harti20

Hi all I already tried that, but with no success. Maybe I was just to closefisted with the soap, I'll try it again in future Somehow the McLaren turns into a never-ending story. On one hand it might be caused by the fact that I want it to turn out as perfect as I can do it, on the other hand I will have to do some carbon work no matter where I want to continue with it. And that's the kind of work I can't really find the right motivation right now. Nevertheless some minor progress has been made, although it was more of a "one step forwards, two steps back" kind... The interior parts have been painted in dark grey (here I will have to check again, as the paint looks quite uneven and grainy in this picture) and green. The green parts will mostly be covered with transparent carbon decals later on. The time I tried to make some stencils for the decals I ripped off the paint on almost every part. So I'll have to strip most of these parts, sand and repaint them. If I remember correcty I painted these parts without degreasing them first as I tried to get some motivation back and just do something to get it going...? Some parts of the underarriage have been painted and the second rear fender got its carbon decals. Furthermore I noticed that there is a small spot which had to be painted in green, something I completley forgot on the first part. So I had to mask over the decals (which luckily have already been sealed by two thin layers of clear) and repaint the air inlet. Happily nothing got ripped off when removing the masking tape afterwards Now there will only be some small spot repairs needed where you can see the white primer shine through. That's all for today Urs

Hi all Today I'm starting with a new WIP of a nunu kit. So far I never had anything from nunu on my table, so I was quite excited to see how the quality would be. On first glance I had the impression that it's almost par with a Tamiya kit. But once I started assembling and made my first dry fits I noticed that it's far away from Tamiya. Now I'd rather rate it slightly above amt. The parts often have sink marks in places where I really wonder how this could have happended, the edges aren't really sharp and fitment isn't really outstanding neither. Something I have never seen before with other manufaturors are these weird more or less cylindrical thingies in spots that look more like ejection marks(? can't remember the right word for it right now). Most often in spots where they interfere with other parts when assembling and where they aren't easy to remove after all... The undercarriage has been assembled as far as I could before painting Also the gearbox including the rear axle has been assembled. The ring you can see on the upper side (actually it is the bottom part) fits to a hole in the undercarriage. But you have to check on your own that the axle is perpendicular to the centerline of the car. A square would have made much more sense in my opinion. On the upper side there is a rectangular notch to hold another part (the one you can see in the second picture). But therefore you have no hint where exactly this part has to be placed in cross direction. There is a third part that has clear markings for both of the first parts but this has to be assembled much later in the process. At least I could use it as some kind of jig when assembling gearbox and the rectangular part. After that the cooler has been assembled. I know the grid should have been painted in black as well, but I decided to leave it how it was and only do a black wash to get some more contrast. Finally the brake discs have been completed and are awaiting their installation That's all for today. I hope to have piqued your interest and am looking forward to your critics, plaudits and suggestions Urs

Thank you all for your kind comments

Meanwhile I also took some studio pics ?

Thank you all for your kind comments, I really appreciate it ?

Hi all A few weeks ago I finished my second bike model and so I took it with me to take some gallery pics last week. The build was pure fun from start to end. I can't wait to start my next bike soon Urs

Hi all This spring I finished alpha model's Aston Martin Vantage for a contest in a german speaking forum. The kit was really fun to build and I really love how it turned out in the end. It was the first time I used a chromatic flip paint (green to purple) by Zero Paints. It looks really cool if the sun shines on the model, but it's not that easy to take some pictures which really show the effect. I hope you can see it on the pictures below. But enough said, let me show you the pics. Urs

Just noticed that I had forgotten to upload the studio pics of my Lamborghini Veneno I took almost six months ago... So here they finally are ?

