Monday, November 30, 2015

Assembly started

Small update. Brush painted some detail on suspension elements and started assembly steps. Engine/gearbox assembly first. I'm already frustrated a bit. It looked like a great, well detailed kit. Yet Fujimi engineering level lets it down again. They are still far from Tamiya in that. Again fit of the parts is not perfect. Many detail parts have quite small attachment surfaces and don't want to glue well with plastic glue. Alignment of suspension parts is not well fixed and there is real chance I will end up with misaligned suspension arms. Of course all could be probably worked out with extra effort from builder, but it drives me a bit mad at times.




Sunday, November 22, 2015

Started colour painting

Completed couple more painting sessions over the weekend. All parts that required semi-gloss black are painted - floor, monocoque, seat, engine and wing elements. Painted various Alclad colours on suspension and engine parts. Radiators, brake calipers, shocks and many other parts are painted as well. Body and wing parts received coats of white primer in preparation for base white and fluo red.




Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Primer is on

Had a long priming session last night. All parts, I was able to clean and mount, are primed. Some very small parts remains to do. Will let parts dry and then start painting on actual colors. Body will need more work around glued in headrest. Then body and wing parts will receive white primer coats, before base white color could be applied. Here is quick shot of parts drying.


Monday, November 16, 2015

Almost ready for primer

Spent weekend cleaning up and mounting parts on toothpicks and sticks. Almost all are mounted by now. Few wing parts just wouldn't glue to toothpicks for me. Before that I have attached part D3 to the rest of the body. Instructions say to mount it onto chassis as separate piece. But I saw it as part of main body on real car and glued and puttied it upfront. Look ok, but it might require more work after primer shows quality of seems.

There are some many parts in this kit, that even for out of the box build it takes a long time to prepare, mount and paint all of them.





Sunday, November 1, 2015

Most of the parts painted

Work continued on this model in the background. Have not put updates, but advanced quite a bit. All parts were prepared and primed. Then I have sanded smooth rough surfaces and went ahead with painting. Most parts received coats of semi-gloss black or various metallic paints. Body was painted in special Mercedes silver by Gravity Colours. Gravity paint worked nicely and I think body looks great. I just need to somehow preserve that shine while applying clear coats. Experience with 917LH's silver shows that clear could affect silver paint. I plan to use 2K clear and hope that it would work ok with Gravity paint. After all 2K clear seems to be recommended by Gravity Colours.





Body decals finished

Not a big update - just finished decals on the main body and the nose. All wing elements, wheels and the rest are still left to do.