SelineManson

Hi. I did everything you mentioned, and I always use automotive primers and paints so I'm not really sure what happened. I know that the first time it was definitely my fault going too heavy with the paint too quickly, but I can't figure out what happened the second time. I'm going to try once more and this time I'm going to base it up with a thick coat (without losing details) of automotive paint first which will hopefully seal the primer layer and fill in any micro scratches and imperfections in the primer that I may have missed and give me a perfectly smooth surface to put the zero paint over. If that doesn't work, I'll just give up on trying to use zero and just go with some generic 2k car paint instead.

So i'm going for this look...

Getting the body nearly finished.

I've always wondered how you get the plug wires to stay in the distributor? Looks awesome though.

Looks great, I might have to do one of these next

This one is really kicking my butt. Everything that can go wrong seemingly has, especially as far as paint is concerned. This is my first time working with Zero Paints and i know everybody raves about these people but honestly ive had much better experiences just using rattle cans. Still, this paint is expensive so im not going to let it beat me, but for now this is where i am so far: The kit: The body and getting rid of the mould seams: Body prepped and primed: Everything was going smoothly as normal until... My nemesis: Looks ok right? Well not really... For some reason you can still see an issue with the moulding of the body itself...im not sure how these swirls are visible through the primer and paint layer: But thats not the only problem....look at the weird texture i have from the paint itself: Hard to see in the photos but there are these circular spirals in the paint, most visible where the door meets the front wing: I think this was my fault, as I think I must have put the paint on too thick too quickly, so time to strip and start again I guess... Re-primed and prepped for round two: But thats not where the story ends. I attempted to do the paint a second time, making sure to take things slower with thinner coats (compressor at the recommended PSI, airbrush was set up correctly etc), but once again the paint looked like BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH and showed up every last minor imperfection in my primer layer, which usually isn't a problem as I usually put my paint on nice and thick (without sacrificing detail) which usually fills in all the tiny imperfections, but because you have to put this stuff on in such thin coats that wasn't happening...you'd think the primer wasn't prepped properly, however I did everything I normally do (primer, guide coat, wet sand to a smooth finish etc) but it still looked like BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH. I dont have pictures of this as I was too upset and annoyed so I forgot to take any. So I stripped it down for a second time and I'm currently trying to figure out what I should do next. I have a plan, but whether it will work remains to be seen.

I think I might be a little obsessed with Skylines....lol Heres my R33. As usual, getting rid of the mould seam lines and worked on the panel lines: Then on to primer, but i forgot to take a photo of this, so on to paint.....which is where the trouble starts :banghead: At first it looked good, Ford Diamond white: Looked pretty good, right? Then this happened: Despite leaving the paint to cure for a couple of days, it was still soft and had left this impression on the bumper where it was leaning on something. I later found out that i forgot to add hardener to the 2k paint i used, so it was time to strip and start again. :banghead: I wasn't very happy with the finish anyway, as i had lost some fine details because i went too heavy with the spray gun. I'm not working with an optimum set up at the moment so im blaming that on my mistakes :oops: One bottle of isopropyl alcohol and Amazon Prime later: Thankfully as far as strip downs go, it went without a hitch and turned out quite well, despite technically not having enough alcohol to fully submerge the body and chassis. Some scrubbing later and i was back to square one: So....take two: This time i used a different paint, from an aerosol and its actually a Nissan color so....accuracy? lol Whats most important is the paint actually cured solid, as did the lacquer so I wet sanded it and buffed it to a shine: So with crisis averted I moved onto detailing the chassis: Thats all for now! x

Interior done and glued to the chassis:

On to my next project, i decided to tackle the R32 next. The kit: As always i started out by inspecting the body and looking for all the seam lines to be sanded down. Once that was done i cut the holes out of the bumper for the vents, this was not explained very well in the instructions lol And then primed the body: Next i moved on to paint. Decided to go with a black metallic. Lacquer: I wasnt too happy with the finish so i decided to wet sand it down with 1500 grit sandpaper ready for buffing. Then i broke out my rotary tool and the polishing compounds and had at it: Pretty happy with it now: Next i started building and detailing the engine and uprights: Painted the wheels and added the decals: Then got everything mounted to the chassis: Then started on the interior, went with a similar color as my R34:

Thanks everyone for the great feedback and warm welcome to the forum! I've got more projects on the go so hopefully everyone will like them as much as this one

Wow, that's very sharp and clean

Looks amazing! You're making me want to build one now too.

Very beautiful! I think I have you beat though, I have a kit that's been sitting in pieces that I've had for over 10 years now lol.

Hi all. First post here and thought I'd share something I just finished up, which also happens to be my first time making a kit like this so theres a few things I could have done better but overall i'm happy with the result and cant wait to make more! (I already have 3 more Skyline kits on the go lol) I have experience restoring and painting real cars so I sprayed this with automotive paints and lacquers, detailed with Tamiya acrylics by hand. The paint isn't Bayside Blue of course, and is infact a Ford colour I had left over, but I think it's pretty close and I'm happy with how it turned out. I decided to go with the Japanese plates for that full on JDM look ?? The interior was flocked but you can't really see that in the photos. I had never done flocking before though so that was a fun experience. Anyway let me know what you all think and thanks for looking. X