Flipper

Cheers folks, again your comments are very much appreciated. I've not done much to it as I've been waiting on the clear coat curing. Anyway once it was dry I could have left it the way it was, but there was a couple of dust specks and also I feel that the straight from the AB the clear coat looks kinda toy like. So to dull it down slightly I purchased a new set of micro-mesh clothes and got to work. I worked my way through grades 3200, 4000, 6000, 8000, and 12000. I then compound polished it with Tamiya Polishing Compounds. I then finished it off with a coat of Zero Paints Pure Carnauba Wax. Here's the roof before I got to work. Shiney but as you can see some dust specks in it. And after I then did the rest of the car in the same way along with all the additional panels that make up the car. Here's the bonnet with the bonnet vent part attached to it. Then it was onto the tail section. I think the tail lights could have turned out better as I used solid red, instead of clear red by mistake. (I wasn't paying attention) I've only to fit the number plate holder then that's this part finished. Well that's it for the moment, hopefully it won't be too long now until I get the rest of it finished. Cheers

I think they've tried it out on all major kit manufacturers, but at the end of the day it's basically suck it and see. You can't obviously straight away lay down a full wet coat on the decals, you'll destroy the decals. What I always do is lay a mist coat down, wait a good 15mins then lay down another mist coat and again wait another 15mins. If the decals are going to react in my opinion they would have by this time. I then lay down a lightish wet coat, leave that a good 10-15 mins before laying down some thicker wet coats. I laid down 3 full wet coats on this car. Maybe a bit over the top but it's the way I like it, One thing is make sure your decals are fully adhered to the surface, and if the decals are conforming to any shape, make sure that they are well down. I didn't do this to one of the decals on my Honda m/c build and the 1k clear coat attacked it slightly. Also I normally leave the decals a good 24hrs to dry off completely before I lay down the clear.

Looking good mate, I've just bought this kit for a future build. I will also be doing it in orange, I think, well that depends on what colour my son chooses and that changes with each passing day. Anyway good luck with the build.

For the clear coat I normally use Zero Paints Pre-Mixed 1K Clear Lacquer. It's great stuff but I decided on this one to try out Zero Paints new Diamond Coat 2K Clear Lacquer. Other than the faff of mixing it up I found it really easy to use. If it wasn't for a few dust particles on some of the panels I would have left them as is. Here it is The rear panel with the decals on and clear coated. The silver insert goes into the middle of the black panel. The bonnet vent insert The rear side vanes The doors, I was a wee bit heavy handed with the clear on one of the doors and it pooled at the edge, but again I'll take care of this. And the side skirts also with the decal applied and cleared. I found this new Dianond Finish clear coat really easy to work with, and it was far easier on the decals than the 1k Pre-Mixed clear. Anyway that's how it stands at the moment, I hope you like it and thanks for looking.

Cheers for the comments folks, they are very much appreciated at the moment, as I'm totally stressed as I'm going through an ill health retiral from my work due to a work related injury which has dragged on for a fair bit of time now. So seeing and reading all your kind comments is great, thank you. Also I must apologise for the lack of photos at times as I forgot to take them. Anyway I hadn't done anything with the car for a few days as it was my son's 13th birthday. So yesterday and today I got some time back at the bench. First up was masking all the body for all the black gloss areas. Me being me, I decided to create my own thin line tape, by cutting into thin strips some Tamiya tape. I feel this gives a better line and sticks better than Tamiya's bendy tape. All the car was then masked off. And the doors were also masked off. I just don't get on with gloss black paint, I've tried and tried but nope. So in the end I used Zero Paints Semi Gloss Black paint which I get on with. I use Semi Gloss as I find that once I clear coat it, it gives a nice gloss black colour. Here's the sills painted up. And the doors painted and unmasked. The rear panel, this gets in laid with a silver panel which you'll see later. Not the best of photos but here's the front painted up black and the bonnet decal fitted. A big thumbs up to Revell as this went down without any hassle. Next up was the roof of the car. In the instructions and on most photos of the car this is painted black. I wanted to do something different so out came the decal sheet from Scale Motorsport. Here's half the roof done. Rather than all the carbon going in one direction I decided to split it and do like a V Design on it. And with the roof done. Here you can see the rear of the car which was painted black. Now painting the black parts didn't go exactly to plan, as when unmasking some of the silver came up. My mistake as I obviously hadn't sanded the body adequately enough prior to laying down the primer. I was so mad and ticked off that I didn't take any pics of the affected areas which were above the passenger door and front bumper. Hopefully the repairs will be too noticeable. Anyway next up the clear coats.

