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Posted (edited)

I recently bought this Tamiya Toyota Celica SS-II built up off of ebay, and the person who built it did a decent job overall although it's not what one would call a pro build. Luckily it's not a glue bomb either. The paint is thin in various places because the body wasn't sanded or primed before being painted, so the paint didn't stick well to recessed areas or the lower parts of the car. The hood has some fitment issues, but besides that everything looked pretty good. This is a nicely detailed kit of the often overlooked 6th Gen Celica and unlike a lot of Tamiya kits, it has an engine. I plan on losing the stock GT wheels and tires in favor of some nice 17" or 18" wheels and tires from the parts box, as well as lowering the suspension and adding a resin turbo under the hood, among other things (nothing too crazy LOL :)).

Starting disassembly:

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The chassis had been somewhat detail painted, and the builder used glue sparingly here too. If only that were the case all the time LOL. For some reason the rear tires were installed with the tread facing the wrong direction, but that's an easy fix:

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Quick mockup of the wheels and tires that I am probably going to go with (I believe these are from a Fujimi or Aoshima kit, they are very crisp in detail and look much better than the stock 15" GT wheels! ):

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For the new paint color, I am thinking of a nice bright white. Either that or 1997 Sunburst Pearl, which is a very uncommon factory color on this car (technically incorrect for a '94-'95, but I don't really care LOL) . The interior will be black and beige either way.

Also on a side note, if anyone has one of these kits that they probably won't build, I will happily trade for it or buy it from you (incomplete, partially built, unbuilt, complete, doesn't matter). I LOVE this car :)

Edited by TurboKitty
Posted

I decided to paint the car a completely different color than I originally planned. So instead of white or sunburst orange I am going with a candy raspberry color that I will call "Hawaiian Orchid Pearl". I looked for the basic color from Testors and Tamiya in a rattle can and couldn't find anything that was the exact hue and intensity that I wanted, so I did a series of spoon tests. I did more than these four, but these are the ones I'll keep for future reference:

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All spoons were sprayed with white primer to get an even base to start with (didn't go with grey or red primer because they would have altered the results and darkened up the final color).

Spoon #1 is Testors One Coat Lacquer Pure Gold with Testors Transparent Candy Red shot over that, followed by a 3rd coat of Testors Transparent Candy Grape. While a nice candy red wine color, it is a bit too red.

Spoon #2 is Testors One Coat Lacquer Diamond Dust (Bright Silver) with Testors Transparent Candy Red and Transparent Candy Grape, just like Spoon #1. The silver base offers a less red color over the gold, but it is still too red. The flash makes both spoons look almost identical, spoon #2 is actually a little lighter.

Spoon #3 is Testors One Coat Lacquer Diamond Dust (Bright Silver) with only the Testors Transparent Candy Grape sprayed over it. The result is a metallic hot pink almost, closer to what I want but still too light of a shade, need to go with a darker metallic.

Spoon #4 is Testors One Coat Lacquer Graphite Dust (Dark Grey Metallic) with Testors Transparent Candy Grape sprayed over it. Perfect :) It is not too light and not too dark, and it is exactly the dark raspberry color that I wanted without it being burgundy or purple.

These pics were shot outside using snow as a background LOL. It is an overcast day so I had to use flash, so the colors are a tiny bit lighter in the pics than they really are. Hopefully I will have the Celica in primer and full color soon, weather permitting.

Posted

Update 2/16/2012 - The weather was decent enough today so I was able to primer and paint the body. I applied white primer and yes, because of the red plastic the primer dried light pink instead of white LOL. Because it was getting painted a dark color as a base, it didn't bother me so no harm no foul. After letting the primer dry for a few hours, I painted the Celica with some DupliColor GM Dark Slate Grey Metallic. It is a match to the Testors One Coat Lacquer Graphite Dust that I did a spoon test with (see #4 above), I chose to use it since I had more of it than the Testors. Here is the Celica in its dark metallic base coat:

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I let that dry overnight and followed up with the Testors Transparent Candy Grape today. The resulting color is intense and I can't wait to get clear on it. Yes it is that shiny & smooth without clear! My camera really does not do it justice unfortunately. However the color came out perfect and I am very happy with this build so far! :)

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Don't mind the pizza boxes, we save them for bonfires LOL. I will take more pics after the paint cures and it is clear coated and polished, probably next week if the weather permits. :)

Posted

Great color choice. The darker colors always show off the curves of these celicas.

That's something I never, ever thought about with the colors of cars.

Posted

Thank you guys, this one is finally getting me out of the building slump I've been in for several months now. I got the idea for the color from playing Forza 4, since I bought a Celica GT-Four and painted it the exact same color as #4 above, with light gold wheels. Liked it so much I had to build it LOL. Only difference is this one is an SS-II instead of a GT-Four. :)

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