SimilR kits

Received my first 2 SimilR kits. It's probably only 3rd time over many years when package box was crashed during shipping, but only 2nd time when kit parts were actually damaged. From the look of the package I've expected the worst. However Pescarolo kit pretty much escaped any damage, except slightly bent decals and instructions. Ford GT1 is the one which suffered quite a bit more. Beside bent decals, instructions and PE fret, there are number of broken parts and 4 out of 6 part trees are slightly bent as well. But overall considering the look of crashed boxes, it's amazing how little actual damage was sustained. Loose packaging of plastic kits and the fact that SimilR's plastic is somewhat soft and less brittle are probably the factors that helped kits survive such abuse. I expect those kits to be buildable pretty much as normal, but parts will have to be repaired and fit will most likely be quite a bit worse compare to undamaged copies. While it helped against the crash forces, soft nature of plastic SimilR is using could lead to fit issues but itself. In my case it'll be compounded by damage from the crash. Well ... nothing I could do except attempt to fix whatever issues arise in process of building these.

F10 Japanese GP Alonso

Painted semi-gloss black, gloss black and some Alclad shades. Engine is aluminium. Wheels are Stainless Steel. Exhaust pipes, radiators, oil tank and axles are HPA. Drive shafts are cooper. Brake calipers are burnt metal.

Ready for HPA

I have spent couple of hours last night polishing gloss black in preparations for Alclad HPA to go on. I like Tamiya TS paint and TS14 in particular. I often can get high gloss, almost mirror like, straight from the air brush. And for the places where paint is not smooth enough, Micro mesh pads and Tamiya polishing compounds can be used with great results. Also polished out few imperfections in RB7's clear coat. RB7 is all ready for decals now. Tube of polishing compound is beside MP4/25's body to show reflective qualities of finish.

F10 Japanese GP Alonso

Some progress on F10. I've mounted and primed most of the parts. My estimation was correct and there were just over 100 parts to mount. I've used Tamiya grey primer for all non red and not while parts. For red/white parts Zero white primer was used. Zero white primer goes on in very thin layers. But it is somewhat thick and it seems even 0.5mm nose on my airbrush is still not wide enough. Resulted surfaces from spraying Zero white primer are a bit rough and will require additional smoothing with sand paper. In turn Tmaiya's grey primer goes on quite smooth and parts are pretty much ready for semi-gloss black and Alclad shades. Below are pictures before primer and after.