Hi all Long time I didn't post anything on this build, but my priority in the last few weeks was to finish the Ferrari FXX-K and after that I hardly had any motivation to build models. But now I have some small progress to share. I didn't stick to the instructions at all, I only did what I felt like doing, so don't wonder if the parts don't really go together Thank you for your kind words. I hope to do this kit justice as it is a really challenging one. By the time I bought the decals the SK have been the only option available. Meanwhile there is another full carbon set by Scale Motorsports but that costs about three times as much as the one made by SK decals. First I assembled and installed the engine as far as I could. There will be more parts to be added later. Then assembly of the front cooler has been done And finally I needed some distraction from applying all the carbon decals on the body parts, so I decided to start applying carbon decals on the interior parts ? First a pic of the middle console which got some clear carbon decals on one side. I'm quite curious about that as this is the first time I'll use transparent carbon decals. For the rear upper part of the middle console I used conventional carbon decals. That's all for this update. I hope you won't have to wait another two months for the nex one on this build ? Urs

Thank you very much

Thank you all for your very kind comments ?

Last week the FXX-K could be completed. You'll find the Under Glass pics here:

Hi all Finally my Ferrari FXX-K could be completed. If you're interested in the WIP, you can find it here: I couldn't take it to the studio yet to take the final gallery pics, but to get a first impression I took some pics in my photobox. I hope you like the pictures and that you will join my next build as well Urs

Hi all Thank you very much No unfortunately I wasn't able to finish it before the exhibition, because I was mostly knocked off by a flu for more than a week right before the exhibition started Nevertheless I continued building and could almost finish it by now. So let's start with the progress I made since my last update. First of all the seats have been completed Then the body parts have been polished and waxed. Here shown on the front hood After that it was time to complete the interior. Unfortunately I only realised on these pictures that the carbon pattern on the steering wheel is way out of scale. But now I'll have to live with that... The front hood got some more parts attached And finally the first few of the body shell parts have been attached to the chassis / monocoque. That's how far I am right now. I think that I should be able to finish it by the end of this week Urs

Hi all Thank you very much for your kind comments After having applied the last few decals to the bodyparts on saturday, sunday was clear coat day. First of all the worst part: the engine hood. Applying the silver decals inside the recesses was a real nightmare. They wrinkled and were very brittle, so they also tore apart when I tried to move them around. Later when applying the clear over it, the surface got very rough. The engine cover was the only part the clear went on like this, all other parts were mostly fine. Some minor dust got in on some spots but nothing too serious. On the front hood the silver decals have been much easier to apply. The only thing they didn't really like was MicroSet and MicroSol, with these liquids I had to be very careful, so I used mostly pure water to apply and flatten the decals The remaining parts have been quite easy to apply the decals and also clear coating was no problem at all. Why I'm only showing one side parts? Well... silly me applied the first, mist coat of clear to all parts, but forgot the second side part when applying the second and third coat. Of course I only noticed that after having disposed all of the remaining clear coat and cleaning the airbrush... There are still some smaller parts (mainly the rear view mirrors and the winglets for the spoiler) where I'll still have to apply some carbon decals and which I had planned to clear with Mr. Hobby Super Clear as I thought, that would be enough shine for such small parts. Now I think I'll mix up some more 2K clear once these parts are ready and hopefully apply clear also to the second side part. That's it for this week's update Urs

Hi all This week a lot of decal work on the body parts has been done, hoping to soon be able to clear coat the body. Last week I showed you the doors with all the decals on. When I studied the building instructions again, I found out, that I missed two decals per door: the small Italian flag in the silver stripe and the "NO STEP" on the carbon part of the door. So I took the doors out of the box containing the finished parts, added these two decals and put the doors back in the "finished parts box". When checking the instructions again to get an impression what will have to be done before starting to clear coat, I noticed that you not only have to look at the side view, but also on the top view... ? There was still the thin silver stripe underneath the windows missing... so I took then out once again, added the stripe and put it back in the box. I think, if I don't discover a previously hidden view from underneath, the decalling of the doors might now be finished... ? On the two body parts right behind the doors there was one decal missing as well, so I added this too (the FXX-K lettering). As you can see, I will have to do some touch up in the red paint. Finally I also added some more carbon fibre decals to two parts in the back of the car. On the one in the second picture one decal was a little too small (or I cut a little bit away by accident, can't really remember), so I'll have to do some touch up with black paint before clear coating. That's it for today. Last week I was a little skeptical whether I could finish it by end of the month to take it with me to a exhibition held near Basel in Switzerland, but now I think it might work out. Especially because I unexpectedly will have some extra building time the upcoming weekend ? Urs

