IanH

Well finished up the masking and sprayed the blue today... A bit of clean up needed, but happy with how it is coming together. Masked up and ready to go: Unmasking in progress : A bit of a mock-up checking the alignment of the colours : 356 hours

Posting a small update, doesn't look like much, but have spent a lot of time trying to make sure the paint finish is right, sanding between coats and getting out any imperfections that I can. So the base white is done, and have then gone on to measuring and masking for the Camel yellow... This I must admit was quite painful as the molded lines for the different colours have already been sanded off, and with the pinstripe decals between the different colours, I can't afford to have some misalignment. Have completed the painting of the Camel yellow, also with some flatting between coats, and am now moving on to the masking of the side pods for the next painting session which will be the blue. Masked off the main line on the one side pod last night, need to repeat for the other side and then should hopefully be able to shoot some blue in the coming week or two. Base white done: Measuring and masking for the yellow : Yellow done: Measuring and masking of the side pod: Sitting on 348 hours so far 🙄

So I am toying with the idea of upgrading my airbrush, and looking for recommendations. I currently use an older Badger Patriot 105 which I have had for a long time, I do really like it. It has the blue needle which I understand is the 0.5mm. I have mixed results with various paints, sometimes super smooth and other times a bit blotchy... I don't know if that is just me with too much or too little pressure, or too thick paint... Or if that's the airbrush... So if I were to replace with another airbrush what would you recommend, would I see a difference between the Badger and a new airbrush? What nozzle size is recommended? I like using Tamiya LP paints and 2k clear for 1/24 and 1/12 scale cars. I read up a little on the H&s Evolution, it seems quite decent with the 0.28 and 0.45mm needles. Budget as low as possible 😂 up to around $250 I suppose...

Looks stunning

It's been a while since my last update, and it's amazing how much time and effort has gone into the body work. Been planning, measuring, cutting, gluing, sanding, putting, sanding, more planning, more sanding, coats of primer, sanding again.... Lol. Trying to sand off all unnecessary details which will be replaced by Top Studio details, trying to glue body parts together to be able to putty and sand away the joins, which are in some areas quite nasty! A couple of times thought I was ready for the painting phase, and then some other detail was noticed.. Here are some photos of this stage: Cutting off the nose : Test fitting PE details : Removing molded in detail : Puttying and sanding progress : Splitting the engine cover into individual parts: Still a bit of sanding to do, hopefully be ready for painting soon. Sitting on a total of 308 hours now!

Always love seeing these builds, brings back good memories. If I could do it over, I would replace the vinyl lines with braided hose as you are doing, think that will make a huge difference. Here is a link to mine for interests sake :

It's a great kit with pretty usual fit issues as one gets from time to time with many kits... Didn't think it was really that much more difficult. Detail is wonderful out the box. Your motor is looking fantastic, can't wait to see the progress

It seems like such a long time since I posted an update, but although tons of work has been done, there really hasn't been much to show... Until now... I started working on the brakes, it's time for the rears to be installed, but I wanted to do the fronts at the same time, then they're done, and no risk of major colour differences if done months apart from the rears. Doing the brakes meant I have to get the brake cooling ducts done, and they're supposed to be carbon fibre, so a big chunk of time went into creating templates and trying to get the carbon fibre decals to conform to the shape of the ducts. The fronts were a lot of work, all in all 14 separate decals cut and applied to each of the front air ducts! Here is an in progress shot of the front and rear ducts busy creating templates for the decals. And after applying clear and leaving to cure for over a week.. Quite happy with the results! Been building the brakes and what a rewarding step as the brakes just look miles better than the kit parts In progress : Complete and ready for fitment : Reached a big milestone now over the weekend with the rear brakes fitted! Total build time to date 247 hours 34 minutes.

As I think something fiddly is finished the next fiddly part appears! Trying to finish up the rear suspension, so built up the dampers, these electronic connectors, wiring and the little pe brackets were a bit more challenging than I thought. The hydraulic tanks were fun to build, but fitting the pe strap turned out to be quite challenging to get it to sit down correctly. And finally installed and ticked off the long to do list! Tried my hand at carbon fibre decals on the valve covers, first time working with this, and with a bit of patience I am quite happy with the results. In progress : Complete, except for some pe bolt heads and a clear coat which I still need to do : Progressing on to the brake assemblies now... 169 hours!

Lol, my apologies Pierre, I don't know how, but for some reason I got your name mixed up in my post, I corrected it now 😳. But same compliment applies, really am looking forward to seeing the updates on this one.

Other than a few little things here and there I am basically at the end of the engine building phase. Some key parts like the fuel injection, etc I plan to do later as the part under that is such a nice place to get a grip on the engine, I don't want to cover that all up now! I will prepare those parts and a few other bits, but I will soon be getting stuck into the rear suspension and brakes! So turbos, intercoolers and their hoses have been fitted, my wife helped me mix up a custom colour to represent the pinkish purple hose clamps! The engine is starting to get quite full of wires and hoses now! Here is the hose clamp on the 1:1 And my attempt to replicate it: Some shots of the turbos, intercoolers and various cables and hoses: Time sure flies when you're having fun! Sitting on 134 hours! Do I build that slow, or is the 100s of parts, new techniques and skills I'm needing to acquire!?

This is a very interesting build to follow, Pierre your skills working the analog mods are seriously mind boggling!

Looks great, but I think you should post some completed photos here to finish off the thread and maybe a link to to the under glass thread.... But nevertheless fantastic build and wow, how quickly you got through it!

I was way over confident thinking I would be able to fit the hydraulic controller and reservoir the following day... All was going to plan, except the parts on both were so delicate, that they kept coming loose, the little 0.3mm legs, and tiny wiring terminals just weren't in the mood to go together as planned. So over the next few days I redid these parts countless times until finally they came together, Here's the hydraulic controller with the wiring harness. And here's a pic as we ended today with some extra hoses fitted. Sitting now on 112 hours!

No I did not, but I should have, these decals were difficult, and I am not thrilled with the result, they look ok from far, but horrible up close..... ? Haven't done much more since I lost a bit of interest since these decals didn't turn out the way I had hoped....