Delahaye 135 (Henri Chapron coach builder) by Heller 1/24 scale

[CrazyCrank]

Good evening guys

 

I have forbidden myself to paint with an airbrush, but not to paint by hand, all windows open, so I made some progress this afternoon.

 

So painted, under magnifying glasses , the 12 half-shells that adorn each vertical side of the bonnet.
I still have to paint (or decorate with Bare Metal Foil Chrome) the very thin bars that delimit the top and bottom of each set of 12 half-shells, and that won't be a piece of cake; but before that I have to repaint the half-shells with a coat of clear , so that's for next week.

 

Before:

 

After:

 

 

I also made some progress on the interior, fitting the rear seat and its side curved panels, after doing a test fit with the body and the interior door panels because it all fits together by a micro-hair...

I also removed from this cockpit the fake carpet I had made with flocking powder, not realistic enough and of a blue color that clashed with my colour scheme, and replaced it with navy blue adhesive velvet of only 1 mm thick, and it looks much better:

 

  

 

Finally, following the advice of one of my French followers, I painted the whole rear number plate in semi-gloss black, at least, the part that goes beyond the decal. and decorated the plate fixing screws with Molotov Chrome.

 

 

It's not much, but I spent a few hours on it.

 

To be continued  😎

[silver911]

Great progress Thierry...more so after all your previous problems...well done you

 

Ron

[Toftdale]

Stunning work a ever - Andy 

[CrazyCrank]

Evening guys

 

The second bodywork won the race because the clear coat on the first one never dried.

So, the second body being primed a few days ago, I've sprayed the 3 (very light) first layers of Light metallic blue on the bodyshell, and the result is quite satisfying

The 2 last coat will be sprayed tomorrow after a slight wet sanding using 6000 grit mesh.

 

This time, I've decided not to mask the fenders to save time (and masking tape ). Obviously, for the dark blue paint of the 4 fenders, the light metallic blue will be masked

 

  

 

  

 

Stay tuned if you like

 

[Prop Duster]

yea! "several" times is the  Charm. Looks like your on the "road" to recovery

[CrazyCrank]

Good afternoon guys

 

Paint achieved on this one.

 

Have to let it dry deeply before applying BMF chrome on the front side of the rear fenders, the latches of the trunk lid, the door handles, the windows's frames..... and then spraying clear.

 

  

 

  

 

Stay tuned if you like

 

[Fnick]

That is a gorgeous paint job! 😍

 

Nick

[CrazyCrank]

Good afternoon, chaps

 

The paint is properly dried, so, I've made a bit of progress today, putting BMF chrome where it had to be placed.

Very delicate job, given the very small size of the elements to chrome:

 

  

 

 

I've also put BMF Chrome on the fine strips which bound the half-shells o the bonnet:

 

  

 

Now, the bodywork is ready to clear, what will be done before the end of the week

 

Stay tuned if you like 😎

[silver911]

Still tuned...still liking

 

Ron

[Hamden]

1 hour ago, silver911 said:

Still tuned...still liking

 

Ron

 

Likewise 

 

 Stay safe           Roger

[CrazyCrank]

Oups 🤭

 

Don't you think something's missing ?...Sorry but I'd forgotten to put BMF Chrome on the rear fenders !

 

This oversight is now fixed:

 

  

 

I've to take an appointment with a Neurologist or Psychiatrist , to check my memory 🤪

 

 

[CrazyCrank]

 

Good evening guys

 

This afternoon, I applied my first coat of two-component varnish on the body, and I'm quite happy with the result, except for the fact that, despite all my precautions, many dust particles stuck in the varnish during the airbrush application.
You can see them mainly on the dark blue parts, and on the pictures below, you will easily notice them, but with the naked eye, at a normal observation distance, you can't really see them.

 

In any case, there is nothing extraordinary or difficult to remove: tomorrow afternoon, a light dusting session with 3000 and 4000 is planned before the second layer, and it will probably be the same before the third one.

 

  

 

  `

 

That said, one of the dust is particularly visible, black and quite big on the right and at the edge of the spare wheel well:

 

 

I first checked what would happen if I put the spare wheel cover in its place, and as you can see, it perfectly masks the defect:

 

 

I could be satisfied with that, but I'm a perfectionist, so an extremely light veil of light blue at a very low flow rate later, this is the result:

 

 

After a new coat of varnish, you won't see anything anymore 😎

 

To be continued

 

[rob Lyttle]

2 hours ago, CrazyCrank said:

I could be satisfied with that, but I'm a perfectionist,

Yea, I think we get this.......... 😇

Paintwork looks fantastic ☑️

[Prop Duster]

10 hours ago, CrazyCrank said:

 except for the fact that, despite all my precautions, many dust particles stuck in the varnish during the airbrush application.

