1:24 Nissan HN12 Pulsar Exa '83

Nissan HN12 Pulsar EXA 1983 in 1:24 scale from Aoshima

An injection-molded plastic kit of the compact Nissan Pulsar EXA coupe with the internal designation HN12 in 1:24 scale. The model comes from Aoshima of Japan, which regularly takes ordinary Japanese cars of the 1980s into its range. The kit is meant to be glued and painted, and the contents of the package and the number of parts are not stated here.

The real subject

The Pulsar EXA came about as a coupe derived from the compact Pulsar range of the N12 generation of the early 1980s. Against the hatchback it received a separate, markedly wedge-shaped nose with pop-up headlights and a lower silhouette, but technically it kept the transverse engine and front-wheel drive. On export markets the same car was sold under the names Nissan EXA and Pulsar NX. The design with pop-up headlights, flat surfaces and narrow tail lights is a typical example of Japanese production of the first half of the 1980s.

Building and painting tips

Finish the chassis and interior assembly before you close the body up. Use a thin plastic cement on the joints, applied into the seam with a brush. Sand the body, spray a filler primer and lay the paint on in several thin coats, so that the fine edges and the fender lips are not filled in. With the pop-up headlights, try dry in advance how the parts line up and decide whether you will build them closed or raised. Apply the decals onto a gloss base and seal them with clear at the end.

Who the model is for

• admirers of Japanese compacts and coupes of the 1980s
• modelers who collect less usual cars away from the mainstream of sports cars
• builders with basic experience of painting car bodies
• collectors building a series of cars in a single 1:24 scale

The model is supplied unassembled and unpainted. Glue, paints and accessories are not included in the package, unless stated otherwise.