Winter 2024 Model Contest

Inspiration 

In reply to VolvoHeretic :

Can you adjust the diameter of the existing wheels?  Maybe even trim the inside and add a hub cap.  Looks like you need a lathe or some spinning, cutting apparatus. 

So this is around an hour and a half of work over the last couple of days.  I've been trying to take my time and also think through what might need to be painted before more assembly.  The engine is just sitting in place, there's some more detail to be added and I want to paint it and the frame before I set it in place permanently.  I shot some primer on everything and on the remaining detail parts for the engine while I was at it and pre-painted the wheels the lower body color.  So far so good.

In reply to 11GTCS :

I'm liking what I see here. That is a nice mold, I wish they did subjects I want to build.

Need some help from the pros.  Do you need to use reducer and hardner with Tamiya acrylic paints?  I know how to paint and understand paint composition from painting bikes for years and Holy E36 M3 this crap is more solvent than any lacquer I've ever touched.  I can't cover primer with it lol.  I've gotta be doing something wrong. 

In reply to RonnieFnD :

Tamiya bottle acrylics I use with a brush straight out of the bottle. With an airbrush they need only about 15% of the specific Tamiya thinner. I have not tried the bottled "lacquer" yet. I use their rattle can lacquer primer and colors. Airbrush I usually use automotive acrylic lacquer on top of Tamiya rattle can primer. Save all your body shop dregs! Many base coat systems are compatible with tamiya rattle cans, but not all of them. Tamiya rattle cans are very solvent to each other. A wet clear coat across a mask line will cause blending. No hardeners.

In reply to TurnerX19 :

Yea this brush on acrylic is super hot, you can wait to fully dry and still melt a base coat with it.   I imagine it's just a learning curve but I'm honestly not impressed so far.  This is why is started with two models so I could berkeley one up learning lol.

In reply to RonnieFnD :

You absolutely get only one pass with a brush, don't thin it, bring a little out onto the lid and let it evaporate some and work the viscosity that way. The beauty of it is that you can blend colors on the part using small ice cube trays to hold multiple colors simultaneously, and go back to shade it later by working in a little darker tint in. The rattle cans are an entirely different solvent/vehicle, and they are not cross compatible. Just recently they have started marketing some of the rattle can lacquers in bottle for the airbrush folks. I will try them soon, but I have so much saved antique body shop dregs that I need a specific reason to buy color, and I pick subjects to use the paints I have...."1990 Ford Electric Currant Pearlcoat" is in frequent rotation because I have a pint of DuPont (remember them?) base coat....

I think it might be disaster averted.   The orange is a thin solvent mess but the flat aluminum has solids in it to stir up and make paint with, covers really good too.  Luckily the only orange is the engine block so it will be barely visible. 

They're are quite a few shades of orange in the Tamiya line, one of which is deliberately transparent for turn signal lenses. The flats airbrush straight from the bottle with high air pressure and very small paint orifice. 

Finally some progress on the "Ford Econobox". Tamiya rattle cans all the way. Gray prime, white prime, "Camel Yellow" 3 dusty dry coats of "Pearl Clear" and, so far, 3 coats of regular clear, getting wetter by the coat with a tiny bit of 2000 grit sanding between coats. Also starting engine room details with a 5.0 style intake made from sprue bits. Reffering to Savarash's Pinto build for details on that. 

So this has been a great learning experience.  This MPC kit I picked up as a practice kit because it looks cool is a TON of work.   Nothing fits, casting flash on everything,  holes drilled the wrong size, you name it and it's pretty bad lol.  That being said, I'm having fun and learning what to watch out for and what I can do better moving forward.  I think this will be the 4/1 entry because it's taking quite a bit of sanding/trimming/drilling to make things fit.   I gotta touch up a lot of paint I messed up with tweezers holding parts.

In reply to RonnieFnD :

I completed my first model at age 5 in 1957, won my first judged contest around 1979, and I am still learning new techniques. The next model is almost always better than the previous model. You did pick a tough one. Not only was the mold poor, but it has seen many "shots", the molding industry term. Flash is frequently from poor mold maintenance too. If you want to build a kit in one night and have a very real looking piece, the Tamiya Lotus Seven will stun you after fighting with MPC.

So I prime....then I sand and trim off flash.  Then I lightly paint...then sand and trim off more flash.  Once I get a lil paint on things it makes it stand out and easier to get rid of.  There is just a metric E36 M3 ton of it.

The only thing that makes most MPC kits look good is IMC/Pryo/Lindberg stuff.

I found one exception:  the Kaiser Jeep CJ-5 that was sold as Daisy Duke's Jeep in one of it's many releases. It has great detail and fits together like something Tamiya made. I felt like I was working in a parallel universe when building that one.

ddavidv said:

The only thing that makes most MPC kits look good is IMC/Pryo/Lindberg stuff.

I found one exception:  the Kaiser Jeep CJ-5 that was sold as Daisy Duke's Jeep in one of it's many releases. It has great detail and fits together like something Tamiya made. I felt like I was working in a parallel universe when building that one.

I think I'm going to have to swear off MPC from now on.   I'll have all of the chassis and running gear painted today.  Should all be assembled except for some details like spark plug wires and brake lines, I'm digging thru the shop for some stuff to use for that.   Looking at the body scares me, it's gonna take forever to try to correct all of the molding issues it has.

I swore off of MPC/AMT kits a long time ago. If you want a fun, not very frustrating build, you can't go wrong with Tamiya. Hasegawa, Fujimi, and Aoshima also make some very good kits; call them a small step down from Tamiya. They still have a few stinkers, mostly in their older kits, and they can be more expensive than AMT/MPC.

Hopefully this week I'm going to crank up one of my Dead Milkmen albums to 11 and build this Monogram Camaro. I have some different wheels I'm going to try to adapt.

In reply to BenB :

I see what you did there cranking up to 11 while building your bitchin camaro.

I cranked up the paint work yesterday. Every safety car during the Bathurst 12 hour was timed well for a coat of something. After white prime we have Tamiya Camel Yellow with 3 pearl clear and 4 gloss clear. Barring disaster that is the last exterior paint. Polish out waits till final assembly, the body and chassis have been separated for all inner details. The yellow shade burns out the photos, only the bonnet pic is color correct.

Mine's still in the box...

solfly said:

Mine's still in the box...

OP is killing it.

You good DJ?

Here's where I am as of this afternoon.  The chassis is pretty much done and I put the pickup bed together today.  Next will be the interior and then priming the bed, cab, interior and hood.  So far so good.

In reply to preach :

All good! Working, coaching sports, working on 1:1 rigs, being a dad and husband! I'll open it soon!

My progress has been pathetic. But, there's been progress.

Upside is I did get the 1:1 rear axle housing and brake backing plates repainted for my Falcon. New seals installed. Ordered leaf springs. All distractions that have my model build begging for attention.