Revell Audi R8

[70 Sting]

Good Afternoon,

I photographed the completed Audi R8 this weekend. It was painted with Tamiya FS Primer Light Grey, AK Black Base, AK Xtreme Metal Copper and clear coated with Tamiya X-22 Clear. The rims were primed and base coated the same as the body and painted with AK Xtreme Gun Metal. 

Interior is Tamiya Flat Black and a custom mixed saddle (homemade brown + Tamiya XF-3 Flat Yellow). The flat black was very flat so I coated it with Tamiya X-35 Semi Gloss Clear. The embossing powder is Ranger Marigold purchased from Amazon. 

What I learned from this build: 

1.  Plastic does not like lacquer thinner (probably obvious to many, but I'm still figuring things out). I wasn't happy with the way the hatch/rear engine cover turned out because I sprayed it independently from the body. My usual paint stripper (LA's Totally Awesome) wouldn't remove the AK Copper so I upped the hotness... bad idea. I tried to scratch build a new one with less than great results. I avoided photographing the car from angles that show the poor fit. I may try again.

2.  Not sure I like dipping glass parts in Pledge - it looks great at first but tends to pool just a little due to gravity and doesn't like to be handled afterward as fingers leave faint, cloudy smudges (maybe it's just me).

3.  Make sure to paint the interior floor pan the same colour as the embossing powder.

4.  Double check bottle labels!!  I tried Tamiya's Mark Fit Strong for the first time. I had a little air/dust bubble under the carbon fibre decal (behind the gas cap) so I poked a little hole in it and applied what I thought was the decal solution... Tamiya Extra Thin Cement is pretty tough on decals. 🥴

5.  Regular Elmer's white glue does a pretty nice job on clear parts... just have to apply a little more.

6.  This was the first time I painted rims and I think I will continue going forward.

7.  I still don't like AK's Black Base... it just doesn't cover very well or lay super flat (in my novice opinion).

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading. 🙂

[happy grumpy]

And yet despite all this, you got a beautiful model, nicely photographed. The color fits that car well. As for lacquer on plastic. Unless it is a lacquer made for plastic, you might want to use a good primer, personally I tried many and settled with Tamiya primers , they cover well and the lay very smooth. I had a few instances where no matter what I used the finish would look like a partial rough texture would appear and no mater how you sand it would keep appearing. Only after using sand able thick primer was I able to get rid of it. This happened exclusively on Revell models. Now I don't know, may this was a bad batch of plastic or they used a different type of styrene but it happened at least on 4 models. Never had that problem on any other manufacturer. But since then, no problem with recent Revell kits. Go figure.

And the wheels look real, I would say ; mission accomplished.

 

[ChrisR]

LOOKS GREAT!!

[bbowser]

That's really nice, great color.

[Zippi]

Nice looking Audi.  that's a good looking color.  Very clean looking build.  Nice job.

[Dragonhawk1066]

Well done all around! Great looking interior!

[Chuckyg1]

Very mean looking thanks to your color choice. I build this kit a few years back. It pales in comparison to yours. Beautiful build.

[BVC500]

Nice clean work and I agree with others on the color scheme!

[grodudulle77]

Very nice build !! 👍😀

[70 Sting]

18 hours ago, happy grumpy said:

And yet despite all this, you got a beautiful model, nicely photographed. The color fits that car well. As for lacquer on plastic. Unless it is a lacquer made for plastic, you might want to use a good primer, personally I tried many and settled with Tamiya primers , they cover well and the lay very smooth. I had a few instances where no matter what I used the finish would look like a partial rough texture would appear and no mater how you sand it would keep appearing. Only after using sand able thick primer was I able to get rid of it. This happened exclusively on Revell models. Now I don't know, may this was a bad batch of plastic or they used a different type of styrene but it happened at least on 4 models. Never had that problem on any other manufacturer. But since then, no problem with recent Revell kits. Go figure.

And the wheels look real, I would say ; mission accomplished.

 

I used regular hardware store lacquer thinner. It removed the enamel paint, base coat and primer quickly... unfortunately it then proceeded to melt the plastic. 

I have soaked other parts in LA's Totally Awesome and it removed acrylic paint without stripping Tamiya's primer. 🙂 Works on chrome as well, though it doesn't really remove the adhesive. 

I agree with your assessment of Tamiya Fine Surface Primer, it goes on super smooth. So much so that I switched to sanding the body with finer grit paper to avoid deeper scratches.

[Hi-Po]

Nicely done, neat and clean.  I love the color.

[Plowboy]

Very nice looking Audi! I like the different color you went with. It suits it well! 

[Dominik]

10 hours ago, Plowboy said:

Very nice looking Audi! I like the different color you went with. It suits it well! 

what Roger says. i like it a lot!

[nyguy]

Your color choice with the carbon fibre looks fantastic.

[crazyjim]

Very nice.

[Gluebomber]

Turned out great, Harry.  Really nice work.

Thanks for the lessons you learned the hard way.  Here's one from my experience - Tamiya White Surface Putty DOES NOT work well as a polishing compound!

[Safire6]

Very nice, looks like the real thing! Great photography also!

[espo]

Beautiful looking paint finish and the color also looks good on this body style. Nice clean looking Carbon Fiber side panels. The interior looks real sharp and your painted wheel look far better than the kit chrome. You mentioned a problem using Pledge on the windows. Not sure how you are mounting the parts  when dipping but try a light touch of a paper towel along the bottom edge as the Pledge drips down. The towel will draw the excess Pledge away from the part.      

[70 Sting]

11 hours ago, Gluebomber said:

Turned out great, Harry.  Really nice work.

Thanks for the lessons you learned the hard way.  Here's one from my experience - Tamiya White Surface Putty DOES NOT work well as a polishing compound!

That's a good one, too. 🤭

[70 Sting]

7 hours ago, espo said:

You mentioned a problem using Pledge on the windows. Not sure how you are mounting the parts  when dipping but try a light touch of a paper towel along the bottom edge as the Pledge drips down. The towel will draw the excess Pledge away from the part.      

Thanks espo. I did use paper towel to wick the excess off - I guess it just took a little longer for gravity to do its thing. I know the airplane guys use this method religiously on their canopies.

I also airbrushed Pledge on the body of a previous build, the same thing happened - very minor pooling along a bottom edge. Kinda hard to see in the photos, perhaps I applied it a little heavy with the airbrush in this case.

1932 Chrysler Imperial 8

[RAMBENNA]

wow fabulous build everything is awesome, great color and great pictures

[bisc63]

Very good use of color on this one. Well done!

[slusher]

Excellent looking Audi…

[Funkychiken]

its a great looking build! I did find some of your lessons learnt familiar, although the glue on the decal made me LOL - shouldn't really, as it probably annoyed you at the time. one of the calipers seems in the wrong orientation, but those wheels look great sprayed. I've never seen a kit clear coated with X22, I thought that was a mixer for making flat base paint clear...! I live and learn as it looks good as a clear coat.

[MikeyB08]

Novice? You’re being modest. 🤪 Looks amazing!!