Hopefully get started on the decals this weekend. 🫰
After that, gonna try the Zero Paints 2K Clear for the first time (hoping I won't have to buy another kit... )
How did you go with the decals around the rear wheel arch/rear door?
I have seen reviews that claim it takes skill & lots of patience to get spot on.
Looks like you won in the end. It's coming along nicely. 👏
How did you go with the decals around the rear wheel arch/rear door?
I have seen reviews that claim it takes skill & lots of patience to get spot on.
Looks like you won in the end. It's coming along nicely. 👏
Nope, lost... the decals split. i worked them back together. They split on the middle stripe on both sides (even though I expected it on the 2nd one...). The decals are crap. These are not the Cartograph decals included with most Tamiya kits - why, I don't know??!!
It's not visible unless you're looking for it and look really close... I ordered another kit just in case, as well as a bunch of different yellow paints to see if I can touch it up. But we'll see - should be okay.
Thanks for the comment. And if you do this kit, declals #3 and #4 are the hardest. Make sure you take your time with those the most. After that, smooth sailing. OH!! And just remember, the decals are thin... like a Fujimi decal.
Nope, lost... the decals split. i worked them back together. They split on the middle stripe on both sides (even though I expected it on the 2nd one...). The decals are crap. These are not the Cartograph decals included with most Tamiya kits - why, I don't know??!!
It's not visible unless you're looking for it and look really close... I ordered another kit just in case, as well as a bunch of different yellow paints to see if I can touch it up. But we'll see - should be okay.
Thanks for the comment. And if you do this kit, declals #3 and #4 are the hardest. Make sure you take your time with those the most. After that, smooth sailing. OH!! And just remember, the decals are thin... like a Fujimi decal.
I've got the '99, '01 big eye, and this kit in the stash but am thinking of moving them on & thinking out the stash a little.
I've checked Scalemates.com to see what decal alternatives exist, and they're are two.
One that models 2005 Rally Japan by Shunko, and another that models Valentino Rossi's 2005 Monza Rally show ride by Blue Stuff.
Not sure who has them for sale but I know Shunko do their decals differently.
So much so that they give explicit instructions and will not refund if they're not followed.
As you say though, you'll have to look for the tears in the decals so I expect hundreds could look at the finished kit & not see them from being mesmerised by other details.
Not a huge update or change, but got started on the chassis suspension parts, got'em all clipped off and cleaned. Ready for paint and primer. Did add a carbon fiber decal on the front though and thought it came out pretty nice, (still 'damp' and will lay down once dry). Just need to decide if I want to try and carbon fiber up the mirrors and rear wing. The mirrors I may do, but the rear wing will be a huge PITA... I dunno.
Welp, decided to start this one as I've had it for quite a while now, actually have two. I ordered the Wynns livery from Scale Motorsports a few years ago, but decided to build the stock version first. Since I'm gonna try and do the 2K clear I wanted to have two bodies done to spray (I mean, really, why screw up one kit when you can potentially fubar two!!).
Anyway, couple of shots of the start - the body was a bit of a challenge to "put together" as it comes in two pieces. Will need to make some 'sprue glue' (never done this before...) and fill in some "gaps" before laying down the primer...
This will be a slow build, though, as I still want to do the 2 McLaren F1's once done with the Scooby WRC... hopefully not 4 years slow, but you never know.
Welp, decided to start this one as I've had it for quite a while now, actually have two. I ordered the Wynns livery from Scale Motorsports a few years ago, but decided to build the stock version first. Since I'm gonna try and do the 2K clear I wanted to have two bodies done to spray (I mean, really, why screw up one kit when you can potentially fubar two!!).
Anyway, couple of shots of the start - the body was a bit of a challenge to "put together" as it comes in two pieces. Will need to make some 'sprue glue' (never done this before...) and fill in some "gaps" before laying down the primer...
This will be a slow build, though, as I still want to do the 2 McLaren F1's once done with the Scooby WRC... hopefully not 4 years slow, but you never know.
A bit weird that the body comes in two pieces, but I find it even stranger that you don't have to glue the two pieces to a flat bottom or undertray.
Anyway, you've done a good job on it.
I did see a good sprue glue tutorial on YouTube a few years back, but I don't recall by who.
Also, I'm interested to know what model McLarens you have?
A bit weird that the body comes in two pieces, but I find it even stranger that you don't have to glue the two pieces to a flat bottom or undertray.
Anyway, you've done a good job on it.
I did see a good sprue glue tutorial on YouTube a few years back, but I don't recall by who.
Also, I'm interested to know what model McLarens you have?
It does have a flat chassis 'tray' that the body sits on...and thank you, it's a start.
Yeah, I watched it awhile back as well, I just threw some sprue bits into an old Tamiya super thin glue bottle... fingers-crossed. If that doesn't work I'll have to watch the tutorial again.
