Schwarz-Brot

A week ago I saw for the very first time ever a Lambo Diablo in the wild, cruising down the Autobahn towards Düsseldorf. It looked like it would be taken out for a ride regularly and was not overly clean, good to see it that way. The back isn't as embarassing as on the models, but still - what did they think back then?! But impressing how low this beast REALLY is. I was sitting in the back of a Skoda octavia, and had the feeling the roof was about half the height of my head.

That dude has some serious strenght! I am not into historic stuff, especially not about the world wars. The inspiring pictures are a must see, else this scene wouldn't work for me. But the display idea is very original and your painting fits the model pretty well, something I often feel doesn't work out. Is he painted with oils? I'm impressed - well done!

To be honest, I don't expect anything new too soon, if ever. But let's hope I'm wrong.

Being German I can understand most Dutch writing. Spoken it is something different, but provided with a little time I generally can figure out forum posts. I hoped to get a peak into the process, and at first glance I will not be dissapointed. Saved the link for bedtime reading. Thank you!

Too bad we don't have that many scratchbuilds in the civil vehicles area going on. I'd love to see your way to the completed model. Would you mind posting a link to the build thread Jeroen mentioned? Stunning work, thank you for showing!

To oppose Warping it helps to cast in some rods into the mould to prevent it from twisting. Alternatively you can give it a stiff surrounding. For the wings I'd try to lay some brass or stainless steel rod in there, so the final pieces have a robust component inside. Though I Never tried this myself, I know it is a way to make cast spoke-wheels a lot more durable. So should work on any other fragile part. As a bonus you get some mounting pins, if needed.

Try the scalemates database. Not every kit on earth in there, but very many of them. This should help you narrow down for what to look. I bet one of the usual suspects did something that can be built into the car you are looking for. Aoshima, Hasegawa, Fujimi, Tamiya, Revell Germany would be the ones I'd try first. Edit: Didn't see Rob already included a link to scalemates - sorry!

I wouldn't glue if all it does is sit in its display cabinet. I some handling is expected I'd glue, but with only one or two spots, not the whole length.

@harveyb258 you should read a Wingrove when you can get one. When I first got my complete car modeler I rushed through it and in the end was a little disappointed. But since then I've read it several times taking my time to really take the references to his pictures and drawings. Of course the language makes it a bit harder sometimes for me being no native speaker. It is not simply a book on modelling, it is a treasure trove of thinking exercises and ways to overcome fabrication problems. Valuable tips and tricks on engineering and tools sprinkled in along the way. The experienced car modellers you all are might know most of the things Wingrove presented or do them intuitively. But in the end it is the confidence of being be able to model anything that I gained from his book and that is the underlying message in every of his words. @PROPELLER I do agree with Roy on you being equally an inspiration and your detailed pictures, your willingness to help and explain make you as much a teacher as Wingrove was. Any artist that mastered his tools develops his own unique style. Wingrove was such an artist and I am sure you are, too. Not the next Wingrove. The one and only Dan or Propeller, whatever you prefer.

There you go! Looking really good all together. You managed to stay true to your painting style while not making them all look alike. Clearly a sign of an experienced miniatures painter. When I started, Warhammer models were among the best fantasy and SciFi miniatures one could get, and they were available at every corner. Though back then it was mostly metal (which I still prefer) and often had really bad moldlines. I take it they got the quality way up since going completely to plastic. I feel Games Workshop is the only company to manage to produce constantly really cool stuff with digital modelling. I do very much prefer handsculpted models over that, but I fear those will be a thing of the past quite soon. I am really happy to see confrontation will be re-released with many of the old miniatures recast in metal. Those I think had even more style then Warhammer. Edit: Just seen - It wood be great to add bowstrings for the archers.

Thank you, @Codger and don't worry, we do not live there yet. No water (besides the rain...), only limited power, no lights, no roof, no heating, no floors, only some windows left. The house is in a raw construction state, nothing more, nothing less at the moment. I did not want to move into a house built in the late fifties without getting it modernized before. Most of this we do ourselves, so it takes time and of course stops any other hobby almost completely. Funny thing is - I live only a few kilometers away right now - and that night we only had a few drops of rain here. Only heavy winds. Ah, well... Cleaning up will be enough to do. With or without rain, there's only little difference. Only thing giving me headaches is the moisture we now get into the foundations. Initially I hoped to get away without huge dryers. At the moment it is dry, only a little rain forecasted for tonight. That I can live with. Lets hope the worst thunderstorms are over for now. Jan - not Jeroen

Not so easy. To get a little more room the single floored part of the building received an upper floor. To do so the old roof had to go. Now we're waiting for the new roof and of course had some very heavy rains the last days. While we managed to close up most parts with canvas the pure amount of rain was too much and the winds pushed it in from the sides. This morning I could swim around the basement. Not exactly what we hoped for when we delayed taking off the old roof hoping for good weather. Oh what fun it was to pull up the canvas while storm was blowing. All for nothing in the end, but at least we tried.

