Nacho Z

Final update! Look for the finished model in the Under Glass section in a little bit. I have never liked masking. It really was one of my least favorite things to do in the model building process. What I hate more than masking is a crappy paint job, and by that, I mean paint bleed and overspray. One thing that has helped with that is the use of an airbrush. Anyhow, this car needed the windshield and side windows' trim painted as well as the rear wheel wells. I just masked the whole body and did it all in one shot. And I went ahead and painted the headliner and A & C pillars too. Some have commented on "what a waste of Tamiya tape that is" (on a previous build), so now I make it a point to post pictures of the body completely covered in Tamiya tape. And for the record, Tamiya tape is not all that expensive...lol. I never worry about tape residue, paint bleed or overspray. The first step of many! As always, I appreciate you guys popping in and checking her out. Thanks to everyone who was kind enough to leave a comment. See you guys over in the Under Glass section!!

How cool is this?!?! Loved the album and loving the van!

She looks good, Donato! Can’t go wrong with a Valvoline inspired livery.

Thanks, Nick! You just can’t go wrong with a Tamiya kit! Thanks, Sonny! I am probably one of the odd ones who find it almost relaxing to polish out my paint jobs. Thank you, Sting! I appreciate it, Philip! You probably saw it at the top of my thread, but the color is a Ferrari color for this car. I love Gravity Colors (Spain) paint and they have Grigio Alloy in their line. I painted my Fujimi F355 in a dark blue, (it can be found here on MCM). I will eventually do a red Ferrari at some point in time.

This thing is gonna be killer!

I am a little behind on my updates on this build. Here is a quick one. The kit comes with precut window masks. I have read that these are not always the best. I have to agree. Well, in fairness, some of the masks were OK and some were not. If they are not going to fit perfectly they really aren't much use. I placed them as best as I could and filled in where they didn't fit. Another interesting thing is that although they provide masks for the inside of the windows, you have to do some masking on the outside of the windows too. After the paint had cured it was time to clear. I just used Tamiya TS-13 Clear right out of the can. I've only been airbrushing for a couple of years and all of the time before that I used rattle cans. I'm pretty good with them. And it is right when you think that you are good at something that Murphey comes and bites you in the backside...lol. Yup, I got a small run/sag in the paint. This gets tricky because if you are able to sand out the build up of the run you will probably burn through the surrounding clear and possibly the paint. I masked off the area around the run/sag and used 4000 grit to lightly work on that area. It worked! After that was done it was time to polish out the body. I actually enjoy this process and do it all by hand, no power tools. I use Micro Mesh cloths and Tamiya polishing compounds. Thanks for looking! As always, I appreciate your comments and feedback.

Thank you, Dan. We can chat here or feel free to shoot me a PM on the board here.

Great color and a great looking Mustang!

Wow! I really like this one! It looks great.

She’s a beauty! I could definitely see that one out cruising the streets.

Doggone, Ken, that is beautiful!! Forgive me for what may be a dumb question, what about the masts, sails, rigging, etc? Is that the next phase? Are you even doing that? I’m a huge admirer of these wooden ships. I’ll never build one but I absolutely love them.

That is one very clean build. She looks great!

Now that is really cool! I like your take on this!

Very nice, Ken! She really looks the part! Welcome aboard.

You have done an outstanding job on this, Mario! She really looks good. The pics really show it off nicely.

Very, very nice,Michael! Love the color combo of the exterior and interior, it plays very well together. Thanks for sharing!

Just read the entire thread. A lot of great work going on here!

Thanks, Alex! Actually, I totally agree with you regarding letting the paint gas out. This was Tamiya spray paint which, relatively speaking, drys and cures a little faster than other sprays. I do my body work at the beginning of the 24 hour build and get it under paint as soon as possible. I let it sit for a bit and then pop it in a dehydrator for most of the rest of the 24 hours.

Very nice! I agree with you about it being nice to build a low stress, no hassle model every now and then.

I know of the trick but never even thought of it. It is not too late to try that. I’ll have to think about that one.

Just fantastic, Jason! You really did a nice job on this.

Woohoo!!! I’m living vicariously through you, Chris! Oh man, please post tons of WIP updates. I truly am excited about this one!

Thank you, Atin and Dennis, excellent advice! I honestly was surprised at how flat that German Gray came out. I shouldn’t have been, it is an XF paint after all…lol. I guess I’m not use to using flat paints. I thought about shooting some satin clear on the interior bits, but by the time I thought of it I had already unmasked everything and just didn’t want to remask it all again. Simply put, I was lazy. On the other hand I don’t believe it is going to be visible on the completed model. I do appreciate your input and I thank you for it.

Thank you, Rich! It is always great hearing from you! Thanks, Mathias!

Thanks, Sonny! I am a big fan of Gravity Colors - Spain. I’m also a big fan of Tamiya’s LP lacquer line of paints. I have to admit to being a little lazy on this build. It is not meant to be a contest winner, therefore I’m not sweating a lot of the details.