Tom Geiger Posted February 1, 2015 Posted February 1, 2015 Argh! Sorry to see that Geoff. But it is part of the game! I'm looking at the International Scout I painted last weekend and am thinking of doing the same!
GeeBee Posted February 2, 2015 Author Posted February 2, 2015 Argh! Sorry to see that Geoff. But it is part of the game! I'm looking at the International Scout I painted last weekend and am thinking of doing the same! Oh well, second time lucky ?? .....
GeeBee Posted June 17, 2015 Author Posted June 17, 2015 This one has been sitting in a plastic box since have the paint stripped off, it wasn't until I finished the 601S saloon, I came to clean out the spraybooth and clean out the filters, but the green paint that was all over the front of the filter just wouldn't come off, usually when I spray using celluose or acrylic lacquer, the over spray just comes off with the vacuum, but the Trabant wasn't budging, so before renewing the filter to spray the Tamiya Fiat 500 I was going to start, I thought I would at least get some green paint on the little Trabbi. I decanted the paint from the aerosol into a glass jar, after decanting this paint in the past, I've learnt only to decant what you need for the job, as even if the jar is sealed the paint will still start to skin over and in a few days the paint has gone like jelly, very strange .... I used the same airbrush, set to the same pressure, I did absolutely nothing different, yet this time the paint came out so much better,in fact this time I don't even think it needs to be wet sanded, just a good polish and I think that's all it will need. These photo's are as they came out of the spraybooth, Small parts mounted on either wooden cocktail sticks or spring clamps ready for primer and top coat
Tom Geiger Posted June 17, 2015 Posted June 17, 2015 Looks Good Geoff! I need to get my Trabant postal van back out again. I got stalled when someone pointed out that the side panels were not as deep as I have them by putting sheet stock on the inside of the body. So I'd been fiddling around with adding plastic in front of the current side panels to reduce the depth. I've come to the conclusion that anything I do in that regard will come out badly, and that nobody else will ever notice that the panels sit in too deep! So I should just finish the bugger. As an aside, I recently joined a stamp collectors club so I thought it would be neat to finish the postal van, and along with my Danbury Mint postal Jeep, bring them to a meeting!
GeeBee Posted June 17, 2015 Author Posted June 17, 2015 Looks Good Geoff! I need to get my Trabant postal van back out again. I got stalled when someone pointed out that the side panels were not as deep as I have them by putting sheet stock on the inside of the body. So I'd been fiddling around with adding plastic in front of the current side panels to reduce the depth. I've come to the conclusion that anything I do in that regard will come out badly, and that nobody else will ever notice that the panels sit in too deep! So I should just finish the bugger. I think I left a comment on your build about the side panels being too recessed, how about using the rear windows as a template and cut the panels out of the same thickness styrene sheets, paint them the same colour as the body then fix them in place with some clear epoxy ..... As I have 3 more saloons and 6 more of the Universals, although 2 of them are the 25 years of the fall of the Berlin wall, so only one of them might be built, I will build a van version of the Trabant, I'm just going to order some more of the original Trabant paint from Germany, as the price has come down and the pound to the Euro exchange rate is pretty good at the moment.
dublin boy Posted June 17, 2015 Posted June 17, 2015 Dreadful paint as usual Geoff Sterling is expensive at the moment though, buy while it's strong.
GeeBee Posted June 17, 2015 Author Posted June 17, 2015 (edited) Sterling is expensive at the moment though, buy while it's strong. Yes, bad for you though, almost 1.40 Euro to the Pound, but your only getting 71p for one Euro at the moment, the paint was costing me close to £15 a can last time I ordered it, this time I can 4 cans with shipping from Germany for £40 Edited June 17, 2015 by GeeBee
GeeBee Posted June 17, 2015 Author Posted June 17, 2015 Dreadful paint as usual Geoff Tell me about it, I'll get the hang of airbrushing one day ....
