Aston Martin Db4-1/25 Revell Monogram Update-May 14, 2012

[charlie8575]

That instrument panel is beyond belief! Absolutely stunning work on that and the chassis, as well.

Charlie Larkin

[mcandela]

[Jim Gibbons]

Your work is stunning on this kit. The chassis detail is incredible, as is the interior. I love these cars; I have worked timing and scoring at the Vintage Festival races at Lime Rock, and enjoy the DB4s that often compete there. They had a Zagato version there a few years back. Someone was also displaying a beautiful DB4 Drophead in that green unique to Aston Martin. I turned my head to the left, and there was Vic Edelbrock checking it out! I get tears in my eyes everytime I watch the original 1969 "Italian Job" when Michael Caine's silver DB4 Drophead is sent tumbling off the alpine road.

Looking forward to your progress photos.

Cheers,

Jim

[crispy]

The steering wheel is over the top! You are an artisan. Fantastic work!

Chris

[dryvr12]

WOOOW! Im in love with that steering wheel. You puttin so much effort into this thing, i love it

[Scalper]

wow.. amazing. love how you made the steering wheel.

[simonr]

Thanks guys for you comments...I still have to do the horn button with a rounded bas piece this kit comes and some epoxy to give it body..then, satin paint. I still have some more interesting things to add to this model.

Simón P. Rivera Torres

[Tony T]

Excellent! Wow! The interior is fantastic!! The steering wheel is amazing!!

[mr moto]

This is looking great!! I can't wait to see the end result.

What aftermarket wheels and tires did you use? That is no doubt the biggest weakness in the old Aurora tooling. Wheels are just so visible!! Some good lookin' wires and tires can make a huge difference.

[simonr]

Again…after sometime without any posting, but, working with it, this is it…something more…a loooooong update!

Last time I forgot to add some details that will give the interior some more realism.

As you guys can see in this picture, the steering wheel has a blue horn button, the models one doesnt come with it…so lets scratch build it!

I started with a rounded plastic piece that I got after punch out a scrap of plastic sheet. Then, I made the dome of the button with some epoxy and after it I painted it gloss black. When it dried out, I masked the center with a 1/72 planes scribing template, then, painted white for the base, then clear blue for the tint.

Something else that I forgot last time was the upholstery lining. I did it using some fine solder.

With all the new parts are in place, the colored circles shows where are them.

I decided to use this Scale Equipment LTD luggage set:

The resin kit needs some cleaning, but, after sometime, you get a nice luggage set:

Already paint detailed luggage set:

Already in place at trunks space:

Edited July 29, 2010 by simonr

[simonr]

After I finished with the interior, I moved on to the body.

In these pictures can be seen the basic body and all the parts that will complete it:

An idea of what we will see:

As in today model cars, lines all over:

The door, nicely molded, but, handle lacks of some detail…it will go..

The same thing with the molded in wipers:

As it happened back in the 60’s with model cars, you guys had to build even the body. This model car has a front and a rear section that should be added once you paint the model, but, as a result, an ugly seam line will be seen. What I did to resolve it?

As I said at the beginning, I won’t follow the steps of the instruction sheet in order to get some more real results and this step will be a clear example. I started putting together those parts with super glue, then, instead use any putty, I mixed super glue with micro balloons in order to get a plastic past that in the long run will give me an smoother surface:

[simonr]

Here, the results, a nice and even surface without any use of putty or primer:

At the front, there’s some incorrect detail. The headlight buckets are too square shaped as you guys can see in the red circle. After some light sanding, now it show a better rounded look, as it shows the blue circle:

Here with the bezels in place, you can have an idea of how out of shape look it will have at the end:

Here, both sides now have the same shape:

The rear bumper was drilled out in order to make some room for the rear reflector lights:

The front grill needs some make up to wear a better look. I drilled out the plastic part starting with some wholes abroad, and then I substituted it with some Detail Master Rectangle grill:

[simonr]

Now, everything starts to look more or less in shape. I added the hood to complete the body:

Speaking of the hood, in order to get the correct Series 5 look, the scoop in this model also has to go. It has the prior series higher and wider shape as can be seen in these to comparison pictures:

Incorrect (for series 5):

Correct:

Now it comes a part of this build up that gave a rear headache…the making of this correct scoop...

As it can be seen in the next pictures, it has the incorrect look for what I want:

[simonr]

I started scoring the section to be removed, then, I cutted the section, added a piece of plastic sheet, glued everything up with the super glue/ micro balloons mix, then sanded it smooth:

A piece of aluminum sheet was used for the new scoop...oh God!...lots of time and trials trying to get the correct shape:

After I got the correct shape for I wanted, I cutted again the new hood in order to adapt the aluminum part:

[simonr]

Trying to sand smooth these new parts I was aware off, the super glue/ micro balloons mix wasn’t strong enough to hold sanding and I didn’t want to have any surprises as some cracking at paint/clear sanding and polishing stage, so…I asked for some backup.

After used the super glue/ micro balloons mix, I covered everything up with Evercoat Polyester putty to give the new part some strength:

Everything sanded nice and smooth, but, some micro holes that appeared on the surface off the new hood. Lots of primer and sanding resolved it!

But still, there’s some funny things showing from beneath of the surface...

