Fujimi's Koenig Specials Competition

[FujimiLover]

I just started prepping up the body. Alot of trimming was required as Fujimi's got some flashings, or whatever you call it. You know, the left over plastic? I need to wash it next, let it dry, then primer it. I'm going to go ahead with the flat-black primer as I want the blue to be nice and dark. Plus, the black primer seems to dry quickly. I'll be painting both outside, and inside of body. I'm also going to paint the wing seperately so I can get all the details of it and not leave some of it unpainted like previously. Another reason for the flat-black primer, is as mentioned, I can mask off the areas I want black.

The window trim is too thin to bother masking, so it'll be hand painted. But the rear engine cover, rear engine air-intakes, headlight buckets, and airdam center, will be masked.

Edited April 9, 2009 by FujimiLover

[FujimiLover]

Body primed.

Gonna wait till later before flipping it over and painting the inside. Then when that's dry, time for some masking!

[FujimiLover]

Wheels mounted, front's work.

Primed the other side of the body and parts.

I've been told by our friend Karl that the Laqure paint requires nice warm weather, like in the 70's. Unfortunetly, the weather is turning lousy for the weekend and it look's like I won't be able to do any painting for a while.

[MrObsessive]

Nice and clean so far...............One suggestion though, unless you've got a mighty steady hand, I strongly recommend using BMF or Tamiya tape to mask off the window trim.

Hand painting it can no doubt leave a "wavy line" look, which can take away from the clean appearance of it.

It can be a pain for sure, but trust me----the extra effort will be worth it.

[FujimiLover]

Thank you. I will let the primer dry a few day's before applying the masking tape. Weather does not permit painting right now anyway. I'm useing the blue 3M masking tape as it's what I have right now and so far it work's great! I will see if I can get a hold of the Tamiya tape you suggested. Can I get masking tape in various widths?

I've had a look at the side windows, and it look's like I can mask off the trim nicely. I just need a peice of masking tape wide enough. I dont' think the blue tape I have right now will work here. Some window-trim I can do successfully, and other's are more difficult. It also depends on the color of the car. If it's dark enough, you'd hardly notice the waves, but yes there there. As I'm aiming for perfection here, I will mask off everything that's too be black. Exception maybe the small rectangular vent that's infront of the windshield.

I'm tempted to do the convertible version next, same methods, different methods learned from this one. I'm thinking the convertible will be identical in colors?

Edited April 10, 2009 by FujimiLover

[MrObsessive]

The Tamiya tape comes in 18MM and 6MM sizes, which work out to roughly 3/4" and 1/4" respectively.

I can't speak for the 3M Blue Masking Tape as I've not used it------I'm wary of just any 'ol type of masking tape for paint work as it can do much more damage than good. General masking tape comes in different widths, but I wouldn't use it if I were you.......

You still may need to use your exacto blade to trim and get around curves and such, but as I said.........the results in the end are much desired.

[FujimiLover]

When the primer dries, I'll measure the width of the side windows in question. I thought of doubleing up, overlaying the tape, but those results dont' always work well. For the side window, I need one wide peice that I can trim. I first use my finger nail to make the crease line, then use the hobby knife. The lines on the Koenig are nice enough that this should be easy to do.

I'm betting I'll need both widths of tape.

[FujimiLover]

Got the masking done. Look's great on the outside, I just hope the tape seals itselfe nicely and I dont' get any run-in's.

When this is painted, basically the color's will flip. What was blue will be black, what was black will be blue.

[FujimiLover]

Decided to go for it. I think I painted too thick in some areas as the paint spot's higher and look's awefull. Will have to wait for it to dry and sand it down.

I like the color, but not happy with the results, my fault mostly.

It does look better in person, but I think too flaky. I'm pretty ticked off at the results since my masking was nicely done. I should have taken it easy with this new paint and done lighter coats. Why do I always tend to paint thick?

Edited April 10, 2009 by FujimiLover

[RodneyBad]

Decided to go for it. I think I painted too thick in some areas as the paint spot's higher and look's awefull. Will have to wait for it to dry and sand it down.

I like the color, but not happy with the results, my fault mostly.

It does look better in person, but I think too flaky. I'm pretty ticked off at the results since my masking was nicely done. I should have taken it easy with this new paint and done lighter coats. Why do I always tend to paint thick?

The Blue does look nice.

Thick paint happens to me at times too.

I'm always a hurry to see it done.

Thought about making a paint stand out of a wire coat hanger?

outside of a wee bit of over spray on the hands now and then. it works fairly well and cheap.

I'll get a good pic of that.

[B_rad88]

nice and bubbly!

sorry thats the smarta** side of me!

[Brendan]

The blue paint looks pretty good. The problem that you're having is that you're putting too much paint on too quickly. Do several light coats. That way you're slowly building up the paint.

One thing that might help you out on painting is to make yourself some painting stands. Here are a couple of pictures of what mine look like. Some of them are what they call a finger board which is a piece of wood with several holes drilled in it with pieces of dowel sticking in it. Also a simple empty paint can with tape on the top to hold the model in place. With the paint stands it makes it easier to paint the bodies and you can get better coverage as well.

