Monogram Days of Thunder Lumina WIP

[bigbluesd]

Spent entirely too much time painting the lettering on the front bumper using some heavily thinned acrylic paint and a sharpened toothpick. Should have noted prior to doing this that the car on the box art and 90% of the Days of Thunder cars in Google image search don't have those letters painted. DOH! Oh well, mine does. This took a lot of patience and a steady hand, neither of which I have in abundance. Could be better but it could be worse too. Currently debating whether I want to spend the money and buy some contingency decals for this, a few came with the set but they are kind of sparse.

Edited January 7, 2014 by bigbluesd

[ratchetman87]

Looking good man.... keep going

[bigbluesd]

Made a little bit of progress, I have been using this one partially as a test bed for learning new techniques because it's not a model I am overly excited about. Due to this I have spurts of "I'm over this" followed by "holy cow that worked really well, I'm excited again".

The clear parts of this kit were scratched up in the box so I sanded them down with some 4000 and then 12000 (I don't have anything in between, waiting for some polishing cloths to come from Hong Kong in the mail) and dipped them in Future. Not perfect but a heck of a lot better.

I put a coat of Future over the paint and it glossed a little bit... I was rushed though and didn't do any homework on the best way to apply Future by the airbrush. The end result was that I did one heavy application instead of mist coats, etc. There were a couple of spots where it is glossier than others but I figure I can put another coat on after decals and it will solve that issue. A couple of areas where it pooled as well but nothing too terrible. I'm overall satisfied.

I also did my first attempt at using Allclad and it worked out really well. I used it on the exhaust pipes as well as the headers and airbrushed it over a coat of Testor's gloss black. I'm very pleased with the results. On a side note, I FOUND MY MISSING HEADER! Incredibly grateful for that because I had a hard time finding solder that was the right size. Everything was either 0.6mm or 1.0mm. The headers are about 0.8mm. I did find a spare two feet of 10 gauge Romex that I had left over and the conductors were just the right size, but quickly realized copper is just too #$&^ hard to bend without destroying the surface with my pliers.

The engine is put together, I will say that this is the best motor I've done yet thanks to using the airbrush as well as the Alclad headers. I also did a black wash using thinned acrylic black, I am having a problem with the washes... when I go to wipe or blot off the excess everything tends to come with it and I'm left with very little visible shadow.

I was tempted to entertain the notion to try heat staining the pipes but I am so pleased with the outcome that I'm afraid to ruin this one. I'll try it on my next project.

One thing that really bugs me about kits is that the wheels are always straight as an arrow, so whenever possible I always attempt to turn the front wheels a little bit. I accomplished this with my new razor saw and some cement. (Wheels not attached, just put in place to check alignment in the second photo.

I figure a bonus for this is that the ride height will be lowered slightly in the front from the material removed by cutting and sanding flush.

A few more brush painted details on some parts and then it's onward to assembly and decals. I may finish this within the month!

Edited January 14, 2014 by bigbluesd

[Kmidd65]

In Googling this stuff I did find somebody making reference to using the Future to thin the Faskolor, any thoughts on that?

Definitely, I use Future to mix most of the acrylics I spray through my airbrush. I typically cut it 50 to 75% with the Future and finish out the brew with Rubbing Alcohol or Acrylic Airbrush reducer (Createx). I have had great results but it takes a lot of coats to build up a good color finish. I typically spray a good even coat then dry it with the hair dryer, then repeat until I am happy with the finish. You will definitely want to seal the finished paint after drying it a day or so with several coats of Future or you could build up a couple "light" coats of Testors Lacquers. Good fun stuff, that car should really pop when you are finished!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kmidd65/

Edited January 14, 2014 by Kmidd65

[bigbluesd]

You will definitely want to seal the finished paint after drying it a day or so with several coats of Future

For your clear coats with Future, do you mist it on or spray several wet coats?

[Kmidd65]

When I airbrush Future, I try to apply my first two coats in a nice mist covering. In effect, I am sneaking up on it and providing a good base for the final wet coats. You need to be careful as the stuff will run quickly! I use a dual action Air Brush so that is minimized some. I do not dry Future coats with the hair dryer as that causes a grainy finish. I usually wait a day or two between coats. The third and fourth coats I lay on wet. After another couple days of drying, I will rub out the Future finish with Meguiers #7 or fine polishing compounds, if needed.

In my previous post, the #31 Lumina and the #28 Texaco both had Future finishes to seal the decals. The #28 was brush coated and polished. The Lumina was the better effort (airbrushed). Not certain if you ever saw the write up about applying Future to models? Check out the site at the link, it is full of great information. Hope this is helpful!

http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html

[bigbluesd]

Decals on the body... I was going to coat them in Future but there is one that lays partially over a window so my options were to either Future everything BUT that decal (making it the only one that sticks out) or go ahead with the installation of windows and not Future it again. Since I want this thing off my bench I elected to not Future it again. The window decal (or windows for that matter) hasn't been installed yet, that's part of tomorrow's work list.

Decals went on pretty well except that the adhesive gobbed up into tiny balls when I slid them off the paper so there are hundreds of little bumps underneath the decals. It's only really noticeable on the roof though. I guess if that's my only problem with a 20+ year old decal sheet I shouldn't complain.

Edited January 18, 2014 by bigbluesd

[slusher]

The decals and paint look really good. Engine looks great to. IT might be me but it is almost impossible to get a model built without a few flaws and the builder is the one who notices them. Your doing a really nice job..

[bigbluesd]

Thanks, that is good to hear. I do have a tendency to be hypercritical of my own stuff so it's good to know that somebody else feels that way as well. Looking at the Under Glass section will ruin your perception of your own work, everything there looks absolutely perfect!

[Greg Cullinan]

Coming along great. Tire trick is awesome.

[Kmidd65]

Looking very good! Those colors really pop. I was afraid about those decals, they look great. I really like following this build, thanks for sharing it with us!

[bbowser]

Keep it going, looking good!

[bigbluesd]

DONE! Under glass thread here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=84445

More issues during assembly... when I put the body on the tubes running exhaust out the windows got in the way of the windows themselves and several pieces got forcibly removed in the process. Part of the reason was that the body needed to be pushed forwards a hair but by the time I realized it I had already superglued it into place. Used Testor's clear parts cement for gauge glass and the big one never unfogged, maybe it just needs time. And got to the last step of the instruction sheet and realized i had a distributor hanging out on the bench that was never referenced in the instructions. Too late to put it in. Bah. Anyways, good enough to go on the second shelf of the scale model china cabinet, it's nice and dark down there!

Edited January 20, 2014 by bigbluesd

[Thedragsterdude]

Mr. Brandon, did you use the decals from the kit I have the days of thunder cars and was wondering if the decals crinkled up

[bigbluesd]

25 minutes ago, Thedragsterdude said:

Mr. Brandon, did you use the decals from the kit I have the days of thunder cars and was wondering if the decals crinkled up

Yes, I used the kit decals

[Thedragsterdude]

48 minutes ago, bigbluesd said:

Yes, I used the kit decals

Did they mess up??

[bigbluesd]

1 hour ago, Thedragsterdude said:

Did they mess up??

Not to my recollection but this was ten years ago, I have no idea.