Technics

I bored out all of the holes on the wheels with a drill bit. Super satisfying, easy detail points. I mocked up two wheels to a piece of balsa and made a first attempt to simulate tension with two different tapes to see which one I liked best. The black was nice to work with, more durable and worked better with the scale. Fun little process to work out the ideas and issues, helps build confidence for the later stages. I’ll do a nicer job with the tape when it’s the final.

The pallet has some raisers now lifting it off the ground. I made a tie down “eye-end” latch test with a staple, and the other with a repurposed photo etch piece originally intended for a battery. Added an initial red tape and seeing how it feels in context to the wood and the model. Will look for something marginally thicker.

@DJMar @bbowser @Pete75 Thanks guys! I did no post processing to the wood. Not sure if it will need any. There’s many very fine wood types to choose having visited a hobby shop. But I utilised what I already had available to keep the costs of the project close to zero. I chose the scrap pieces I had that had the nicest “wood” feel, colour, texture etc. It did vary alot. I wish all material was this clean to work with. 95% done here. Will be adding a few more blocks to lift the pallet off the ground and add strap hooks of some sort. I think proportionally it works well.

I studied some wood crate bases and made something similar but not exact. I had various balsa pieces for years which I experimented making architectural models with but this is the first time I am using it with a solid end goal in mind. ( I’ve lusted after and found simplified architectural models super inspiring and interesting as long as cars themselves ). It’s progressing better than I hoped. The individual planks are 1mm and measured out 5mm wide. Left gaps between the planks to create interest with shadows and to show structure underneath. Overall everything is just estimated by what I felt looks good.

I built the kit in 1.5 sittings minus the clear and interior parts for these photos. Ultra simple but almost 100% part fit. The kit is surprisingly sweet, no flash, pretty accurate, and no strange fitment. Rear wheels might need to be adjusted to be more inboard but that’s about all that I can see so far. 1,000 lakes gravel research on the table.

A mental vacation from structure, plans and ultimately oneself I dove into a project that came to me by chance. I received this 1:43 as having placed second in a national competition here in Sweden for something I have never done before - weathering on my Land Rover. So I thought I’d continue in similar exciting manner and do something I’ve never done before with this one and do a diorama. I am thinking something ultra simple, a shipping crate / archival storage base which by chance I found Peugeot uses. Maybe place it on a patch of concrete / grass / gravel as it’s being logistically delt with. My plan is to completely cover the car in dirt, almost comically if one wants to call it that, everything but the clean wiper tracks. So as if it came off a SS stage and hasn’t been touched since. Not aiming to mimick an exact event, car, or be 100% accurate along the way. Overall impression is everything imo. My initial idea was to completely metal paint it in its entirety in one shot leaving only the wiper streaks to have it as a statue / trophy. Unsure on the kit quality led me down the thought path of covering the vehicle. The crate idea came to me while simply starting. That’s a reminder to myself is just build, think less, it comes in the moment.

At a national event this weekend I was fortune enough to get some recognition and place second in a category outside of the official classes of the event. The event had nearly 650 entries this year. My project was very well received and I’m generally very inspired!

Can’t get much better out of the can without polishing. We’ll see if I go down that route. I’m usually “over it” by the time that stage comes. Having never properly polished out a finish.. I just fear sanded through edges. However I did buy a new micro polisher and some automotive compounds so maybe I will give it a go with the new toys after some test runs on scrap pieces. I feel the colour is phenomenal. Very pleased. Freshly vaccumed, newly layed overspray paper, I mist the room with water from a bottle in an attempt to land anything airborne. My process was one light coat. Two wet coats with wet sanding 3000 grit between all, approximately 30 minutes between each. I’m spraying quite close to the model itself, constant moving with intent. I got two drips which may or may not be noticeable. It’ll have some track soot so it might get solved without much work.

