Author Topic: Arii 1/32 1960 Mazda R360  (Read 474 times)

Offline Frank3k

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Arii 1/32 1960 Mazda R360
« on: January 05, 2026, 07:32:32 AM »
I wanted a quick, simple and enjoyable build to clear my palate after the Gecko build. I picked the Arii 1/32 Owners Club Series '60 Mazda R360 - a tiny Japanese Kei car. It's simple and I could build it OOB without worrying about accuracy or obsessing over details.



It went together in minutes and painting was quick. I know there's some orange peel (caused by the Future, surprisingly) but the whole point was having fun:








This is such a tiny car! It is accurately scaled to 1/32, but it still looks small next to the 1/35 Steve McQueen:
 


This kit fulfilled my requirements - quick, easy and fun, with an OK result with minimum effort. These Arii kits are just the ticket - cheap, easy to build, are nice OOB or can be used as the basis for a much more detailed build.

Offline Jeffry Fontaine

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Re: Arii 1/32 1960 Mazda R360
« Reply #1 on: January 05, 2026, 12:05:38 PM »
That was a fast build and from what you have described it definitely refreshed the palate. 

I always rationalized that the small difference between 1:32 and 1:35 was but perhaps 1.5% which in the greater scheme of things was nothing to really get worried about. 

Looks great and that is all that really matters once the paint has dried. 
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Offline Old Wombat

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Re: Arii 1/32 1960 Mazda R360
« Reply #2 on: January 05, 2026, 11:19:45 PM »
Good to see you had an easy, fun build for a change (recently), Frank!  :smiley:

The difference between 1/32 & 1/35 works out to about 1%(+/-0.1%), which can (sorta) be an issue with ships, vehicles & aircraft, but with figures is nothing compared to the variance in 1/1 scale humans (even those within "normal" parameters) which tend to be roughly around 15%-20% either side of the average/median.
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Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: Arii 1/32 1960 Mazda R360
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2026, 12:30:25 AM »
Cute
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Offline Frank3k

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Re: Arii 1/32 1960 Mazda R360
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2026, 02:11:40 AM »
This little build really restored my mojo.

The car is ridiculously tiny - small even by 1960's Japanese standards:



Current US owner:

from https://www.hemmings.com/stories/1964-mazda-r360/

Offline Jeffry Fontaine

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Re: Arii 1/32 1960 Mazda R360
« Reply #5 on: January 06, 2026, 03:00:27 AM »
Wow!  That is definitely a tiny vehicle.  Perfect for a clown car at the circus.  :smiley:
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Offline Buzzbomb

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Re: Arii 1/32 1960 Mazda R360
« Reply #6 on: January 06, 2026, 05:18:10 AM »
Transcontinental Road Trip in that  !

Quick, slick and neat. Really good build

Offline apophenia

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Re: Arii 1/32 1960 Mazda R360
« Reply #7 on: January 06, 2026, 07:37:21 AM »
What an astonishingly cute little car  :-*  And it sounds like the kit went together a treat  :smiley:

... It went together in minutes and painting was quick. I know there's some orange peel (caused by the Future, surprisingly) but the whole point was having fun...

If in the future, the orange peel began to irk, might a second coat of Future help smooth it out?
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Offline Frank3k

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Re: Arii 1/32 1960 Mazda R360
« Reply #8 on: January 06, 2026, 09:39:43 AM »
Probably - a few thin coats should even it out.