Camshaft

       

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Original Kit:
Mazda Savanna RX-7 (SA22C) Late Version Turbo GT
Made By:
Hasegawa (kit #HC52)
Scale:
1/24
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I've mentioned elsewhere how the toyline was always the "real" version of The Transformers for me, moreso than the comics or cartoon of the era. This included the universe created by the various pack-ins, self-contradictory though they might be. All of this is a roundabout way of saying that the Omnibots were always right up there with the likes of Sunstreaker and Wheeljack as far as legitimate characters, and have long been on my 1/24 replica "to do" list. Camshaft was the first of these to become a reality.

I had originally started the project using Monogram's Mazda RX-7, simply because it was what was available when I first started this endeavor back in the mid/late 1990s. It wasn't quite right for the character, but I figured it'd be close enough. But the further I got into the build, the more it bugged me. So I packed up what I had done, set it aside, and picked up Hasegawa's recent kit of the later first-gen RX-7.

The one saving grace of having done most of the work once before was that I already had the colors all ready to go. The body was painted TS-17 Gloss Aluminum, while pretty much everything else was done in some shade of black. I did leave the chassis in its molded gray, just because I liked the look of it.

Kit quality was about what you'd expect for a Hasegawa kit released in mid-2022: extremely clean casting, little to no flash, and tight clean parts fit. About the only problem I ran into were the many, many overflow tabs - the grille, for example, had twelve tabs (plus three mold gates) that needed to be cut off and cleaned up. It certainly helped ensure that there were no short shots on the myriad small pieces making up the suspension and interior, but it also meant that it could be slow going at times. Strangely enough, there was actually one short shot elsewhere: the soft poly caps for mounting the wheels. In all the years I've built kits with them, this is the first time I've gotten one with only three and a half caps. Fortunately there were plenty in my parts box so it was an easy fix.

I had a set of Mazda 4-spoke alloy wheels 3D printed back when I was using the Monogram kit, but when I saw the 12-spoke wheels that came in this kit I decided I liked them better for Camshaft. The 4-spoke design was likely what Kōjin Ōno had in mind when he designed the Double Changer Savanna for Takara, but once the toy's wheels were cast and assembled they had the flatter and more uniform silver look of these. I also left the A pillars body color, similar to how I mis-painted the Lamborghinis' side windows because it was, to me, such an iconic part of the look of those old figures. That simplified aesthetic is why I left off the wipers and side mirrors as well. I considered doing something similar with the side molding, and even looked up some photos of RX-7s with the trim removed, but it looked better with the stock black strip in place. The sunroof (yes, Camshaft actuall had a molded-in sunroof separate from his head flap) was done with a decal representing the gasket so as to not break up the roof line. The final touch was an "RX-7" license plate that I had created back when I first started this project.

 

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