Darth Vader's ride: Audi R8

[Kmb0319]

Working through my stash of kits, I have now completed a 71 Charger, a Ferrari California and a 65 Belvedere. So what next?  Back to modern, I'm tackling the Revell Audi R8.

First of all, man what a nice kit!!! Tons of molded in details, crisp fit so far.  Researching for this build, I didn't want to do another silver/gray one, so what to do?  The pics that stood out to me most were the black ones.  It would have been easy to just go with a flat black, but I had to challenge myself to do a good black finish.  Then, I looked at it and thought "I need to black out the wheels, too.  This car can look really "pretty" in most colors, but in black, it looks pure evil.  I haven't totally decided on the interior yet, but it will be two-tone with the quilted decals.  

I used Duplicolor black, and my spray automotive clear.  I wet sanded the paint, then tried with each of the first two coats of clear, but this clear dries so hard, I wasn't cutting through it at all, so I just layered a couple more coats on.  It's not perfect, but it's my best black finish so far.  

Then I got started on the engine and painting the under tray:

Loving this kit so far!  More to come.

[Modelbuilder Mark]

Looking good

[aurfalien]

A shaweeeeet!

[slusher]

Real good looking black paint and clear Kevin...

[Gt fan]

Very nice start. I one of these kits in my stash of stuff. Always wanted to build it. Are you gonna do the body blade in carbon? 

[Kmb0319]

Very nice start. I one of these kits in my stash of stuff. Always wanted to build it. Are you gonna do the body blade in carbon? 

Yes... I'll post pics later, as I have applied them and you can see what you think. I thought about leaving them alone, but wanted a mild contrast, and felt the decals would look better than paint.  They aren't the most convincing carbon fiber, but they lay nice and I'm happy with them. 

[Kmb0319]

OK, made a little more progress on this Audi today, and I'm trying a new thing here and there.  First of all, I added the kit blade decals.  They are carbon fiber, but are black/white with the pattern instead of black/gray.  They would look more realistic if they darkened  the other color in the pattern, but they sit down nicely.  I thought about painting the blades, but want to keep the theme dark, and these looked better than any paint I could use to me.

Once they were dried in place, i threw a couple coats of wax on

Painted my wheels black, and added the center cap decals and detailed in the lug nuts.

 

I figured out what to do with my interior.  I wanted to keep it sinister,  but not black, as there are so many great details molded in, I don't want to lose them in a sea of black.  Also, i wanted to have a two-tone and use the quilted decals included in the kit.  I chose a Vallejo acrylic color called black grey, which allowed me to use semi-gloss and flat black as contrast colors.  I decided not to flock this one, as I wanted to keep the floor matching the dash, and this model ends up with all the glass in place anyway.

Started with the interior pan with the floor and console.  I painted in the shifter surround and buttons (red one is the Hazards), painted the cupholders flat black to give them some contrast, and then tried using a black wash around the console storage areas to make them look a little more real.

Next, I painted in the two-tone seats with semi-gloss black and added the quilt decals.  I used a decal bonding spray on them.  I'll let them sit overnight and will then shoot the whole seat with a dull clearcoat to blend them better and hide the decal.

And finally for today, I started to work on my dash.  After painting the main part with the black gray, I used flat black on the vents, semi gloss on the gauge cluster and center stack areas and then detailed according to my research and preference.  I wanted to add the aluminum arch in the dash countour.. I see a lot in gloss black or carbon fiber, but I prefer the pop of bright metal to warm up the interior a bit.  

Lots more to do, but it's starting to take shape.  Although, now I look at the close-up pic, and i need to repaint that trim strip between the vents and the nav screen.  Sheesh... it didn't look that terrible to my old eyes.  Once I fix that, the dash should really pop with all the decals added.

This is one of the nicest kits I've ever built... the molding detail is the closest I've seen to top-level Tamiya or Fujimi kits from Revell.  I've heard of problems at final assembly getting the body and chassis together, so I'll have to watch out, but so far, this is a FUN build and a great car. 

[67impalabuild]

nice, looking good

[Kmb0319]

I got my interior done other than door panels, which I need to research more.  But MAN, between some well molded pieces and the best decals I've ever seen in a Revell kit, this makes one heck of a nice interior!

All for now.

 

[sjordan2]

Looking great, and your description of the choices you made, and why, is top-notch.

[nicknkim14]

This is coming out REALLY nice....

[Kmb0319]

Thanks all!  Did the door panels last night.  Interior is done.

Moving on.

[Gt fan]

Really nice. Coming along really well. 

[da_ashman]

Looking good!! That quilted pattern looks great in the interior! Did that come in the kit?

[Kmb0319]

Looking good!! That quilted pattern looks great in the interior! Did that come in the kit?

yes!!  I loved the quilted pattern in the research pictures, and was really excited to find those decals in the box.  Overall, these are the best decals I've ever seen in a Revell kit.  This one is finished, btw... Just posted it in Under Glass a couple hours ago.

[MeatMan]

Very nice work. I also like the kit and had to give it all I had not to buy it as I'm trying to keep my kits at a manageable number, but you'e making it tough to resist!!

[Rider]

Very sharp looking build. I dig the seats.