First up was fitting the rear seat panels and centre console. The slot where the centre console clicks in at the rear is nowhere near big enough and needed widening. The pedals added And the rest of the panels added. That's it as it stands at the moment. Hope you like it and thanks for looking.

Cheers guys it looks far better now that the enamel paint has dried, in some places it definitely need more flocking but I'll get to that when more of the powder gets delivered. Next up was the rest of the interior. Here is all the sections that make up the interior. Most of the minor parts will go together to make up major parts. I then painted all the panels in black primer then Tamiya Semi Gloss Black. For the lighter panels I decided to use some Vallejo White Grey This was probably lighter than I wanted but I think they look ok. Here are the front seats and rear seat panels. The side panels. These will be put away until the doors are painted up. The centre console. This includes about 3 decals which were of a decent quality. The tiny brake and accelerator. I was going to use the PE part but I think these look alright. The steering wheel, hopefully you can make out the tiny blue decal round the circumference of the steering wheel. The dashboard, which considering the rest of the kit, it's quite nicely detailed. And with the steering wheel fitted Next up fitting it all together.

Again cheers for the comments folks, they are very much appreciated. Next up is something I've never done on a model, namely flocking. I intended to use this method to add a carpet effect to the interior of the car. No doubt there is places to buy black flocking powder but I struggled to find any places in the UK that had the stuff in stock. (I've ordered some powder from BNA in Australia) So in the meantime after some research I found that the flock powder used in nail salons is basically the same stuff. So I picked up this cheap flocking powder set on eBay for £3.50. To stick the powder to the car I used Humbrol Gloss Black Enamel Working on a small section at a time I then started to paint the floor section of the car. Then using the black flocking powder Along with a tea strainer to sprinkle the flocking powder. This is the result, not to bad. I worked over a piece of paper knocking the excess flock onto it. I then folded the paper and put the excess flock back into the small jar. I then carried on and did the rest of the interior floor section. I was running out of the powder near the rear of the car, and I missed a small section at the rear of the centre console. I'll sort this out when more powder arrives. I think it's turned out ok, I also now know that flocking powder gets everywhere. Even though I thought I was being carefully I'll be cleaning up black fibres for ages.

Hi Mike, sorry I meant to mention in my original post that I used Vallejo Acrylic Airbrush Cleaner. The silver and it's clear coat were cellulose and the black was acrylic. It's the same way as that video on YouTube. The original post has been updated.

Cheers mate, much appreciated

Also today I've been working on the body of the car. That's the Zero Paints BMW Ionic Silver applied. Turned out not to bad. Next up is al the black detailing and the decals that need to be applied. Then I'll be applying Zero Paints new Diamond Finish 2k Clear Lacquer. Here is the main body. That's it for the moment and thanks for looking.

