General Model Kit Building Thread

[AerodyManiac]

I don't know. Actually what are Tamiya model kits made of? I needed some new cement to put the parts together, but I don't know what kind of plastic the kit is made of, so I don't know which type of cement I needed.

Thanks for the replies by the way. 👍

 

[Apok]

They're made out of polystyrene. So are pretty much all other mass produced kits.
There are kits made out of epoxy resin, but those are made by smaller companies that make a very limited run of kits (like studio 27 for example). These usually cost a bunch of money, are harder to build, but sometimes you can get kits of stuff that nobody else makes.

 

[DG_Silva]

Progress with my Nissan R34 GTR Z-Tune from Tamiya!

View attachment 307467

How do you get on with Tamiya paints? I've always found them to be a little on the thin side. Any hints you can give me for a better finish on the painting?

 

[Beerz]

How do you get on with Tamiya paints? I've always found them to be a little on the thin side. Any hints you can give me for a better finish on the painting?

I've never had any problems with Tamiya paints so far, and been using them for about 20 years.

How do you prep your surfaces? (washing, sanding, etc.) Do you prime them? How?

 

[DG_Silva]

I've never had any problems with Tamiya paints so far, and been using them for about 20 years.

How do you prep your surfaces? (washing, sanding, etc.) Do you prime them? How?

Sadly, straight on. Possibly that's where I've been going wrong by not priming them. I haven't really had anyone show me, or where I've been going wrong. How do you paint?

 

[Toshost]

How do you get on with Tamiya paints? I've always found them to be a little on the thin side. Any hints you can give me for a better finish on the painting?

Actually i use Mr.hobby paints and different scale brushes for different parts of the bottom! Shacke good your paint before using it with big brush or something! And your hand is important for painting too!
Cheers mate!

 

[Johnnypenso]

Sadly, straight on. Possibly that's where I've been going wrong by not priming them. I haven't really had anyone show me, or where I've been going wrong. How do you paint?

All plastic models pieces should be thoroughly washed with some hot soapy water, using a clean sponge and a toothbrush or other small, soft brush, to get into all the nooks and crannies. Go easy so you don't catch up the delicate parts. Be sure and thoroughly rinse and let air dry before applying primer. You can accelerate drying if you're in a hurry with a hair dryer. Put a filter or seive of some kind over the drain so you don't lose any little parts that might inadvertantly fall off the sprue. I would usually prime all the parts while still on the sprue to save time and touch up the detach points by hand or with the spray again if it's a highly visible edge. A good quality grey primer will work well, but white is also good. Either oil or water based primer can be used with water based paints. A light sanding will also help with primer adhesion although it's not usually necessary. I would usually only sand the shell and most highly visible parts with a 600
grit waterproof sandpaper, wet.

 

[Apok]

All plastic models pieces should be thoroughly washed with some hot soapy water, using a clean sponge and a toothbrush or other small, soft brush, to get into all the nooks and crannies. Go easy so you don't catch up the delicate parts. Be sure and thoroughly rinse and let air dry before applying primer. You can accelerate drying if you're in a hurry with a hair dryer. Put a filter or seive of some kind over the drain so you don't lose any little parts that might inadvertantly fall off the sprue. I would usually prime all the parts while still on the sprue to save time and touch up the detach points by hand or with the spray again if it's a highly visible edge. A good quality grey primer will work well, but white is also good. Either oil or water based primer can be used with water based paints. A light sanding will also help with primer adhesion although it's not usually necessary. I would usually only sand the shell and most highly visible parts with a 600
grit waterproof sandpaper, wet.

Great post. I'd only add that primer color should be picked according to the color you're eventually painting the model.
Paint won't cover up 100%, that's why something like black primer is usually not used. It'd show through the paint. So if painting in white or a bright color like yellow I'd recommend a white primer, as even gray could force you to apply more coats of paint than normal.

 

[DG_Silva]

Thanks guys, you've really helped me out there. It's something to take to starting my next model.

 

[silverromeo]

Hi all,

New comer to the forum here. I have been playing Gran Turismo 1 on PSX since 1997 and that was what started my love of cars and to build plastic models. Although it's been sometime, now the internet can allow me to share some of my work, hope you will enjoy.

My latest work is the NISMO GTR-LM R33 road car, pretty sure many of you are familiar with this special GTR:

More pictures and the whole post is available here -

http://silverromeo.blogspot.com/2015/04/124-nismo-bcnr33-gtr-lm-1995-road-car.html

I am still learning on modeling and taking pictures, so constructive comments are always welcome. Enjoy!

 

[R5]

I am still learning on modeling

And already better than me

Nice work 👍

 

[Beerz]

Sadly, straight on. Possibly that's where I've been going wrong by not priming them.

All plastic models pieces should be thoroughly washed with some hot soapy water, using a clean sponge and a toothbrush or other small, soft brush, to get into all the nooks and crannies. Go easy so you don't catch up the delicate parts. Be sure and thoroughly rinse and let air dry before applying primer. You can accelerate drying if you're in a hurry with a hair dryer. Put a filter or seive of some kind over the drain so you don't lose any little parts that might inadvertantly fall off the sprue. I would usually prime all the parts while still on the sprue to save time and touch up the detach points by hand or with the spray again if it's a highly visible edge. A good quality grey primer will work well, but white is also good. Either oil or water based primer can be used with water based paints. A light sanding will also help with primer adhesion although it's not usually necessary. I would usually only sand the shell and most highly visible parts with a 600
grit waterproof sandpaper, wet.

This.

