Tamiya NSX

[lghtngyello03]

This one is posted on my Instagram but I have to share it on here.

It’s finally complete!  Tamiya’s NSX in OEM Thermal Orange Pearl mixed by Splash Paints. What a beautiful color when topped with their awesome 2k clear! 

Built pretty stock, with the exception of some heavy suspension mods to get the right stance and wheels to fit correctly, Hobby Design detail set, some interior details, and exterior carbon. 

The body was prepped and sprayed with Splash Paints White Surface Primer, then coated with the custom mixed Splash Paints Thermal Orange Pearl, and topped off with Splash Paints  2k clear. 

Scale Motorsports carbon fiber decals were used for the roof, engine cover, lower side skirts, front splitter, and rear diffuser. 

The Tamiya solid panels for all of the air vents/inlets were ditched and replaced with Hobby Design photo etch parts, sprayed in semi gloss black, from the detail up set. 

The only interior mods are added seatbelts with photo etch buckles and clips, embossing powder for the carpet, and some magazines from balazs_modelworks  over on Instagram. It’s a shame you can’t really see much of the interior of this car. 

Wheels are Vossen VSP-315t, from DiOlex Productions, and are finished in a couple of light coats of  Alclad II Chrome, for a darker chrome look. I also added RB Motion Valve Stems. 

Thanks to everyone who followed along and supported me during this build. Hope you guys enjoy it! 

Stay tuned for the next build with another wicked Splash Paints custom mixed color. 

 

[happy grumpy]

Now this could be an ad for the real car. Excellent build.  Top notch photography.

A++ X2

[Nacho Z]

This is just absolutely gorgeous, Scott!  What a clean build.  Color, stance and wheels are work so nicely together.  Great job!

[lghtngyello03]

7 hours ago, happy grumpy said:

Now this could be an ad for the real car. Excellent build.  Top notch photography.

A++ X2

Thank you very much!  Not too bad for an iPhone camera huh? 

Edited November 2, 2021 by lghtngyello03

[lghtngyello03]

35 minutes ago, Nacho Z said:

This is just absolutely gorgeous, Scott!  What a clean build.  Color, stance and wheels are work so nicely together.  Great job!

Thanks man. It definitely has an aggressive look to it. 

[Hard_2_Handle_454]

Good color choice.  Looks amazing

[Roger U]

A beautiful model. The paint, decals, and derailing are all very nice.

[Dodge Driver]

Definite eye candy here! Great job melding aftermarket parts into the build.

  The colors and stance are spot on. 

[grodudulle77]

Very clean work !! ??

[ChrisR]

Awesome!

[lghtngyello03]

6 hours ago, Hard_2_Handle_454 said:

Good color choice.  Looks amazing

Thank you very much!  This was a build I had been wanting to do for the longest with a color other than the normal Red, Blue, or Black that everyone always builds.  I'm very pleased with the results!

3 hours ago, Roger U said:

A beautiful model. The paint, decals, and derailing are all very nice.

Thank you very much!!

3 hours ago, Dodge Driver said:

Definite eye candy here! Great job melding aftermarket parts into the build.

  The colors and stance are spot on. 

Thank you sir! The Photo Etch set was a must, or all of the air inlets/outlets on the bumpers would look like the center grill....one solid piece of plastic with Honeycomb molded in.  Definitely a must to purchase if anyone plans on building one of these.

1 hour ago, grodudulle77 said:

Very clean work !! ??

Thank you!!!

1 hour ago, ChrisR said:

Awesome!

Thanks man!

[Zippi]

WOW...that is a Looker for sure man.  Could pass for a 1:1.  That orange just pops with the car.  Nice job.

[lghtngyello03]

38 minutes ago, Zippi said:

WOW...that is a Looker for sure man.  Could pass for a 1:1.  That orange just pops with the car.  Nice job.

Thank you Bob! This is by far my favorite color out of anything I've built.

It has so much pearl to it, the color changes with the slightest angle difference or light change.

[Zippi]

1 minute ago, lghtngyello03 said:

Thank you Bob! This is by far my favorite color out of anything I've built.

It has so much pearl to it, the color changes with the slightest angle difference or light change.

Yeah that orange it NICE.  Can you share your painting process with the Splash Paints?

[Mike C]

Very nice build.

[lghtngyello03]

5 minutes ago, Zippi said:

Yeah that orange it NICE.  Can you share your painting process with the Splash Paints?

Sure thing man! It's long, but I am going to try to be as detailed as possible and hope it helps anyone!

