I may have gotten in over my head this time

[Merkur XR4Ti]

I just took the plunge and ordered the most ambitious and likely challenging build I'll ever do. I ordered a 1/24 Renaissance multi-media kit of the 2006 Aston Martin DBR9 LeMans racer.

I have never, ever attempted to build something this complex or expensive. The pics of the finished kit look fantastic, but I do wonder if my skills could do this thing justice:

It's a bit cheaper than the Model Factory Hiro version of this car, although the MFH body is a touch more accurate. But the MFH kit has a ton of white metal pieces and I'm not a fan of those, and the rollcage needs to be soldered and I am not up for that, so I bought the Renaissance kit, which is all resin and photo etch and nicely detailed.

Anyone ever take on something like this? I've used resin bodies before but not to this level. Any tips?

Edited October 28, 2008 by Merkur XR4Ti

[ismaelg]

Steve,

Congratulations on taking a leap of faith. You will be OK. An important tip is to test fit everything, not only once but regularly during the process since tolerances are usually tight in this type of multimedia kits. The earlier you adjust the parts, the less surprises you'll get later on.

Post pictures as you go! I'm interested..

Thanks,

Ismael

[crispy]

No doubt Steve, Take Ismael for the words. I do that even with the styrene kits I do. Especially when you start hacking stuff. I'm jealous. I too look forward to your build on this. I've seen one other one built and it was beautiful. Just take your time, don't rush and have fun.

Chris

[Brendan]

I have built both kits and both of them have their pluses and minuses. So if you have any questions or need help, feel free to ask. I could get pictures of the build if you would like them for references. Another thing is to go onto Renaissance home page and look up the photos he has from LeMans as they are good references for colors for painting. It's a good kit. You'll enjoy it; just take your time.

[CAL]

Is this the car that flew farther than the Wright Bros. first flight?

[Merkur XR4Ti]

I have built both kits and both of them have their pluses and minuses. So if you have any questions or need help, feel free to ask. I could get pictures of the build if you would like them for references. Another thing is to go onto Renaissance home page and look up the photos he has from LeMans as they are good references for colors for painting. It's a good kit. You'll enjoy it; just take your time.

Thanks for the tips; I just checked out the Renaissance home page and he's got a lot of reference pics up there. I've also dug up Jim Drew's Fotki site and he's got nice pics of a buildup he did as well.

I'd love to see your builds if you have pics handy.

I'm planning on getting Hiroboy's Aston paint for this build; I've read that it's great stuff.

Is this the car that flew farther than the Wright Bros. first flight?

Close; the flying Aston was the 009 car, but I'm gonna build the 007 car. How can you build an Aston that's NOT numbered 007? You just can't.

You've all been very encouraging; I appreciate it! I'm still pretty intimidated, but it's good to know it can be done.

Edited October 28, 2008 by Merkur XR4Ti

[Brendan]

I don't know what happened to all my build photos but this is what I have. The last photo is a comparison of the bodies between the Hiro and the Renaissance. The Hiro kit does not have decals on it. Here's the link.

http://s225.photobucket.com/albums/dd91/Ho...n%20DBR9%20GT1/

[Scalefinishes]

The cars were painted Aston Martin Almond Green, as all Aston Martin racecars have been for the last 50+ years.

I love these cars in the Gulf oil livery.

Goodluck on that build

Jameston

[Nick F40]

I love this thread!

[CAL]

The cars were painted Aston Martin Almond Green, as all Aston Martin racecars have been for the last 50+ years.

I love these cars in the Gulf oil livery.

Goodluck on that build

Jameston

I like the Gulf colors but it look just so right in green.

[Merkur XR4Ti]

Just got the kit today and I'm more scared than ever. I'll see if I can get some pics of the contents up.

[crispy]

Steve, don't forget to order your almond green from Jameston at Scalefinishes!

Please post pics of the contents. Not sure if I'm ready to lay down the cash for such kits, but I love seeing you guys work on them. LOL

Chris

[Brendan]

Make sure you get the right Aston Martin Green. There are 6 to my knowledge. One was a green gold and one was silver green. Those colors were used back in the '60's. Even the cars they're racing now have a different tone from when it originally raced in 2005. On my Renaissance kit, I used Cobra Colors and then on my Hiro kit, I used MCW's special order Aston Martin Green which is a little more gold. If you get Scale Finishes paint, send some pictures of the paint as it would be nice to see the differences in the paint. When this kit first came out, there were some big arguments over the color of the paint.

[ismaelg]

I was surprised to see these cars up close in 2006 in Atlanta at the Petit LeMans, and the paint job was not that great. Maybe a field repaint on the doors?

Thanks,

[CAL]

I was surprised to see these cars up close in 2006 in Atlanta at the Petit LeMans, and the paint job was not that great. Maybe a field repaint on the doors?

Thanks,

Maybe that's the Gulf door they were using I don't remember if it was 007 but one of them borrowed a door for the Gulf team.

[Merkur XR4Ti]

I'll get some pics up when I can, but I just had knee surgery on Thursday so I need to wait a few days until the pain meds calm down so I can focus a bit better.

I'll describe the kit though: large tan cast resin body with a fair bit of flash, should clean up easy enough. The rollcage is one cast piece of resin; how they managed to cast something this complex in one piece is beyond me; I'm very impressed. The chassis is a thick piece with no underbody details, but items like the cool box, inspection hatch and the footrests are cast into the interior plate. The chassis is a touch warped so I'll have to heat it a smidge and bend it into place.

4 sheets of phtotoetch: 1 is brass colored and has the large diffuser pieces, and the other 3 are silver-nickel and have a host of small detail pieces and grilles.

1 sheet pre-cut windows. 1 sheet vacuuformed clear plastic for the headlight covers.

1 bag of numerous assorted resin pieces, including the wheels, seat, front air dam, etc.

1 bag of numerous machined and other parts, including metal axels, rubber air hoses, tires, wires, gauges, etc.

1 sheet of graphics decals for the 007 and 009 cars, and 1 sheet of carbon fiber decals. Both printed by Cartograph.

1 large paper sheet of color photos of both cars for decal placement purposes.

Instructions are about 8 large pieces of paper with diagrams, photos, and instructions in both French and English.

I'm impressed at how much you get in one of these kits.

Edited November 2, 2008 by Merkur XR4Ti