Thank you guys. @JeroenS This build was inbetween working on the renovation of an old house which I hopefully will be able to rebuild to a modern standard within this year. Only when my then to be hobby room is finished will I tackle my largest project to date, the 1:8 F40. Until then all builds will have to be inbetween to hone my skills. This means especially training to spray paint and working with fillers to reshape surfaces. Right now doing so with an old Gunze E-Type that had some gaps where none should be. @HoolioPaulio The Diablo is one of the supercars of my youth, I always had fond memories of it. Only with research for this kit I learned about its really ugly lower back spoiler thingy. Great design all along, but that additional lip really looks like an afterthought to me. I'll try to catch some pictures of the final model and will post them. Fingers crossed I'll get to it without more rain braking into the now roofless house.

Here I post sompe pictures of a Lamborghini Diablo VT by Revell. Built completely OOB as a little inbetween-Project to keep the flame burning. It went together quite easily which is why I almost forgot to take some pictures. What you see here is all done just before mating the shell to the undercarriage. Mostly brush painted, a little airbrush work on the cognac. Colours are almost exclusively Vallejo Game Color and metallics Vallejo Model Air. All kit chrome was stripped and reapplied with molotov chrome where necessary. The Bodywork was sprayed enamel white from a rattlecan. The color is RAL9010 pure white which is just a tad off white. I almost always ignore the kits color suggestions completely and so did here. My references were collected from a ad on hemmings.com, which is no longer active. The pictures where downloaded in time, if anyone needs them for reference, let me know. Window surrounds painted slowly with a brush. The clear parts did not fit very well and needed pressure and 2k glue to stay put. Inside of the shell was completely painted black to look right through the openings. Engine and suspension bits were painted in a gunmetal metallic, then washed with a dark ink, probably smokey ink or pure black in places. then heavily drybrushed gunmetal, edges picked again in a bright silver. Some bolts picked out in silver. Exhaust pipes were done with a little bronce mixed into the gunmetal. From the upside very little is seen of the engine. The covers where painted in a ceramic white which I saw in a few pictures of diablo SVTs. I liked this very much and thought it would be great looking with the red decals. Even less will be seen through the opened hood. There's really next to no room around the engine. The cast block was painted black with some edges picked out in silver according to some pictures I found online. I think there's no real car with this combination out there, but it is not too far from reality. The interieur was done in a cognac brown according to the pictures I found online. The decal for the middle console is originally one part but needed to be seperated to fit nicely. The seats were rubbed down a bit with my fingers to give them a more used look. I appologize for the poor picture quality - I used my old camera but did not realize I had set the ISO still way too high as I took pictures in the dark before. By now the car is finished to a reasonable standard for a quick project and sits in my bookshelf. Some more pictures will probably follow.

those additional details add quite a bit. Well done!

In the end it is your model and you need to be happy with it. It just caught my eye, it's nothing but personal oppinion and I am aware pictures often aren't perfectly honest (although you obviously know how to operate a camera). I bet you already realized I am not a big F1 fan, so usually I don't even bother to comment on the usual suspects. But your builds stand out in the crowd, thus I felt it would be fair to give you my thumbs up spiced with a little constructive criticism. Good to hear back your own oppinion on that. Cheers, Jan

I like this one a little less. Mostly because of the chrome bits. I think those are too shiny and look very much like the plastic they are made of. This is especially true for the rims. Else it is as great a build as the other one. Maybe even a little cleaner. When did formula 1 cars start to look all alike? When I was a kid and watched the races the only really distinctive design elements already were the team colours. All the same shapes, all the same sound, little action... Soon became boring. Your pictures show there's been better times.

I think you did a great job on such an old kit. The pictures don't show the fitting issues too much, so it probably won't even be seen by the uninitiated. I like the engine area with lifted skirts most, fascinating stuff. Even if I don't usually like formula cars of any kind I still do admire the engineering that goes into building them and love to see this in the models.

A goldmine of details and invaluable for those who want to superdetail their kits. I think this thread should be moved to the walkaround section so it does not get lost over time! Thank you for sharing this, and please keep the pictures coming! Your comments are very helpfull, too.

I am also a fan of the Vallejo Model Air range. Thicker paint does not equal better opacity. But it usually equals more visible brushstrokes. The backlights look very convincing now. Good job!

Also matt varnish sprayed from too far away can turn white and give an extremely rough surface.

I see. Also you should use clear paints to do that. If therse no chromed backing it helps to paint it silver or white or even use a chrome marker to make the lenses "pop" more. If it is dark in there they look like solid or just too dark.

Depending on the wiring you use it can be burnt free with a liberal amount of solder, flux and heat. I use this in electronics work when working with super thin transformer wire which is enamel coated. Works also with wirewrapping wires. My way is preparing the wire ends by heating and tinning, then attaching to the component. If you need to solder those super thin wires to something larger then first heat the large part till the tin melts, then place the pre-tinned small one, giving it just enough additional time to melt the pretinning. In general be liberal with flux when working with smd parts. Also take care: SMD parts are pretty sensible to heat as they don't have a large termal mass. They are easily destroyed when heated too long. This can be invisible internal damage to actual destroying of the contacts.

What happened to the rear lights?! Masking the window surrounds is a valid option but tedious. Markers may help as they give more control than a brush. And they are available in any colour imaginable.

so clean, so delicate. Just perfect.