• Prep - I prep my body as normal, such as, remove all mold lines, scribe all panel lines super deep, then finish the bare plastic with a quick sanding with 2000 grit sand paper to remove any stray highs from the panel line scribing edges.Of course you always want to wash the body with a good dish soap and soft brush, to degrease it.
• Primer - After your prep is done on your body and it's clean, I spray the primer through my Paasche Talon with a 0.38mm needle @ 27 - 30 psi. Their primer likes to be sprayed on heavy and wet to lay down smoothly (waiting 5 minutes in between coats.) Let the primer dry on its own, no dehydrator. Then, you can sand smooth with some 2000 grit paper, and wash the body again to clean it up.  If you don't sand with this primer, the color coat may not have a good surface to "bite" onto and it could possibly pull up if you plan on doing any masking before clear for other color coats. After you've sanded and cleaned the body after your primer coats, you can spray color.  
• Color - Again, I spray the color through the same airbrush, same needle size (0.38mm,) and the same pressure settings (27-30psi) and work in light mist coats (waiting 5 minutes between coats.)  You could do heavy coats right off the bat, if you are using Splash Primer and Splash Color, but I play it safe and spray mist coats until you can lay a medium-ish coat. After your color is sprayed, it can dry in the dehydrator....I've never had any bad luck with this.  Remember if you sand a metallic based paint before clear, due to trash in the paint or a flaw of some sort, you have to respray with additional coats of color.  If not, you will see every sanding mark you made once you apply clear, and it will have to be sanded down and resprayed in that area.
• Clear Coat - After any decals have been laid down on the body, or any additional colors have been sprayed, I wait a day or so to make sure the decals are dry, or the paint is gassed out before I clear. I also spray clear with the exact same airbrush needle size as everything previously sprayed (0.38mm) as well as the same pressures (27-30psi.)   ----- The clear is a 3:1 mix ratio, so 3 parts Clear coat to 1 part hardener/reducer. 

1. Your first coat or two needs to be a light, or tack, coat (Waiting 5 Minutes between coats) This way you don't kill any decals, (if any were laid down prior to) or craze the color coat.  This also gives your following coats something to latch onto and not run. 
2. The 3rd coat needs to be a medium-wet coat, moving slowly but a little heavier than your tack coats. (wait 5 minutes between next coat)
3. The 4th coat needs to be your wet coat.  Move a little faster than your 3rd coat with your gun, but lay down a heavier layer of clear.  I have started playing with how much I thin the last coat of my clear on each job.  So I'll add more reducer/hardener to my final coat. You have to be careful doing this as if it gets too thin.... it will run.  This helps in the leveling of the clear as it cures, as 2k clear is a self leveling clear coat.  This will take care of your "orange peel" effect and greatly reduce the amount of wet sanding and polishing that will be done in the end.
4. After your last coat of clear is laid down and you are satisfied, you can either let air dry under a vented cover to keep dust off of it, or throw it in the dehydrator.  I use the lowest setting on my dehydrator of 95 degrees and let it bake for a couple of hours until I handle it at all.

• Wet Sanding/Polishing -  I wait 3-5 days for the clear to fully cure before any sanding is done at all.  I start with 3600 grit sanding sponges, and work my way all the way to 12,000 grit. When starting a different grit, make sure to sand in the opposite direction of the previous.  So if you went left to right on the previous grit, change to up and down or front to back (depending on panel.)  Make sure you wash the body down and change your water out with fresh water in your bowl between grit changes. This makes sure there is no grit left behind from previous coarse grits to cause further marring.  Then, once all grits are complete with sanding, I polish out with Meguiar's Scratch X and then follow with Meguiar's Ultimate Polish, using some small pads and my Dremel. 

[lghtngyello03]

41 minutes ago, Mike C said:

Very nice build.

Thank you very much!!

[Plowboy]

That is super nice Scott! The photo etch and carbon fiber decals really bring it to life! The color suits it perfect! The extra work on the stance really paid off. Nice work!

[lghtngyello03]

14 minutes ago, Plowboy said:

That is super nice Scott! The photo etch and carbon fiber decals really bring it to life! The color suits it perfect! The extra work on the stance really paid off. Nice work!

Thanks Roger!  The photo etch is definitely a must if this kit is built.  It looks waaaaay better than the factory pieces that come in the kit.  The suspension work wasn't horrible, just time consuming to get the right look.  

[Hi-Po]

Good looking build.  Neat and clean.  I like it.