Edited July 29, 2010 by simonr

[simonr]

Due to that, I had to start all over again, using this time a wider plastic piece:

This time, I didn’t use the Evercoat Polyester putty, I just airbrushed some Gunze Sangyo’s Surfacer 500 and 1000:

Some Gunze Mr. White Surafacer 1000 to give the final white base for the color I had in mind:

[simonr]

Looking to some pictures of the real car, I noticed that this model has some incorrect panels in the body as for example in the wheel wells panels. Would you guys imagine a car body panel with 1†thick, certainly it could hold some bullets!

Here is what I meant:

Corrected at the front:

The circles shows the comparison better:

Now I finished with the corrections at the front, let’s move to the rear…

At the rear there’s a detail in the body where the rear lights cluster has to be placed. I started drilling the bucket hole. First of all, if you look to rear car, it has a more detailed shape at the bottom part of the bucket for the lights:

In my model, I carved and sanded it smooth giving it the correct shape:

You guys can see here the two versions, before(red arrow) and after(black arrow):

The transformation in detail:

[simonr]

Besides that correction, the model was designed to wear the lights cluster with the part over the bucket and as you guys saw in the picture, they come from behind.

Both are already cleaned:

After some time, the body was primered with the white Gunze white primer as the final primer coat, now, we have a body with the true legendary Aston Martin lines… Sorry for this blurred picture:

All the parts ready for paint:

After this bodywork procedure, I had to deal with maybe the most tedious stage of this built…chose the body color!...It cost me lost of money and I even contacted Aston Martin Auk for this(thanks Dave Morton for the tip to get their help)in order to get the color codes, I mixed different kinds of paints, different ratios, etc,etc,etc,etc….

After spend some time on the internet looking for colors, there was a color that gained my attention, this light blue, named in some sites as Caribbean Pearl Blue Metallic:

This is the color:

(Here, the sun makes it look like a metallic blue)

Another variation:

Finally, this one gave me the idea of what I wanted:

This army of colors would help me to get the desired final shade, among them I had some tamiya Lacquers, Duplicolor spray, nail polish, powders, PPG, R&M and Dupont paints:

I used this spoon with three different bases to see if I can get what I was looking for. On it, I shooted silver, light gray and white primers:

[simonr]

After so much color experimentation, finally I got some paint on the model. I chose the Duplicolor Metallic Light Blue(for some reason I couldnt get the same shade decanting it and shooting it through the airbrush) and give it an Aqua pearl blue with a nail polish.

I started on the spots where the paint could been sanded away at polishing stage in order to compensate the amount the flatter panels will receive later:

As you guys can see in this workshop picture, is the same shade I started to get:

Doors, hood, and trunk received its misty coats:

Edited July 29, 2010 by simonr

[simonr]

I was lucky enough to get dustless, flawless Duplicolor Light blue coat:

The Aqua Pearl Blue enters in action:

[simonr]

Then I topped everything with Finisher’s GP-1 Urethane Clear and easily could polish it with the same Finisher’s three steps compound system:

A close up of I got without too much effort:

Light reflection test:

After the painting section, I started the add-ons to the body. First thing was the light bezels.

At very early stage of this build I decided to used the one that comes with the kit, but, I had to scrap some plastic from the bucket in order to get a flusher headlight, because, if not, I would ending with a gold fish like look!

Then I send them along with bumpers to Chrome Tech USA for chroming and by the time I received them everything was OK, until looking around on the internet for some more details I discovered a part from Sakatsu that blew off my head.

I got this Sakatsu turned aluminum headlights that even come with a part that doubles as the light bulb.

In order to complete this part, when I place the order to Hapico, Motoi told me that the Modeler’s Lens kit will the right one to complete the Sakatsu part. Then I discovered something even more real.

As you guys can see in this picture of the real car, the front headlight beam has a Y shape engraving on the glass:

[simonr]

For my surprise, the modeler’s lens kit comes with one that has the same engraving on and for my luck, it’s the same size that the Aston model wears:

The kit’s clear parts tree and the Modeler’s lens kit:

At the left, the Moldeler’s lens, at the right, the kit’s lens:

Even with the new chroming on the altered part, there’s no chance for the plastic part over the turned aluminum one:

I accented it even more giving it a polishing session with Blue Magic metal polishing cream and my Dremel. At the left the already polished part, to the right, the unpolished part:

Here, pictures of the finished part:

To be continued...

Simón P. Rivera Torres

[made007]

wow amazing, nice update, its been a long time, its looking great, its funny when you said "this army of colors" LOL, but the good thing is you got the color like you wanted, keep us updated

[Jim Gibbons]

This is stunning work. The turned headlight bezels make a huge difference, along with the flat lenses you used. If I'm not mistaken, they are Hella H4 headlights. I installed a set of those on my '78 VW Rabbit, and had the best light distribution I ever came across. They're technically illegal for street use in the U.S., but no one ever noticed during annual inspection!

[simonr]

Hi Jim, you're completely right, these are the Hella H4's. I though they were the Sylvania's. They are standards on old Porche 911's.

Vaya Jose, thanks a lot for you observation, keep on the good work on your Stealth build, I'm following it.

Simón P. Rivera Torres