Hi all This week I made some real progress on my Ferrari. Especially over the weekend I was able to spend some time on my workbench and therefore started applying the carbon decals. First the splitter was done. Somehow I always have some trouble applying decals inside a curve. Usually I don't get the decal lying down without leaving a more or less big bubble underneath. This time I managed to get rid of the bubbles, but instead I got some wrinkles... Then the air box has been finished. I know, the red stripe isn't as straight as it should be, but as it tore apart when I tried to position it, I was happy to not destroy it more, so I left it as is. The two Ferrari scripts are still missing, I will apply them once the clear coat had time to cure. I applied it only about half an hour before doing the pictures. Then it was time for one of the decals that frightened me most, the thing on the switch panel on the middle console. That decal consisted of more holes than actual decal material. So I was super afraid tearing it apart while applying, but in the end it was no problem at all. After that the rear wheel housings got their carbon decals and some matte clear coat. To finish the carbon decal work for the moment I applied the thin stripes on the bottom side of the passenger door and the body part right behind the door. After having done that I couldn't resist applying the rest of the door decals as well to get a first impression how it will look like in the end And finally I continued wiring the engine. Somehow it seems that one plug got loose again. So if the engine won't start, I know where the mechanic will have to investigate first That's it for today's update. Urs

Hi all Thank you for your comment I'm following your Pagani with great interest. I always wanted to build a Huayra myself but was always discouraged when I read about the issues others had with the back of the car. Your build made me look closer at the original and what should I say... I removed it completely from my wish list, because I got the impression of a really ugly car (before I always only saw the box art or finished model kits of it). But I'll sure keep following your build as it's interesting nonetheless. Everyone has his own taste, I like the McLaren Senna and can't understand why others don't find it attractive ? But now the the progress of last week. Mainly I cut the parts for the interior off their sprues, made a mock up and had a look at which parts will need carbon fibre decals in the end. It will be quite a lot, but I think most of it shouldn't be that complicated. As I didn't start making stencils for the decals I refrained from taking pictures of these parts as I thought that wouldn't be of much interest. Beside of this I painted and assembled the brake discs from the detail up set. Each of these brake discs will still get 10 PE parts in the center (there where you can see the recesses in the black parts). But of course you can't just glue in these parts, they have to be folded by 180°. As I had some trouble finding a way to do this, I decided to show my way that worked out best for me. If somebody knows of a more efficient / easy way, I'd be happy to hear that. That's how they looked like before bending them To start, I pressed them down in my cutting mat with a Tamiya paint stirrer to get a bend Then I held the part down with the stirrer and bent it to a 90° angle with the blade of a knife After that the stirrer was replaced by a razor blade and the knife by the stirrer to bend it even more Once that was done it looked like this To continue I could slip it off the blade and position it like a advertising stand To finish and close the gap, I slowly approached it with the chops(?) of a bending plier, trying to touch it on both sides at the same time, to avoid overbalancing it and then press it flat. I only remarked now that I forgot to take a picture of a completed part. I will do it when I'll mount them to the brake discs. Last weekend I had to wait on somebody to finish work, so I decided to start assembling the engine. So far all the parts that have to be painted aluminum have been assembled. Before primering and painting I'll sand the glue joints flush so there will be no visible mark where the parts meet. That's all for today's update Urs

