid SE, and Turbo Optima. 

I've done a few Frogs where I've switched the pink color for green or other colors. My TD4 is similar to box art but I swapped out the yellow for gunmetal gray. I did an RC10 gold pan rerelease with a metallic orange instead of the camel yellow. I tend to like sparkly paints.   Also, I'm really bad at following directions so I tend to wander and do my own thing.

[toyolien]

Great thread.

For me, I nearly always do my own thing. The only exception is my Lunchbox, which is box art yellow. I like to make each build my own, even rally cars and I'm not interested in preserving the resale value. Having said all that, the BBX is causing me concern. It's such a great looking box art that I'm not sure I can better it! We'll see.

 

[droidy]

There's a few neutral tone/texture/sparkle options in PS paint that let you customise without really changing. For example, my Integrale is PS-57 Pearl White so it's like "BoxArt+".

I like box art but I like trying new colour combos even more. That means I have a few PS fail shells where it didn't work out.

I can't bring myself to test on a soda bottle, so I bought a bunch of cheap mini4wd lexan shells from PJ to experiment with (you could always go box art on those ones for the shelf as a token gesture). Of course none of them are painted yet.

[Dakratfink]

My G6-01 King yellow bus was a pre-painted version, so the body is box art on that one . I also bought a used Metallic Edition Pumpkin and a Kumamon tractor, those are box art.

my M 06 Mazda MX5 is done in yellow , because I have always like the real roadster in Sunburst Yellow . The T3-01 dual rider trike I built is most certainly not box art . Teal and Metallic purple