Tamiya 1/24 Mazda Savanna RX-7 - 1st Generation Rotary Rocket

[fumi]

Nice colour indeed.

[Tommy124]

Looks great in green!

If my guess is right and you used Tamiya TS color, you might skip the clear coat and just get a good, natural-looking 70's shine by polishing. The way I did on the Fairlady back then...

 

Edited November 7, 2018 by Tommy124

[Italianhorses]

3 hours ago, Tommy124 said:

Looks great in green!

If my guess is right and you used Tamiya TS color, you might skip the clear coat and just get a good, natural-looking 70's shine by polishing. The way I did on the Fairlady back then...

I did use tamiya TS color, but I decanted it and airbrushed it. 

I never really had any success polishing metallics straight without clear though - I always end up with some spots that are different in color. So clearcoat is a must for these IMO. Plus, when you airbrush these, they come out rather flat.

 

Edited November 7, 2018 by Italianhorses

[Tommy124]

22 hours ago, Italianhorses said:

I never really had any success polishing metallics straight without clear though - I always end up with some spots that are different in color. So clearcoat is a must for these IMO. Plus, when you airbrush these, they come out rather flat.

Okay... Clear can't be wrong either way. Just had the impression that there is some nice sheen on the green already. But you have a point about polishing metallics, probably easy to get spots of uneven color effect.

[Italianhorses]

Body was clearcoated, polished, and masked off:

Moldings and window frames painted black. I also painted inside of the bodyshell:

Masks off:

Motor in!

Headlights wired:

Here is where I'm at this point.

[Gt fan]

That looks really good Alex. Great job, really like the color you choose.

[Tommy124]

8 hours ago, Italianhorses said:

Moldings and window frames painted black.

Clean masking, clean paint job. The contrast looks good.

[Italianhorses]

3 hours ago, Tommy124 said:

Clean masking, clean paint job. The contrast looks good.

Thanks, I think it actually took longer to mask, and take masks off, than to prep the body, primer, paint, clearcoat, and polish. So tedious! Not a big fan of masking.

[Italianhorses]

Headlights assembled, installed into the body:

Checking clearance - looks good:

Tops attached:

And they are alive!

[Dann Tier]

25 minutes ago, Italianhorses said:

Headlights assembled, installed into the body:

Checking clearance - looks good:

Tops attached:

And they are alive!

That's looking great, Alex!!….I LOVE masking, even though it does take forever!   lol

[Italianhorses]

Thanks Dann, maybe one day I'll get there

[MrObsessive]

Very nice and clean work so far Alex!

I didn't think much of these cars when they populated the roads here back in the '80's-------UNTIL I had a hard time beating one in my '69 AMX 390! These little beasts can haul! And given a chance, they don't seem to have any limit!

Unfortunately, they tend to be oil burners and as far as I know, Mazda has no current car with a rotary for sale.

BTW, I like masking too........especially when I know the end result will be worth it. It can be time consuming, but I consider that as part of the paint job overall.

[Italianhorses]

Bill, yeah, they sure are zippy little cars. They are light, which makes them a hoot and easy to handle with little power.

I have not driven this car, but test drove a 92 (I believe its a 3rd gen?) and it was a blast.

[Jonathan]

Looking great!  

Thread hijack here:

[Italianhorses]

16 hours ago, Jonathan said:

Looking great!  

Thread hijack here:

Is it yours?

[Jonathan]

It is.  1985.  Needs brake work at the moment, but I've not had a chance to take care of that.  Overall, it's in good shape.  80k miles on the clock so far ...

Your build of that kit is really clean.  Beautiful work!

Edited November 20, 2018 by Jonathan

[FabbricaP]

Headlights look awesome Alex. Nothing like peeling back masking tape to see clean paint lines- one of the more satisfying parts of modelling imo lol

[Italianhorses]

On 11/20/2018 at 8:56 AM, Jonathan said:

It is.  1985.  Needs brake work at the moment, but I've not had a chance to take care of that.  Overall, it's in good shape.  80k miles on the clock so far ...