@SpeedAndViolence Thank you! Yeah I’m a sucker for race cars with and without livery! I continued with a bit of fun. Hood intake inlets wrapped in carbon fiber decal and photo etch mimicking im guessing a intercooler / radiator. Might kick back the silver a bit more if it feels too bright compared to the rest. Or paint it darker gunmetal of sorts. Ironically it’s actually painted with metal paint the original raw photoetch showed an undesirable hairline surface crack when I did a panel wash to bring out some detail after the metal paint. Nearly identical the paint vs the photo etch. Body shows hints of shape that isn’t 100% what the real car is like but i think as a clean build it will look exciting due to the dramatic. The carbon isn’t perfect will likely leave raw or might matte clear it.

Thanks guys! I absolutely love the purity in the shapes and proportions of the vehicles in the era. I misted on two full coats of black mr surfacer, then a mostly even / slightly uneven coat of metal paint. Still in awe what comes out of the airbrush rather “easily” I will begin working the upward facing surfaces once it’s had ample time to dry and kick back the reflection as I see fit, it’s all trial and error, alot of error. Fun at the bench.

On my test piece I continued working the surface, it was lighted up and got more chalky with pigments. I then adjusted the perimeter by “subtracting” with the metal paint again. I’m more then content with the result. I think it looks believable. Before the perimeter was adjusted and under more complimentary lighting.

I began testing paints and believe I will be going with the selection below. With a majority being the metal paint I will try to modulate. The purple and golds are my runner up. The fun begins! Adding and subtracting. I’m stippling on the metal paint, airbrushing it then matting it down with sandpaper. Matte clear completely removes the intriguing realistic metal feel so that’s not an option. Maybe satin would be ok. I’m really happy with the session. I believe I will aim to lighten everything up a bit so it’s more dusty than extreme high contrast. Easier said then done I don’t really know how yet but it’s rewarding playing around on scraps.

I swiftly assembled the majority of the project in 2-3 evenings guessing a number of steps. Somehow the vehicle sits upright and nicely although during the assembly I didn’t see how anything will sit in place it’s absolutely not a Tamiya. You can see some traces where the some of the chrome was. I will clean up the body where necessary and get it into primer. I think it looks fantastic. A truly huge object that screamed down the tarmac. I will likely cut out the plastic driver side net and make one slung over hanging out down the side of the door from an appropriate looking textile material.

@ncbuckeye67 Thank you bud. Yes it really is. But I’ve been building models since the 80s, collecting / studying reference photos trying to understand and indulging in all the amazing info and videos out there today and ease of acquiring materials. I’m super excited! My next project is under NASCAR’s WIP thread. Thank you everyone!

Purpose built race cars are one of my favourite things to look at. Slightly lower, slightly wider stance, deleted features, added features.. Building this kit with my main and only focus is the first impression of the exterior that has a nice stance. Neither a non functioning junkyard find nor a showroom car. Something inbetween. I am not an expert on the genre of racing or the car subject just having fun with model making. The kit is significantly old, instructions are vague, some parts are warped but useable. Most Importantly the body is super nicely done and to scale. Moderate to low price entry for something a bit obscure of a subject beside say a Fastback Mustang, 67 Camaro etc. I immediately stripped off the horrible ( to me ) manufacturer chrome plating with oven cleaner. All gone in minutes forgot to take a before photo, gotta love the stuff. Some inspiration follows below.

@Musclecarbuilder Thanks!! Yeah, I really would love to have the teal - I tried, didn’t want to look at it again so onto something fresh and new. Today I shot the roof again with a paper template shielding the rest. I’m content. Will let it rest before clearing. Super understated the colour I love it. I aim for the new reference below including the nice body trim.

I find the colour so very attractive, somehow understated in its matte finish I feel like keeping it. The body prepping wasn’t perfect but i hope the overall build quality / gloss will keep your attention. I’m content! 3 layers of paint straight from the bottle. “water” based paint this version, still has a door but not harsh. Edited Friday at 05:38 by Technics

