Mixalz

All polished up and almost ready for assembly: Really liked the PE badges. Lesson learnt here; don't attach badges with superglue (only use epoxy!) See the Nissan badge for the damage.

Nice work so far. Nice to see photo format too. And BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH right about patience. "Ruined" my Z-tune by rushing a finishing touch decal. Devastated Keep it up, Michael

Well I have a minor update/ venting/ request for advice. I have spent more hours (yes hours lol) than I care to admit trying to get this spoiler to work. The frame is made of 8 PE pieces and 11 bolts per side. In order to glue the pieces together with the correct alignment I used piano wire as a "rail" to perfectly align the holes (don't cut piano wire with your modelling side cutters or they WILL be damaged....sigh being too lazy to get my toolbox costs big time) *this wire was inserted after the gluing to illustrate the technique I used* I did this in the hope that I could paint the framework black and used unpainted silver bolts for contrast. As seen here: http://www.speedhunters.com/2010/04/feature_gt_gt__evasive_honda_s2000/ Now problems arose when trying to assemble the framework. The freaking holes didnt line up despite the piano wire being used. I really do think this is a problem with the PE kit as the piano wire is very rigid and had zero play so everything was square. First I ended up enlarging the holes with a twist drill. When the new holes still werent large enough to accomodate the fitment I used a dental bur (stilletto bur specifically) to cut slots into the PE part instead. The consequence was the botls at the base would need to be epoxied prior to painting as the holes have play now. With the framework assembled I need to fit the right place to drill holes into the boot. I used some dental polyvinylsiloxane impression material which is a two part material that hardness up quite nicely but is still easy to remove. This was used to locate the wing to the framework so I cant find the right place for the holes on the boot. Now my question is. How on earth do I mark the boot through these holes (keep in mind I don't have straight line access and holes are 0.3mm)? Follow on question. Was there a better method of doing this. I was just kind of winging it. Luckily I have some dental gear to help but cant see how other would manage this scenario. Cheers

Thanks for the comments! I've only built 3 models so far so I'll have to take your word for it . All have been Tamiya and all have been perfect fit; in fact sometimes panels have been too snug after painting lol. I'll still be cautious from now on though. Thanks again. I used Tamiya enamels. I found having the colour matched paint means that I dont have to paint the area to be flocked beforehand. In fact I've flocked red carpet over a black painted surface using XF-7 (flat red paint) with no discernible shade issues. I got a bottle for each flocking (Scale Production) shade I bought: Black flocking; XF-1 - Flat black Red flocking; XF7 - Flat red Blue flocking; XF8 - Flat blue Grey flocking; XF19 - Sky grey Anthracite flocking; XF24 - Dark grey (as seen in this model) Body is now in dehydrator so more to come soon. Michael

Here's the interior and undercarriage shots: - Undercarriage/body color is Tamiya TS-17 - Exhaust painted with Alclad polished aluminium. Cats tinted with Mr Hobby Smoke. Rear pipe misted with Alclad magnesium - Individual parts were airbrushed with Mr Color paints and details painted with Vallejo paints. Tamiya weathering kit also used. Macro lens makes the particles stick out more than they really do to the naked eye. Obligatory rim shot Glass masked and painted Interior shots. Red was Mr Color gloss red and flat base mixed. I find the durability of lacquers helps with picking out details with acrylics as I can simply use thinners to clean off any errors without affecting the underlying work. Vallejo black used to pick out speaker grill Flocking done with anthracite flocking powder from Scale Production Dashboard Well off to bed for the night. Michael

Hi everyone, I got my next project up and running. Shouldn't be starting too many more for now as I've got a few running concurrently. This one will be built using hobby designs PE set. Here we go: Diff and brakes. I really should have painted the discs in Alclad polished aluminium to match the PE part. I'm a little annoyed at the space due to the lack of fit but am too lazy to paint the space to match. Don't be an idiot like me. Check for body warp BEFORE painting. I did a fair bit of body work including prep, painting and polishing, only to realise that the it was significantly warped (see the red lines). I did attempt to reshape it but the heat softened the paint too much and resulted in fingerprints and color distortions. Into the brake fluid before this photo. Comparing the badge options. LHS (3rd brake light - Hobby design PE), centre (Hobby design PE), RHS (Tamiya metal transfer, with applied decal). The photoetched parts were painted in Tamiya X27 and the cleared with Mr Super Clear. I like the depth of the photoetched parts but the metal transfers "lack" of metal connecting the GTR together did make it appealing. In the end I went with the PE. More to come tonight. Cheers, Michael

Gonna try pearl white. Havent got a white model on the shelf yet

Wow incredible engine detailing!

