The most exotic of Italian Exotics

[beeRS]

Fantastic work on the carbon fibre.

[mrm]

12 hours ago, beeRS said:

Fantastic work on the carbon fibre.

Thank you Sonny. 

Thinking that I want to do three more Paganis. My back hurts just thinking about it. LOL

[Mopar - D]

Michael it’s amazing the craftsmanship and the patience that you have. It shows in every picture of your model. Looking forward to seeing your next updates. 

[mrm]

6 hours ago, Mopar - D said:

Michael it’s amazing the craftsmanship and the patience that you have. It shows in every picture of your model. Looking forward to seeing your next updates. 

Thank you Dan.

The updates will slow down a little, because of paint and mostly my wife being fed up with me taking over any available flat surface in the house and spending more time with my model than with her. 🤪 You know how it goes - Happy wife, happy life. Gotta keep the balance. 

[mrm]

Yesterday I went to my "local" hobby shop. Read driving 50 miles through traffic to visit a shop that is 95% RC. However, every once in a while they amaze me with some products, exactly because they are mostly RC oriented. Like for example, who knew that Tamiya makes these packs of 8.5X11 sheets of fine masking tape? And to top it off they make two different kinds- plain and one with printed measuring squares to help keep things squared off, centered or symmetrical. AND they are printable, which meant you can print on them and then cut following the lines. I found they work great for window masks. Aoshima provides masks in the kit for all the windows, but for one side only- the inside. The windows of the Huayra tho, have these ridges on the outside, which are rubber on the real car. So I used my newfound masking sheets to cut me masks for the outside, which allowed me to paint both sides and have those rubber ridges. 

 

I love the result.

 

From the shop I also got some really nice Tamiya vinyl masking tape. It comes in 2mm, 3mm and 5mm widths. Purfect for curves and complicated shapes. Very stretchy. 

 

So, first grey primer went on and then it got lightly sanded with 2500 sandpaper. Then a white basecoat was sprayed. In this case the base for Bianco Fuji. It's a Ferrari color, which is actually a tri-coat. so after the base, a pearl white candy gets sprayed and you end up with an amazing pearl white. It's like a $65 000 option on Ferraris. I've built quite few models in that color.

 

Here tho, I decided that I wanted a more "crisp" white metallic, so I will not be following with the Bianco Fuji midcoat, but I will be topping it with Tamiya's Pearl White. However, first a thin blue stripe was masked off at the bottom of the doors and the rear hood. Same Mica Blue paint was used as under the carbon, but it looks a lot brighter without the decals over it.

 

Such stripe is very popular option and can be seen on quite few Huayras. It creates a line in contrasting color, following the character line of the edge of the rear hood, continuing to the door and disappearing on the bottom behind the front wheel. It picks up again shortly in front of the wheel and around the sides of the front bumper, disappearing on top of the front grille.

 

Tomorrow, the blue line will be masked and the Pearl White will be applied. Then everything will be completely unmasked and cleaned very well with soapy water and then a clear coat will be sprayed over everything. Then everything on top will be masked again, the underside will be painted gloss black, completely covered with carbon fiber and then clear coated. After that the top will be sanded to even out the edges between the different coats of paint and decals and then cleared again and sanded again to level everything and make it seamless. If lucky, I'll be able to polish it at that time and call it good. Or it may take a couple of extra cycles of clear, sand, repeat. 

Edited August 5, 2022 by mrm

[mrm]

Three things stopped me from gluing the roof on and completing my chassis/monocoque. The windows, seatbelts and the rear view mirror. 

Well, I did not research the rear view mirror on a real Huayra, but I decided it is a safe bet that it is made out of carbon fibre, so that's what I did. 

 

The detail-up set from Aoshima, interestingly enough includes two rear view mirror pieces. One photoetched and one metal transfer. I went for the metal transfer, as it is more mirror like.

 

Interestingly enough, there is no seatbelt detail whatsoever in the detail-up set. I dug into my aftermarket stash and found it amusing that the only seatbelt material I had left from who-knows-when was white and blue. HA!. I contemplated over white seatbelts over the seats bolsters or blue ones behind the sets. I decided to go with the blue.

 

Opened a fresh pack of MCG seatbelt hardware that I didn't even know I had and end up with a couple of nice buckles.

 

Now we're good on safety...

I like it that the detail is there, but it is very subtle, almost unnoticeable. 

 

Next I turned my attention to some grilles. Switching from carbon fiber madness to photoetch is not much of an improvement, but it's some variety at least. 

 

What a sexy a$$ that is.....

 

So, we finally have a complete roller. Something that looks like from one of those cool picture from the Pagani factory. A new car that just needs its body panels. A naked Huayra. 

