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Finished: Audi R8 LMS GT3


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Hi all :)

Today I'm starting with a new WIP of a nunu kit. So far I never had anything from nunu on my table, so I was quite excited to see how the quality would be. On first glance I had the impression that it's almost par with a Tamiya kit. But once I started assembling and made my first dry fits I noticed that it's far away from Tamiya. Now I'd rather rate it slightly above amt. The parts often have sink marks in places where I really wonder how this could have happended, the edges aren't really sharp and fitment isn't really outstanding neither.

Something I have never seen before with other manufaturors are these weird more or less cylindrical thingies in spots that look more like ejection marks(? can't remember the right word for it right now). Most often in spots where they interfere with other parts when assembling and where they aren't easy to remove after all...
_DSC7345_20221024_mbk.jpg.8e268447c9885a30e70bff471f877912.jpg

The undercarriage has been assembled as far as I could before painting
_DSC7347_20221024_mbk.jpg.478bb121e7924acafe4eb6212e14f2da.jpg

Also the gearbox including the rear axle has been assembled. The ring you can see on the upper side (actually it is the bottom part) fits to a hole in the undercarriage. But you have to check on your own that the axle is perpendicular to the centerline of the car. A square would have made much more sense in my opinion. On the upper side there is a rectangular notch to hold another part (the one you can see in the second picture). But therefore you have no hint where exactly this part has to be placed in cross direction. There is a third part that has clear markings for both of the first parts but this has to be assembled much later in the process. At least I could use it as some kind of jig when assembling gearbox and the rectangular part.
_DSC7348_20221024_mbk.jpg.9866a656b9735ef9b222ac4547fbf525.jpg
_DSC7878_20221119_mbk.jpg.12e7e2377efa1be52980fe48564c2782.jpg

After that the cooler has been assembled. I know the grid should have been painted in black as well, but I decided to leave it how it was and only do a black wash to get some more contrast.
_DSC7877_20221119_mbk.jpg.f10c79a0128c838cf8e4d77d7ed6d6fb.jpg

Finally the brake discs have been completed and are awaiting their installation
_DSC7876_20221119_mbk.jpg.88db6012f55f92a99f506ad5c1a80041.jpg

That's all for today. I hope to have piqued your interest and am looking forward to your critics, plaudits and suggestions :)
Urs

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_DSC7347_20221024_mbk.jpg

Edited by harti20
Moved pictures to their correct places inside text
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It's actually a good kit. Yes, there are some issues, like those ejection ports that didn't get clipped off. NuNu is getting better, but they still have some ( the M6 had a TON of them).

Just test fit before you get into assembly cause there are some all over the place that won't let the parts to sit together properly.

Good start. It is a good kit, I'm sure you'll do it justice. 

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I am building a polar lights Ford GT right now that has a lot of those things on the inside of surfaces. 
 

I am also building a bemax audi that I think is the same as nunu.  I agree with your points of the details. That audi also have the VERY wrong wheels and tires in the lot and am having a hard time finding the correct ones. 
 

they have a long way to go. But the subject matter is not available elsewhere. 

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2 hours ago, steveracer said:

I am building a polar lights Ford GT right now that has a lot of those things on the inside of surfaces. 
 

I am also building a bemax audi that I think is the same as nunu.  I agree with your points of the details. That audi also have the VERY wrong wheels and tires in the lot and am having a hard time finding the correct ones. 
 

they have a long way to go. But the subject matter is not available elsewhere. 

https://en.kmp-sm.com/product-page/audi-r8-gt3-lms-detail-up-set

https://www.indycals.net/parts/sportsparts/nunuslicktires.html

https://www.indycals.net/parts/sportsparts/nunupirellitires.html

https://www.indycals.net/parts/sportsparts/nunuconttires.html

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi all :)

Thank you all for your kind comments and encouragement.

About two weeks ago I decided to start painting the body and tried AK's grey primer. I never used it before, so I was quite curious how it would be and I was just overwhelmed by the ease of use and the resulting surface. I'll only have to find out what I did wrong afterwards. I made a quick cleanup of my airbrush, brushed some Zero Paints colors afterwards und noticed that I had forgotten to prime one piece. So I did a quick cleanup of my airbrush again with some nitro thinner, loaded the airbrush again with some primer and got a complete mess. The primer started to clump together and clog the airbrush.

