Nacho Z

Andrew, this is always a nerve wracking proposition. I have, one time in the past, polished out my paint and then cleared it. My memory is a little fuzzy on this, but I think it was Gravity polishing compound. I had used Micro-Mesh on the color coat and then, without thinking, used polishing compound. I do know for certain that I gave that body a good bath in warm, soapy water. I know it would have been Dawn dish washing soap. I had no issues with my clear coat. Maybe do this first. Shoot a couple of spoons with your color, polish them out with your Tamiya compound, wash them and then shoot clear. Good luck, and if you do go through with this, please share your results with us.

Excellent model, Randy! She is one good looking racer!

That is fandamntastic!! Every now and then I will run across a model that takes me back to my high school days and the cars of my youth. This is one of them! Although none of us had one in this nice of a condition, we had the stance, the wheels and the tires! Great model and thanks for the blast from the past!

Good looking model of a good looking car!

Much like Bruce, just a few posts earlier, you are too kind! I do thank you for checking out the Matra. I tend to share more on FB, (not much more), because I have a lot of friends that just don’t understand what goes into making a model. I guess I tend to explain things a little more over on FB. Sorry to see that you are having some bad days at the bench. Hopefully you will get in a few “leaps and bounds” in between those “two steps back”! ? Regarding the banjo fittings, I’ve made 3 or 4 attempts so far, with each attempt getting a little better than the last. I am doing “eyeball engineering” on them, I just want them to be close to the real thing. The banjo fittings that I have are too small for my needs. I have delayed this project again, hopefully for just a short time. I have started on a Tamiya Ferrari 360 Modena. There is a WIP thread here on MCM. I will get back on the Matra soon.

Good Lord, that is fantastic! Wowzers!

Wow, Bruce, you are far too kind, but I thank you for the comment.

Thanks, Nick! This is a nice kit, for sure. I would love to get just about every Alpha Model kit that they have produced! They appear to be fantastic models. The only thing that has stopped me is me being honest with myself...lol. I'm fortunate enough that I can afford them and I believe that I have the skills to build them. I just don't have the time. I have sooooo many kits already, most of them bought with a plan in mind. I just can't see spending that kind of money on a model(s) that have a pretty good chance of never being built. But Good Lord, they have so many awesome subjects!

I am at the stage of the build process where a lot of time is spent in the preparation of parts. A good deal of time is spent with not much to show for it. Personally, (and it really is personal preference), I prime 99.99% of everything that I paint. That step in the process definitely adds to the overall build time. Here is where I am at now. I will caption the photos as I always do. Here is the engine as of today. There are still more things to add. I debated about adding wiring and such, but in the end I decided that this one will be a box stock build. The interior is complete. On one hand I am happy with it and on the other hand I am disappointed with it. 360s usually have aluminum accent panels in the interior. I have seen them different colors. I wanted mine to be body color so that is what I did. That turned out nice. I didn't want a plain old black interior so I went with a dark gray, Tamiya German Gray to be precise. What I didn't count on was how flat it ended up. It is a little too flat for my liking. Please note that the actual interior is a little darker than what the pictures show and the camera really washed out the gray. Finally tonight, a lot of parts under primer. Actually, they are all under paint now, I just don't have pictures yet.

What an amazing model!

Oh my, now that is one sweet Nova!

This is absolutely beautiful!!! Good Lord! This very well be my favorite of your work. Just stunning.

Doesn’t get much better than this!

I really can’t add much more than what has already been said. The perfect panel lines and the perfect trim are the kinds of details that most modelers don’t get right. You have done a spectacular job on this.

That is a great looking NASCAR race car! You don’t see that one built very often. You have done a very nice job on it!

Thank you, Bob! I’m hoping to find the right lighting to capture what the eye sees. My phone’s camera insists on making it silver.

Good looking model! I don’t believe that I have ever seen a model of this car before. Nice job on it.

Hahaha, you made me chuckle, Rattlecan Dan! Although I haven’t heard “stylin’ and profilin” in a long time, I immediately remembered it! Good ‘ol’ Nature Boy! Thanks for the smile you put on my face!

Thanks, Ismael! I remember your Ferrari. 360s are great looking cars for sure. I am just trying to avoid red for the time being. I have a lot of Ferrari kits in my stash and am only going to do a few in red, the F40 being one. I think yellow will go on the F50. Everything else is yet to be decided.

Thanks, Steve! I was really hoping for a little more blue to come through. Just a little bit more…lol. That Gravity paint laid down so nice. I am using a brand new airbrush, (to me and to the market as well), and it did a nice job. It is a Gaahleri Swallowtail and I was using a .5mm combo.

I started a new kit for 2024. After fighting the Evil Iron Trike and all of its horribleness, I wanted to build a hassle-free kit that would look great when finished. Tamiya to the rescue. I decided on the Ferrari 360 Modena. Although I am not against a red Ferrari, I feel there are so many other beautiful colors out there for them. I am a big fan of Gravity Colors, Spain, and have a nice and growing selection of their paint. I had their Ferrari Grigio Alloy and felt it would look great on the 360 Modena. The Grigio Alloy is what I would call an Ice Blue, a silver with a blue hue to it. Here is where I am at with the kit so far. I will caption each photo as needed. The kit. Here are 2 photos of the real thing. The first one is in direct sunlight and looks rather silver. The second one is in a more shaded area and shows the blue hue very nicely. Here is Gravity Colors' paint. As I always do, I run a Sharpie over all of the body seams. This helps me ensure that I remove all of the mold lines. I'm a little concerned about the red plastic. I took this photo to illustrate how easy it can be to miss something in the body work phase. Th Sharpie not only hits the high spots but will get down in the grooves as well. I finished the body work, washed the model and shot Gravity Dark Primer over it. I was still concerned about the red plastic and possible bleed through. I know there is an argument about whether or not this happens. It does and it has happened to me. After the primer dried I shot Tamiya LP-11 Silver over all of the body parts. I have had great success with using silver paint to block bleed through. I felt it was better to be safe than sorry. Once the LP-11 Silver had time to cure, I shot another coat of Gravity Colors Dark Primer. Overkill and unnecessary? Perhaps. I did it for 2 reasons. First, I wasn't sure how the Gravity Colors Grigio Alloy would react to the Tamiya LP-11 Silver. Second, I felt it would be very hard to distinguish between the silver paint and the Grigio Alloy paint as they are not that different. The Dark Primer was a nice contrast. Here is where she currently sits. There are 5 coats of Grigio Alloy on all of the body parts. I just cannot capture the blue hue of the paint but it is there to the naked eye. If you look in the headlight or taillight buckets you can see the blue in the paint. Thanks for looking in! Let me know what you think.

Hi, Marcus, I absolutely agree with you about Cartograph. The best decals around! Please don't get a FB account for me or my work. You will be mightily disappointed...lol. I pretty much post all of my model stuff over here as well as on FB. I know there are those that are adamantly against FB and that is their prerogative. I originally joined to keep in touch with family and high school friends. I now have as many hobby friends as anything. There is a tremendous amount of useful information on FB. Yes, stupidity abounds there as well. I'm in some wonderful 1:1 car groups, race car groups, model groups and on and on.

Thank you, Ian! I appreciate you checking in on the build!

Very nice, Lee! Such a great looking model.

This is my first time checking out this thread. I’m so glad that I did! I’ve always enjoyed seeing these old kits and cars being built. I really, really like the color combo that you have come up with.