Thanks I used the technique shown on "The Scale Modelling Channel" https://www.youtube.com/user/xrcflash

Thanks I think I'll try clearing first. Did a spoon test and the decal solution/rubbing affected the metal flakes

Cheers. After having to strip a warped model and repair more than a few stuff ups I haven't been productive. Just staring at the boxes of what is going on lol.

Hi all, Just a quick question. Basically I'm going to paint a metallic finish however I want to clear over the decals. Normally I would apply the decals to the painted surface then clear it. However since this would be a metallic finish I'm not sure how the unprotected surface would react to decals and solutions. Should I: 1. Paint colour, apply decals then clear 2. Paint colour and light coat of clear then apply decals and clear again to seal decals. 3. Do something totally different Thanks for the help!

Hit a slump last night so I decided to take a few photos of whats on the bench. Here's my Aoshima S15. Will be an out of the box build. The interior is all done and ready to go: Criticisms welcomed; always looking to improve. Michael EDIT: Completed thread

Wouldnt worry about over spray. Would be concerned about particulate matter from lathe. Especially with vibrations from compressor kicking up dust.

Going to try this tomorrow. I don't have too much hope though. It looks like the print went through. Should have taken more time at a lower heat.

Well lessons learnt. 1. Always check bodies for warp before painting. 2. This site has a language filter lol

I only discovered the warp after fitting it to the chasis Just tried the water method. WAS having good results. When I tired to use a touch more heat. Resulted in a fingerprint. Sigh. Pretty sure it went through the clear so I'll have to repaint. Devastated

Bah I'm an idiot. As I was taking photos I noticed it was actually the whole body was twisted. BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH Gonna have to use water method. Hopefully it still wont crack paint.

Good start. I'll be keen for updates.

So not really a question as I cant be bothered waiting for a response lol. I painted my Tamiya Nissan Z Tune and polished it too. Only now have I realised that the body was actually significantly warped. Sooo I'm going to experiment and try bending the body back using a heat gun. Hopefully it wont crack the paint and hopefully it wont leave finger prints. Ill report back with results and photos soon!

Cool car. Always loved these. Great work so far

Thanks for the comments so far. David, The kit is from Hobby Design (HD03-0441). Fits fairly well but still takes significant work to get perfect. Main issues I've had: - Air bubbles in resin (resulting in some of the thin "fins" being broken in the box and requiring repair). Other minor bubbles required simple filling. - Minor warping (required a bit of heat and flexing to restore) - Rubber tyres are quite poor quality on the under car surface. I've found nothing compares to Tamiya quality. - And the above point I mentioned in the first post about the front bumper not slotting onto the undercarriage (I'm in the process fabricating something but the height difference is making this very tricky. I may just glue a levelled piece of styreere and fill the space with a bit of putty that I smooth off). Michael

Started a new kit in the last couple of days. First time I will be using a resin body kit. Has been a huge learning curve so far. I've managed to cut the old body up and place the resin kit on. Next step is to prime so I can highlight all the terrible body work that will need fixing. Any advice/feedback is welcomed as I know I have a lot to improve in this area! In the above photo You can see that I've cut the old front bar from the stock model and glued it to the inside of the new bar so that I can have somewhere for the chasis to slot into and so there wont be a large ugly gap under the model. I really feel like the resin kit should have accounted for this space as its rather unsightly otherwise. Cheers, Michael

I did years ago when I started lol. At 12 years old it looks like trash (falling apart/ glue bomb with brush marks everywhere :P) Gonna have to get a new one in the future. Restoring the old is out of the question as the glue melted too much

Hi everyone, I just recently started getting into photoetched parts. I was wondering with the number plates they provide what do people do? 1. Paint and decal over 2. Paint and then carefully paint letters 3. Paint one colour then the other and wiper the letters clean I haven't tried any of these techniques as I don't want to screw up the plates. Thanks for the advice!