Silver base is on

After more then a month of continued preparations, parts were finally ready for base silver coats. Had to fix and re-prime different spots on nose and main body and went through number of iterations. Sprayed silver base colour from 2 paint Zero set last night. Lots of sparks in this silver. It is not a usual silver and looks a bit strange on its own. But it is a base colour and clear red will next to get it all to final stage.

To get more consistent final red colour, I will have to pre-assemble body parts as much as I can. Otherwise, if I paint parts separately, I fear that red will might end up looking differently because of paint thickness variations on different parts.

This silver base is hard to photograph. So, here is one quick shoot to indicate progress.

Fixed body paint

After close examination of paint of body parts, I've found number of bad spots and quite a bit of "orange peal". Had to sand off imperfections and ended up with paint free spots. Sanded through paint to primer. So, re-spray had to be done. Done it last night. Went with more heavier coats this time. Looks better, but I have to wait till it fully dries, before I do closer examination and make conclusions. Here are couple of photos to indicate progress.

Next step will be clear coat. Silver colour is hard to not spoil with clear coats. Not decided which one I will use yet.

2nd painting attempt on MP4/30

I thought I had a good handle on my painting techniques. But finish on MP4/30 was just too far from perfect. And as soon as I have touched it with sand paper, I've sanded through to primer in no time. So, it went into a bath of alcohol. Fortunately at least all wing parts were fine.


Spent quite a bit of time cleaning the body from old paint and then re-primed it. Primer didn't go on well. Probably I have not thinned it enough. Spent 3 hours sanding body. Looked ok, but require re-priming at some spots. 3rd attempt wasn't very successful once again. Had to sand and clean it after. However at least it was smooth and consistent enough and I was able to avoid 4th priming session on it.

After all that preparation work, body was finally ready for 2nd attempt on colour painting. This time I went with lighter coats and that worked better. Drying time was a bit of concern for this particular paint. Usually Zero paints dry in a day or two. It took almost a week for MP4/30 paint. Then this Saturday I sprayed clear onto body and other parts. Came out decent, but not without imperfections. Will have to do some polishing.

I am glad I did stick with Zero colour. As it often happens with Zero paints, colour changed a bit under clear and now it looks darker when it is not under direct light. Yet it still looks quite grey under direct light. In other words it seems to be close enough to real one. I like smaller metal particles in it too. They are visible, but yet subtitle. It is not easy to photograph this colour inside by photo box. Hopefully I will get a chance to make some photos outside. May be after I finish decals.

Clear coat applied

After a bit of hiatus returned to FW16B past week. Finished decals on other parts besides body and got all ready for clear. Sprayed clear on Saturday onto it. Came out decent, but not without some imperfections. So, polishing tasks are in store for me.