AR918

Nissan S Cargo,. Looks like a snail too... All the best.

Thanks for the nice comments everyone. Marco, the base is just a "coaster" from the local glass merchants. They make these out of offcuts in all manner of colours (they just paint the underside) and sell them for £1.50, I just cut and glued clear acrylic rods to the top with 2-part epoxy. Cheap and simple! 　 In the flesh I really like the sharp clean look at the moment, even though it looks a bit toy-like in the photo's. I'll have a go at using washes some point soon though and I'll probably do another one of these displays, next time with a Suzuki Hayabusa I screwed up trying to convert it into a dragster... 　 All the best.

Hi all, This was a gift to friend and a bit of fun to clear the spares box. Once again it's the Tamiya CB750-F "Custom Tuned" kit which gives you the CB900-F decals and some tuned up parts, like the 4-1 megaphone exhaust. The engine was painted in various textures of black and shades of silver, it doesn't show that well because my camera is pretty ancient... The bodywork used to be my painting test piece, it's been draped in all sorts of colours and types of paint. The final colour was a custom semi-gloss gunmetal mix with a clear top-coat, it looks more like metal-flake than metallic mind! All the best and Happy New Year.

Super build and a lovely finish. These Civic's used to be everywhere on the roads, used to see Type-R's and Spoon-a-likes doing the traffic light drag race fairly often. All the best and Happy New Year.

He sold it as is... Didn't notice the headlight to be honest, maybe I was high on the exhaust fumes. He left it overall white as he included a very nice full set of red speedblock transfers with optional Gauloises and Marlboro sets. Of course the buyer would have to paint the bike blue or fluorescent red for the last two. £££. All the best and Happy New Year.

Yes! Never noticed the Benaton-esque look. You'll be surprised how many Tamiya kits you can get for under £20 from retailers these days. Welcome to the forum! All the best

Hi all, 　 A short while ago I spotted this Yamaha TZR125 with discs all around and YPVS. The owner (a computer analyst!) described a meticulous "nut and bolt" rebuild and boy does it show, had a lovely rasp and crackle exhaust sound too. 　 A very nice chance spot indeed. 　 All the best.

Hi all, 　 After splurging out for everyone else this festive period, thought I'd get one last present for myself... Got quite lucky with this combo which worked out to a little over £42. Strange in some ways to think these kits (and the real bikes) are over 17 years old, I can remember watching the 2001 season on the TV. 　 All the best.

Woah, stunning paint job Kev. The gunmetal colour is very fine, which Mr Color paint is this? Only asking as I've started on a Hayabusa X-1 and the Tamiya metalic paints are more like metal flake... Nice real life GSX-R too. 　 All the best.

I kid you not, they do exist (well at least two anyway). I got the Ferrari kits from Hannants by the RAF museum, they have a good range of cars/bikes and those Master Box ladies figurines everyone likes... The other one is AJ aviation in West Drayton, it's all military/civil aviation stuff but there are some bargains to be had. I picked up a Tamiya 1/48 F-117A stealth jet with a Hummer for £25. All the best.

Hi Steve, I didn't say lacquers are exclusively for the quoted purpose, more that they are better for working quickly with a finish that will be "handled", say sanding back and/or polishing. I do agree about the properties of lacquers, hence the above advice to Tim K (the OP) based on our experiences. 　 The bit of my post you quoted is in response to Dogsbody who is building a military aeroplane, he also appears to be starting out with airbrushing or just rusty. The X/XF range of semi-gloss and flat paints and acrylic thinner should work fine in this respect as they dry quicker than the X range of gloss paints and are easier to clean (with water if need be). 　 The logic of my post to Dogsbody is to start simple, get comfortable then move onto the things which allow you to work quicker with your new skillset. Maybe I'm OTT methodical but what's the rush when you're starting something new? 　 All the best.

Hi again, Bagged these two on a trip to London. Very happy as the Ferrari 348 is my joint favourite Ferrari (along with the F355), the detail in the kit is excellent and comes with a full engine and superb photo-etched set. Shame Hasegawa didn't follow these with an F355 kit. Note to self: less buying and more building... All the best.

If you're just starting out, use the X/XF paints with X20A thinner. Lacquer paints/thinners are of more use when working quickly and/or in need of a more resilient finish. 　 Tamiya state a 2 part paint to 1 part thinner ratio for their acrylic range, use this as a guide and adjust the amount of thinner to suit the air pressure you're comfortable with spraying. I start with a 1 part paint to 1 part thinner ratio for both acrylic and lacquer thinners and air pressure between 10-18psi. This may not work for you though... 　 Experimentation is the key as we all adopt different styles. 　 All the best.

No probs Tim, were all here to help. The XF range of paints aren't a problem, the X range of gloss paints take a long time to dry enough to safely handle, mask, etc. With the CB750-F above each colour around the mid section was left for a week before masking, the clear coat was left for a month before polishing. A lacquer paint is a medium that dries and hardens by the quick evaporation of it's strong solvents. The ingredients in a lacquer paint give excellent colour coverage with a durable finish, for modellers this usually means excellent paint coverage with less coats of paint in less time. It gets a lot more complex but the above is just a basic summary. They are also known as being very "smelly", wear a decent mask and use rubber gloves as the solvents in these paints can hit you like a 10 pint challenge. As Steve Noble mentioned previously, for modelling, there are many brands to choose from with Tamiya (bottled and aerosol), Mr Color (bottled), Zero (bottled) and Halfords (aerosol) being the most common. Aerosols are a great option for large scale projects, the Halfords aerosols are very easy to use, great value for money and are usually colour matched to the real thing (to a certain extent...). 　 There is another option if you don't want to swap all your acrylics for lacquers. If using Tamiya X/XF or Mr Hobby Aqueous acrylics, you can thin them with either Tamiya or Mr Color lacquer thinners. These thinners will dramatically speed up the drying and hardening time of these acrylics similar to that of "straight" lacquers. 　 The CB750-F below was painted with Tamiya acrylic X-11 Chrome Silver mixed 50% with Tamiya Lacquer thinner, the paint was dry enough to handle without care the next day. After 5 days in the airing cupboard it was hard enough for me to rub my nail into the seat area with no marks. This was then clear coated with Tamiya acrylic X-22 Clear mixed 50-75% with Tamiya Lacquer thinner, 2 weeks later, it's polishing time! All the best.

As mentioned above, if using Tamiya acrylic gloss with their X20A thinner, you're in for a bit of a wait. From personal experience, the acrylic gloss paint/acrylic thinner combination will be touch dry in 3-7 days and hardened in 3-4 weeks. There are some variables such as humidity, temperature and airflow that can increase/decrease drying and hardening times. 　 It's not all doom though, just leave your model somewhere warm with a bit of airflow (like an airing cupboard) for a week before continuing. I would add that you'll need to thin the gloss paints a lot more than 20%, start off with 40-50% thinner and a wide spray pattern until you get the coverage you want. 　 It's a similar story with the clear gloss though I tend to use 75-90% thinner for the last wet coats, the clear gloss will be hard enough to polish without problems in 3-4 weeks... My last build was done using Tamiya acrylics in the way described above. 　 　 　 Alternatively, use lacquer thinners or lacquer everything as they are better in every way with a fraction of the waiting time! 　 All the best.