                                                                                                   &  

That said, one of the dust is particularly visible, black and quite big on the right and at the edge of the spare wheel well:

 

  In the spirt of trying to offer a suggestion to a fellow modeler. Have you considered using a spray bottle of water to lightly mist the paint booth to try to help keep the dust from swirling about in the air of the paint booth as you paint? Then covering the model with a plastic (or??) box until the paint dries. This way the amount of air born dust particles are minimized and/or kept away from the drying paint. Regardless your work is impressive and a  pleasure to watch.

[CrazyCrank]

33 minutes ago, Prop Duster said:

  In the spirt of trying to offer a suggestion to a fellow modeler. Have you considered using a spray bottle of water to lightly mist the paint booth to try to help keep the dust from swirling about in the air of the paint booth as you paint? Then covering the model with a plastic (or??) box until the paint dries. This way the amount of air born dust particles are minimized and/or kept away from the drying paint. Regardless your work is impressive and a  pleasure to watch.

1st question: yes, I do that each time;

2nd question: no, but I'm going to consider this suggestion

 

[CrazyCrank]

Hi guys

 

Well, here is the result after the second coat of varnish on the Delahaye

The orange peel on the bonnet has been well recovered, and after a new coat of varnish, there's still a slight one, which will be removed during the polishing phase
The bodywork has a nice shiny varnish,  with here and there, as usual, a few micro-dust particles, more visible on the dark blue wings.

 

 

 

  

 

  

 

A new slight sanding will be done tonight after 24 hours of drying, and then, after a longer drying time, in the middle of next week, the third and last clear coat will be applied, which will also be sanded, polished and shined.

 

To be continued

 

[CrazyCrank]

Afternoon Gentlemen

 

The last clear coat has been sprayed 24 hours ago and has now fully dried.

No dust on it, having protected the fresh clear under a wide and tall clean plastic box (the few dust particles you can see on the pictures were deposited just before I took the photos...)

No orange peel visible on the dark blue parts, and a little on the light blue ones, so, it's now time to sanding and polishing, what will take a few days, given that the assembly of the main body and the front fenders is very fragile, so I have to proceed extremely carefully .

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

Thanks for  watching

 

[Prop Duster]

A thing of glistening beauty. With that shine, you almost need sunglasses just to look at it.      Seriously, an out standing paint job.  

[CrazyCrank]

19 hours ago, Prop Duster said:

A thing of glistening beauty. With that shine, you almost need sunglasses just to look at it.      Seriously, an out standing paint job.  

 

Thanks so much, Steve, for this huuuuuge compliment 😎

[rob Lyttle]

Yes, Maestro, extraordinary results 😎

And the colour scheme is a great look. I can see it working with the white wall tyres option too if you wanted 👍

[CrazyCrank]

Afternoon, gentlemen

 

The final polishing job with Tamiya compounds has begun today, after a gentle sanding using 3000 grit Tamiya sponge and  Alclad Micromesh 4000/6000/8000/12000.

 

At the moment, only the left front fender is done. And it took one hour to achieve the job !

 

The result seems just correct, because it remains a slight orange peel appearance on the edge of the wheel arch.

That said this issue is strongly magnified by the iPhone13 camera, which is merciless 🙄

 

  

 

Let's keep going !

 

 

 

[Spiny]

Unfortunately, merciless is the way with cameras, especially when you have a bright light reflecting in the paint like you have. I have to say that this car looks a particularly difficult shape to sand so well done on getting it so shiny without burning through - a trick I wish I could manage...

[CrazyCrank]

18 minutes ago, Spiny said:

Unfortunately, merciless is the way with cameras, especially when you have a bright light reflecting in the paint like you have. I have to say that this car looks a particularly difficult shape to sand so well done on getting it so shiny without burning through - a trick I wish I could manage...

Hi Spiny, thanks for the kind comment, much appreciated, as usual.

 

For your information, the sanding job is difficult for 2 reasons:

 1/ the whimsical shape of the body

2/ Overall, the extreme fragility of the bonding between the main body and the two front fenders: you have to be very delicate and  cautious while handling the whole set during sanding job, to avoid breaking the thin junction between fenders and breaking of the bonding.

 

[Vesa Jussila]

Looks really good. One master piece in making there. Paint is looking really good. I can belive polishing is real challenge.

[CrazyCrank]

Evening gentlemen

 

Not really a great progress since last post, but all painted / cleared body parts have been sanded 3000/3600/4000/6000/8000/12000 Alclad Micromesh, and then polished with Tamiya compounds, using microfiber clothes.

I've also begun the detailing of the bonnet's left part, adding 2 chromed parts.

As you could see, it remains a slight orange peel aspect here and there, particularly on the vertical parts of the body, such as  doors.

Maybe I'll try to fix that, sanding them again with 2000 grits etc., but I'm honestly hesitating, considering the extreme fragility of the assembly  and how lucky I was not to have damaged anything in the previous steps ! (particularly with the 4 articulated bonnet's parts )

 

Nevertheless, you could inspect the actual state of this "body building", looking at the pictures below:

 

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

 

Not so bad, in the end !

 

Stay tuned if you like