jaymcminn

So is Onyx asking you to rub his belly or daring you to rub his belly?

It does in my world.

I have one of these. Every few months I take it out of the closet, check out the parts, read the instructions and put it away again. I think AM made it this complicated so they could sell two kits to people who wanted to have one to display closed and one to display open. One day I will build mine...

Sorry to hear about the setback man. On the plus side, the tubing won't have sink marks to fill!

I found this out while test-fitting the motor and exhaust system. The steering box fouls the rear motor mount if you try to go in from above. Pics and an update soon, there's been a lot of progress!

I keep getting these too. I figured it's because I'm on the Watchuseek forum and always browsing Jomashop and EBay (I'm a watch collector, but not $1.8 million watches!). Anyway, the Chevy Silverado "Walter" ad is one of my favorites. https://youtu.be/iHTi7PBJLnk

Beautiful, Matt! The grime is perfect!

That looks fantastic! I might add some bolt detail to the tops of the lifters as well. It's pretty noticeable, and I have some PE bolt heads somewhere. I also owe you thanks... after looking at your finished chassis I realized I had the front shackles on the rear springs on my build flipped so the spring was under the shackle. It's the right way around now. I see you decided to keep going on the engine, I've gotten mine started and agree that the cylinder barrels aren't a lot of fun to install. I used Micro Kristal Klear so I was able to reposition them and make sure they were lined up correctly. Any idea how you're going to tackle the tricky finish and "patches" on the intake manifolds?

that level of detail at 1:25 is insane. I'm really enjoying watching your work here.

I don't think the actual screw attachment between the spring and axle mount is necessary for proper alignment. It seems to me that once everything is in place it should all align itself where it needs to be. I took a chance on the cracking of the letters and got lucky that it worked out exactly how I saw it in my head. Ordinarily I would try a test piece to make sure I wasn't going to do potential damage to a $200+ model I already have 100-ish hours sunk into, but I just kind of jumped in. I will say, if you try this at home, to use light pressure with the back of a used #11 blade. Also study pics of how paint cracks... there is almost a pattern to it that instinctively feels "right" when you see it. And don't do what I did, spray some test panels using your body color and the paint you're going to use for the lettering and practice on that first. What worked for me using Model Master Acryl flat white (I'll miss that stuff, best white paint in the world) might not work as well with something else. I've just gotten primer on all the engine bits and will probably sit down with the airbrush tomorrow before work and apply the aluminum, copper and brass finishes to the myriad of complex parts that make up the steampunk heart of this mighty beast. More updates soon!

Thanks, Randy. The crackle medium I used was Jim Holtz clear "rock candy" distress crackle paint. Basically my process is to apply a base color, then brush on a medium coat of the crackle medium. After that has dried, airbrush thin coats of your top color. Once that has dried, use a wash of a darkened version of your top color to highlight the cracks. The purpose of applying a base color under the crackle medium is that it's not the most stable stuff in the world so if it flakes off anywhere it'll look intentional. That being said, I built my 8c a year and a half ago and the finish on the seat looks exactly the same with no flaking at all. I did seal everything under a coat of satin acrylic, though. All paints were Tamiya acrylics, and I strongly suggest airbrushing your colors because the cracks are so fine that I think they'd get lost under brushed paint. I'd recommend trying the process out on a scrap piece first, but the nice thing about the crackle medium I used is that it's water-based and will come off pretty easily if you don't like the effect. Good luck, and make sure to post up your build. Are you doing the new release with the fenders?

Gotta say, it's almost certainly not the tape. I've used Tamiya tape for decades. With acrylics, auto paints, Tamiya lacquers and Model Master lacquers both decanted and straight from the spray can. I've never had any issues like you're describing (in fact, I've never had MM spray lacquer soak through any tape whatsoever). Are you sure you didn't just get bleed under the tape from not having the tape burnished down enough? I suppose it's possible that by leaving the tape on for 24+ hours some of the color could have transferred through to your base color. I've never heard of it happening, but that doesn't mean it's outside the realm of possibility. That being said, it's a poor craftsman who blames his tools. When used properly, the paint and tape you purchased are perfectly fine. While Model Master spray cans aren't my favorite, I've gotten some decent paint jobs out of them. There's a reason why I have three widths of Tamiya tape on my workbench as well. But there's a learning curve to these things... my advice, as with many others who have posted on your thread, is to suck it up, take it as a learning experience, and move on. That's the best way forward as a modeler. Learn patience, learn to ask questions and learn to accept that the answers you receive may not be the ones you want to hear.