 

If you are building this model, the instructions are calling for the roof to be assembled with the bottom before many of the steps I have taken. I believe that NOT to be the best way to go about it. A perfect example why, is that little tank on the passenger side, which is supposed to be glued on way earlier in the assembly than I did it. The instructions are very vague on it and there are no marked spots or indentations on the monocoque where the piece is supposed to go. So I left it for last and placed it according to some reference photos, which also showed it had the yellow label on it. There is some extras from those on the decal sheet. 

For small add on jobs like that, I like to use Gundham markers for painting small details. In this case tank was painted with silver marker and the cap with their chrome marker, which I find to be better than Mollotow and actually slightly cheaper. And they are available in HL. 

 

The body panels are now painted Tamiya Pearl White, but they still need to be clear coated. Quite few hick-ups occurred here, but more about that next time. After the clear coat, which would be a gamble on some parts. For now just a teaser mock up...

Stay tuned and thanks for looking!

[Funkychiken]

Michael, absolutely amazing build, thanks for sharing all the tips along the way! All that bespoke carbon detailing would drive me nuts. 

[David G.]

Michael, your precision, skill and prolificacy of building continue to amaze me. The subtlety of detail you're putting into this model is truly astounding.

David G.

[mrm]

23 hours ago, Funkychiken said:

Michael, absolutely amazing build, thanks for sharing all the tips along the way! All that bespoke carbon detailing would drive me nuts. 

Thanks Atin. It drove me a little nuts too, so I am taking a little brake from it or I'll lose my mind. 

[mrm]

16 hours ago, David G. said:

Michael, your precision, skill and prolificacy of building continue to amaze me. The subtlety of detail you're putting into this model is truly astounding.

David G.

Thank you David. Altho, if you ask my wife, prolific is not a word she would use to describe me. 🤪

[mrm]

So, what happened with the Pagani......

Well, I got a little overdone on the carbon fiber and started seeing everything in striped patterns, so I needed a little break. Then I needed to paint the body panels and I wanted a little blue stripe following the curve on the bottom of the doors/hood, like on so many real ones. I decided to overcomplicate things with the paint, perhaps because I tend to overthink most things. My wife even bought me a sign long time ago to make fun of me, which I found really funny and keep on my desk. LOL

So I first painted the center of the rear hood black, then covered it with carbon, then clear coated it and masked it. Then sprayed Tamiya white primer. For the Nth time I reaffirmed I hate Tamiya white primer with a passion, as it almost ruined my part. So everything got sanded with the carbon still being masked off and sprayed with Tamiya grey primer, which for the Nth time I reaffirmed I love. Next I sprayed the bottom edges with blue and then masked it off. Finally the parts received a coat of the base coat of Bianco Fuji, followed by Tamiya Pearl White. 

The idea here was to leave the white to be the raised paint coat over everything else. Because I don't want any raised edges between the colors or between the paint and the carbon fiber, I will most likely need few coats of clear with sanding in between them to level everything off. So I wanted the carbon to be the lowest, kinda like a recess getting filled with clear to exaggerate the carbon effect. Also, if I went a little heavy on the clear and if it "pooled" slightly on the bottom edges, it would just fill in the lover coat of the blue stripe. At least that was the plan. 

What actually happened was that the masking tape scored the clear over the carbon, which freaked me out and made me walk away from the model in anger. After a day of cooling off, I very carefully wet sanded the clear over the carbon smooth (which I still don't know if it is not going to "ghost" after the next coat of clear), just to find out that I don't like how the blue lines on the hood and doors align. Mask the carbon AND the white on the doors up to shoot a slightly corrected line of blue on the bottom edge, just to find out that now it dried just a shade darker than on the hoods. So mask up the everything AGAIN and reshoot the blue to match the doors. At this point the blue stripe is as dark as the blue carbon, instead of being a contrasting brighter blue, which was the whole idea of it, rendering it pointless. But, there is no way in hell I am redoing the whole thing. At least everything matches and the lines are good. It is staying the way it is.

This brought me to the front hood and the light clusters which are at least partially carbon on the real cars. For the life of me I could not make decals line up the way I wanted and look realistic on the lights. After three failed attempts I gave up and decided to seek alternative solutions. Through trial and error I found out that the best solution would be to paint the carbon on by hand, by first painting the clusters gun metal and then painting black "stripes" with a fine point marker. It actually works quite good, except that at that point I was left with scars and spots of unremovable decal fragments on the edges of the light pods, so I had to respray pearl white to repair them. 

 

So, round two of the paint saga begins, dealing with the lights while the final coats of Rosso Barchetta dry on the Maranello and I tackle the carbon on the door panels and some other details. Hoping everything goes well, so tonight I can lay some clear on everything saving some time and airbrush cleaning, which is my most hated chore. 

Stay tuned. 

Edited August 14, 2022 by mrm

[mrm]

Good news / Bad news......