PatW Posted June 18, 2015 Posted June 18, 2015 (edited) Well Geoff your a brave man, trying a Trabi. I've seen quiet a few around Europe and even further afield, but none of them had glossy paint! I was going to buy one of these estate car kits and turn it into a touring car racer, with BBS rims race seat and a roll cage, but of course if it did roll over the cage would be OK but the body would disintegrate! It reminds me of the old Reliant Robins! On my way to work one morning, there was a strong side wind on the road. I was just about to go over a railway bridge where there was the brick parapets on each side of the road. All I could see was a pile of fibreglass and further on the bare chassis of the Robin with only the seats, engine and gearbox. Of course he had kept the steering over to keep it in a straight line against the wind and coming across the brick wall it swerved across the road and smashed itself to bits! Sorry I'm getting of the point, good luck with the kit, but the paint seems to be of some concern. Edited June 18, 2015 by PatW
GeeBee Posted June 19, 2015 Author Posted June 19, 2015 (edited) Well Geoff your a brave man, trying a Trabi. I've seen quiet a few around Europe and even further afield, but none of them had glossy paint! I was going to buy one of these estate car kits and turn it into a touring car racer, with BBS rims race seat and a roll cage, but of course if it did roll over the cage would be OK but the body would disintegrate! It reminds me of the old Reliant Robins! Well the paint I'm using is the same that the full size Trabants would have been painted with at the factory, and after watching numerous video's on the production of the Trabant, they did indeed have a very shiny coat of paint when they left the factory, the paint they used was Alkyd based, and was listed as being "Weather Proof" they were only designed for a 3 year life cycle, where as many Trabant's ended up lasting for on adverage 28 years, so no wonder you've seen so many dull looking Trabbi's Many people wrongly think Trabant's are made of fibreglass, I've even heard people say they were made of papier mache, of course these are all incorrect, the Trabant was made of Steel, yes Steel, the stuff most cars around the world are made of, but because the factory were restricted in the amount of steel they could get there hands on, because no country other than Russia and other eastern block countries would supply them with raw materials, they had to use what they could, and Duraplast was used for the body panels, bootlid, bonnet, door panels (Not door frame), front & rear wings (Outer Only), and roof panels were made of it, Duraplast being a mixture of Phenolic resin and wool or cotton fibres. Trabants were used in Motorsport, the factory even had it's own Motorsports department, and transformed the 601 into the P800 RS, so making a model of it isn't such a bad idea and wouldn't disintegrate as you suggested. Here a photo of the Steel Monocoque body for the Trabant, of course the roof panel is made of Durplast and is bonded on at the factory, but the frame underneath is steel. Trabant P800 RS (Factory Car) Edited June 19, 2015 by GeeBee
PatW Posted June 20, 2015 Posted June 20, 2015 (edited) Yes Geoff I've seen some of these when I was a RAC Rally marshall in the 70's and 80's flying along with their tiny two-stroke motors smoking away! Superb video Geoff, just as I remember them. There was also the Skoda 110's and the 3 Cylinder two-stroke Saab 96. Edited June 20, 2015 by PatW
GeeBee Posted June 26, 2015 Author Posted June 26, 2015 Finally got all the parts ready for a coat of primer, they can then get sorted so they can be airbrushed in their correct colours, the front wipers arms were so badly molded, I'm going to have to get them out of another kit until the replacements arrive from Revell, one of the rear parcel shelf support rods broke while clipping it off the parts tree, I've asked Revell if they can supply another, but again, I get pick that part out of another Trabbi kit, the body and body parts have been placed into a clear plastic tub, stops the dust monster attacking it while the rest of the model gets built up, also got the side panels masked up ready for a coat of brown enamel, the instructions say to paint the headlamp reflectors in silver paint, that just wouldn't cut it for me, so they were covered using chrome BMF.
GeeBee Posted June 30, 2015 Author Posted June 30, 2015 Finally got all the parts ready for a coat of primer, then they can be sorted into the colours they need to be airbrushed, The front wipers were so badly molded, that I had to open another kit, luckily I have another four Trabant Universals in the stash, so while I wait for the replacement parts to arrive from Revell, I took them out of one of them, I also broke one of the rear parcel shelf support brackets getting them off the parts tree, again I took one out of another kit. With the bodyshell from the spare kit sitting on the side I got to thinking about converting it into a Universal Lieferwagen (Van in English), so using the side widows as templates, I got out some styrene card and drew around the windows, as in the real thing that's what they did at the factory, they just filled in the aperture where the windows in the Universal would have gone, a little sanding and they fitted in perfectly.
dublin boy Posted June 30, 2015 Posted June 30, 2015 My God., Geoff's modifying something! LOL All you need now is a V8 and slicks Seriously though, that's more interesting, any plans for sign writing Geoff?
