Fujimi's Veilside CI Model (SW20)

[FujimiLover]

Hello. Well, that was increadably fast shipping! My ebay seller shipped from Tawain Sunday/Monday and I just received it this morning. Here is the box, exciting isn't it?

Here is the body, nicely done with body kit panels layed out. This is not a simple overlay bodykit. You are required to do some cutting off the original bumpers in order to install the new ones. Hmmmmmmmmm............................

As you can tell, it looks like from the coloring, the entire kit is resin?

This will be a new experience for me and I hope I do this one well. I've never had to cut off a bumper like this before so this could very well wind up in the trash! LOL! Let's hope not................................

[RodneyBad]

need a address for the Trash can?

Cool Looking MR-2

a razor saw or the back of a X-acto blade?

Go easy and use gentle pressure.

OR you'll loose a finger,

ask Spike about that one

But then again, that's why I love my PE cutting wheel and Dremal

[FujimiLover]

Thank's for the tips. I think my Dad said he had that same dremel-bit for the dremel tool and he actually recommended to cut near the line required and then sand up to the line. Tomarrow I'll ask him about that bit as I dont' want to spend day's with the knife.

[FujimiLover]

Well, some success today. Front bumper off, now I just need to work on sanding this smooth and perfect.

Handy cutting tool, this is my Dad's dremel tool which I prefer over mine. Mine feels bulky and hard to control. This one is nice and light, and very easy to manuver.

Notice the same cutting dremel bit?

Once the front end is perfected, I'll work on the rest of the car.

[FujimiLover]

Turns out I had to cut and widen the front as well. So, here's the progress so far.

After the initial cut, I used these handy files to perfect the edges.

As you can see, I cut the bumper in half. Epoxied one half to the car,

second half

Now this part, this is the bottom lip, or splitter.

Probably tomarrow I'll start filling in the gap's. Look's like alot of putty, filler, sanding, and possibly re-engraving the panel lines. It's very hard to get it perfect, so as close as you can, and make new lines.

Let me know what you think so far!

I hope I dont' have to do this to the rear!

Edited March 26, 2009 by FujimiLover

[diymirage]

loving the progress man

looks like a very "hands on" model

im sure that this will be a peice youll be most proud of once it sits on the shelf

keep it up

hey, i know im getting ahead of things here, but how will the paint job be ?

[FujimiLover]

Yes, your question is ahead of it's time. I just started filling in the gaps and seems and will be doing alot of sanding this weekend. We in Colorado Springs are snow-bound due to blizzard conditions so I'll have lot's of free time to work hard on this model. I'll definetly be learning alot of patients with this one as I want it as perfect as humanly possible. I'm going to try and make the paint as close to the silver that's in the box photo as I can, and I plan on taking my time with the paint as well by preping, and polishing. I really want the silver to be shiny and glistening in the light like a show car.

Something this awesome can't be done half-azzed.

The bottom peice has been cut in half as well, but will be added as soon as I'm satisfied with the bumper.

Edited March 27, 2009 by FujimiLover

[Foxer]

Looks like you did a good job fitting the front. Slow and easy always wins.

This makes me wonder if Japans restrictive car width also applies to trans kit casting! For the life of me I can't imagine why they didn't cast the front to the correct width!!!! Is there some reason you know why? This is unexcuseable to me.....

[RodneyBad]

Aren't those cutting wheels fun?

it's a toss up of Dremel styles.

Guess I'm used to the bulky pen style.

My Dad originally got the corded one for X-mas 20 yrs ago.

He thought he could use it for Porting Heads on a 1:1 car.

It wouldn've burned it up in no time.

I still use it today.

Great job on the nose, maybe it was used on a smaller scale? (nah)

and just thrown in for an optional styling?

makes me want to get one.

can't wait to see how it finishes up..

[FujimiLover]

Thank's guy's. I just filled in the gaps with putty and waiting for the putty to dry. Probably will start again tomarrow morning. It may look odd now with a green T, but it'll sand up and smooth nicely!

[FujimiLover]

Years later of sanding! LOL!

There is still a minor crack between the two peices. Thinking of maybe putting some epoxy here in the middle? Can I sand down the epoxy smooth? The green putty did help alot in filling in this gap, but I think it's too soft to use as a bond. So maybe add epoxy as well? Let me know what you think.

[MrObsessive]

What type of putty did you use? I've found the best stuff to use for resin/plastic bodywork is regular 'ol body putty. My favorite is Dynatron Putty Cote.

It's a two part mix, dries fully in about ­­½ hour and feather edges very well.

Please don't tell me you used "Squadron" putty................that stuff never dries!

Actually it WILL dry eventually------I just don't like how it will keep attacking your bodywork long after it's painted, especially plastic.

[MrObsessive]

To add some more about the nose............when trying to fill in a split such as that, it might be a good idea to fill in the underside with sheet/strip plastic (you'll need superglue since it's resin).

Then you want to build up the topside of it with putty, minimizing the chance that the nose will flex and the putty cracking when you get to the final assembly, polishing, etc.

