louisik1

Hi everyone. These wheels were a challenge. I tried 8000 red pens and didn't find one that I liked. I messed up one wheel after so many attempts that it was beyond saving. I ordered another whole model from ebay just to get a new set of wheels. One thing I'm really embarrassed about is how 'wrong' my first attempts at the wheels were. I'm kind of baffled at how I thought I saw them and how I thought they should be during that first round. But after many attempts and modifying my technique I finally found a way that I could live with at least for now. The imperfections always look so huge in the pictures. I also don't know why but for two weeks I couldn't make myself air brush some parts. These wheels needed the mounting wheel to be painted before putting on the frame so I gathered everything up that needed to be semi gloss black. The job left a micro fine texture, which looks good for the soft top but it makes me wonder. Is that good? For semi-gloss black? Or should it be smooth? Then I got stuck/obsessed with trying to set up some masking on the underside of the hood. I want the edges of the underside to be body color, not black. I tried various tapes but nothing was fine enough or flexible enough for me to trust it. I tried Elmers glue a few times but kept removing it because I didn't trust that either. After going back and forth several times I finally said f it and tried Elmers glue again. Then painted it like you see above. Now I'm peeling away the glue and finding this: Yeah. Soo.. I can buff/wash a little and paint over the edges with primer.. but I'm afraid it's gonna go to BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH. At least I have another hood in the backup kit in case I destroy this one. Cheers.

That's pretty incredible to this newbs eyes!!! An inspiration. Thanks!

Ok, sorry, just one more for reference of what it's REALLY like trying to paint it.

That's funny because I stopped by there tonight and picked up some other colored pens in that area. I saw the Pigma Microns but I couldn't tell what it was like from the box. I bought some others, Staedtler Triplus Fineliner, but it's not opaque enough. I will take these back and try the Pigma! Thanks!! To everyone else, thank you so much for the tips. I did use a toothpick after Lizz62/David recommended it and it works great. For now I have done three wheels using good ol Testors acrylic gloss red. Here's my latest attempt: It's still flawed! For reference, I found this reference pic of an actual wheel, courtesy of CorvetteStory.com: So beautiful, eh? I need to add the blue inset paint around the Chevy insignia. Thanks again, everyone. Cheers

Found this a few months ago at Goodwill, everything still in sealed bags, so I decided to take a chance for $6. I put the frame together first and then painted the whole thing semi gloss black, instead of painting each piece first. I will go back later and add some detail color. Everything fit together but the instructions were ambiguous a couple times about how pieces attached. The rear sway bar was particularly annoying. Then I found out how the wheels are supposed to be painted. Holy moly..! Here is my first attempt at a wheel. Any recommendations, perhaps a super-fine gel pen in red that you like? Cheers!!

One more of the engine

Thank you for the kind words everyone! BennyG, this is my first finished anything. I posted the finished thread over in Under Glass Cheers!

The best thing about this is that it's my first completed car. There are so many flaws but sometimes you gotta finish and move on. Feedback is totally welcome! A few notes. The model was sitting too close to a baseboard heater for a while which warped some pieces, particularly the rear fender (It cracked when I forced it into place), and the runners which were too warped to use. Also I forgot to wash the body before painting and there are several places where the paint didn't sit and bond. And it definitely could have used a gloss layer. I couldn't get the carbon fiber hood decal to lay tight over the bends and curves so I ditched it along with the other large body decals. These are all things I can work on in the future. Thanks for viewing! Workbench photos http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/123928-honda-civic-si-coupe-first-car/

Hi everyone. I think I used to be on this forum about 10 years ago but dropped off as my newborn kids started doing more than sleeping. I did a little bit of model building as a kid and it seems like I've always had some tiny bottle of paint or two in my toolboxes forever. I don't know how it happened but I had a few free days last week and spent most of them working on the Honda Civic I posted in the other thread. I love the meditative aspect of it. I can only hope to get enough time and experience to be able to aspire to the amazing quality of builds the rest of you have. Otherwise, I'm a divorced dad of 3 boys, a software developer, ex musician, enjoy sci-fi and horror movies, chilling at home, eating out, aisle browsing, and hanging with my girl. She was excited when I pulled out my old modelling stuff so I think she may try it herself. Cheers!

Hi everyone. This is my first full attempt at a car. I tried years ago but couldn't find the time to stick with it. I finally made it most of the way through! It needs a few more decals. Cheers.