New/old builder

[Fury556]

Hi all, new member from England. I've always had an interest in scale models, but the last time I built one was years and years ago and I wasn't very patient back then. I've decided to get myself a model and hopefully a few more after that! 

I picked up a Tamiya Subaru Impreza WRC '99 from a local shop (24218) and some paints/materials. Now I've never painted a model previously, I always just assembled them as they were, but I want to do this "right". I haven't got all the recommended colours for this model, but enough to get me some experience. If anyone has any advice on painting, I'd appreciate it. I have Tamiya colour and primer rattle cans, plus pots with some brushes. My understanding is that I'll want to rub the body down with something like 600 grit paper, prime it (a couple of layers?) then 2-3 coats of colour? I'm not after a perfect finish, just to want it to look reasonable! Images of the kit and bits below! Looking forward to looking at the some build threads

 

 

[slusher]

Welcome to the four James..

[Dave Ambrose]

Glad you're here. Tamiya kits are great. You should have a lot of fun with that one.

[Fury556]

Thanks guys. I was pleasantly surprised to see how detailed they are and that they don't really cost very much. The body needs a little work as it has a couple mould lumps and bumps, but nothing major. I'm figuring out a plan to create a nice warm space (preferably out of the house so I don't end up redecorating everything in mica blue) to get to painting.

[disabled modeler]

Welcome James...!   There are many great painters here...I am sure a few of them can help you with advise.  

[Modelbuilder Mark]

Welcome to the forum!  Look forward to your work

[JerseyRed]

Hi James! It looks you have a good start going. I just have a half dozen models under my belt, but a there's a few things I can tell you. Read, read, read the threads on this site, there's tons of helpful info here. You can also go YouTube and watch some video and that will be a great help. Ask questions here, many nice people are willing to answer your questions. However, if you're like me you won't want to wait to do that in order to get started. So here's a few tips.

First it's not entirely necessary to have all the correct colors. You will at least need some black as that's used a lot. Use your imagination after that. You can get some ideas for colors by doing a google images search for this car and get some help that way.

Second, you will want to paint the body off the car before it's put together. Aside from that you'll see a lot of different opinions on how to prepare for painting. One thing most do first is wash with soap and water. Then take care of all body work fixing scratches, dents and such. Next I'll sand the entire body with some sandpaper between 600 and 1000 grit. I'll then spray with a couple coats of primer. Thin coats, it's better to have to give it 3 passes than go heavy and load it up or even run it. Spraying with cans is a little difficult as it is tough to control the amount of primer coming out.

Let the primer dry completely. Check out your work, if it all looks nice and smooth you can move on to the paint. Again, nice thin coats, move your hand quickly and evenly along the body. Make sure you have everything covered well. It's not good to find light spots when you're placing the body on the chassis. It's tough to correct them then. I'm going to guess that the paint you have is a lacquer since I can't tell from the picture, so depending on the paint you've chosen you may need to put a clear coat over top of the paint to make it look proper. That I would do a couple hours after letting it dry if the color requires it. Some people will apply the decals after the color coat to seal them in, but you don't have to do it that way. You can then apply the clear after that. If you'll want to do it that way, let it dry over night before you do. Once it's all dry you can polish it.

 I hope answers some of your questions. Somebody can add to this for anything I've missed. Feel free to ask more here or make a post in another section of the site.

Edited December 1, 2016 by JerseyRed

[Fury556]

Thanks, Red - appreciate the info! 

So the spray can I have is TS-50 Mica Blue which states it's a synthetic lacquer - so should that be fine to leave, or would you recommend a clear coat? I feel like I should know this as my dad used to work in a bodyshop but nothing seems to have rubbed off  

I've hand painted some of the smaller parts on the sprue this evening just so they're easier to deal with and they're now drying near a radiator overnight - I may make a couple of small corrections as I've gone outside the lines a little bit on some of the finer details, but all in all I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out. 

I've started a build thread here (http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/118712-tamiya-subaru-impreza-99-wrc/) and I'll try to keep adding photos when I make any worthwhile progress!

Edited December 1, 2016 by Fury556

[JerseyRed]

With a lacquer I would use a clear coat. Not using one might leave the finish looking flat. If you want, you can spray the color and wait until it dries to see if you think it needs it. It doesn't need to be cleared immediately. There are several pros to using a clear coat finish. One is that it will help give the paint a nice deep shine. Another is that if there are any imperfections (dust etc.) in the paint you can scuff the clear with very fine sandpaper and compound it to remove it without going through the color. The only cons I can think of are the cost of the clear and a little extra time to do it.

Depending on just how detailed you want to get on this one I wouldn't worry all that much about correcting small imperfections especially if they're not really going to be seen without looking extremely close at it. Once you're finished with this one and move on to your next couple models you're going to find a ton of things wrong with this one and things that you would have done differently. You're going to learn a lot on this one as it is that you can apply to the next ones. That's how I would look at it. Do your best but don't sweat it.

In addition to a warm area to spray it you also need good ventilation. If you don't have a respirator you may want spray it outside if the temperature is above about 60-65 degrees and less than about 70% humidity. If you plan on continuing using lacquer or enamel on more models I would suggest investing in a decent respirator. Lacquers and enamels contain very harmful chemicals that you do not want in your lungs.

Edited December 1, 2016 by JerseyRed

[D. Battista]

Welcome to the forum James....

Looks like you have a good start at it... Good Luck with your build..!