Tamiya Alfa Giulia Sprint GTA and Aoshima Murcielago SV, 1/24

[Matt Bacon]

Two very different cars, but both a tribute to the best of Italian sports car know-how...

The GTA in primer. I'm trying out the technique suggested by "Cruz" in which you wash the shut lines with black while the car is in primer, before painting. He suggests rescribing the lines first, but I thought that the GTA had crisp and deep enough lines out of the box to test the technique without needing to scribe them.

The Murcielago in primer. I wanted to get as many parts of the body together as possible to avoid having to match the colours, and glue clear-coated pieces together. In practice, this means the extreme nose, skirts and lower edges of the extreme rear can be attached. Doors and one intake (which has a segment of body colour inside) have to remain separate...

The Murcielago will be Giallo Orion -- a pearl yellow colour -- with lots of black/grey carbon trim. This is, once again, the ever reliable Zero Paints system of ground coat, base coat and clear coat.

Whereas the Giulia Sprint GTA is in a colour scheme inspired by some of the racers I've seen at Donington over the years. More Zero Paints, this time Alfa Rosso Corse and Lamborghini Powder Blue (a Miura colour which eventually lost out to the lime green when I built mine, but I may still do another in this colour, because it looks so cool...)

And now with the clear coat on. You can see how much it changes the apparent colour of the base coat, especially on the Lambo. I think the change is even more intense with the pearl finish because it reduces the scattering of light by the pearl layer, and lets you "see through" to the base coat more directly. I also tried using clear over a decal for the first time, (the Alfa "snake" on the bonnet) which has worked very well. There are the odd spot imperfections here and there, but once again the Zero 2K clear has done its job and settled into a smooth, glossy finish all over.

These will now go away into plastic boxes for a week or so to fully cure before polishing out those spots.

It's good to be back at the bench!

bestest,

M.

Edited May 18, 2014 by Matt Bacon

[Tompidom]

Some great painting as always Matt! Love the bleu nose on the alfa.

[Chillyb1]

Love that Alfa. I recently pulled that kit out to get ready to build it, or at least get it started while I finish up current projects. It is such cool car and a great kit. Here's one I did a few years ago:

[aw106]

Beautiful paint work on the Alfa. I'm sure it'll look great when on the chassis

[Matt Bacon]

Thanks, guys!

Curtis -- if I can get mine looking that good when it's done, I'll be very happy! Did you modify the suspension at all? I'm not going for a full-on racing "stance", but I think it would benefit from dropping a bit, especially at the back, and widening the track. If you did, any tips would be welcome!

bestest,

M.

[flo9mr]

They both look great!

[Matt Bacon]

Thanks, chaps... slow progress, thanks to trying to manage my stash "garage sale" eating into bench time... but at least I'm getting somewhere. I'm a little nervous about posting this while Mike Villena is crafting his masterwork on the other channel, but here are my best efforts:

Engine (which is surprisingly large) is now done. The wiring is a pain, since it's a "twin-spark", with two lines per cylinder. A bit of wash and detail painting brings the kit parts up a treat.

The interior is based on a real period car that I found online at Bring a Trailer. The seats are grey vinyl, not black, and the door cards are NATO Black with Citadel black details. Carpet is done with Plastikote Velvet for texture.

bestest,

M.

[mikevillena]

Thanks, chaps... slow progress, thanks to trying to manage my stash "garage sale" eating into bench time... but at least I'm getting somewhere. I'm a little nervous about posting this while Mike Villena is crafting his masterwork on the other channel, but here are my best efforts:

Engine (which is surprisingly large) is now done. The wiring is a pain, since it's a "twin-spark", with two lines per cylinder. A bit of wash and detail painting brings the kit parts up a treat.

The interior is based on a real period car that I found online at Bring a Trailer. The seats are grey vinyl, not black, and the door cards are NATO Black with Citadel black details. Carpet is done with Plastikote Velvet for texture.

bestest,

M.

This is looking great, Matt. As to my build, it's hardly the "masterpiece" that you claim it to be. Anyway, I think this will be another exemplary Alfa along with Curtis' superb build. You guys rock!

[Matt Bacon]

Thanks, Mike -- that means a lot, coming from you! Got the exhausts done now:

...as you can probably tell, I'm quite pleased with the way the heat discolouration came out. Citadel blue, purple and orange washes over Humbrol "Chrome Silver" from a can. I'm not totally convinced that the real things were chromed, and I really doubt there are many running with them in that condition now, but they certainly look cool!

Not all the GTAs I've found online have a grey dash, so I decided the wood effect would provide a nice highlight in the cabin. All the wood is various "dark flesh" or "Leather" colours, with a glaze of Tamiya Clear Orange, applied with brush strokes carefully visible...

And a quick mock-up . The engine is going to need some work on thinning down the mounts and refining the gearbox to make sure that it sits down properly into the chassis, at the correct slightly inclined angle (The sump is dead horizontal but the block is leaning about 5-10 degrees left.

bestest,

M.

[fitforbattle]

Looks great. And those headers sure looks good in chrome.

[Matt Bacon]

Thanks, Robin... mostly progressing the GTA at the moment.

This is the engine bay done:

I need to find out where the other battery lead goes. I think round the far side of the bay to the "fusebox" on the firewall

The uses of Humbrol Metalcote Steel. Polished for the discs, lightly buffed for the "metallic grey" callipers, and a nice flat primer base for the black bits.

..and finally, the front end coming together.

bestest,

M.

[DynoMight]

Nice!