Hi all As I still wasn't in the mood to continue work on my FXX-K, I'll start a new WIP. As stated in the title, I'll build the McLaren Senna. Additionally I will use the PE detail up set by Hobby Design and the carbon decal set by S.K. Decals. I already know S.K.Decals from my Haribo-Mercedes, so I knew that the decals will stick to the part as soon as they touch and won't easily move afterwards. In fact I ruined the first decal I tried to apply Happily the decal set offers to quite large areas of carbon fibre where one can cut out decals if something went wrong. Nevertheless I'm thinking about re-ordering the set to have some spare decals (just in case...). The part where I tried to apply the decal is the rear body panel which won't be easy to cover with decals anyway as it has a very narrow curve on each side. I didn't even manage to lay down a self made decal with some ScaleProduction stuff (which I usually like very much). Then I assembled and painted one of the rear fenders. After the experience with the rear body panel I clear coated it (after that picture was taken), hoping the decals would be easier to move around. Meanwhile the fender got some paint (which I will have to touch up later) and the first carbon decal. Additionally to the clear coating I added some drops of dish liquid to the water I soaked the decal in and have applied to the fender before hitting it with the decal. Neither clear coating nor adding soap to the water really did help, but as the shape of the fender made it easier to lay the decal down without too much wrinkles it turned out ok I think Finally the seat shells have been painted and the first transparent carbon decal has been applied. Meanwhile this seat had its paint stripped as I noticed that I made a mistake when doing the stencils for the decals. Because the decal is transparent, it's not that easy to fix it, because I have to make sure that the decals don't overlap, because in the overlapping areas the pattern would be darker. Luckily a lot of the inner part of the shell will be hidden by the upholstery, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'm sure there will be other challenges doing the rest of the interior.? That's everything for today. I hope to have piqued your interest and am looking forward to your tips, critiques, suggestions and plaudits Urs

Hi all Intrinsically I would have had a lot of time for modelling last week as I still had one week vacation, but in fact either I was not at home, or I just didn't feel like working on my kits. But a small progress has been acheived nevertheless. First of all the first of the two seats could be finished. I won't cover it with carbon all the way down as it can't be seen anyway (I don't think that much of it can be seen once the model is finished anyway). And the second thing are the brakes which could be assembled and are now waiting for their installation But before that I'll have to continue with the wiring of the engine because some spots won't be reachable later. That's all for this week. Tomorrow I will have to go back to work, I'm sure I would love to build the whole next week... ? Urs

Hi all Thank you very much The monocoque and the engine have been brought together and the last two carbon decals have been applied to the monocoque. Additionaly the cooler has been assembled from the PE set and brought in position. I just saw on the picture that one of the rivets got lost, so I'll have to hope that Hobby Design didn't count too exactly when bagging the rivets The seats have been painted and on the backside I started applying the carbon decals. On the upper part I was a little too confident on the first attempt and tried to cover everything with one single decal (from the top edge to right underneath the openings for the seatbelts). Now I'll try to cover it with at least two horizontal parts. The painting of the outside of the doors has been finished. Now they only need some carbon decals (on the lower black part) and some clear coat. But as I won't be able to clearcoat in the next few days or even weeks because of the temperature it may take some time until I'll present some more progress on the body parts. And that brings me to the last picture of this update. I started applying the carbon decals on the air box. Yes, the decals are fully opaque, so that's no problem. But, what I didn't take in consideration was the fact that the decals might not fit properly (or I couldn't attach them to fit properly)...? So, I'll have to do some spot repair with black paint... That's everything for this week Urs