[lghtngyello03]

3 hours ago, Hi-Po said:

Good looking build.  Neat and clean.  I like it.

Thank you very much! 

[Ulbo]

Clean built like real car?

[Dominik]

On 11/2/2021 at 3:24 AM, happy grumpy said:

Now this could be an ad for the real car. Excellent build.  Top notch photography.

A++ X2

agreed

[lghtngyello03]

3 hours ago, Ulbo said:

Clean built like real car?

Thanks man! Probably one of my favorite colors of any build I have done now!

2 hours ago, Dominik said:

agreed

Thanks Dominik 

[Zippi]

21 hours ago, lghtngyello03 said:

Sure thing man! It's long, but I am going to try to be as detailed as possible and hope it helps anyone!

• Prep - I prep my body as normal, such as, remove all mold lines, scribe all panel lines super deep, then finish the bare plastic with a quick sanding with 2000 grit sand paper to remove any stray highs from the panel line scribing edges.Of course you always want to wash the body with a good dish soap and soft brush, to degrease it.
• Primer - After your prep is done on your body and it's clean, I spray the primer through my Paasche Talon with a 0.38mm needle @ 27 - 30 psi. Their primer likes to be sprayed on heavy and wet to lay down smoothly (waiting 5 minutes in between coats.) Let the primer dry on its own, no dehydrator. Then, you can sand smooth with some 2000 grit paper, and wash the body again to clean it up.  If you don't sand with this primer, the color coat may not have a good surface to "bite" onto and it could possibly pull up if you plan on doing any masking before clear for other color coats. After you've sanded and cleaned the body after your primer coats, you can spray color.  
• Color - Again, I spray the color through the same airbrush, same needle size (0.38mm,) and the same pressure settings (27-30psi) and work in light mist coats (waiting 5 minutes between coats.)  You could do heavy coats right off the bat, if you are using Splash Primer and Splash Color, but I play it safe and spray mist coats until you can lay a medium-ish coat. After your color is sprayed, it can dry in the dehydrator....I've never had any bad luck with this.  Remember if you sand a metallic based paint before clear, due to trash in the paint or a flaw of some sort, you have to respray with additional coats of color.  If not, you will see every sanding mark you made once you apply clear, and it will have to be sanded down and resprayed in that area.
• Clear Coat - After any decals have been laid down on the body, or any additional colors have been sprayed, I wait a day or so to make sure the decals are dry, or the paint is gassed out before I clear. I also spray clear with the exact same airbrush needle size as everything previously sprayed (0.38mm) as well as the same pressures (27-30psi.)   ----- The clear is a 3:1 mix ratio, so 3 parts Clear coat to 1 part hardener/reducer. 

1. Your first coat or two needs to be a light, or tack, coat (Waiting 5 Minutes between coats) This way you don't kill any decals, (if any were laid down prior to) or craze the color coat.  This also gives your following coats something to latch onto and not run. 
2. The 3rd coat needs to be a medium-wet coat, moving slowly but a little heavier than your tack coats. (wait 5 minutes between next coat)
3. The 4th coat needs to be your wet coat.  Move a little faster than your 3rd coat with your gun, but lay down a heavier layer of clear.  I have started playing with how much I thin the last coat of my clear on each job.  So I'll add more reducer/hardener to my final coat. You have to be careful doing this as if it gets too thin.... it will run.  This helps in the leveling of the clear as it cures, as 2k clear is a self leveling clear coat.  This will take care of your "orange peel" effect and greatly reduce the amount of wet sanding and polishing that will be done in the end.
4. After your last coat of clear is laid down and you are satisfied, you can either let air dry under a vented cover to keep dust off of it, or throw it in the dehydrator.  I use the lowest setting on my dehydrator of 95 degrees and let it bake for a couple of hours until I handle it at all.

• Wet Sanding/Polishing -  I wait 3-5 days for the clear to fully cure before any sanding is done at all.  I start with 3600 grit sanding sponges, and work my way all the way to 12,000 grit. When starting a different grit, make sure to sand in the opposite direction of the previous.  So if you went left to right on the previous grit, change to up and down or front to back (depending on panel.)  Make sure you wash the body down and change your water out with fresh water in your bowl between grit changes. This makes sure there is no grit left behind from previous coarse grits to cause further marring.  Then, once all grits are complete with sanding, I polish out with Meguiar's Scratch X and then follow with Meguiar's Ultimate Polish, using some small pads and my Dremel. 

Thanks for the info Scott.