After I cleaned everything, I applied Pure Brilliant White and all of a sudden some stripes began to appear on the roof and the two doors. A friend told me that most likely the paint had been applied too thick, so I stripped it and started over with two thin layers of primer, followed by two thin layers of white paint. And again these stripes showed up. At this point I almost binned the kit and turned to another build. But I decided to give it one last chance and painted two thin layers of black over the white, followed by two layers of Vallejo ModelAir Steel. After that two thin layers of Vallejo White Primer and then two layers of Zero Paints Pure Brilliant White. At this point almost everything looked fine. On one door the stripes could be very slightly seen, but I wasn't sure whether they have really been there or it was just in my imagination. Anyway, as I already decided to end this build, no matter how it turns out, I continued by masking off the parts which should remain white and paint the body red (now the stripes definitely disappeared :) ). There would be decals in the kit but as I wasn't sure how good the coverage of these decals would be over red paint, I decided to use the deals as stencils to mask off. That's how the body looks like now
_DSC7887_20221212_mbk.jpg.3e91492ddaae3243ff29304f83174eae.jpg

After that I installed the break discs and shock absorbers
_DSC7888_20221212_mbk.jpg.23f46c19883cce1006fbfa6201f0fe09.jpg

Then I finished the rims. Now I only need to add the decals to the tires and the wheels can be mounted
_DSC7889_20221212_mbk.jpg.cf1513ca42359bb83ee810e57c36e4ab.jpg

Finally I painted the exhausts and tried some heat staining, which is much more visible on these pictures than in real.
_DSC7891_20221212_mbk.jpg.a4c2e6c61b94bbc704aded60bcb19598.jpg

That's all for today's update. I hope I will find some time this week to start decaling the body and working on the interior :)
Urs

Edited by harti20
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Hi all :)

On 12/12/2022 at 7:22 PM, Smilesperhour said:

Looks good and will follow as would like to do a couple GT3 cars

Thank you. Don't take my build as example as I have absolutely no clue when it comes to racing cars. I'm just trying to follow the instructions on this build (...more or less 😉 )

On 12/16/2022 at 11:45 PM, Funkychiken said:

Maybe injection gates is the term you're looking for?

Looks great so far! Sharp sraying and building!

The paint issues may have to do with mixing  types of paint, isn't AK an acrylic primer? 

Thank you very much. I think, AK is an acrylic primer, but I don't think that was the issue, as I had it happening again on other parts where I only used Zero Paints. It is as if something in the part itself showed through. I already heared of "ghost lines" that appear after painting, maybe that's the first time I have to deal with them... What helped so far was spraying a coat of Zero Paints Black Primer with microfiller. That covered all of those lines.

Last week I got quite a lot of bench time, so I used it to apply the decals to the body on friday and saturday. As much as I dislike the kit so far, as much I love the decals that have been supplied with the kit. They are amongst the best decals I ever dealt with. They're very thin, without getting torn apart when handling them and their print is very accurate so that you almost have no transparent edge around them. But the best ist how they conform to the surface. Just damp a cotton swab with some MicroSet, go over the decal with the cotton swab very lightly and the decal crawls into the tiniest crevice and around every edge 👍
_DSC7893_20221218_mbk.jpg.fade41d546e02dbf63717e64fe5e5d10.jpg

Sunday was clear coat day :D 
_DSC7894_20221219_mbk.jpg.9a4a9dc82dd35ef465e4db3482ea7e62.jpg

The fire extinguisher was clear coated as well with some leftover of the 2K clear
_DSC7896_20221219_mbk.jpg.3d3bc7f76398c917fe20ccb1e5e7804d.jpg

Instead of watching the clear dry, I decided to continue work on the interior and applied a few PE parts
_DSC7895_20221219_mbk.jpg.70f897619f56cd8442f02998ceaf28f5.jpg

When I applied the decals to the body, I also applied them to the tires. One decal per tire is still missing. I ran out of time on saturday and forgot them always afterwards :)
_DSC7897_20221219_mbk.jpg.02b40c1de43f38df482d5a0afffcd463.jpg

Finally the seat has been almost completed. I only have to install the seat belts before I can install it
_DSC7898_20221219_mbk.jpg.1570e69d0e5465b4d0f14349b905bc59.jpg

That's it for this week's update. I wish you all a nice week without too much stress and a Merry Christmas.
Urs

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all :)

Because of work, Christmas and a flu there was no update last week and only some small progress to show today. But nevertheless, I continued work on my Audi :)

The tires have been completed with their last few decals. On this occasion I tried the tire marking decals by decalcas for the first time. When applying them I noticed that not all fit together that well in reference to their size. So is the "1" chosen remarkably smaller than the "SET" lettering. When I assume that the same mechanic would write both of them, I'd suppose the letters and numerics to be about the same size, so you'll have to pay attention from which block you are choosing what (there are two blocks with numerics on the sheet and two blocks with different letterings). Meanwhile the decals are sealed with some flat clear and have been mounted to the rims. Now I'll have to closely watch the mechanics mounting them to the car to make sure the tires are positioned in the right spot 😁
_DSC7900_20221229_mbk.jpg.549f9106fbaf4cbd4396928d1f8d1e4a.jpg

After that I continued work on the engine bay. As most of it won't be seen after finishing I refused to extensivley mask off everything and brush painted most of the areas.
_DSC7902_20221229_mbk.jpg.3c6143e794d49981b5b4c02e3e014d67.jpg

