43 replies to this topic

[seeker589]

I found these recently.

For Inspiration:

[Peter Lombardo]

I found these recently.

For Inspiration:

Thanks Guys!!! I have, copied to my hard drive, just about every picture taken of the R8 GT3's, but I can always use more. I noticed when looking at the variants of the race cars, almost all of them look a little different. They seem to all have unique features....so I am incorporating the design que's that I like into mine since it is a phantom version.

[made007]

Thanks....I used two putty's on this one. The gray is the Worlds Best Putty, Tamiya....very hard to find in the USA any more.....a friend in Japan gets it for me, and the green is Squadron Green putty. It is also available in white too. They are the same, as far as I can tell....I only got the green tube, because last time I used the white putty and I just felt like using the green stuff. It works fine, but remember, it shrinks up as it hardens so you need to allow for that. The Tamiya stuff does too, but not so much. I generally use Bondo, two part body filler for the bigger stuff. It does not shrink and it dries very quickly and is easy to grind and sand.

I did not need to use it here because I was not doing large modifications to this car.

I use all of the putty types for different uses. Bondo for big stuff, Squadron, or a similar putty for medium size jobs because it is inexpensive and easy to find. and Tamiya for only the "fine tuning" and small areas because it is very fine grain and difficult to get.

i use bondo too, but i asked because that putty looks very hard to sand, but thanks for the help, ill keep an eye on this one

[Peter Lombardo]

We ( yes, I have a mouse in my pocket) are nowhere near done with this one, but I wanted to post an update on the paint scheme that I came up with on the “imaginary” Audi R8 GT3 I am doing. I say imaginary, even though Audi does race GT3 cars, because my version is a compilation of a number of features from many different cars, seemingly, no two exactly alike, and a completely fictitious paint scheme. If you look back on this post you will see the body modifications I made….but this post is the basic paint and sponsorship decorations.

I started with a basic Audi silver paint scheme….after all, this is Audi, it is a German car and the German national racing paint scheme was always silver.
Over the top of the silver I added a coat of Dupli-color Clear Effex which is a clear gloss with tiny brilliant “glitter” flecks to make the silver “pop” with brightly colored highlights in the sun. The effect is not over the top…in normal light it is just a silver race car.

I spent a considerable amount of time on the various Japanese model sites of internet retailers of decals looking for the basic sponsor decals I wanted to use on this car. I finally settled on a set of decals for the sponsor Jagermeister. I have done a number of race cars with the Jagermeister livery, and still have the 1/24th scale BMW 320i and the 1/12th Porsche 934 both by Tamiya to build one of these days. All of the “Jager” cars have that distinctive orange paint scheme and I do like it, but I wanted to do a different take on that…..because, after all, this is an imaginary race car.

I ordered a set of “Jager” decals from Museum Collection intended for an Alfa Romeo 155V6Ti
(I built the Tamiya version of this car years ago) and I have to tell you guys the quality of these decals is completely first rate. They are smooth, cleanly printed and thin but opaque enough to cover any color under them….they are great. Once these decals arrived, I had to settle on a paint scheme to work with the silver and the “Jager” decals. I wanted to play off the juxtaposition of the “Old European” style lettering of the Jagermeister name and logo and a more modern look to the paint. I wanted silver as the dominant color but I need to get the orange in there too. I thought about a two tone scheme with silver and orange, and almost went for that but I just couldn’t pull the trigger on it,

It was then that I was looking at a few old tuner magazines that my son had….do you think he got them for the hot babes in bathing suits since he drives a Jeep Wrangler….not exactly a tuner machine????? Anyway, they reminded me of the current trend of bright graphics laid over the base color. Some of them are shards of colors, some have tribal designs, but they all have that “random” feel about them. I thought about how this old style logos and realized that this was just what I wanted. But I was not sure of what kind of graphics to use. I knew I wanted Orange as one of the colors, but I figured I could use Red and Yellow too as they create orange when mixed together. So I had the colors, now I needed the pattern.

I gave this some thought and decided I wanted the look of “splattered paint” on the car. And better yet, I wanted it to look like the car just drove through puddles of paint on the track and the paint was splashing up onto the car. I spoke to my brother who is a sign maker and has computer programs that have “clipart” of many effects. He showed me some great clipart effects of splatter artwork. There must have been a hundred or more patterns in every imaginable size and shape. I chose two patterns and we “manipulated them to fit the size and shape I wanted. He then broke them apart and made layers so I could set up the three colors I wanted. I then had him create drop shadows for each of the thousands of “splats” to make it look like the paint splatter was just above the paint. The shadow was placed just below and behind depending upon the placement of the decal on the car. Then, he applied a really neat effect to the splatter droplets to give them even more depth which incorporates different color highlights to each of the three main colors.