Your build of that kit is really clean.  Beautiful work!

Awesome. 80K miles is super low. Enjoy!

On 11/20/2018 at 9:10 AM, FabbricaP said:

Headlights look awesome Alex. Nothing like peeling back masking tape to see clean paint lines- one of the more satisfying parts of modelling imo lol

or peeling it back and realizing something seeped through and now you have to repaint the whole thing.....

[Nacho Z]

I have always admired your work, Alex.  It is great to see your in-progress updates.  I have said elsewhere, I would put masking as my least favorite thing to do.  I'm not good at it.  As you pointed out, it is time consuming and more often than not, takes longer to do than the prep and painting.  

Your Mazda is looking great.  Love the color!  I'm looking forward to seeing more updates.

[Dann Tier]

1 hour ago, Italianhorses said:

Awesome. 80K miles is super low. Enjoy!

or peeling it back and realizing something seeped through and now you have to repaint the whole thing.....

The other thing to be aware of when masking too, is that no matter what tape you use, the longer its stuck/ burnished-down, the less time you have to get klean lines......it will start pulling away.

[Italianhorses]

2 hours ago, Dann Tier said:

The other thing to be aware of when masking too, is that no matter what tape you use, the longer its stuck/ burnished-down, the less time you have to get klean lines......it will start pulling away.

I usually burnish down all the seams/edges one more time before paint. It really is mostly the quality of the tape that matters - bad tape will not stick well in the first place. Good tape will not easily pull off.

Also, I almost never use tape when I need a super clean, sharp line - I use BMF. Expensive and time consuming - yes, but you can't beat the results.

[Italianhorses]

2 hours ago, Nacho Z said:

I have always admired your work, Alex.  It is great to see your in-progress updates.  I have said elsewhere, I would put masking as my least favorite thing to do.  I'm not good at it.  As you pointed out, it is time consuming and more often than not, takes longer to do than the prep and painting.  

Your Mazda is looking great.  Love the color!  I'm looking forward to seeing more updates.

Thanks John, much appreciated. Will post some updates soon! 

[Dann Tier]

3 hours ago, Italianhorses said:

I usually burnish down all the seams/edges one more time before paint. It really is mostly the quality of the tape that matters - bad tape will not stick well in the first place. Good tape will not easily pull off.

Also, I almost never use tape when I need a super clean, sharp line - I use BMF. Expensive and time consuming - yes, but you can't beat the results.

I always go back and check to make sure its all good to go too. I love the Tamiya tapes...never let me down.

[Tommy124]

16 hours ago, Italianhorses said:

Also, I almost never use tape when I need a super clean, sharp line - I use BMF. Expensive and time consuming - yes, but you can't beat the results.

Fully agree. When it comes to those super-fine double lines on the hood of a '69 Camaro, I'd go for BMF aswell. And it doesn't have that "time factor" to it...

13 hours ago, Dann Tier said:

I always go back and check to make sure its all good to go too. I love the Tamiya tapes...never let me down.

Agree here too, Dann, Tamiya is a good tape. BUT: once you use it on Tamiya acrylics or TS colors and leave it for a longer period, the solvents will leave their mark on the paint, the longer - the worse. That's why I switched to a (guaranteed) solvent-free Tesa tape for these kinds of paints...

By the way, I always use a small hairdryer on a lower temperature setting to warm up masking tape before removing it from the painted parts. This significantly reduces the tape's adhesive power on the paint - and the risk of pulling off paint instead...

[Luc Janssens]

On 11/4/2018 at 2:42 PM, Italianhorses said:

I just bought this kit! 

Haha, yes sir!

1

So went to my parrents today and it was quite a search on the attic to find the model, anyway as I wrote originally built in '77 or 78, then after a few year playing with it, it got a color coat and decals I probably got from a defective kit at Verlindens shop model world...this one and an old Monogram 4x4 Van are the oldest built models I still have.

 

Edited November 24, 2018 by Luc Janssens