And as far as what McLaren F1's I have in the stash, well, it's loads. I think I have 7 or 8 of the 1/20 scale, mostly Tamiya, a Fujimi or two. Also have the Tamiya 1/12 McLaren MP4/6 (and the Williams FW14b - need to try and score the Ferrari)
Those wings from the roof to the rear fender make it unmoldable as a single piece; the mold would be trapped in the piece. The rear as a large piece is much more elegant than separate pieces for the wings and then trying to hide the joins.
It does have a flat chassis 'tray' that the body sits on...and thank you, it's a start.
Yeah, I watched it awhile back as well, I just threw some sprue bits into an old Tamiya super thin glue bottle... fingers-crossed. If that doesn't work I'll have to watch the tutorial again.
And as far as what McLaren F1's I have in the stash, well, it's loads. I think I have 7 or 8 of the 1/20 scale, mostly Tamiya, a Fujimi or two. Also have the Tamiya 1/12 McLaren MP4/6 (and the Williams FW14b - need to try and score the Ferrari)
I'm waiting for the release of the new MP4/2B from the 1985 season, and have just got the Fujimi MP4/6. That was a pleasant surprise with the just the weight of the box a bit of a shock.
Just not what I expected from Fujimi and their usual standard of kerbside detail.
Now I need to get my feelers out for a MP4/5 & that will complete my collection of all the 1/20 Marlboro sponsored cars.
I only have three 1/12 kits, all Tamiya:
Ferrari 312B, Tyrrell 003 & Brabham BT44B.
I've watched along to some super human builds of the 1/12 kits you have, including the Top Studio detail up kits that go with. Absolutely off the charts crazy.
Thing is, if you can find a McLaren or a Williams now, they're going for AUS$300 with the potential to spend the same coin on all the pretty Top Studio bling! That's a heavy investment in modelling and approaching Model Factory Hiro territory.
Always keenly watching along.
Yeah, I've seen some of those amazing builds of the 1/12 Tamiya F1's as well. Astonishing!!
I think I have all the Top Studio bits except for the engine set for the Williams, and the cockpit set for the McLaren...
Really would like to find the Ferrari kit...
I have heard on the Fujimi MP4/6 that the front susp needs modified a bit so it sits correctly... you can YouTube it, just that it's not quite right without it. 👍
Yeah, I've seen some of those amazing builds of the 1/12 Tamiya F1's as well. Astonishing!!
I think I have all the Top Studio bits except for the engine set for the Williams, and the cockpit set for the McLaren...
Really would like to find the Ferrari kit...
I have heard on the Fujimi MP4/6 that the front susp needs modified a bit so it sits correctly... you can YouTube it, just that it's not quite right without it. 👍
Ok. So you know how intricate the details can be in 1/12 when dealing with Top Studio.
I looked at it & convinced myself that it's a one way pathway to mental instability & therapy sessions.
Huge respect to anyone that can pull that off.
I'll keep my eyes open for the Ferrari kit.
I'm always peeking into the market places looking for the occasional diamond 💎
Thanks for sharing the knowledge about the front suspension, too.
I'll keep that in mind & have the one-handed convincer 🔨 at the ready for some bespoke engineering.
I hear'ya on the detail side of it, it is very intricate, but, you have to remember that with it being 1/12th scale it is much easier to see because the pieces are bigger. Like trying to get that level of detail on, say, a 1/24th would be complete bananas - yet I've seen a few 1/20 F1's with all the piping and wiring... insane. I think bringing it up to 1/12th will actually be a bit easier to accomplish, if nothing more than just to 'see' it better.
Ok. So you know how intricate the details can be in 1/12 when dealing with Top Studio.
I looked at it & convinced myself that it's a one way pathway to mental instability & therapy sessions.
Huge respect to anyone that can pull that off.
I'll keep my eyes open for the Ferrari kit.
I'm always peeking into the market places looking for the occasional diamond 💎
Thanks for sharing the knowledge about the front suspension, too.
I'll keep that in mind & have the one-handed convincer 🔨 at the ready for some bespoke engineering.
It's like an incomplete modeller's encyclopaedia that knows most of what you need to know about most of your model kits.
It's only when you get into the really rare stuff like the dodo eggs, where you might draw a blank.
The best bit? It allows you to add what you've just discovered about the rare stuff & grow the community.
There's also links to retailers all around the planet, and community members that are either looking to buy or sell kits, decals or bling.
Didn't have any work work for this Saturday, so was able to jump on the underside of the Scooby.
Got it all buttoned up and ready to start on the interior now. Bottom came out great (for me) except for one thing...
COMPLETELY missed the part of the chassis that is supposed to be white.