Hi all Thank you. Yes, the decals are fully opaque. But what I didn't think of was the fact that in some areas the decals won't fit properly (or I won't be able to lay them down in a way that everything is covered ?). But that wil be no problem to repair it once everything is done. I didn't take any pictures of this part as it's not yet ready. The body parts received some more thin coats of red. Now I'll scrub everything with some scouring milk to smoothen it out even more. Afterwards it will be time to apply the decals and clear coat. After that the parts which need to be painted in semi gloss black will be painted accordingly. Another way to go would be to paint the black parts now already, then put decals and (gloss) clear coat and once everything is cured, mask the black parts off and apply some semi gloss clear coat over it. But as the black paint already dries with a very nice satin finish I think it's easier to choose option one. In any case I will mask off everything that has to be black before I continue, leave the masking tape on the model for a few days and then remove it (without actually painting anything), just to make sure that paint and primer stick good enough. If I rip paint off in this stage it will be annoying, but easy fixable. Then I applied (almost) all of the remaining carbon decals on the monocoque and sealed them in with some matte clear coat this afternoon. Initially I wanted to apply a glossy clear coat over them, but when I looked again at my reference pics, I noticed that on the 1:1 car the carbon on the interior looked semi gloss at most, if not dull. From the last time I used this matte clear coat, I had in mind, that it dries with some sheen, almost like semi gloss, so I decided to use this one. Well, today it turned out really flat... But somehow I like the look as it is, so I'll leave it this way. In the beginning of this paragraph I wrote that I applied almost all carbon decals. One on each side is still missing. I already put one of them in the water yesterday to apply it, but then noticed that something was weird. After consulting the building instructions I saw my mistake: these two decals can only be applied after the undercarriage, including the engine, and the monocoque have been united. As the masking of the fully assembled unit would have been to complex, I decided to go this way. Once this unit is finished it will be much easier to apply the decals and only mask off the areas needed for them to apply the clear coat. After that the first PE parts on the rear have been glued on. The pipes aren't painted to make them a little more visible in the end. Finally some switches and knobs on the middle console have been painted. The carbon decals enclosing this part are still missing. Thankfully the large front decal has wholes where the switches are, so that de detail painting won't be lost. To be honest, I knew that before and thought, that way I wouldn't have to pay that much attention to the detail painting ? That's all for this week's update. I hope you enjoy it and wish you all a good week ? Urs

Hi all ? Thank you for your kind comments, I really appreciate it. This week the body parts got two or three coats of pink primer (unfortunately forgot to take pictures after that stage). After letting the primer cure I applied one thin coat of Rosso Scuderia. In the next few days I'll apply another one or two coats before starting the decal work and clear coating While letting the primer and paint cure I started applying the CF decals on the monocoque. So far they went down without any major problems. But looking at the sheer number of them they will be keeping me busy for a while. Parallel to painting the body parts and decaling the monocoque I also painted the air box. In the areas where I'll have to apply CF decals I didn't take that much care masking it because the overspray will be hidden by the decals later. The black paint on the large part on the right went down quite rough, so I had to sand it down, that's why it looks so blotchy. But again this part will be covered completley by CF decals, so I don't really care about that. Finally there is the heat shield I showed in one of my previous posts and mentioned that I'll start over with it. Given the fact that nothing at all will be seen in the final model I can live with the outcome. If it was visible, I'd fix the corner on the very left side, but especially this part won't ever see any daylight, so it's absolutely ok for me. That's all for this week. During the next week I'll continue painting the body and applying CF decals on the monocoque. If I'll need some change I'll start work on the dashboard. Urs

Hi all ? A few weeks ago I took the Ford to the studio to capture some better gallery pics, but afterwards I wasn't really happy with the look after editing them. Today I re-edited these pics and now I think they look reasonably well, therefore I can finally present them to you ?

Hi all After finishing the filling and sanding on the bonnet, I was ready to start the painting process. As two of the parts that are supposed to be painted red are moulded in black, I decided to first prime everything black to get a uniform base color. When I saw all the parts in black I was considering leaving the body in black, but changed back to red shortly after. But a black Ferrari stays in the back of my head maybe for the FXX (without -K, the race version of the Ferrari Enzo). After that two coats of Pure Brilliant White have been applied. As the paint had some coarse spots I had to sand it back in some locations. Now I will add one or two additional coats of white before continuing with pink and finally painting it in red. This time it will be a slightly different red than I used to use for the Ferraris I built so far, namely Rosso Scuderia. Finally I finished the engine up to the point where I can install it on the undercarriage. As nothing of it will be seen once the car is finished, I'll leave it the way it is now. That's all for this week's update. Urs