My second Airfix/Heller kit, WRC car and a French Citroen! My aim was to build it as tidy as possible, with a cloud of stage dust accumulated in the rear. I have not got to the last part as I’m still waiting to distance myself emotionally from the project before I literally spray dirt onto something I surgically assembled in a gas chamber 😂 for six months so incase it doesn’t happen I want to conclude at this stage anyway. Model - Citroen DS3 WRC by Heller Details - Box Stock, I kept this one free from any aftermarket parts as a change to my recent Stratos build You’ll want to find brush paint to match the decals there’s plenty of small edges and slivers of areas I had to brush touch up. The decal job is significant as explained in the wip thread the “redbull” words and bulls themselves made up of 8-10 decals that overlap another in ways you wouldn’t ever dream of doing. So ultimately I can’t believe it all sticks and I didn’t tear a bottom layer or a midway decal during application ruining everything in a complicated way. Perhaps it speaks to show the quality of decals themselves Heller made here. Modifications - Box stock build apart from the flocked interior, steering wheel cable, front tow hook, and diy cut masks for the Citroen racing logo on the front. I also used utilised a universal carbon decal sheet by Tamiya for the rear wing. Pros By far most complex decal / livery I’ve completed combined with painting multiple masked colours as a base. Might be the nicest clear coat I’ve managed thus far. I thank wet sanding and spraying down the room with water before each clear coat layer in an attempt to ground anything airborne. Cons Wheels could be nicer in these heller kits. Otherwise this is almost Tamiya quality fit / finish ( opposite to the Xsara kit ). Yellow has a bit of dark blue seeping through as the blue is in paint and the decal overlaps it. To make this alignment 100% you’d have to paint the decal or be a magician to have it align, guessing how the decal will conform while setting on the surface vs. A clumsy freehand masked tape line. I’m really content. I absolutely love rally cars. Build Thread -

Thank you everyone! This will snowball into many non "perfect" showroom finish projects as it´s all I ever aspired to do since the 80s.

Here’s the colour I will be going with.

Primed rear section of chassis in black. Cut out front air intakes Drilled out some front holes on the body based of references Drilled out center section of fuel inlet for some depth

Clipped off the front air cardinals and trued up the front not to have soft undercut features revell made. I cut away and fused in the aftermarket diffuser. Mated the chassis to body for mock-up, a first - window trims came pre painted. But bizarrely slightly transparent / worn out decal feeling.. think it’ll work though. Love how it looks!! Wheels will need a slight offset during final assembly. I will begin to drill and cut away necessary cavities I find based from photos I don’t know what I was thinking shooting paint before studying references more 😃.

Working my way through primer and sanding, some dry fitting for motivation. Looks fantastic as a package. Maybe it’s just me but I can’t stand Revell Germany boxes. Completely unintuitive and unusable during the build process for me. Small side slot opening, parts sloshing around. I disguised a useable box as the ford project instead 😂🤠 Some more improvement parts arrived, just because it’s fun. Upgrades are something I never really understood until recently but it is really fun I’ve learned during the lotus build… and some of the upgrades can bring drastic improvements. If it feels exciting and propels the build forward I’m all for it now! Diffuser, fuel caps, air hose, wheel. I got it just for the diffuser but the rest won’t hurt if I manage to get them into the model nicely.

I started fusing the main body parts together. There’s a few seam lines to address and tricky surfaces to clean once you join the main body parts. It didn’t help that I was a bit sloppy with the CA so there’s more clean up then there should have been. Also scribing clean the part lines. I bet the Tamiya kit is perfect but it is not the LM version which is ultimately more exciting to me. I plowed through a bunch of steps in the manual fusing parts into assemblies for ease of painting and detailing. It’s no where near as good as a kit as the Land Rover III. German vs American Revell?

This kit came in a bundle and ended up being completely free once I sold off the associated cars which were not of interest! The kit looks excellently detailed and being a modern release I’m hoping it’s perfect to assemble even if it’s not a Tamiya.. I have read mixed reviews of it however... It can´t be worse then the Lotus Esprit anyway! The box art livery is ok but I thought about doing a more modern and exciting ( to me ) feeling. - single color Ford Liquid Blue with matte clear or pearl stripes Dual centered stripes that are stuble on a car is something very seldom I would consider so it could be the way forward. They land on some horribly difficult air inlet areas so I’m not certain.