[FujimiLover]

Thank's guy's. I'm going to wait for the paint to dry a few more day's before messing with it. If I try and fix it now, I'll snafu it further. The only really bad spots are at the bottom where the paint run's down, or where it thickened up. Plus the rear wing and one of the rear intake covers got it badly. Will this Laquer sand down nicely? What grit sand paper do you recommend? Do I need to go down to the black, or just down smooth and add another light coat? The can said it was a one-coat paint, so perhaps that's why I did it too thick. I always have the tendancy to paint too thick even though I know the golden rule of several light coats.

My Dad think's the paint build-up is because of where the body meet's the cardboard that it was standing on. He thinks it built up right at those edges. So, yea I'll look into a model-stand after sanding this one down.

I'm tempted to get another kit at LHS, but not sure I want to spend 40 buck's just for the body. ALthough I have thought it would be cool to just have the chassis displayed by itselfe next to a complete kit with body.

I'm not even sure if I like this blue or not, but we'll see once I fix the spot's. I'm just mad at myselfe that I've got the chassis and interior perfect, I had a perfect primer, and I was very carefull with the masking tape, and then I FOUL-UP on painting! UGGGGGGGGG! I think with time and patients it can be saved.

I was wondering if there's anyway to strip the paint off without harming the plastic underneath. But the only strippers I know of dont' like plastic, or should I say, they LOVE plastic?

After all, this is my first use of this type of paint!

Edited April 11, 2009 by FujimiLover

[jbwelda]

i wouldnt sweat it too much, painting is always the hardest part i think, especially if you use spray cans like i do, its hard to get a light coat without it also being grainy because the only way to get a "light" coat is to step back and dust it. anyway i wouldnt give up on that yet, let the paint gas out for a few days or put it in a food dehydrator to let the paint shrink and you might find it looks better than you remembered and some light sanding and one more color coat and it might turn out.

all the rest of it are coming along very nice too, i wouldnt despair too much over this paint. looks savable to me.

edit: oh yeah i meant to add, you need to get the body up off the cardboard if only you balance it on a jar or something...

and never feel rushed to paint, its the surest way to botch something...

Edited April 11, 2009 by jbwelda

[Corvette.Jeff]

I love that color! If i was you i would do what these guys recommend, you dont have to go all out and get a model body painting stand, just use a spray paint can thats what i use, and the body's that i have painted dont look half bad! but this is coming from a guy who helps paint real cars Id much rather paint a model car than a full sized car any day!

Edited April 11, 2009 by ThatOneEmoKid

[FujimiLover]

Thank's guy's. Some spots are already looking better as it dries out, but some spots will need to be sanded. I've already popped it off the cardboard and it's resting on the paint can. The weather turned to poop this weekend so wont' be painting anytime soon anyway. So, will have to hold on till it dries completely enough for me to start sanding it. It also look's like some parts did not get enough paint. The roof look's nice and glossy, but the hood look's flat.

What grit sand-paper do you recommend for sanding down this paint?

The only thing about this color though, it look's better in the shade. In the sun-light, it's too flaky.

[jbwelda]

it is looking very nice. heres something though and please dont take this as criticism, maybe just a pointer on how to build better models. i may be mis-seeing what i think im seeing to so if so please correct me:

in this photo of the header system:

i am seeing what looks to be places where the sprue connected to the exhaust pipes, both on the "bundle of snakes" part (seen better in a previous photo) and on the output pipes clearly visible in this photo.

are those defects going to be covered up by a plate or something? because if not you really should give them a bit of attention before painting, sanding those down so they contour to the roundness of the exhaust pipe. i know when i look at my own work thats what pops out. and yeah its a bit of a pain esp when you want to get on with it and have something major to show for your time. but as you can see from the photos, these defects kind of stick out like a sore thumb esp with these metalizer sort of colors youre using. its a shame to spoil an otherwise sweet build by not taking time for the details.

again excuse me if this seems rude, i dont want to sound like that, just thought i would point it out in the interest of better modelling. and like i said if its covered thats better though for myself i often find myself putting time into making things look right even when they will be covered eventually. at least that makes me sure that if the car ever hits the floor and falls to pieces, at least the pieces will look good!

keep it up though man, youre putting out some nice stuff there.

[FujimiLover]

Yes your right, and thank you. Every time I've built this "Elenore", I learn something new every time. Example, I've learned that spray-painting the engine parts this way, looks' ton's better than hand-painting which I've done previously, The hand-painting really look's horrible on large objects like this. Useing CA-glue and insta-cure on these pipes helps alot as they are a pain in the azz to get'em perfectly straight as the normal glue sag's.

Depending on where the part is, determines how much attention I pay to it. While it maybe easier to spray-paint the parts while they are on the tree, it is harder to detail'em as you suggest. I have not yet figured out how to take all the parts off the tree, mount theme on something that will allow me to spray-paint, and then figure out what peice goes where without having the number's next to theme.

When I do the convertible version, I will build as much of the engine as I can, then paint it as one part. I will work on trimming these pipes for the next one.

