9 replies to this topic

[Brendan]

Here's a picture of my LMM Pescarolo C60-JUDD Le Mans 2006. I just finished it today. The body is Tamiya spray paint, decanted and airbrushed, and Alclad Polished Aluminum for the shiny bits. It took me about 3 weeks to build. I would recommend this kit for those who are interested in this type of car. Feel free to make comments.  Pescaroli.jpg   210.56K   43 downloads

[lizardlust]

Phenomenal paint and decal work, Brendan!! Do you clearcoat over your decals, and, if so, what brand of clear do you use?

[Zoom Zoom]

Looks great

I've seen this kit in person; a friend was given one with LMM's prepainted body. Pretty decent paintjob they had, but the green areas weren't too great. Perhaps he can race-weather it and nobody will notice

[Brendan]

Phenomenal paint and decal work, Brendan!! Do you clearcoat over your decals, and, if so, what brand of clear do you use?

Thank you for your comment.

Yes, I do clearcoat my decals. On this kit, I used Floquil Crystal-Cote (train) Part #F110004. They have a tendency to mislabel their bottles. The paint should be clear with no yellow tinge to it. It sometimes gets mixed in with the high gloss they produce. The high gloss has a yellow tinge. I've only had one problem with the clearcoat hurting the decals which were from a company called Indycals. It wrinkled the decals. After it's dried you can wet sand it and buff it. Just make sure that you spray light covering coats. I usually put 2 to 3 coats on, one day between each coat. I usually sand the 1st coat.

Edited by Brendan, 03 September 2007 - 06:26 AM.

[Harry P.]

I don't know much about those types of cars, so pardon the stupid question...

But aren't the graphics on the real cars vinyl stickers applied on top of the paint? Or are they painted on? If they're stickers, wouldn't it be more accurate to NOT clearcoat the decals?

[Brendan]

Looks great

I've seen this kit in person; a friend was given one with LMM's prepainted body. Pretty decent paintjob they had, but the green areas weren't too great. Perhaps he can race-weather it and nobody will notice

The green was a problem area for me too. It's tricky trying to tape up the roll hoops. I ended up using Tamiya's TS-22 (light green), The paint matched the decals pretty well until I put the clear over it. The green darkened. It's hardly noticeable but when it's in direct light, you can see the difference between the paint and the decal. The instructions call for a florescent green, but none of the florescent greens matched the decals very well. They were either too bright or too dark. If I do this kit again, I plan to paint the green decals so that way, it's a definite match.

[Brendan]

I don't know much about those types of cars, so pardon the stupid question...

But aren't the graphics on the real cars vinyl stickers applied on top of the paint? Or are they painted on? If they're stickers, wouldn't it be more accurate to NOT clearcoat the decals?

You are correct in that they do use vinyl decals on the 1 to 1 cars. And sometimes they are painted on. The reason they use vinyl is that it cuts down on the weight of the car. The vinyl is almost half the weight of what paint would be. But they do wax their cars heavily so you can hardly tell that the decals are not actually painted.

The only reason why I clearcoat is to prevent the decals from being damaged. Plus it's easier to clean if dust gets on it. But if you do put light coats, you can get it to look like it's not clearcoated.

There are no stupid questions! I'm hoping I can get you interested in these types of cars. I do race cars cause I can never get a perfect paint job. I can hide my mistakes with decals.

[ismaelg]

Nice as usual Brendan! Very nice scheme.

[Peter Lombardo]

Beautiful job....the paint looks great. When I got back into car modeling, after a 10 year side trip to HO train land, I built only race cars. I was a Tamiya snob. I built many of the 1/20 F1's and Group C cars. I still have a weak spot for race cars in my heart and after seeing this one, I might just have to do a few more. I also struggled with whether to clear coat the decals or not. I see both sides of the story, more often then not, I also clear coated them with the logic being that they were better protected under the clear, less chance of coming up on the edges over time. Anyway, nice job on a tricky paint scheme.

[Brendan]

Thank you for the comments. My next projects are a Kramer K8 Porsche and a Street Cheetah. So keep an eye out for new posts.