[CJ1971]

Ahhhhhh Matt... You've made my life a little easier this week... I've got the SV, along with 2 of his bros ( Gallardo/Aventador ), on my bench at the moment! ? I was tossing up colour options on the SV & Aventador & I was deciding on a very similar yellow ( Giallo Evros, also Zero paints ) for my SV. Since you've gone with yellow I'm now only tossing up between White, Arancio Argos or Black... Colour decisions suck! ?? Lol

Love following your builds & now I can "cheat" since you're way ahead in the build progress ?

Have you got/will you be using the PE Set ( Aoshima's ) for the SV? I have/am.. Just did most of it for all the rear/front body parts.

As a side , I downloaded a tonne of quality pics of a stock SV, for reference detailing, if you're in need ( probably not knowing you ?? )

I'm interested to see if you'll be doing your usual "CF " paint jobs or if you're going with decaling instead?

Oops... Great work on both do far... Always a pleasure viewing your builds mate ?

Cheers Cliff ?

Here's a sneak-peak at my Gallardo, as it's the only 1 I've got in paint so far. I chose an Audi Teak Brown... I'd like your opinion on whether it was a cool colour choice?? I'm thinking about doing the wheel centres in Alcad Copper, to compliment the brown... What do you think?

Edited June 8, 2014 by CJ1971

[Matt Bacon]

Hi, Cliff... I'm glad you're enjoying the build -- so am I! I haven't got any PE for the SV. TBH, I find it's quite expensive for a bunch of bits you barely see. These days, the PE grilles etc often come in the kits, and life's too short to build your own brake rotors from 7 layers of etch... IMHO anyway! As for the Carbon fibre -- yep it's going to be paint. Actually looking at my refs, there's not that much visible texture outside of the cabin. The big wing, for example, seems to be grey-black on the detail photos ins my "Lamborghini Supercars" mag/book, rather than "woven texture" so I guess it must be painted with a protective outer coat. Your teak brown Gallardo is very tasteful, to be sure. It's not a colour I'd paint a Lambo -- the more "in your face," the better, for Lamborghinis IMHO. I'd go for Arancio Argos for the Aventador, if it were me. Oh, I did:

Seriously...I think black isn't a good colour for something as "sculptural" as an Aventador: you can't see the shapes like you can in a paler colour with black detailing. Same with my LaFerrari -- "resale red" for me, all the way...

bestest,

M.

[CJ1971]

G'day Matt ... Yeh mate I always enjoy your builds, always a pleasure to see your great work.

As for Lambos being In-your-face... I agree, they are the new muscle cars & deserve those "high-impact" colours ?? I was really just testing out the Audi Teak Brown on the Gallardo & since it laid down nice & smooth, along with the clear coats, I decided to leave it that way... ? Hence it does need something ? to give it that "impact" & I reckon some Alcad Copper for the wheels will have that effect ?

Yeh I remember your Aventador... Great trick work on the "hot" discs ?? I'm pretty sure mine's going to wind up in a nice "high impact" green or blue ?

Seems you're right about the SV... Although there seems to be ( from a distance ) liberal use of CF, my reference pics say what your's do... Not really ?

As for the PE for the SV... Aoshima's set is actually quite useful & easy/basic. The PE discs just go on top of the kit supplied plastic ones & the other PE is mostly mesh for all the vents, front/rear. It's quite good. I've already attached them to the necessary parts ? I can snap a pic or 2 & post it here if you'd like to see?

Cheers Cliff

Edited June 8, 2014 by CJ1971

[Matt Bacon]

Thanks, Cliff... it'd be good to see how the PE mesh compares...

I wanted to see how the "stance" of the GTA would look. I've lowered the rear by about 1mm, by drilling out the spring sockets in the body shell, and the front by about 0.7mm, by removing the "pillars" at the mounting points on the front subframe. The effect is not the full on racing look, where the rear tends to be well down, but it's a little more aggressive than the standard set-up...

...back to the interior, now...

bestest,

M.

[CJ1971]

Looks like the GTA's stance is spot on Matt ?

When I get a chance I'll throw up a pic or 2 of the mesh for the SV, mate ??

Cheers Cliff

[Matt Bacon]

Thanks, Cliff. Here's the interior more or less done (the instrument panel is just dry fitted for the moment)

The complete chassis:

and I couldn't resist a quick mockup:

A few interior tweaks on the body shell before she's quite ready to go together permanently, but it won't be long, I'm sure...

bestest,

M.

[CJ1971]

Looks sweet Matt ? Is the wood grain a decal or painted??

Cheers Cliff

[1 bad55 stan]

I like the alfa,looks great.My neighbor had a brand new 1 when i was a kid,

[Matt Bacon]

Thanks, chaps. @Cliff -- the woodgrain is painted, with Vallejo "flesh" colours overcoated with Tamiya Clear Orange, brushed to leave some "grain" visible.

Life has got a bit in the way of bench time lately, but I'm still plodding on. Focusing mainly on the Alfa at the moment, so there's nothing interesting to photograph on the Murcielago, but it is bobbling along in the background. Anyway...

A couple of sessions got the BMF on the side windows done, and the windows in. The kit's really well engineered -- enough so that the layer of paint and BMF on the side window "bars" makes the fit a little "tight"... I've fettled somewhat, but there may need to be another session.

Last chance for a good look inside before the rear window and windscreen get in the way!

And now the windows are on. Just the final bits of detailing to do now... mostly in "chrome"...

bestest,

M.