However! At the same time, these won't be seen at all when the car is being displayed. Only time you'd see it is by flipping it over and/if you have a mirrored floor.

Right now, I'm very satisfied with the chassis and interior. I just need to get the body to look as good, if not better since it's the main part.

[pharr7226]

Thank you, I'll look for the silver Sharpie. I forgot those were available in different colors and sizes. Would obviously want the smallest one possible. Yea, those paint-pens are hard to use on fine details like this. Unfortunetly, you have to press the foam-applicater down to get the paint to start flowing, and that's where it screws you up.

I think the bare-metal foil would be too difficult with these details. so I'll look for the Sharpie! What a sharp-idea!

Unfortunetly, for the body color, I dont' have any spare plastic to test on!

I know that you already painted it and the color is nice. I hope that the color is what you envisioned. I think what Mr Obsessive is suggesting, for future use now, is that you consider testing the paint on plastic spoons or some other inexpensive or scrap plastic. This might help you on future builds.

[FujimiLover]

I am stuck with a half/half situation. On one half, I'd like to continue to try and fix this paint job, it's not all that bad, just the lower parts where the paint built up. At the same time, I dont' like the way the color look's under bright light, it's too flaky like a gosh darn LowRider. No offense to you LowRider fan's out there, but that's not the right look for this car.

My other half wants to get another kit just so I'll have a fresh body to start over with. However, then I'll have an unfinished body, and a complete chassis/interior that wont' be used. I am wondering if anybody would like to continue with this current body and have a free complete chassis/interior?

I'll probably get the new kit this week and work on the body. I'd use the same methods, but paint a different color. This car really should be a gorgeous red. All I'd do to the interior, is just paint red over the blue. I'm sure the Ivory will look just as nice in the red as it would any other color.

This is the type of finish I'd love to achieve on this model. The picture here is a 1/18 scale model kit, but it's exactly the same car. It's got a beautifull red finish to it, and I'm sure I can achieve this much easier than continueing with the blue.

So what do you guy's think? I know most of you will say continue with the blue. Would anybody like to keep this blue one and have a brand new chassis/interior to work on? I'd be happy to trade it with another Fujimi, or Aoshima tuner kit. Perhaps a VIP Honda Odyssey van? Let me know what you think.

I'll probably head down to Complete Games and Hobbies tomarrow or Tuesday depending on weather.

[Foxer]

Ditching this kit and buying a new one just for the paint job is a bit extreme. I think we've all had paint we don't like and the easiest solution is to give it a bath in the old "purple pond" and start the paint over. There are many house hold products that will strip the paint off to bare plastic. This is pretty much how we've all learned to paint (I'm still a long way from being a good painter).

If you go the new kit route, there's the additional money to consider plus all the prep work you already did with this body that you will be doing all over again. You already have a fully prepped body under all that paint! The only time I've bought another kit due to paint was before I knew the evils of lacquer on plastic and I kind of did a custom melt on the body!

[FujimiLover]

Thank's. I'm not going to ditch this kit entirely. What I would do, is keep the beautiful chassis and interior that I already finished, and just start over with the new body. Then somebody else could finish this body, and have a brand new chassis/interior kit to start fresh from.

I've been pondering about strippers, but not sure what to use that wont' harm the plastic. Alot of strippers I know of are only good for die-cast models. Also, would the striper go through the harder Laqure without harming the plastic? It would be nice to get back to the primer, but that wont' happen. Whatever will strip the Laqure will strip the primer as well. I just don't want to risk melting the plastic.

If there is a way to get it back to pure white plastic with very little paint left, I'd be more than happy to do that. I've got plenty of that black-primer left and I'd love to get back to step 2. Primer, mask, and repaint.

What do you recommend I should buy to strip the Laqure paint that won't harm the plastic underneath?

[FujimiLover]

Well, I just wet-sanded the spots down and I think it'll be all right. When it's wet, it's hard to tell if the smoothness your feeling with your fingers is the plastic, or the water! LOL! So, I'll have to let it dry for a while to see how smooth I've actually gotten it. Should be okay. It look's like I got the worst spots almost back to white again, so I'm sure with another light coat it'll be fine. It also doesn't look like my wet-sanding job effected my masking job either. So, that should be good for another coat. Here are some updated photos.

The rear was pretty good, but I still need to paint the bottom side. Will do that when the top side is perfected and dried enough to flip it over.

Don't get me wrong, under the right light, the car does look good, it's just too flaky when under direct sun-light.

At least I'm learning thing's so that when it's time to do the Competition Spyder, IT shoud be even BETTER!

Edited April 12, 2009 by FujimiLover

[FujimiLover]

Please tell me what I need to get that will strip the paint clean, but wont' harm the plastic. I'd much rather get it back to white than to have to sand the heck out of it. I'm still seeing some bump's in the paint.

[Foxer]

I'm not going into Purple Power here as you started a stripping thread.

If you decide to rescue this paint job remember to first treat the areas you went down to bare plastic. They will need primer and some paint just on these area to get back to the same paint thickness on the rest of the body. Then you can do full coats to even things out.