OldNYJim

This is AMAZING John, love a showrod! Great concept, very cool!

Next up, designed some custom license plates (and a bunch more) and printed them at the local RiteAid Should work! Did some more tricky masking Starting to add more layers to the molded-in engine Front clip assembled And the rear end...there's SO MUCH black under a Miata, so I'm glad I shot some dark grey in the arches to help it stand out a little More soon! I need to start thinking about colors for the interior next...

Loved hearing all the Miata stories! Thanks for sharing everyone!! Meanwhile, I spent some time today polishing the body out: I still couldn't get it QUITE as shiny as I wanted, so I gave it a coat of Future as an experiment...came out pretty shiny! Love that shine on the trunklid from my lamp! There's a couple of tiny imperfections in the Future - I'm hoping I can leave it a couple of days and buff them out...maybe with wet and dry, or some polish that won't attack the finish

I'd love to see them, if anyone wants to share theirs in this thread too! Feel free! Thanks buddy!

Thanks buddy! Which variants have you had, Eric? I've had an NA and an NB - I think the later car was a touch better - better handling, a bit more comfortable...but the NA was my favorite! Just a couple of tiny updates, seeing as I'm replying anyway...the stock Miata gas tank is steel, covered with this textured paint: So, I masked the tank on the car and shot some semigloss black from about 18 inches away to try and have the paint dry a little before it hit the surface. The effect is pretty subtle, and you can't see the tank once the rear suspension is in place...but if someone knew what to look for they'd hopefully notice it! Meanwhile, I went through my paint stash and found that Tamiya Gun Metal is a really nice match for the stock calipers on an 'ata So, I shot some of that - once it's dry I'll mask up and spray the brake disks themselves with something suitable - maybe a chrome silver for that? More soon!

You're absolutely right Pete - base color is SUPER important over reds and colors like that. I tried the red over yellow, grey, white and pink primer on spoons and it looked good on every color BUT the grey...but then I took them outside and a few streets over to where a new red Miata lives painted the same color and kinda had to concede that none of them were EXACT for the 1:1 but the slightly darker finish from the one with the grey primer was closest. But yes, you're totally right, something like the yellow primer I started with or a white would be much better usually. I'm not sure if the theoretical imaginary contest judge I'm building this to impress would know enough about Miata colors to be like "hey, that red's too bright man!" but who knows. Thanks for the feedback! Next up, if you look just in front of the engine on a 1:1 Miata you can see two bright white (when they're new, anyway) electric fans on the back of the radiator. There wasn't any molded in detail for them on this kit, and being a boxstock build I couldn't scratchbuild anything to represent them but I CAN add decals, so I cut a couple of decals to represent these white fans on my Silhouette machine. You can just see the outline of them on the material if you look closely in this pic: Now these are almost COMPLETELY hidden when the suspension is assembled, but I figured I'll know theyre there - and from just the right angle you'll be able to see them...so on they went! Once the bottom suspension arms are on you can only see about a tiny bit of the fans peeking out - but totally worth the hour's worth of effect!

OK, so this probably isn't for a contest - but I'd really like to get my skills right up there and good enough to not embarrass myself if I DID enter a contest. So, I'm gonna pretend I'm building this to enter in a box-stock class at some imaginary show. Any contest judges with feedback on what I'm doing wrong, please let me know!! First up, primed the body with some yellow primer that I got from my buddy who works at a paintshop: I've already cleaned up some of the more obvious mold lines and so on, but this should help me spot the rest. And yep, there's some now! I also need to use a fine file to level out that wonky trim line on the bumper Plus the top of the windshield needed some love too And the top of the rear fenders definitely appreciated some attention too After getting all that levelled out and shooting some grey primer as a base (not what I'd usually use for red - but my red Miata had grey primer under the paint from the factory, so...) I shot some Mazda classic red on there. Lots of light coats, going for coverage rather than shine right now Next up, painted the chassis gloss black (I'm going for a super clean right-off the production line type build here) and then masked the inner wheel wells to shoot matt black. I can't remember if my 1:1 had plastic inner arches or metal ones - but I know for sure they weren't ever shiny anyway. Seeing as there's a LOT of black underneath a Miata I'm trying to match the factory colors and finishes of the various components as best I can to add some realism. If I could weather it that would definitely help...but like I say, not going for a used look on this one. The subtle difference between the wheelwells and the rest of the chassis is a start though, I think! I remember noticing red overspray in the underneath of the trans tunnel on my Miata when I was weatherproofing it one year, and a little on the edges of the chassis too. So, I gave it a VERY subtle mist of red with the airbrush Subtle, but it's there! The block and trans on these is aluminum, so I did that tricky masking and shot some tamiya flat aluminum on everything that will need it Lots of tricky masking to go on this one - more soon!