The instrument panel received a wash of thinned grey detail wash stippled on to give some of the turned texture of the 1:1. Paint is Tamiya Flat Aluminum, Gold Leaf, and Rubber Black. I installed the finished panel in the body, then installed the floor after which I was able to finally mount the body to the chassis. The last pic shows where I am right now... the wheels assemble from four layers of spokes, a hub piece (all of the hubs needed sink marks filled) and, sigh, 6 fiddly screws. The spokes are incredibly thin and were warped on all of my wheels, but when installed and aligned correctly the warp disappears. They're exceptionally nice plastic wire wheels, even better than the ones in the new-tool Alfa 8c. I painted them in Tamiya Semi-Gloss black and weathered them lightly with Tamiya weathering pastels. The belly pans and radiator grille are just there for looks right now. Unfortunately there's something BIG (21.7 litres, to be exact) missing... more to come! As always, questions or comments are welcome!

Update time... I got the pre-cut stencils from Orlee for the "FIAT" scripts. On the 1:1 the scripts are cracked with age. It's one of those textural details that I wanted to reproduce. I thought about using crackle medium under the white paint (unpredictable), drawing the cracks on with a technical pencil (smudgy) and finally decided to, umm, grab an X-Acto blade and start scratching up the fresh white paint I just laid down. Well, it could have been a disaster but it turned out to be exactly the effect I was going for...the cracks are in-scale and, just like the 1:1, you don't notice them until you get close. I installed the kit "Mefistofele" decals as well.

I'm in the process of cleaning up and mounting the motor parts for airbrushing right now. I'm debating how much of the motor to finish up before installing it in the chassis... probably going to install the ignition wiring but hold off on the tubing for the fuel system.

Be careful with the handbrake and gear lever... I managed to break off my drilled gear lever already. I'm waiting to repair it until I'm basically done with the build.

Great job in capturing the look of the McBurnie Spyder. Most people will never have any idea of how much work you put into making the Monogram MV Daytona look less like a real Ferrari. Beautiful finish on that black as well!

The Isuzu 117 is a fairly esoteric subject outside of Japan, but it's a very pretty car that I'd like to have in my collection. The 1st-gen MR2 is a must-have for me.

Excellent work so far. It's always exciting when you get to the primer stage...until you get stuck in the eternal prime/sand/prime/sand cycle. The tub and engine look great!

I like the look of the bolts (instead of the screws). The chassis has the right crusty/lumpy look too. Keep the updates coming!

The radiator shell was painted in AK Interactive Xtreme Metal Brass, which does a nice job of replicating lightly patinated brass. I would have liked a more polished brass finish but this turned out really well. The paint laid down beautifully over the base coat, which was Tamiya semi-gloss black polished out with 2500 grit. I then applied Tamiya chrome silver over the letters (I think they're nickel brazed onto the brass tank on the 1:1) and on the sides of the tank where the sides of the radiator shell are prominently soldered to the tank on the 1:1. An acrylic wash brings out the detail on the letters. For the texture on the chassis, I started off with a base coat of Tamiya TS-29 semi-gloss black right from the can. I then used Model Master acrylic semi-gloss black brush paint applied with a large brush. I stippled the paint on and continued stippling the same area until the paint started to develop texture and then I stopped to let it dry. The acrylic's tendency to self-level smoothed out out the texture just a little and produced a finish that's dead-perfect compared with pics of the 1:1. I'm really pleased with how this turned out. Finally some mockups of the chassis, body and belly pan. In the last pic you can see the finish on the interior, which is a wash of faded primer red with a dark grey wash in the crevices. I'm liking how this build is progressing so far but there's a big chunk of this big boy that hasn't even been started yet other than some initial clean up. More pics to follow!

Happy to see the 300zx back in the lineup. Classic '80s Tamiya.

Thanks man! I decided to punt on the body paint and just go with the lightly-polished Tamiya. I experimented with brushed texture under airbrushed paint and, while the effect worked, it seemed to be out of scale. I'm just too used to smooth shiny paint to go totally the opposite direction. Pics soon of my radiator shell, which I airbrushed with the AK Xtreme Metal Brass. It looks really good. I feel you about waiting for supplies... the masks for the side lettering and registration number are coming from Orlee in Switzerland and are taking forever to get here. I don't mind the wait, it's better than using the kit decals. I'm kind of wishing I'd gone with the bolts. Those kit screws are a nightmare and much worse than the screws and bolts on the Alfa. It's funny that we have two builds of this kit, which is pretty uncommon, going on at the same time. I'm enjoying watching your interpretation of this great car on your thread as well!

Back in 2015, Ryan Adams released a cover album of Taylor Swift's 1989. The story goes that after breaking up with his wife he played that album over and over until he finally asked Swift permission to cover it. He pared back the songs to their basics and turned a bouncy, overproduced pop confection into something introspective and powerful. It's worth a listen, even if (and probably especially if) you aren't familiar with the source material.