The bottom corner at the back, a portion that is under (and a bit more) the muffler... Uggh! Wasn't even rushing through this, just missed it in the instructions - I mean, like, looked right past it. Oh well, is what it is, and I doubt my bud will even know, much less notice. Probably wouldn't care even if he did.
Got the "engine" detail painted
Used my cheeky little circle cutter to mask the discs...
Got the body prep done on the Ford GT (and also the Ford Mustang GT4) and shot the primer... will hopefully get them painted and decals on in the next week or so, then back to the WRC Scooby interior...
Back to the Scoob-a-roo while I try and figure out which blue I'm gonna use on the 2017 Ford GTLM car...
spent about 4-5 hours on it, and didn't get pics of the process, just the end result. Still need to put the finishing touches on the roll cage, do some wiring and add the belts to both seats... so probably another couple of days worth of work (probably 4-6 hours) before the interior is done.
Anyhoo, here's a few pics of what I got done.
Back to the Scoob-a-roo while I try and figure out which blue I'm gonna use on the 2017 Ford GTLM car...
spent about 4-5 hours on it, and didn't get pics of the process, just the end result. Still need to put the finishing touches on the roll cage, do some wiring and add the belts to both seats... so probably another couple of days worth of work (probably 4-6 hours) before the interior is done.
Anyhoo, here's a few pics of what I got done.
I do, but I have to order them from either Spain or England, or Canada. The two distributors here in the US are a bit sketchy. Well, one seems to always be out and the other one is sketchy.
I have several paints from them, just not this set... I typically order from Hiroboy or Spot Model. Even if I order from Canada, the shipping is pretty high, so I only do so when I can order quite a bit to make it worthwhile. Ordering one or two pots of paint is just too expensive because of shipping. Thanks for the heads-up though. 👍
I do, but I have to order them from either Spain or England, or Canada. The two distributors here in the US are a bit sketchy. Well, one seems to always be out and the other one is sketchy.
I have several paints from them, just not this set... I typically order from Hiroboy or Spot Model. Even if I order from Canada, the shipping is pretty high, so I only do so when I can order quite a bit to make it worthwhile. Ordering one or two pots of paint is just too expensive because of shipping. Thanks for the heads-up though. 👍
Yeah, I've gotten a LOT of stuff from SpotModel / Hiroboy over the last few years - I mean, like I'll even order tools, kits, decals, detail-up sets, etc... just to make it worthwhile (also a good excuse to justify ordering more than I should. ) because of shipping.
Yeah, I've gotten a LOT of stuff from SpotModel / Hiroboy over the last few years - I mean, like I'll even order tools, kits, decals, detail-up sets, etc... just to make it worthwhile (also a good excuse to justify ordering more than I should. ) because of shipping.
Got to work on the Subaru after work work today... Got the belts done on the drivers seat. Did blue first (the belts in the real car are blue) but after I got done with the lap belts they just didn't look "good". So, did red and think they look pretty good. I need to get better at them, and looking at them - I need to add the piece that you pull down to tighten them... oh well, next time.
Welp, decided to start this one as I've had it for quite a while now, actually have two. I ordered the Wynns livery from Scale Motorsports a few years ago, but decided to build the stock version first. Since I'm gonna try and do the 2K clear I wanted to have two bodies done to spray (I mean, really, why screw up one kit when you can potentially fubar two!!).
Anyway, couple of shots of the start - the body was a bit of a challenge to "put together" as it comes in two pieces. Will need to make some 'sprue glue' (never done this before...) and fill in some "gaps" before laying down the primer...
This will be a slow build, though, as I still want to do the 2 McLaren F1's once done with the Scooby WRC... hopefully not 4 years slow, but you never know.
So that is gonna be 4 model kits in progress in tandem for you? I cannot imagine myself attempting that, so good luck to you. Scooby WRC looks good in progress too.
Well, it's been 4 years in the making (pun thoroughly intended), and I'm pleased to say this one is finally done. The Merc SL 63 AMG is now sitting in a display box, together with 2 more 1/64 Merc SLes(?). Actually it's been completed for around several months, but that's normal for my pace, given that I kind of slowed down the build towards the finishing touches, and I took the completed model out for some photoshoots with my other models and cherry-picked the photos that I'm gonna post.
But anyway, on to a brief review of the model. The general proportions look pretty close to the real deal, the fitment is excellent (more on that later), and it's quality plastic, meaning hardly any excess flash, no warping, and barely any molding lines on the exterior (there are two that I found after reading on the Internet which I didn't sand off, so props if you can find them in the pics), the last of which is one of the things Aoshima beat Tamiya on in this kit. One thing Aoshima didn't do so well, is the headlight housing, which is just a single piece of chromed plastic. I wish they would've added some clear lens for the high-beams inside, but nope. I also suspect that Aoshima plastic is less pliant (or bendy) and more brittle than Tamiya ones, as I broke the connecting beam above the windshield while stripping the body with Tamiya remover, and the same for the rear spoiler... One plus side is the panel lines are pretty deep and wide, so just some 0.1mm scribing did the job for me. I encountered plenty more problems though, so if you are interested in reading through it, then click on the spoiler below.