Next up was the wheels for the car. As I had previously mentioned these were an upgrade from Plamoz who do some excellent wheel upgrades for Revell car kits. First up I primed the wheels using Zero Paints Grey Primer. I then gave them a coat of this Zero Paints Metallic Silver. This was from their Repsol Honda RC213V paint kit. I then gave them a coat of Zero Paints 1K Pre Mixed Lacquer, I then left them to dry for a couple of days. After they had dried I then gave the wheels a coat of Tamiya X-18 Semi Gloss Black. Next up I let the black dry for a couple of hours then using a cotton bud soaked in Vallejo Acrylic airbrush cleaner, I cleaned away the raised edges showing the silver underneath. I then applied the BMW decal and gave them another coat of clear lacquer. And with the tyres fitted. And a comparison with the kit wheels. Like I said these wheels are a big improvement and I'm pleased how they turned out. Thanks for looking

I don't know why the last post duplicated. Anyway not done much as I've still got a severe dose of man flu, so spent most of the weekend in bed. I did spend a wee bit of time at the bench.I've part painted the wheels this is them in their silver coat, I'll go into the painting process of the wheels later. I was also a bit worried about the wheel - wheel arch gap, so I mocked it up to check and for once Revell seem to have got it almost spot on.

Hi there mate, don't use sprue it won't work that well, there is various reasons for it. Use plasticard for it and it will work. Also what kind of Tamiya Extra Thin are you using, again I've found that the quick setting stuff is pretty useless for it.

Still suffering from the dreaded man flu, so not got much notion but decided to get on with it. Next up was the front suspension and engine area. Not much to it, all this will be hidden as the car doesn't have a front bonnet to open. All the parts painted up almost all in Tamiya Semi Gloss Black, with the only upper A arms and hubs being painted in Vallejo Model Air Aluminium. I've placed the front brake discs here as well to show everything that goes into the front. And all built up. The fit wasn't that great and required a fair bit of fettling to get right. With the front inner arches fitted. That the chassis finished, now onto the interior which thankfully is a bit more detailed. Thanks again for looking folks.

Pull up a chair. I'm looking forward to seeing this one coming together.

Looking good mate, it's really coming along

Hi there mate, don't use sprue it won't work that well, there is various reasons for it. Use plasticard for it and it will work. Also what kind of Tamiya Extra Thin are you using, again I've found that the quick setting stuff is pretty useless for it.

On with the front electric engine thingy, now wait for it you'll be blown over by the complexity of this part..... All the parts pre paint...... And after they were glued together, it's was painted in Vallejo Metal Color Aluminium. I'll add the drive shafts later, as no doubt I'll break them off. It was then glued into the chassis, there's a few other bits and pieces to be added so hopefully it would look so lonely in there, mind you it will never be seen again, as there is no front engine cover. And the chassis as it stands at the moment. Next up I decided to tackle the main body work, which unlike the engine, suspension etc, is quite detailed. The front bumper section in all its glory. This was then attached to the main shell. It attached at the front fine enough, but where it attaches at the front of the arch on the sides, this required a bit of persuasion as both sides bowed out a fair bit. It required a bit of heat and some instant CA Glue. In the end, the result was alright. I then primered the body in Zero Paints Grey Primer. I also primered all the exterior body panels, I'll post pics of these tomorrow. Using this primer was third time lucky. On my two previous times when I've used it, the results have been horrible. However for this time, I asked for some advice, to see what I was doing wrong. This time I increased my air pressure to about 30-34 and laid it down in numerous thin coats leaving about 5mins between each coat. What a difference and it will require minimum sanding. Anyway that's it for the moment. Cheers and thanks for taking the time to look at my build.

I honestly think that Revell car kits are only put on this earth to frustrate the living day lights out of you. Companies like Tamiya, and Aoshima can get it so right but Revell.......right sorry rant over. (Well for a wee while). Next up was the remainder of the simplistic rear suspension. This was then painted up using Tamiya Semi Gloss Black and for the bright work I used Vallejo Metal Color Aluminium Next up was the brake discs and caliper which come as one part For this part I used the brake disc covers from the PE set These were then glued onto the kit part using CA glue. To take the shine of the PE part I just gave it a quick rub with some sanding sticks. This was to aid paint adhesion as well. I then painted these up with Tamiya Semi Gloss Black, before painting the disc faces in Vallejo Metal Color Dark Aluminium. I then gave it a coat of Pledge Kleer, and applied the caliper decals from the kit. There's only the pic of 3 of the finished discs, as I glued on one, then realised like usual I had forgotten to take any photos of the finished discs. Here one in situ with all the suspension and wheel arch in place. Here's some more pics of the completed rear suspension area. I attached the unpainted Plamoz wheels to see what they looked like. Next up the front electric engine/generator/whatever it's called.

