#1 - 06/09/2026

I loved Speed Racer so the chance to build the Mach 5 with additions in 1:24 is pretty nice. It's not a complicated build at all as well its 90% white lol. But it is the main centre piece to a larger diorama in a display above me.

So not wow special but just a super clean build basically, weathering will be added as in my diorama speed racer has just left a forest cutting tree's so that gives me the chance to add effects beyond a show room type build 🙂

#2 - 06/09/2026

I've already spent time cutting out parts and cleaning up cuts etc to save me time in the build aspect to just keep going. So wheel assembly with steering etc took no time at all.

#3 - 07/09/2026

all interior parts including subframes prepared for the paint booth tomorrow. Everything will get a dark primer grey coats ready to go white, deep red and the rest before assembly. Some parts will need scuffed for bonding (plastic to plastic) and maybe a few touch ups. However the trade off is everything inside gets sprayed not brushed for a much better finish overall.

The manual for Polar Lights is quite lack luster. It states to reference the box for painting guide and well thats it. Nothing on the piece of A3 paper folded into a single A4 pamphlet states anything lol.

#4 - 08/09/2026

3 layers of primer down then onto cabin area parts which is majority deep red. First 2 coats on and waiting

#6 - 08/09/2026

So last nights red painting session went down lovely. The body and chassis have both been fully primed ready both inside and out to really block out the final colours with as little light transmission through the plastic as possible.

#7 - 08/09/2026

assembled the bulk of the cabin parts and weathered the seats etc for more depth. There are no decals provided for dash or anything at all so.. made up a dash to suit and the centre screen which in the cartoon is the display is "on" lol

#8 - 09/09/2026

Thats as far as I dare push tonight without letting everything settle and dry entirely. Its ready for the sub frame assembly to be placed on the chassis and the steering rack connected up.

#9 - 09/09/2026

Well up to now most things have been smooth sailing even though the instructions are lackluster. But this phase the instructions lacking is an actual problem so, things learnt:

#11 - 09/09/2026

So the easiest way to get the shell on is to insert the back end first to line up the exhausts, slowly work the chassis backwards until aligned then bring the front end up and use the 2nd screw provided at the front end to eventually hold everything in place, no glue is required to assemble it initially.

Now I'm ready to mask up the cabin / engine for body work and painting

#13 - 09/09/2026

So the first coats down! Phthalo blue is a very nice colour imo, has a lovely tone too it. But while the top got some for shading mostly later only the very bottom of the chassis and inside wheel arch area's remain this blue. Tomorrow when fully dry the bottom chassis gets masked off and the 2nd blue shade goes on 🙂

#14 - 10/09/2026

So today it was time to mask up the centre chassis bottom area as per the original cartoon style, given all the extra details the kit has like chassis bars and such made masking a simple oblong a more complex task lol.

Once done I used an old masking roll as a grab ring for painting and simply masked it down further for support, that went into my mini vice and now I have an anchored but mobile setup.

The 2nd coat is AMMO's mig Sky Line Blue (FS3520/A.MIG-0224) which went down an absolute treat. This is the perfect 2nd matching tone for the lower body area which is always in a "shadow effect". I have to say I'm quite a fan of this paint. So now I wait again so I can mask off the lower body area and then its the special

For reference on the paint scheme.. I'm not doing the normal white - at all 😲 , I know right lol.

The original creators did indeed in an interview state the body was always dark blue, the lower body was intended to be sky blue and the top most as light metallic blue which imo is even better. It'll look fantastic under the RGB's of the diorama end piece and a true nod to the show!

#15 - 11/09/2026

so "Light metallic blue" on the top not white is the last step. The cartoon couldn't show that colour and the movie did plain white. So I guess I'm in unknown waters. All I can say is obviously the top colour is a clear tone different to the last being lighter. So I'll stick to that.

So 2 test pots. One using my original metallic blue (A) / The 2nd (B) using Army painter Elven armor as a base.

Both with extra added Mica metal flake / silver for tone and white to dilute brightness closer to white.

Between them is the engine cover matching the car so contrast. At the moment I'm leaning toward B as the correct tone I want. However both lack enough reflectiveness for me atm, so we'll see.

#16 - 11/09/2026

next phase is masking up the whole 2nd tone on lower body. I decided to help brighten the tone of the top I'd first address so highlighting on panels, joins around doors and gaps etc to suit the effect I want. It'll need one further white mist coat to block in the body but then its blue time again

#18 - 13/09/2026

so later on last night I had finished the white coat blocking and masked up ready for apply mica blue with a brush before a single lacquer coat to seal it.

#19 - 13/09/2026

so now we're getting into last stages. Here's the body drying after the mica application. Once dry I can pull the remainder of the masking tape off the body and chassis so it can all be sprayed equally at once.

#20 - 13/09/2026

You may also notice I moved the grab ring to the top before hand as I need access to the whole body. Here we finally get to see the 3 colours tones together and we never seen this on TV because well.. analogue broadcast resolution was low

#21 - 13/09/2026

getting into end game phase, back of the engine bay inside requires a tidy up against metallic around it.. fun. The exhaust tips also require turning back to stainless colour on the tips from the body spray. After which its fit chrome parts, fit the clear parts and wheels go on for final detailing

#22 - 14/09/2026

finally all assembled - bottom view of the darker chassis tone in the same pattern as the original cartoon