While my solutions are more of a circumvention to the problem rather than actually solving it, I still thought maybe somebody on the Internet would find it useful.
When glueing the front bumper to the body, which I did after mating the body with the chassis, I found that the bumper just wouldn't stay attached to the two small tabs on the body. This is due to the bumper being too wide for the body's tabs, and the tabs being too small to hold such a large part in place. Tried it with Tamiya Multi-Purpose Cement, still failed. What I eventually did was use Tamiya's 5mm L-shaped beams and stick each of the beams' faces to the back of the bumper and the chassis at the sides, and use rubber bands to hold the bumper in place while the cement cures.
Unfortunately the rubber bands were pressed into the paintwork and left marks, and I've done this and polished the affected area so many times that it burnt through the clear. So I'd advise anybody attempting this kit to think of a solution before you glue the two things together, to minimise paintwork damage.
Another problem that's actually quite conspicuous once the whole thing's finished is the wheel offset. I dunno if it's just me, but there seems to be a bit of positive offset, with the right side being slightly worse, which makes the model look a bit toy-ey. You can see this from the photos. I don't know how to fix this though, so I just left it as is.
One more problem which is more of an inconvenience is the silver side panels which you see in the pic above. They are molded into the body, and I decided to lay the clear on the body first before masking off and colour-coating and then clearing the side panels because IIRC I wanted to avoid the silver paint bleeding onto the body. Now, I may be putting on too heavy of coatings, but I wish the side panels were separate pieces so I can save some time in waiting for the TS-13 to cure. Speaking of which, to minimise the effect of masking tape leaving marks on still-drying clear, I did this:
The SL 63’s body, prepared for the final colour coat.
You may think it's overkill, but to me it's marvellous.
Then it's the interior. While it's great that Aoshima has decided to mold the parts that can be different in colour separately (massive kudos to them), the attachment of PE parts for the vents and fans behind the headrest can be a hair-pulling affair. There's very little space for attaching the PE vent once the headrest is bored out, and if the PE part breaks off from the plastic (all too easy given the small, round and delicate nature of the headrest), good luck trying to bond them together strongly again without stripping the colour on the vent or having the glue spilling over to visible parts. So you may want to do that when the interior's almost done, with the seats already attached to the tub. When done nicely, the results can look great though:
And since we're talking about the seats, here's a pic of the seats with belts from Studio27 and some random online shop on Taobao (Taobao on left, Studio27 on right):
Left added with some generic cloth ribbons, right added with Studio27 cloth seatbelts
The S27 belts are a bit difficult to peel off from the backing sheet cleanly, so I went with the online-shopped ones instead. The Studio27 ones have adhesive on the white side though, which can be useful for other occasions.
Finally, the license plates. This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I'd actually prefer if they used a separate piece as the rear plate and have some holes for it to peg on to rather than having it molded into the body; it makes clearing over the large white decal possible.
Anyway, so much with the twaddle. Here're the pics, together with some group photos alongside my Tamiya DBS. The SL 63's painted with Tamiya's TS-42 over fine light gray primer and cleared with TS-13, all applied straight outta the rattle can:
(⬆️ If you turn up your screen's brightness for the photo above, you'll be able to see the carbon fibre treatment I did on the centre console. Neat-o!)
(Not sure if it's the combo of light gray primer+colour (Tamiya's LP-18), but the red in the interior looks a lot sharper under artificial lighting than under natural ones in the photos. IRL the colour is closer to the first pic.)
That's pretty much the end of the pic dump. If you want more you can check out my Flickr photostream, or if you want something a bit artsy you can go to my photo gallery on the other side of the 'Planet, where I've put another photo that I think looks really nice. So yeah, that's pretty much it.
But of course, it wouldn't be another post by me without some questions about modelling Are the various 2K clears offered by different manufacturers really that different in terms of shine and finish? I've read that some manufacturers have made 2K clears that can be applied in as few coats as possible in response to 2K being pretty "thick" usually in order to achieve that gloss, and I've read that some manufacturers have made 2K that can be wetsanded and polished after they found their previous formulation was unable to do that, hence the question about difference in 2K clears. I'm a bit intrigued to try out 2K on some of my future road car builds, but beyond the health hazards I'm also apprehensive about stripping a bad coat of 2K off a body. Or maybe I should just try out Mr Hobby's Super Clear at the meantime instead.
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I cannot imagine myself attempting that, so good luck to you. Scooby WRC looks good in progress too.