Once completed, we printed the three decal patterns, from top down here, center, left and right onto a sheet of clear decal paper. Here the decals are printed on the decal paper which is a bluish white color…..but when the decals are taken off the paper, they take on a translucent look which when applied over silver create a “candy” look which is really cool. Here the left side is done and the right side decal is setting next to the car.
Here you can see the candy effect and even see some of the glitter coming through the decal to heighten the glow.

In this shot the center layer has been applied to the car…so all of the first layers of color graphs are in place…

I applied the decals in just three sections, each section going on “whole”. I have to tell you, it was tedious and time consuming but I think worth the effort. In doing my Viper with the snakeskin decal pattern I learned to go very easy with the decal solvent so I used it sparingly this time. I only used it when the decal was firmly in place and only in the more difficult locations where there were many curves and crevasses to deal with. I applied the solvent with a Q-Tip and used the Q-Tip to masseuse the decal into place at the point of application. My best two weapons for getting the decals down are a very sharp knife blade to cut the decal where necessary and my trusty hair dryer. Since I don’t have much hair anymore, I have found a great use for the old appliance. It softens the decal with heat and the air pressure forces the decal down to the curves of the body….and as an extra bonus, the heat helps evaporate the liquid under the decal to speed up the entire process. Once this was all dry, I began the sponsor decals.

I originally debated with myself as to whether I wanted the sponsor decals under, over or a little of each the graphics. But I figured if a sponsor was going to lay out large sums of money to advertise on a race car, they would not appreciate a set of graphic covering their logos so I opted to place them over the graphic. Here is the front view….
And the rear view..

In this shot ( a little bigger) you can see the wheels I am using for this car…. My goal here was to have the splatter effect look as if the paint was on the track, as I said before, so I have the center graphic coming up out of the nose grille air outlet and sweeping up over the car and the sides begin at the front radiator openings and flow down the sides. I love it. Once this was all dry, I brushed on a layer of Future to help seal all of the decals and give the car a consistent shine.

I lifted these from the Tamiya Opal Astra V8 Coupe race car kit (it is an extra kit of that car I have). I painted the wheels with a very bright silver and then brush painted on Testers Brass over the spokes. The decals came from a great set of tire sponsor decals I ordered from Japan also. I painted on some gloss lacquer to the tire side wall, once dry I applied the decal for Michelin. Once that was dry, I brushed on some flat clear over the whole tire side wall to make it a consistent flat sheen.

Next I will fit all of the little details to the body like the road lights to the grille up front, the taillights in the back and the headlight covers which are painted translucent yellow. The tow hooks and windshields go on along with the large rear carbon fiber wing and the interior will be completed and installed. This is the second mate to the Viper I did. Next up is the Corvette ZR1 phantom GT3 and just added to the list is a Ford GT GT3 variant. Both the Corvette and the Ford GT will have unique graphics….exactly what I don’t know yet…but they will be different, I can say that.

[Albert Moore]

Hi Peter,
Well, I think I'll go put my box stock R8 back in its box and come back when I'm all grown up. That is awesome looking! The body mods look amazing, as does the paint and graphics. I look forward to seeing this baby done up in its entirety.

Cheers,
Albert

[sjordan2]

That multi-level decal approach looks like it might be useful for creating engine-turned patterns over silver and chrome surfaces.

[Jim Gibbons]

That is totally, completely, wholly, awesome! Jagermeister distillers should see this thread if they sponsor a car. Wow.

[jeffs396]

Impressive as usual Peter!!!

[LAone]

i like this project a lot. i really like the paint splatter decals over the silver.
keep up the great work.

[Tony T]

Fantastic Peter...love the splatter pattern!

[mookie]

WOW, amazing, I love the R8, and the GT3 is even better. Earlier I was thinking about modifying the R8 I just bought. Now I have some inspiration. Good job man. looking killer.

[curt raitz]

[/quote]

Gosh this is really lookin' great, I love it!

My initial response when I saw the car with just the "splatter decal" was oh-oh Peter's lost it!
but the "Jagermeister" logo decals really pulls the paint scheme together...any Jagermeister client would be proud to cheer this car around the track...
congrats on your anniversary, my wife of 20 years is also very supportive of my vices...modeling and golf as well

just picked up one of the Revell of Germany's DTM Audi's, nice kit

catch ya later...

[Adam144]

That looks great so far! You have a lot of patience to do the multi-layer decals like that.

[58 Impala]

Wow nice job- ever thought about resin casting a conversion kit for the masses?

[Clay]

Great job as usual, Peter.

[IMSANUT]

Very cool project. And I'f love to see the Viper ACR club racer. I just picked up the Scale Auto slot body so I can convert the Revell R8 to the GT3 version. Very well done body kit BTW.

[nate47]

Wow...thats impressive! I love the graphics!

[GoatGuy]

Looks great.

[bryan_m]

i gotta tell ya, that is some great bodywork Peter! way more than i have patience for! and the decals and paint work look really good so far. keep up the awesome work!

cheers
bryan

[Intmd8r]

Wow! I'm not an Audi fan, but this is a dang nice build. I love the livery layout.