The intake manifold received its decals and pe parts and will cover a large part of the engine bay once installed
_DSC7901_20221229_mbk.jpg.607af49a48f8dec5c43a3f4c93a85744.jpg

Finally I started assembling some pe parts for the rear part of the body. Now I'll only have to remove the corresponding part from the kit's part and replace it by the pe parts shown here
_DSC7903_20221229_mbk.jpg.02fa85854f35ab14b5bf87394e3cbb7b.jpg

That's everything for the moment. I wish all of you a very happy first week of the year and that you'll find a lot of time for you and your hobbies :) 
Urs

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Hi all :)

Finally this build is about to enter the home stretch soon 🙂 Now I'll only have to add a few detail parts to the body to finish this build.

First of all the interior and the engine compartment have been completed and mounted to the undercarriage
_DSC7906_20230109_mbk.jpg.9de49e12f90051bf804c820081df1455.jpg

_DSC7907_20230109_mbk.jpg.fa9118c8c9cd452057b0e8d4a806621b.jpg

After that some detail parts have been added to the body (a few more will follow)
_DSC7908_20230109_mbk.jpg.90a7ca9fd165f44909f00d2a87192ca9.jpg

And to finish this update an overview of the parts which will be married soon
_DSC7909_20230109_mbk.jpg.97c395bf72ea4bb8c97cebb82d5f7316.jpg

That's all for today. I think the next update will be the last one in this W.I.P.
Urs

Edited by harti20
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On 12/19/2022 at 1:30 PM, harti20 said:

Hi all :)

Thank you. Don't take my build as example as I have absolutely no clue when it comes to racing cars. I'm just trying to follow the instructions on this build (...more or less 😉 )

Thank you very much. I think, AK is an acrylic primer, but I don't think that was the issue, as I had it happening again on other parts where I only used Zero Paints. It is as if something in the part itself showed through. I already heared of "ghost lines" that appear after painting, maybe that's the first time I have to deal with them... What helped so far was spraying a coat of Zero Paints Black Primer with microfiller. That covered all of those lines.

Last week I got quite a lot of bench time, so I used it to apply the decals to the body on friday and saturday. As much as I dislike the kit so far, as much I love the decals that have been supplied with the kit. They are amongst the best decals I ever dealt with. They're very thin, without getting torn apart when handling them and their print is very accurate so that you almost have no transparent edge around them. But the best ist how they conform to the surface. Just damp a cotton swab with some MicroSet, go over the decal with the cotton swab very lightly and the decal crawls into the tiniest crevice and around every edge 👍
_DSC7893_20221218_mbk.jpg.fade41d546e02dbf63717e64fe5e5d10.jpg

Sunday was clear coat day :D 
_DSC7894_20221219_mbk.jpg.9a4a9dc82dd35ef465e4db3482ea7e62.jpg

The fire extinguisher was clear coated as well with some leftover of the 2K clear
_DSC7896_20221219_mbk.jpg.3d3bc7f76398c917fe20ccb1e5e7804d.jpg

Instead of watching the clear dry, I decided to continue work on the interior and applied a few PE parts
_DSC7895_20221219_mbk.jpg.70f897619f56cd8442f02998ceaf28f5.jpg

When I applied the decals to the body, I also applied them to the tires. One decal per tire is still missing. I ran out of time on saturday and forgot them always afterwards :)
_DSC7897_20221219_mbk.jpg.02b40c1de43f38df482d5a0afffcd463.jpg

Finally the seat has been almost completed. I only have to install the seat belts before I can install it
_DSC7898_20221219_mbk.jpg.1570e69d0e5465b4d0f14349b905bc59.jpg

That's it for this week's update. I wish you all a nice week without too much stress and a Merry Christmas.
Urs

How did you get the seat fabric to look like that? It looks really good !

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all :)

Finally this build has come to an end. I know, the experts will spot some mistakes made. On one hand they were caused by not doing any research on the internet how the real car looked like and just trusting the building instructions and on the other hand I didn't study the instructions careful enough. 😒 This was my first nunu kit and as already mentioned during this build I didn't really like building it. I almost binned it more than once. The only thing that has been really good, are the decals. I really loved putting them on. They are quite thin, without the tendency to tear apart and are covering 100%. Furthermore they conform to any surface without any problem. I'd say they have been by far the best decals I ever dealt with. 👍

But enough said now, let me show you the final pictures for this build. More and better pics in the R.F.I. section will follow after I went to the studio the next time :)
_DSC7911_20230123_mbk.jpg.d8db4cd45839195d918dc45e051027db.jpg
_DSC7912_20230123_mbk.jpg.ec81df3e686c785437f228dcbf343ab7.jpg


That's all for this build. I thank all of your for your kind comments and likes during this journey and hope you will join my next build as well :) 
Urs

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  • harti20 changed the title to Finished: Audi R8 LMS GT3

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