Tribute to Marwan1 : Optima Mid Custom Special
Here's my tribute to Marwan's repro part one:
Finally I've decided to be a man and to finish these restoration work by painting the bodies.
My first attempt was a turbo optima that I still have to show here, but in the meantime I've succeeded in finishing my very first Optima Mid Custom special (what an endless name) design.
As you perhaps know, it's not my favourite body design amidst optima shells (I even doubt Kogawa has ever been involved in this one?) but for a long time I've been trying to imagine how to modify the original paintscheme to better underline the futuristic bodyshape.
The first thing that I didn't like was the designline of the cockpit. Its proportion looked too small for the width of the body. So my first source of inspiration were the cockpit of similarly shaped airplanes like the F14 Tomcat, F15 Eagle, Mig 27, Spitfire, P-51D Mustang, Supersabre, Panavia Tornado, Gloster Meteor, T-33 Shootingstar, A-7 Crusader, etc. My main concern was to draw a new designline to change the perception of the proportions. Then came the small linework to give more detailing to fake the 'metalplates' (minus the rivets). I used Kyosho Micron linetapes (0,4 and 1mm). This is time-consuming; with very thin lines it's very difficult to reproduce straight lines on a curved body (not to mention curved lines on curved bodies). And finally some air intake were gimmickly placed at the nose (I wasn't totally convinced by the angular design of the nose, so I decided to use the angles to express a kind of F86 Sabre-like nose), at the side wings, and at the rear top (which was obvious) to complete the airplane inspired look.
When I had finished smoking the cockpit glass I suddenly realized it resembled to the Avante design (somewhat) but I don't mind... '_'
Thanks again Marwan for your beautiful repros (body + decals)
If you liked those pictures, you should see these...
KYOSHO OPTIMA MID CUSTOM
Comments
generationx
Very cool - I really like this one.
Sayroll
What!!? Ryo is painting shells! Hurrah for you, very nice and original result. Keep up the good work, j'ai hate de voir la suite...
Road Burner
Amazing job!! Love the yellow trim along with the panel lines!!
stulec52
Very Nice !
Can I also ask, what wheels/tires and shocks did you use?
Stu
optimaforever
Thanks for your kind comments!
@stu: Kyosho 5642/5632 tires on HPI Superstar wheels (vintage); Kyosho black shocks with blue caps on
technical.burP
The body looks great. Is it so hard to get the right wheels?
BORMAC
Stunning Optima Mid Special. One of my favourite Kyosho buggies of all time. I love the cock pit bodyshell on these cars and yours looks ace. Well done!
optimaforever
Thanks TburP and BORMAC!
Next challenge for me is naturally the Salute which is VERY hard as well... :-D
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