Good news is that I clear coated my body panels together with my Maranello, which was the plan.

The doors came out perfect.

 

I am fine with the front bumper, altho I forgot I wanted to install the fog lights, which fit in the horizontal blade, before clear coat, so it can seal them. No biggie... Blue carbon looks cool.

 

I am really happy with the rear. However it makes me think, how funny things work. On both pictures you can see the ghost lines of where the masking tape scored the previous clear coat. In person however, those lines are simply not there. I guess the camera lens catches light braking different than our eyes.

 

 

Bad news:

The front hood continues to fight me and to create drama. As I was spraying it, it snapped from it's mount and bounced off the floor. Luckily it landed clear coat up, but picked up trash on top of one fender. So I will have to attempt to buff the debris out, which may or may not require a new coat of pearl white. Keeping fingers crossed. 

Thanks for looking and stay tuned...

Edited August 15, 2022 by mrm

[David G.]

Wow Michael! It's quite the grand adventure that this build is leading you on!

Still, it continues to be worth the tremendous effort you're putting into it.

Well done Sir, well done!

David G.

[mrm]

Thank you, David. I appreciate the encouragement. I am definitely soldiering on. 

[Lowlife ! !]

 

Wow, I've seen many of your beautiful hot rods and customs but had no idea you build these exotic super cars !

I'm b!own away with your dedication to accuracy, I'd go crazy building this straight out the box !

Very interesting thread, amazing car, and a true testament to your model building talent !

[mrm]

1 hour ago, Lowlife ! ! said:

 

Wow, I've seen many of your beautiful hot rods and customs but had no idea you build these exotic super cars !

I'm b!own away with your dedication to accuracy, I'd go crazy building this straight out the box !

Very interesting thread, amazing car, and a true testament to your model building talent !

Thank you, Martin.

Interesting you say that. I started in the hobby with airplanes, went through my "Top Gun" and "Platoon" stages, tried a little WWII and when I started with cars it was all about tuned up exotics. Then I had my showroom stock Ferraris period, which went through Ferrari F1 period and then somehow into full Boyd Coddington swing. Then I was all about JDM tuners and then back to hot rods. Over all, I have built way more exotics than hot rods. And when I say more I mean it's like 20 to 1 ratio. I just never really showed anything but hot rods and customs, simply because the other stuff does not generate that much interest on the forums. This is also one of the reasons IMO, that the average age of modelers keeps going up, which can not be good for the hobby, but that's a whole different story. 

Edited August 15, 2022 by mrm

[Timonator]

Looking great !

[mrm]

4 hours ago, Timonator said:

Looking great !

Thank you, Tim.

[Funkychiken]

Good luck buffing! every build has some paint issue, its inevitable...

[mrm]

10 hours ago, Funkychiken said:

Good luck buffing! every build has some paint issue, its inevitable...

You are right. There are exceptions here and there, but for the most part, something usually goes sideways. 

The front fender did buff out, by the way, which I am very happy about. Now I have to repaint the headlight pods and clear it again. Keeping fingers closed for no more mishaps. 

[Kenmojr]

Nice work!!!

[mrm]

On 8/17/2022 at 5:01 PM, Kenmojr said:

Nice work!!!

Thank you.

I've been busy the last few days, but I have to get back on this before it finds itself in a forgotten box for who knows how long.

[mrm]

After over six moths hiatus  I'm back at this. I would like to have it finished by end of month, so it will have priority on "my bench" (read the dining table). 

I'm starting by finishing up the front bumper. The front splitter was glued on in all its blue carbon fiber glory. In person ou can't really see the disruption in the carbon pattern, but on the photo I see a line where the clear carbon does not quite overlap. I will have to address that. This front bumper and the splitter bellow it were covered by more than 30 separate pieces of decal to create the continuous criss cross pattern.

 

Next came the fun of installing all the photoetched metal grilles. While I was at it, I decided that it would be cool to put a "Huayra" script, where the license plate would normally go under the nose.

 

The image reminds me that I still have not installed the fog lights. I will take care of that tonight and probably install the bumpers on the chassis, which will basically make a complete car without the hoods. There is still a huge amount of work to be done on the two hoods and the doors. And lots more carbon to deal with.

Thanks for looking.

More to come... 

[David G.]

It's great to see this one back on the bench again! Honestly, I had to scroll back through the thread to refresh my memory. 

Welcome back Michael, I can't wait to see mor progress on this fabulous build of yours.

David G.

[mrm]

On 5/13/2023 at 9:11 AM, David G. said:

It's great to see this one back on the bench again! Honestly, I had to scroll back through the thread to refresh my memory. 

Welcome back Michael, I can't wait to see mor progress on this fabulous build of yours.

David G.

Thank you David. This model is sucking the energy out of me like no other. I really have to force myself to work on it. And it is so close to finished.