Ollie Mercer

Thanks for your kind replies, an instant boost of enthusiasm to finish the project come what may. I guess this is why this site attracts a lot of people! Thanks Odd, I'll take a leaf from your experience and start saving the unused parts! I was just fixated on building the hard-top, it looks much more racy than the rag-top. Thanks for the advice on the issue with the masking tape, I'll probably leave the repainted shell for a week to fully cure next time. Thanks Hendie and Anthony Kesterton, A real booster guys, It's still salvageable with a bit of elbow grease, so I'd better get back on it! Thanks Nathaniel, You are a lifesaver! The hard-top and rag-tops will do, I'll PM you shortly. Thank you very much for your help.

Sweet Smithsonian, the engine looks superb! Definitely worth every penny for that kind of quality. The linked videos are something to behold, couldn't imagine these things racing through the streets during the TT's and GP's back then. Didn't John McGuinness ride one of these at full pelt a few TT's ago? Wickedly skilful build, keep it going dude.

^ Just a small update today as this build has gone a bit pear shaped... The polished and waxed body came out pretty good, not quite the lacquer 'wet look' but a more softer feeling gloss finish. I dropped the hard-top several times while handling it which created a few small chips in the colour coat that would need repairing. This then scaled into insignificance when... ^ ... After masking the body and hard-top, I had the ultimate butter finger moment, dropping both parts as well as stumbling onto them. D'oh! The hard-top has taken major damage while the body can be salvaged after a 'jig', strip down and re-paint. The Tamiya masking tape seems to have had some sort of reaction, leaving a rough non-sticky residue on top of the hard-top. Anyway, if I hadn't thrown away the rag-top, I'd have the enthusiasm to continue but at £8 for the kit, I'm not loosing too much by starting on another build. Thanks for looking.

Thanks Steve, In all honesty, the brush painting was more rewarding than the airbrushing! Definitely an enjoyable skill worth learning and using often. Yes, a lot of modern cars are a bit dull on the inside, though the new 'fashion accessory' types are a bit more lively with loads of distracting gadgets. My Mum had a Vauxhall Senator A2 which she drove around with a lead foot, all I remember was the yellow digital dash and the tartan seats. It sounds awful but it certainly was different! Thanks Rich, I would have bought an Airfix 1/32 kit but only the Tamiya stuff was on sale... I'd love to have a go at doing an MGF Super Sports, a proper track day car. ^ A small update for today. A couple of days ago when the sun was out, the body was prepared then primed with Tamiya Fine Surface Primer, absolutely brilliant stuff. Today I started on the colour coats by filling in the panel lines and recesses. This way I can cover the edges and the like before going over the body with broad strokes. Almost all the Tamiya MX-5 kits I've seen are painted red! I thought blue would make a nice difference, plus it's my favourite colour. After 6 thin coats I settled with this finish and put it in the oven, a polish and wax will further smooth out the colour after curing and take care of the few tiny dust spots. Thanks for looking.

Hello all, I've recently got back into this hobby as I now work part-time. After a short wait for some metallic paint, I should really make a start! I'm quite rusty so I think I'd better re-learn the basics on a cheap kit... ^ This Mazda Eunos Roadster was £8 during the Hobby Craft New Year sale, it's very reminiscent of the wonderful 1960's Lotus Elan. I like this Eunos version rather than the MX-5 as it comes with the Hardtop option. There really isn't much to this kit, so hopefully I can get it done in a week... ^ Yesterday, I started on the running gear. Despite the flare like reflection, this isn't the fabled Alcald lacquer. A few weeks ago, I did a quick test spray with the Tamiya metallics I bought with the kit and they leave a bit to be desired as the metallic powder is far too coarse for the scale. I needed an alternative that preferably wasn't a Lacquer. After a bit of searching, I bought some metallic paint by Coat D'Arms, this paint is a water based acrylic paint. The finish is absolutely superb and the metallic powder is very fine, very close to Alclad even. It was a challenge to spray at first though. I used de-ionised water with flow enhancer as a thinner, which was great for brush painting but without a retarder for spraying, the paint often dried on the tip of the airbrush. Lower PSI and spraying 'wetter' coats helped reduce this. ^ Suspension sub assemblies done, then attached to the underside. The engine block/gearbox has been brush painted and the result is quite impressive to my eye. I didn't paint the black parts because the plastic is black and I couldn't be bothered. I did paint the rubber areas rubber black though... ^ This morning, it was onto the interior. The seat was a challenge as it's two tone, plus it has different finishes/textures. I couldn't figure out how to mask off properly so I just brush painted the semi-gloss black areas. A flat brush and thinned Tamiya acrylics brush paint very well. I went over the door cards and dashboard with a semi-gloss clear coat, just to contrast with the flat finish of the tub and seat fonts. For no reason this evening, I felt the need to drybrush the details on the centre console and steering wheel, which turned into a disaster. Much too messy looking, I'll go over it with semi-gloss black later. Thanks for looking.