The Creative Explorer

I made my own vacform device today and even though I was eager to work on some projects, I took my time and prepared. Unfortunately, I am not happy with the first tests and I was hoping if I can get some hints and tips from you guys. This is my vacformer: Simply nothing more than a upside down barbecue and a vacuumcleaner. The problems I face: -Plastic not smooth, riples in it -Vacuum not tight enough -Losing details in the lower part of the body. Some pictures of projects I did today: This was actually my very first attempt:

Thanks Fabrizio! I managed to get the Evo into the paintshop and gave it it's color. It wasn't easy tough, I think I wanted to go to fast and messed up. After my first attempt I gave the car a covering-color, since the orange wasn't all that opaque. It seemed to work, as the car has now a overall even coat of paint and now that the Evo has some paint, the whole concept comes to live, I like it actually The base-color: a beige.... And the bodycolor, it is a Lamborghini orange, and I love the hue Looking at the sideshape of the car, it does make sense

Don't forget about the Porsche 911 and the BMW 6-series, they are from the 80's and affordable and easy to find (in 1:1) It is a public secret that I have a weak for the Enthusiasts and I own multiple of the same kits, just because I like them and I am still hunting for them, because they are unknown, I usually get them between 15 and 20 dollars each. For the Enthusiast kits these were the series they had: Porsche 356 Porsche 911, first generation Porsche 911, second generation Ferrari Dino Ferrari 365 Ferrari GTO LAmborghini Countach BMW 6-series Lancia Stratos

Since I have to wait until the chrome has removed from parts of the Ferrari, i though I could do some boresome sanding work on this one. Not a whole lot has happened, but I managed to get most sanding work done, it is up to the fiddly work now. The body after it's coat of primer: And after I started to search for detailling, looks a lot, but it isn't all that bad. After this is sorted out, I can start thinking of the new panellines.

I can help if you still need some

And my 3rd Tamiya Enzo, I don't know why I buy so many of them, I don't even like the car itself haha. I just like the kit and I have huge major plans with this one in particular. All the bodywork will be replaced and make it into a pretty Ferrari with it's sexyness from the 250 era.

And for so far the end of the streak. budget is tight again and I can't complain, I got plenty of goodies to hold me busy for a while, I think I should be self-sustaining for at least a year now (including paint), so hopefully in the meantime I will find me a job and get some cash in again.

And all the parts done with detailling, I decided not to clearcoat the decals, I figured they didn't do that in those either. So it is shiny bodywork with silk-matt decals. A last picture of the cockpit-cowling

I hear you guys, it is definately not a kit for the faint- hearted, but is doable. I also have the Ferrari 126C1, started a long time ago, but missing the motivation to build. Being able to build this one, I might get that little bit of motivation. Hope it works for you too! And we struggle further. I have been working mostly on the engine and the bodypanels, especially the engine needs a lot of work to get cleaned up, getting complete and rebuild again. So far I am still in the process of getting all the parts sanded and ready for some paint. Shown vaguely here are the parts coming from the engine. The covers for the valvecovers were too bad, so I am going to replace them with new ones. Basically all these parts, except the exhaust, will be discarded and replaced, they are just too badly damaged. And a jump to the bodypanels. I airbrushed them with Scuderia Red and then 2K glossed them. After it dried, I applied the dry-transfers. Which was a living nightmare, the dry-transfer bit wasn't working no more, so I had to find an alternative to get them on. The sidepanels.

If I can be honest; some builders to get results with a pre-wash panelline, but most of the time it does look unrealistic to me. When I get a body, I scribe the panellines almost to the point where I cut through the plastic, leaving a nice deep and narrow panelline. With all modesty; I think that gives the right downscaled look.

Yes, you can say that again. It is by far not a proper kit, but I do have to admit, it is well detailled. I think it is even overdetailled for the construction-possibilities they had back then, since it doesn't fit. I am not sure I have it under control, I'll just go ahead and tackle the problems one by one, since there are way too many to deal at once haha.

I managed to get all the bodyparts that needs to go in red, in primer. By the time you read this, they will be painted in Scuderia Red.

The shocks and rockerarms were poorly done as well, I took everything apart and gave them a bleechbath, they are still in the bleech, the chrome is very stubborn The panel behind the cockpit; was also in bad shape, they just glued it on, with a lot of sinkmarks, didn't look pretty at all. Bottem of cockpit, notice all that superglue And a dry-fit, which proofed very usefull. The fit is very bad and a lot of shaving needs to be done to get it to fit nicely.

I took a brave breath and started to dissasemble, which proofed difficult with all the superglue Same story with the engine And a giant leap in time to yesterday, after I finished a couple of projects, I could start on this project. This is part of a bulkhead, which lost the battle to superglue and needs to be restored. On the right is how it originally looked.

This is going to be a challenge, Protar isn't very known for their sophisticated kits and on top of that, this kit is already started and in a poor condition. I had to de-assemble the cockpit and engine, after that, I had to get rid of the terrible paintjob. Including the missed prep-work, all the sprue attachments were still there. This is how the assembled cockpit looked like. Most of it was glued with superglue The engine didn't look much better. Most horrible are those things on top of the intake-funnels.

The results of last week:

I wouldn't start with any grids LOWER then 3200! All the courser grids will scratch too much to be saved with polish-paste.

@Bob, ok, that is different. What I would do: Send a Private Message to one of the moderators and ask them to merge the two topics.

In my honest opinion: I'd rather see updated topics than new on new on new topics with only one update. That way the whole story/build can be followed and it is way less cluttering on the boar.d

Thanks guys, @Aaron; I think we all have that problem IF I can make 12 models per year, I have enough models to last me for the next 20 years...But buying is 25% of the fun, 25% is browsing through them and the manuals. Where the other 50% is building hehe. The truck will cost a dime or two in The States, since it is a RoG Truck, I think over here it cost around 50 bucks in store. Since it has been released before, better deals can be found. @Geoff: You are correct sir, it is 2K. @Curtis: In my opinion it is one of the better looking trucks, especially because of the curves, it gives something different to the otherwise boxy things.

All depends on what kind of paint you used. When I airbrush my cars, I can clearcoat within an hour. With rattle-cans, it is a good idea to wait until they are gassed, so 24hours at roomtemperature at least. Add24 hours when the spraycans where not acrylic, but alkyd or lacquer-based. When to apply the BMF is personal, I choose to do it after the clearcoat, it has a more natural look and is easier to apply, due to the slickness of the clearcoat.

Zoomed out And another dryfit. I also put the headlights together, I must say that they look very nice. Quite convincing if you ask me.

I covered the front windowmolds in chrome and put the interior together. A sideview And topview This shows a little bit better on how bad the tape-mess looks to hold the parts together.

Thanks Rodney! I managed to clearcoat the bodyparts on sunday evening, so after a night drying, today was the day to resume assembly. The fenders do align hard, so I added the cabin to guide me and hold those fenders in the right spot while the glue is drying. A lot of tape was needed to keep the bumper and front lower grille to it's place. Top view The exhaust had to be dissassembled, the fenders can't be attached when the exhaust is already glued on. It starts to look like a truck