Great post. I'd only add that primer color should be picked according to the color you're eventually painting the model.
Paint won't cover up 100%, that's why something like black primer is usually not used. It'd show through the paint. So if painting in white or a bright color like yellow I'd recommend a white primer, as even gray could force you to apply more coats of paint than normal.

And this.

👍

My MO is usually washing all the sprues right away with fresh water and dish soap (I never use warm water as I'm always scared of any warping in larger parts), then as I'm needing the parts, cutting them off the sprue with a scalpel to minimize chances of any damage by using a plier.

Note that from the moment that I wash the sprues, all parts handling is with gloves on (the thin rubber ones with no powder, they're cheap in packs).

After that I remove the mold lines where they're present, first with the scalpel, and then with by wet-sanding. Then, wet-sand all the part so that the primer (never used any other than white, never felt a grey one was needed) has a "bite", and standard painting from then on. Can, brush, airbrush, whatever feels and looks better depending on the part in hand.

After a while it's all part of the process, you don't think of it as "more work" to be done. 👍

 

[Apok]

My MO is usually washing all the sprues right away with fresh water and dish soap (I never use warm water as I'm always scared of any warping in larger parts), then as I'm needing the parts, cutting them off the sprue with a scalpel to minimize chances of any damage by using a plier.

Note that from the moment that I wash the sprues, all parts handling is with gloves on (the thin rubber ones with no powder, they're cheap in packs).

After that I remove the mold lines where they're present, first with the scalpel, and then with by wet-sanding. Then, wet-sand all the part so that the primer (never used any other than white, never felt a grey one was needed) has a "bite", and standard painting from then on. Can, brush, airbrush, whatever feels and looks better depending on the part in hand.

After a while it's all part of the process, you don't think of it as "more work" to be done. 👍

How it's done properly.
I usually remove mold lines and sand the parts and only then wash them in soapy water though. Since some of the pieces have to be glued or maybe even modified if they don't fit I like to work without gloves first.

 

[Ezzz]

A small update, one of my favorite Japanese car featured in GT6: the LFA Nurburgring package -

Full post here: http://silverromeo.blogspot.com/2015/06/124-lexus-lfa-with-nurburgring-package.html

Enjoy!

 

[maksiu3f]

I see a lot of great work done here.
Here is a few of 1:24 scale kits i have built over last 2 years or so.
Sorry for not so great quality, most of them was taken with a phone.
More on facebook - RC Bodyshop

 

[AOS-]

Tell me, do these race car kits already come with the livery or do you have to assemble the decals yourself?

 

[SRV2LOW4ME]

You have to assemble them yourself. Much like this...

 

[AOS-]

Oh snap. That must've set you guys back a few hours per car. Good stuff!

 

[Beerz]

Oh snap. That must've set you guys back a few hours per car. Good stuff!

Yup. A "few hours".

 

[SRV2LOW4ME]

...and a few gallons of Micro Sol

 

[Cano]

I have been attending to some model shows recently and the temptation to fall into this hobby is stronger than ever. Then I enter this thread like "oh let's see what's up in here". You're not helping me people. Not at all.

 

[Apok]

I have been attending to some model shows recently and the temptation to fall into this hobby is stronger than ever. Then I enter this thread like "oh let's see what's up in here". You're not helping me people. Not at all.

You have to do it.
It's not so bad, kits seem expensive at first, but they can (and do) take a lot of time to finish right, so in my eyes they're worth the money.
Supplies and tools eventually add up to a hefty number too though.

It can be a very frustrating hobby though.

 

[Cano]

I am fully aware of all of that. I am also fully aware that I don't need more time consuming projects. I also fully know I barely have space for 1:64 cars, let alone plastic fantastic.

Yet, stronger than everrrrrrr :/

 

[Beerz]

I am fully aware of all of that. I am also fully aware that I don't need more time consuming projects. I also fully know I barely have space for 1:64 cars, let alone plastic fantastic.

Yet, stronger than everrrrrrr :/

IMO, it boils down mostly to what scale you're commiting to, and how detailed you want your builds to be.
Smaller scales are somewhat easier to build, and usually don't need to have much detail added other to what's already in the box, bigger scales will need to have A TON of detail to look just right... at least if you have OCD like me when it comes to this stuff.

I mostly build 1:20 (F1) and 1:24 (street/LeMans Group C/90'sDTM), and have a tendency to overthink and try to add in details that most of the time only frustrate me because I don't yet have the mad skills some people do to make it look just right.
That, combined with a job that's exhausting, means I usually take 3 to 6 months on a single build.

I suck.

 

[Apok]

I also fully know I barely have space for 1:64 cars, let alone plastic fantastic.

Err,

I've no issues like that.

 

[Heldenzeit]

I have this Miata I need to finish. Scratch built a roll bar for it, just need to hack it to get the wheels to fit right.

Also a Tyrell P34. Wow my old camera sucks.

 

[AerodyManiac]

That, combined with a job that's exhausting, means I usually take 3 to 6 months on a single build.

I suck.

It's been almost 2 years since I started working on my 1/24 DBS build, and I still haven't finished a tenth of it.

You lost.

I do add a lot of detail into my DBS though, as I wanted it to be perfect and resemble the real car as much as possible. I even took pics of the underbody of a DBS of somebody who I don't know, just so I could have some sort of reference.

 

[SVX]

My Hasegawa build has been in progress since 2009.

 

[photonrider]

Bah. You're an expert then.

I started my Corvette in 2000 and only managed to get all the parts off the sprue successfully.

But now the parts are being used elsewhere . . . and . . .

I'm not sure where the body is now.

 

[Ferraridriver27]

Err,

I've no issues like that.

Holy cow, and I thought that my model queue was too long.