Cheers guys. The TET mixture, is a bottle of half used Tamiya Extra Thin, to which I've added small pieces of plasticard. Once all mixed in to a nice thickness, it is a great filler.

Hi folks next up was finishing off and fitting the rear petrol engine. For the painting of the engine I could only find a few reference photos which bore almost no resemblance to Revell's paint call out. So first I painted the engine and all it's ancillaries with black primer then Tamiya Semi Gloss Black. Then all the parts I wanted to remain black were then masked off. The engine block was then painted up using Vallejo Metal Color Aluminium and Dark Aluminium. All the ancillary bits and bobs were again masked off the parts with the parts I wanted to remain black. The rest of the parts were then painted Vallejo Metal Color Aluminium and Steel. All the parts were then clear coated using the new USA Pledge formula. The chassis was then painted up using black primer, then Tamiya Semi Gloss Black. The swing arms were painted Vallejo Model Air Aluminium. All the parts were then joined together. The tiny exhaust outlet was also painted up using Vallejo Metal Color Aluminium and added to the chassis. Again thanks for looking.

Its started already on the very first instruction, yep forgot to take photos of my progress, good start eh. Anyways this is the first part where the base engine is built up. And built up, not that impressed with the fit. So out came the TET mixture. This will be left to dry for a while. Next up is all the parts which make up the engine. The engine is lacking in detail, but its almost completely hidden so it's gonna be left as is once it's all built up.....I think. Next up are the horrid chrome parts which looked like this. And after 5 mins in Co-oP Bleach they looked like this. Much better. The only part I needed at this time is the exhaust outlet, which exits under the rear of the car. As you can see though the exhaust has no holes and just looks wrong. So out came the mini drill with a 1.2mm drill bit and it looks much better. Now my mechanical knowledge is basic to say the least, so when I saw that it has another outlet on the opposite side I haven't a clue what it's for. However like the exhaust the pipe isn't hollow so out came the mini drill to open it up.

First up on my to do list is prepping the shell for painting. This will be done when everybody is out the house. The shell compared to other cars I've done recently was remarkably free from mould lines in the most awkward of places. There was a few on the edges of panels but other than that it was looking good. One area that needed fixing was a sink mark just at the bottom of the passenger A pillar. Out came my TET mixture. I then left it a hour or so and sanded it smooth. I've watched a build of this car on YouTube and this sink mark was present on that build as well so it seems a common problem. That's it for the moment, next up is the very basic engine and front electric motor. Again thanks for looking.

Hi there folks this is my 4th car kit, and the second one for my son. It's Revell's 1/24 kit of the BMW i8. The car will be built up with a few additions from the Hobby Design i8 kit, and the wheels will be upgraded with ones from Plamoz. The car's outside panels will be painted in Zero Paints Ionic Silver. I've heard mixed reviews of this kit so I'm hoping it all comes together ok. Anyway here is the box pic. I dislike the word hate, but I can honestly say I hate the way Revell used to make their boxes (I haven't seen any of their new design boxes yet). So to make it easier to get access to the kit, I've taped up both ends up and cut the top of the box open. Now on with the instructions. And the kit sprues The horrible chrome sprue. This sprue will be bleach dipped. The decals The 20" BMW Turbine wheels from Plamoz, seen here with the kit tyres. The exterior colour paint from Zero Paints The Hobby Design PE kit. I don't know how much of this kit I'll use, but I'll as the kit progresses. Anyway that's all the kit details, more to follow and cheers for looking