Diaclone - Fairlady Z Racing Type (AKA Smokescreen) - Added 14/08/2021
A little restoration project that I got hold of recently for a very reasonable price.
He arrived with me in a bit of a sorry state, and had suffered the same fate as many of his brothers, a weak-spot in the design (where the panel holding his head meets the windscreen) had snapped, consequently his head had fallen off plus the panel behind and the roof had detached.
On a more positive note all the pieces were included (except for one screw) and he was otherwise in pretty nice condition with almost all his original stickers, minus the ‘RR’ Real & Robo sticker from the broken panel above.
Fortunately, I had a pretty good idea of how to fix him. Making an improvised wooden jig out of an ice lolly stick and blu-tack, I attached the broken parts back together with some jb-weld 2-part adhesive. After giving the glue a good 24 hrs to set I started the re-assembly. Replacing the missing screws and adding an extra dab of glue to help secure them.
The following day with everything securely attached, it was time to replace the missing ‘RR’ (Real & Robo) sticker on the back of his head. After a bit of searching I managed to find a decent reference photo from which I could photoshop a replacement. I printed out my repro sticker on some adhesive-backed paper and finally put it in place.
So he was now essentially repaired, but sadly lacking his trademark shoulder launchers and other accessories. Luckily I already had some missiles, a rifle and even a dianaut pilot, but I had to track down those distinctive white launchers.
A few trips to ebay later and I found a matching pair transformers g1 smokescreen launchers in the US, for a surprisingly decent price even with import charges. These are probably as close a match as I’m going to get, so I placed the order and just over a week later and they had arrived here in the UK and it was time to accessorise!
So here he is in all his glory, ‘Diaclone Fairlady Z Racing Type’ repaired and complete. Another rewarding project done on a budget and yet another figure I did not expect to own.
