Auto Tech JTCC with Aluminium BBS wheels

Everything I’ve built in the past year has been for someone else, but I managed to finish this one in between completing the Corolla and waiting for the good painting weather to return.

I think this is my favourite of the M3s Tamiya produced, although the livery isn’t as nice as the Linder / Jägermeister and Schnitzer cars the rarity of it makes it hugely attractive. The body set is rare, and there’s only a handful of built cars. I happened to find a set of the stickers from a seller in Germany (Thanks Uwe!), which was all I needed as I had an undrilled re-re body in my stash.

When building these cars I spend a lot of time researching and collecting photos. Before I wasn’t aware of the difference between this M3 and the Linder and Schnitzer models Tamiya make. As I understand it, this is an earlier car which is 1990 spec, and the other two are 1992 spec. The main visual differences on the earlier car being the twin fuel fillers on the rear panel, and the more simple roll cage design.

I painted this at the end of last summer, nice and simple, just yellow with a yellow wing and mirrors and the black grille. I’d previously used Tamiya X-11 Chrome for the BMW kidneys, but I saw a recommendation for the Molotow Liquid Chrome pen so gave that a try. It’s impressively shiny and much more accurate looking. After all the complex multi colour rally cars I’ve been doing, the simple graphics were a welcome change.

This is the third E30 M3 I’ve built and each time I’ve found areas for improvement. The standard body has front light buckets, but stickers for the rears and indicators. I recently discovered that Demi Works produce rear buckets for the Tamiya shell and these along with the Wrap-Up Next texture stickers give a much more realistic look. I did the same for the indicators using buckets from the Bruiser. The door handles are quite a simple shape so quite easy to make from 0.5mm styrene. The door locks are also normally stickers but these are styrene discs painted chrome, with a tiny black vinyl cut border and keyhole slot.

One part on this car that’s not on the other two M3s is the twin fuel fillers on the rear number plate panel. As these are recessed the stickers look especially unrealistic, so my plan right from the start was to replicate these. I created a template so I could make the correct sized holes in the body with a reamer, then cut the tips off two of the exhausts that come with the Tamiya Body Accessory sets. These formed the funnels, then styrene plates over the end for the dry break valves. The mounting rings on the outside of the body are cut from 1mm styrene with vinyl cut dots for the bolt heads. A couple of ATL stickers on the valves finish them off.

The distinctive side exit exhaust is styrene tube, as are the air jacks. I used a pipe cutter to score a recess in them near the base. The air jack port on the scuttle panel I’ve done on previous cars, but new to this are the electric cutoff and fire extinguisher handles. It wasn’t until I’d taken and processed all the photos I noticed they are in the wrong positions on the car - the red “E” should be for the black handle.

I love how the older cars all came with stickers for the interior, but Tamiya can be a bit stingy with them. This one has the Ratzenberger helmet stripes and logos but nothing for the driver. I had the Auto Tech badges and logos printed, along with the Momo logo for the steering wheel. The cage is a different design to the later M3s, simpler and doesn’t extend as far back as the later cars. Like the Corolla, I painted the harness buckles and also the gear knob with the Molotow pen. I made the visor the dark tinted version shown in some photos of Roland.

The box art wheels for this body set are the BBS LM style from the Taisan 911 GT2, which are great wheels, but not the correct model for the real car. I’d seen a version of this belonging to Tamiyaclub member “OCD”, which featured some amazing cast aluminium wheels, similar to the Tamiya Skyline option ones, but in the exact BBS E50 style that the real Group A M3s had. I managed to track down the guy that made them and fortunately he had a set left. The centres are painted with Tamiya X-12 Gold Leaf. Due to the rough texture brush painting worked fine and I think the final look is outstanding. Probably the nicest RC wheels I’ve ever seen.

The last thing I did was to use a few bits of tape to pull the body closer to the chassis just in front of the rear arches. As standard it seems to be a few mm too wide at this point, I think maybe as it’s an old mould that was produced before CAD modelling.

• Rear light buckets (Demi Works)
• Indicator light buckets (Hi-Lux/Bruiser)
• Indicator and rear light texture stickers (Wrap-up Next)
• Vinyl cut tyre logos
• Matte black styrene door handles
• Styrene chromed door locks
• Matte black window trims
• Cut out grille and brake vents with mesh
• Radiator (intercooler painted matte silver)
• Stealth body mounts
• Thin centre-lock style wheel nuts
• Rear panel fuel fillers
• Towing eyes front and rear
• Air jack port
• Styrene exhaust painted matte gunmetal
• Matte black front bumper trim
• Styrene front splitter
• Rear spoiler rivets
• Aluminium BBS E50 wheels with centres painted Gold Leaf
• Brembo brake discs and callipers
• Windscreen wiper
• Roof aerial
• Roof transponder dome
• 3D bonnet catches (Wrap-Up Next)
• Bonnet washer jets
• Electrical isolator switch
• Fire extinguisher activation handle
• Additional vinyl body details
• Body lines (Kyosho 0.4mm tape)
• Cockpit set
• Custom printed driver sponsor logos
• Driver suit stripes
• Chrome painted harness buckles
• Chrome painted gear knob
• Steering wheel Momo logo
• Lexan driver helmet visor
• Vinyl cut cockpit detailing stickers
• Styrene roll cage