I've temperarily had to sit aside the crane that i'm scratchbuilding (see topic - Chassis help) due to a friends birthday present being put on my work bench. He's a turbo nut and as such his missus has bought a 1/24 scale Nissan Skyline GT-R Z-Tune (that apparently means it's special).

Now, having been born with the curse of attention to detail i've bought the Photo etch upgrades for it and also the engine kit from another company due to the fact that the original kit was just a curbside model. I'm trying to figure out the best way to remove the bonnet and make working hinges for it so the engine detail can be displayed.
I've seen this done with a car boot once where the builder used wire bent to the required shape and then fixed it that way but i cant remember where i saw that article.

Has anyone else seen this article or even better, have you done it yourself and if so can you give me some pointers please?

I haven't seen the feature you mentioned...

Removing the bonnet is easy enough. Use a scibe tool (or the back of sharp hobby knife) and scape through the predone panel line. This method removes plastic and does not 'push/mush' or warp the plastic out of shape.

Question - does the PE set have bonnet hinges? I would think (from what I've seen) the Nissan would have stamped steel hinges (flat not wire).

I would imagine you could fashion a piece of wire or brass into a "C" with little 'flaps' on either end. With the C part perpendicular to the ground and running front to back of the car bend the flaps parallel to the ground. Glue the front end flap to the hood. Then fashion a 'flap' holder that you would mount over the back end C flap and fix to the firewall of the back end of the engine compartment.

Yup, the Z tune is a specially Nismo prepared Skyline GTR with a tickled engine ( 500 bhp) , upgraded brakes and newly designed biturbo with intercooler. Originally only available in Japan for 1.5 million Yen.

Now as for the hood.. well, it's a tuner car... so why not get creative ? You can do scissor doors or suicide doors, split hood, or a hood that opens sideways or whatnot.

Tamiya does have an upgrade set ( with PE, carpets and stickers ) but that doesn't include an engine and such ( but then again, it does include a metal exhaust pipe ).

Thanks for you help, The PE set doesnt have hinges, it comes with the assumption that you will just continue to build the kit as a curbside kit. The engine kit i bought was made by Aoshima, i've made the required mods for the engine to fit (removed the existing sump and transmission, made and moulded a new tunnel etc), i'm now in the process of making making the interior of the engine bay (firewall, inner guards etc).

Progress pic's have been taken and once finished, i'll post pics / details of how i went with the conversion.