Totally Mad Olivier

Hello my friends, Here is below a little update, with now all decals in place: Cheers, Olivier

Yes, Jeroen, I meant my car body, indeed 😅! Very significant that I forgot to precise the word "car", since I tend to identify more and more with this car!! A picture? Ok, here you are my friend: Cheers, Olivier

Thanks my friends! Here it is, my whole body is now acceptable, ready for the next steps, after the last corrections and WW paint coats! Thierry, I think everyone here knows the poetry you suggest, and I must say that, myself, I must have been thinking about this poetry too these last weeks. So, I can confirm I am a man, in the Kipling sense!! Thanks Thierry too for the nice pics showing your great models!! Cheers, Olivier

Hello chaps, More than 2 months have passed since my last post on Britmodeller (the last pics of the 2 Honda Repsol including Marquez and a mechanist), post in which I said I was determined to go back to my Ford Mustang and put an end to this endless build. Since that moment, I have been working again and again on this f... body, with always the feeling that a little animal was leaving inside the latter. When the problem was fixed here (on the left front wing), it appeared somewhere else (on the side of the right front wing, where logos had to take place, in particular). Furthermore, the idea to "graft" the logos was definitely a bad one. I spent a lot of time on this challenge, and finally, I removed completely the engravings, that were anyway not correctly reproduced. I will use another option for these logos, custom decals, that should be more accurate. All that to say that, if I am not one more time disappointed (I think at least 50 or 60 times I did and redid the putty/ sanding/ painting steps), I should be (I become very careful) close from a correct result with this body painting. If so, I could go on, apply decals, Gloss coat, etc. One thing is sure, I never experienced such painting problems with any of my previous builds. To be honest, I was a few days ago not far from giving up. But you know me, it's not my style, and after little moments of discouragement, I thought that I could not give up after so much time spent on this build. Sorry if I won't post all the steps, but the few time I have to devote to my hobby should allow me to move forward as quickly as possible. Cheers, Olivier

Hello chaps, I was not totally happy with my previous pics, for 2 reasons: 1) the Marquez figure was not completely finished, as I had not yet assembled the fingers (2 ones at left, 4 ones at right), cut at the beginning of the work. Notice that the 4 fingers missing on the right hand were not visible on the mentioned pics. 2) the bikes and figures were placed on the showcase base. Here are the very last pics I made, on a black cardboard, ever posted in my WIP Honda RC213 Repsol thread: Now I leave you to go back to my Ford Mustang build, that I am strongly determined to complete. Cheers, O

Hello chaps, I was not totally happy with my previous pics, for 2 reasons: 1) the Marquez figure was not completely finished, as I had not yet assembled the fingers (2 ones at left, 4 ones at right), cut at the beginning of the work. 2) the bikes and figures were placed on the showcase base. Here are the very last pics I made, on a Black cardboard: Now I leave you to go back to my Ford Mustang build, that I am strongly determined to complete. Cheers, O

I confirm, slippers!! But happily, all this time and effort meant also a lot of fun. And a deep satisfaction at the end of the long road. It is important to recall that initially, I was just supposed to build a single Honda Repsol Tamiya kit out of the box. It is little by little that this initial simple project turned to first a highly detailed build without cowls, that I then decided to build the same bike with cowls, barely less detailed. Only then I decided to represent the mechanic and finally Marquez on his bike... Maybe one day I will create a little dio of the Honda stable. But now I want to go back to my Ford Mustang build, left aside for a long time while the Repsol bike was just first a way to regain model making pleasure when I was confronted with problems that I couldn't overcome. Cheers, O

Hello my friends, Here are the last pics with finally my Marc Marquez figure taking place in the little scene, on his bike, near the one of Dani Pedrosa, the mechanic working on the latter: Thanks for watching Cheers, O

Hello my friends, First of all a happy New Year to you all! After little corrections (fe the red portions of the boots were a bit too shiny), here it is finally, my Marquez figure is now in place on his bike: Cheers, Olivier

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND HAPPY MODELING TO YOU ALL! Cheers, Olivier

Hi Rob Send me your e-mail adress by PM, I ´ll send you the folder I patiently created for my own Marquez figure by We transfer. It should be helpful for your project… Cheers, O

Hi Rob, I ´ve just seen your PM. I will send you my folder with pleasure as soon as possible. And yes, I used Tamiya epoxy resin to mould the helmet, but also many other elements of the figure, such the boots. Of course, there was a delicate carving and sanding job to get a smooth surface. Notice that for the helmet, among others, I made a compromise, the real one being in fact more complex in shape than mine. I also used other materials for some details (tin sheet, plastic card, LC resine etc.). Cheers, O

Thanks Bertie. I see what you mean, but my Marquez is represented « clean », before the race, taking place on a « clean » bike. But I admit it would be interesting to see an after race version, with wear on the knees, among others… Cheers, O

Hi Rob, First thanks for the compliment. Now you say you are new to modeling. I don’t want to discourage you in your will to, as well as I did, represent the Marquez figure, but you have to know that it was ever a big challenge for a quite experienced modeler like me, and even if I don’t have the time I would like for my hobby, consider that it took me nearly one year to get this result that remains for me a compromise as well as the mechanist, the other figure I wanted to represent to bring a human presence near and on the GP bikes. I had done such a choice representing Pietro Bordino in the Fiat 806 and it is a bold choice that was not unanimous at the time. The decal job is a very patient job, with many corrections until you get the desired result, but it is just an aspect of the whole work. You will have also to be a carver and a painter, you will need a fierce will to go through your project. Now regarding the decal job, here are indications that could help you: there was a big research work first, to get many pics on different angles of the Marquez race suit. I have been watching some of the 2014 GP races (especially the pre-race when drivers are on the starting line) on YT and capture screens were made, all that to get precise infos about the inscriptions and logos (many) on suit and helmet. After that, I have used internet to find the logos. I didn’t create a WIP thread about this figure to earn time, but I may share with you or anybody here (on request and by PM, not to burden this page) my heavy but essential photo folder (including all logos) used for my project. For some decals, the logos had to be distorted. I used the Photoscape X app for that job. Then came the time to adjust the size of each logo, using Word. Then decals were created by printing (HQ) the logos on white virgin decals. After applying Microscale LDF, the decals could be applied. Quite often, I had to paint over the decals to get a more convincing result, very delicate painting job. Good luck in your project anyway, and if you have the required will, you will see that it will make you progress a lot in this demanding but exhilarating discipline that is model making. Cheers, O

Thanks a lot my friends! My decision is made, I will try first to finish the Indy 500 Pace car Mustang. Cheers, O