Another day, another showrod - this time it's a box stock Baron build, to match this 50th anniversary art by Tom: This won't be a super complex or interesting build, but I really wanted to build one like the art to commemorate the car's 50th anniversary. I've got one of the metal tin editions from a while back that I'd been saving, so I'm going to use that: I used a little filler to fill the seams and level out the framerails Smoothed it out and then re-opened those holes on the frame I went with Tamiya white primer on this one to make the red nice and bright: I shot the body/chassis and interior tub with Tamiya Italian Red, and then let it sit for a few days so I could smooth it out and shoot some clear over it. I like clearing over the base color, even with a solid color, so I can polish it out and not risk rubbing through the paint to the primer - and you get a nice deep shine too! Next up, shot the block with Tamiya black from a rattle can to match the art: And opened out those headers a little to add some realism A Tamiya paint marker is great for little jobs like this - and I've had this matt black one for probably 5 years and it still works great! Next up, masked the bits of the interior tub that I wanted to stay red And shot a very dark grey blend of Createx paint. I went with a dark grey so I can drybrush in some black and add a little depth to the look of the leather seats Next up, a little Molotow Chrome on the interior and painted the rubber boot of the shifter with Tamiya rubber black Next up, after 5 coats of clear, time to polish the body out: The finish wasn't terrible but not great either - the weather here makes it hard to get it to lay as smooth as I'd always like out of the can, even when conditions seem favourable. Much better after a couple of hours of buffing it out - looks ready for wax to me! Once I've done those rails anyway... More soon - I gotta clear this tray and start sticking some parts on!

Both! A new showrod AND a Cheetah would be amazing!

How do we know this first guy didn't go to any effort? Or that he's not going to? Who said he's not gonna get that body nice and straight and throw a pretty paint job on it?

I like it ?‍♂

Will do! Just trying to figure out what to build and bring, is all. Sounds like a TONNE of fun tho!!

I've never attended an NNL, and I understand the concept of public vote, no judges etc...but are there different categories aside from the specific annual themes (the Modelhaus theme etc)? I'm thinking of building some stuff for next year, but what categories do they have? I couldn't find the info on the website, although I might be looking for a thing that isn't a thing...

McLaren has a really fun tool on their site to configure your perfect 570 - good for seeing all the different options (choose your own color brake calipers!) available on this: http://configurator.mclaren.com/configuration/startConfiguration.do?profileName=COUPE570S

I'm gonna have to sign up to that Patreon thing I think to see this come together - gorgeous work Donn! I spent a nice day yesterday watching every single vid on your Youtube - really inspirational stuff!

That's cool, thanks for getting back Bill! I'll pick some up and try it and post results - sounds promising though! Thanks buddy!

Top tip, btw - I've been using Duane Reede (Walgreens) isopropyl alcohol to clean my airbrush after using this stuff - works great at $4 for a big bottle.

I heard from someone else that the Spaz Stix worked well too...glad to hear that Future doesnt work, that's a good tip - I was going to try that next! Thanks Bob! PS: nice Miata!

This is a real "urgh, I wish I'd thought of that!" kinda build...I've been thinking for a few weeks about how I could build one of these in a way that noone's done before, and this is the BEST idea that I never came up with. Outstanding work!

The Liquitex tip is a good one, thank you Bill! Which Liquitex? This one?

I, too, would like to see some pics

OH good, Mr Positive's back to tell everyone how much better he could run a model manufacturer than the actual companies manage themselves

Oh wow, I've never seen one of these in the plastic! Amazing! Thanks for sharing, Alan!

Ahh, my mistake - I recognised it from an old thread I saw the other day on there and couldn't remember if it was one of their contests or not