[FujimiLover]

Great, now he tell's me! Yes, I'm useing Squadron as it's the only putty I can find. Right now I'm flat broke so wont' be able to get anything else anyway so I'm stuck with what I've got. So far it's working for me. Anyway, I decided to give it some strength between these two parts so I epoxied it here. You can see the glossy epoxy.

Of coarse, the epoxy will require even more sanding with a harsher sandpaper than the putty will. This model is going to take along time.

[MrObsessive]

I'm sorry...........

I was in between working on my Cougar and fixing dinner when I ran across your W.I.P.

Just to save ya from some frustration...............but that Squadron is some mighty frustrating putty! Is there anyway you can sand it off (carefully!) and start anew?

Edited March 27, 2009 by MrObsessive

[FujimiLover]

My local hobby shops don't carry anything other than this and I am flat broke. So sadly I've got to make do with this. Possibly the epoxy over it will seal it and prevent the shrinkage? Anyway, we'll see how this comes along.

[MrObsessive]

Of coarse, the epoxy will require even more sanding with a harsher sandpaper than the putty will. This model is going to take along time.

Ya, I would definitely try to peel away the epoxy and the Squadron! You got to remember that your resin is a LOT softer than the epoxy------and will sand at a faster rate. You don't want to lose any detail because of the coarser sandpaper.

Hope this helps..............

[FujimiLover]

As I keep saying, I'm broke so I've gotta use what I've got and make it work.

[FujimiLover]

I'm not even sure how to cleanly remove the current epoxy and green putty WITHOUT harming what's underneath!

[FujimiLover]

Well, we all got lucky. Just to satisfy you lot and hopefully me in the future, I was successful at cleaning the junk off the model. Unfortunetly, it required braking off the pieces from the model to get a good cleaning. Fortunetly, everything came off nice and clean and I can start over with the proper materials.

And yes, this picture was taken a second ago....................................

A bit of knife work and lot's of wet sanding and finger pealing and it wasn't such a bad job after all.

I still need to work around the headlight crack's where the putty just loves to sit. Any suggestions for this area? I used the knife to carve out the line, but how do I totally clean off the putty here?

Edited March 27, 2009 by FujimiLover

[MrObsessive]

I still need to work around the headlight crack's where the putty just loves to sit. Any suggestions for this area? I used the knife to carve out the line, but how do I totally clean off the putty here?

If you've got some 400-600 grit sandpaper, use the coarse side of the paper and "file" in the groove where the putty is. You do one side, then the other, and so on-------'til it matches the original shut line. I might suggest folding the paper, but that might make the shut lines too large.

Work carefully as you don't want to make the gap any larger than it would normally be.

If you'd like to see the benefits of using auto body putty, click here for my '55 Ford Fotki page. I've had some MAJOR use of putty in a roof swap I did a while back.

Edited March 27, 2009 by MrObsessive

[FujimiLover]

In previous models, I've actually ued automotive bondo to make my own bumpers as it fills in great, dry's fast, and easy to sand. I never thought about useing that on this model as I'm not sure how the bondo will effect the resin.

As I've looked at aftermarket body kit's on cars before, I noticed the poorly done ones dont' fit perfectly. The professionally installed ones, the gap is all but practically gone. As soon as I re-epoxy the body kit onto the model, there will be that un-professional gap. How do I accomplish the professional-gap? The image on my box shows the professionally installed kit probably by Veilside themselves. The seem is almost none-existant. I mean, it's there, but you know.

I beleive when I cut off the original bumper, I was as darn close to getting it perfect as humanly possible. So, the question is, how to re-gap it after installing the two side peices? Then, should I work with the bondo to fill in the center section? Anybody know how bondo will effect resin?

Edited March 27, 2009 by FujimiLover

[Brendan]

What I did when I built mine was I cut out 4 square tabs from sheet plastic and glued them to the underside of the body to give me a surface to glue to. Two on the nose of the car and one on each side near the fender. To fill in the gap, I took another piece of plastic and used that to fill in the gap between the resin pieces. And then filled in the seam with automotive putty and sanded to shape.

[FujimiLover]

I'm not sure I follow you. I think what you have in mind, or what I have in mind, is to not glue the two halfs directly onto the model as I did previously. But get a sheet of plastic and build like a shelfe that you stick underneath the hood of the car. Then glue the bumper kit ontop of that? Then fill in the rest of the space?

With RC helicopters that have fuselages in two halves, one half will usually have a "shelfe" for the other halfe to be attached to when glued together. I picture doing the same here. I've got tons of plastic left over from an old for sale sign.

Edited March 27, 2009 by FujimiLover

[MrObsessive]

Well, you'll need to add plastic back to the resin/plastic part you're working with to achieve the fine gap you want. In the link I posted above, I also show how to make your gaps tighter so they are more in scale, by adding sheet plastic to the edges.

As far as bondo sticking to resin......that's no problem at all! Here are a couple pics of a stalled project of resin Ford GT40 doors that needed some bodywork because the gaps were too large when shut. You'll see on the one pic where I added plastic to the underside, and then used putty to even things out................