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18 NOV 07 :
NISMO NP35 kit is available. The Japanese developed version of the P35 had many differences from the NPTi car. The kit captures all the nuanced details from bodywork markings on up to the twin-plane rear wing and black-centered RAY'S wheels.
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22 OCT 07 : Continuing work on the two remaining P35 variants. First up is the white with blue stripes NISMO car. Nissan Motorsports in Japan developed their own iteration of the car, using working drawings faxed from the designers in the US. The car has subtly different aero bodywork in the nose and a two-tier rear wing. The final P35 version will be the all-white NPTI development car.
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02 DEC 03 : NPTi P35 kit released.
11 OCT 03 : The photographic online Construct section is complete, but for part numbers and some annotations. Now only the illustrated Construct page included in the kit remains to be done. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will be able to focus on this, which should see a P35 kit release early December.
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01 SEP 03 : Build gallery posted. (Also a low-bandwidth small-photo version.)
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29 AUG 03 : Beta-build nearly done. Need to shoot a couple more Construct building steps and then it will be time for final assembly and the beauty-shot photo shoot (all this weekend). Right now I'm making all the little parts revisions revealed by the test build; mostly adding fold lines and cleaning up details. Will need to produce the artwork for the other two P35 variants: the white NPTi test car and the white and blue NISMO car (complete with its dual rear wing and shortened wheelbase). Next (and last?) big part of this project are the Construct illustrations which accompany the printed kit. As I am starting a new full time contract job next week, these illustrations may take several weeks to do.
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18 AUG 03 : Beta-build moving along slowly... Bodywork build is complete, next to build are the wheels and the rear wing. There are definitely some tricky areas on the bodywork that with patience and very clean fingers will come out alright. I've been a bit ill lately and with drowsy and shakey hands managed to do some rather messy work.
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03 AUG 03 : Beta-build about 70% complete. Part one of the build photo gallery posted. The on-line photographic building guide Construct is in the design process as well.
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14 JUL 03 : Finished remaining parts design: very complex curved undertray vanes created by hand. Begun beta build and Contruct sequence photo shoot.
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07 JUL 03 : Took about a month "off" from the P35 project. Now undeway again, trans and wing parts have been designed and built. Preliminary parts-sheet layout underway in preparation for test-build.
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25 MAY 03 : Posted a small P35 alpha-build gallery, otherwise no progress on the model in the last couple weeks. Been away working, fortunately. Hope to make some progress over the next few days, preparing for the pre-production build. Need to make some modifications to the model. Based on a photo from Mike Fuller, I need to redesign the front splitter and inner fender area as I currently have it flat whereas in reality it should curve up forward of the front wheels...
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05 MAY 03 : Need to design and build the rear wing and the model design is done. Nearly finished with the "NPTi" livery parts as well. The P35 has brought about many new design capabilities for Prototyp. It doesn't LOOK like it's much more complex than the others, but it is. All the body panels are twisting and sloping in a variety of ways, which makes designing them so they all meet up properly very challenging. Where the MkIII's complexity was in the chassis and internal structures, the bodywork is very simple and simply a refinement in design process over the C60. Being the first model, the XJR was done well before I had figured out how to make things difficult on myself. An interesting footnote regarding design efficiency: the P35 needed only one chassis (which received a few slight modifications) and one body build (plus one nose) to get to the final phase; the MkIII needed four or five chassis and went through four complete body-builds before the pre-production photography car was built. We are now at exactly two months of very-part-time work on this model. Mike Fuller recently posted his complete P35 article
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25 APR 03 : Just finished the cowl and windscreen parts... The nose of the P35 (shown here with the exterior nose and fender panels removed) is probably the most complex arrangement of panels I've yet designed. All the parts are subtly curved and meet at angles, the windscreen and cowl have very three-dimensional shapes... Despite the massively complex design process, the finished parts look rather simple and build up very easily.
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17 APR 03 : Nose built, needs a little adjustment to the headlight cover graphics, but otherwise looks good proportionally (better than i had anticipated) and builds up easily. Just finished the wheels; they are very neat with open spokes and brake calipers inside. Working next on the last of the very difficult sections: windscreen and roof parts. Prototyp's P35 illustrations appear in a research article by Mike Fuller (www.mulsannescorner.com) at dailysportscar.com.
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07 APR 03 : Livery illustrations in progress. Finishing nose-parts development.
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02 APR 03 : Mapping the complex nose bodywork panels, composed entirely of angled and curved parts.
29 MAR 02 : Alpha build started, the chassis is a fairly simple design but very rigid and builds up quite quickly.
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27 MAR 03 : Parts mapping begun, starting with undertray. Worked out technique to produce parts with curved and twisting profiles!
18 MAR 03 : Technical illustrations completed, this will be a curbside kit only.
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10 MAR 03 : Model design and construction sketches completed.
04 MAR 03 : Research and preliminary structural sketches started. Huge thank you to Mulsanne Mike and Yoshimura Suzuka.
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