GeeBee Posted June 30, 2015 Author Posted June 30, 2015 Seriously though, that's more interesting, any plans for sign writing Geoff? I bet you nearly fell off your chair when you first ready that Shay, I would like to do some sign writing on it, but reference photo's on the 'net are not really forthcoming, you could buy them as you could a standard Trabbi and could be painted in regular colours, I'll keep looking for idea's on the 'net while I'm building, the German Post Office used them in Universal and van form, and the colour is a standard RAL code, RAL 7047.
dublin boy Posted June 30, 2015 Posted June 30, 2015 I'm sure someone here could make you up some decals. "Brown's Butchers" or something! LOL
GeeBee Posted June 30, 2015 Author Posted June 30, 2015 I'm sure someone here could make you up some decals. "Brown's Butchers" or something! LOL Yes, I'm sure they were used by more companies than just the German Postal service, I will get it in primer and crack on with the rest of the build before making my mind mind up. Been doing a bit of reading on the 'net, the van version was either made at the factory by putting the sheet steel in a rubber gasket and fitting them as they would have fitted the windows, easy to take them out and pop in a set of windows to make it into a Universal, or not cutting out the side windows after they panels had been stamped out, remember the side would be part of the bodyshell and would have been made out of steel, mine will replicate version two.
Tom Geiger Posted July 1, 2015 Posted July 1, 2015 I bet you nearly fell off your chair when you first ready that Shay, I would like to do some sign writing on it, but reference photo's on the 'net are not really forthcoming, you could buy them as you could a standard Trabbi and could be painted in regular colours, I'll keep looking for idea's on the 'net while I'm building, the German Post Office used them in Universal and van form, and the colour is a standard RAL code, RAL 7047. Hey that's my model!
GeeBee Posted July 1, 2015 Author Posted July 1, 2015 Hey that's my model! I know Tom, didn't say I was going to go with that livery, but I am struggling to find other sign written Trabbi's on the 'net
Brizio Posted July 2, 2015 Posted July 2, 2015 I bet you nearly fell off your chair when you first ready that Shay, I would like to do some sign writing on it, but reference photo's on the 'net are not really forthcoming, you could buy them as you could a standard Trabbi and could be painted in regular colours, I'll keep looking for idea's on the 'net while I'm building, the German Post Office used them in Universal and van form, and the colour is a standard RAL code, RAL 7047. That's why the mail is always late from Germany... Beautiful job on the model!
GeeBee Posted July 2, 2015 Author Posted July 2, 2015 That's why the mail is always late from Germany... Beautiful job on the model! Thanks Fabrizio, the Van version has now been added under it's own topic http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=103486&hl=
GeeBee Posted July 14, 2015 Author Posted July 14, 2015 Well the weathers gone a little BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH over here, so time to spend a little time indoors, managed to get all the smaller parts in primer and sorted into the colours they need to be done, gloss black, satin black, aluminium etc. The front seats are molded as two parts, but when fixed together it leaves a gap all around the back on the seats, so they were filled with 2 part polyester putty and sanded smooth before getting a couple of coats of primer, followed by a couple of coats of Humbrol # 62, Matt leather thinned out with standard lacquer thinners, Once dried, the seats will be masked up so the seat faces can be painted in a darker shade of brown.
GeeBee Posted July 15, 2015 Author Posted July 15, 2015 Let the parts dry overnight, pulled the masking tape off the interior side panels, just the door handles etc to pick out in flat black, I'm happy with the results
GeeBee Posted July 18, 2015 Author Posted July 18, 2015 Spent the day airbrushing all the smaller parts, they were done in either Gloss black, satin black, aluminium and steel,
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