TVR V8S 1:43 SMTS a project for a friend

[johnlambert]

With two of my current builds pretty much complete it seems time to introduce another project.  This one is a little different from my usual 1:24 plastic car kits; it's a whitemetal 1:43rd kit from SMTS. 

 

Why this subject? Because a friend of mine has a TVR S2 (and a Triumph Spitfire) and once said that he'd like a model of the TVR or something close as he's never been able to find one.  This was the closest I could find (SMTS also does a TVR S4 but this is close enough) and I'll paint it in similar colours to his car and give it to him as a present.

 

Here's the real car, it's dark blue with grey upholstery so that's what I'll use on this build.

 

The box isn't very impressive but it is sturdy.

 

It was well packed with parts.

 

Not a massive parts count but everything you need is there.

 

There are a few mould lines to clean near the sills.

 

This was ordinary Halfords grey primer.

 

The finish turned out pretty well.

 

I did spot a flaw in the casting, a small hole at the base of one head lamp.

 

Filled with a blob of low melt solder.

 

The mould line wasn't completely gone when the primer fully dried, so it was sanded down again and the holes for the wing mirrors were drilled out at the same time.

 

Wing mirrors soldered into place, which seemed faster, cleaner and more secure than glue.

 

Rear view mirror soldered to the windscreen frame.

 

Quick dry fit to ensure everything goes together.

 

More primer

 

This side looks OK.

 

A bit more work needed on this side.

 

If I'd inspected the parts more closely I'd have spotted the step on the back of the headlamp. the bezel needs to be drilled out to take this.

 

Thankfully not too difficult to get a hole drilled and opened out.

 

I'm quite enjoying this build, I may have to build some 1:43rd models for myself.

[Fnick]

Good start John.

 

Out of interest why are you using Halfords primer and paints? Better than Tamiya say or is the cost difference worth the slight drop in quality? (If there is any)

 

Cheers 

 

Nick

[Kitkent]

Good progress John! Get used to drilling stuff with 1/43 kits,they actually get you to do some modelling .Chris.

[johnlambert]

39 minutes ago, Fnick said:

Good start John.

 

Out of interest why are you using Halfords primer and paints? Better than Tamiya say or is the cost difference worth the slight drop in quality? (If there is any)

 

Cheers 

 

Nick

Thanks Nick,

 

I'm still experimenting with paint.  I've had quite good results from Halfords primer and paint, I've also got some Tamiya primer that I'm playing with and I may switch over especially for smaller models.  Tamiya primer certainly seems to need less rubbing down but Halfords primer is cheaper (per litre at least) and slightly easier to get.

 

The paint for this will be Tamiya dark blue metallic spray, I think for metallic it's better to go with specific model paint but for solid colours the Halfords paints are good value and work well.  At some point I might try a Halfords pearl or mica paint to see how it looks; at the risk of sounding like an advert for Halfords, there is a great choice of colours.

[Sabrejet]

Great progress. I too use Halfords primer on white metal kits because after all it is designed for metal. In 35-odd years of doing white metal kits it's never let me down. By contrast I have used a number of model primers for metal, and in my experience they do not 'take' to the surface as well, and are not as resistant to handling or masking.

 

For the body colours I then use model paints because the full-size car colours are a bit thicker.

[Davie]

I'm interested to see this build. I'm fancying getting one as TVRs are hard to find in any scale.

[Alan R]

Until recently, I always used Halford Auto paints.
I used their Red-oxide primer on my Tamiya Mk II Jaguar. Lovely smooth finish and a good key for the metallic red Tamiya acrylic cocktail I put together:

Came out quite well.

I used to use the Halfords colour paints as well.

I still have a can of their Satin Black, whish I frequently use.

These days I use mostly Zero primers and paints, and often Tamiya acrylics thinned with MR Color Levelling thinners.

Sorry for the thread Hijack ...

 

Cheers,

Alan.

[johnlambert]

@Alan R no need to apologise, it's always interesting to see what works for people.  I have a few cans of satin and matt black from Halfords, much more economical than spraying Tamiya X18.

[johnlambert]

Not much progress, but moving this forward slowly.

 

A bit of Tamiya Nato Black airbrushed on the floor to represent the TVR's carpet.

[CrazyCrank]

If I may give you a tip, John...you should try to represent the floor carpet using flocking powder, as I did for my Delahaye , the result would be more accurate and realistic...

 

[johnlambert]

2 minutes ago, CrazyCrank said:

If I may give you a tip, John...you should try to represent the floor carpet using flocking powder, as I did for y Delahaye , the result would be more accurate and realistic...

 

I'm worried that the effect might be over-scale for a small model like this, but thanks for the tip.

[johnlambert]

I haven't forgotten the TVR and I've been working on it in quiet moments.

 

I wasn't happy with the paint finish, so it was all stripped off as the flaws were in the body casting.  You can see some of them in the photo above.

 

The boot lid had some scratches that were sanded out to leave just a couple of problematic pinholes.

 

Lots more pinholes and fine marks on the front.

 

I did lots of sanding with various grades of sanding stick, then applied some light skims of filler, which were then sanded down.  I gave the body a coat of Tamiya primer, which showed up a number of flaws that were sanded down again and the whole thing covered in Halfords filler primer.

 

There is plenty of time for the primer to sink into any imperfections but so far it's looking good.

 

That troubling pinhole in the boot seems to have disappeared.

 

Fingers crossed I've finally got a decent base for primer and paint.

[Spiny]

THat's one of the most annoying parts of any build when you think you have the body all sorted and smoothed out, then apply fimer and all the ripples, sink marks etc appear as if my magic. Well done on getting rid of them.

[johnlambert]

OK. Here's an update on the TVR.  Not terribly exciting but it's making progress.

 

Grey primer on the body now.

 

There's still a little bit of work to do but it's looking so much better this time around.

 

Yes, that wing mirror is wonky, but the real thing has problems with wing mirrors too.

 

I've also painted the steering wheel, gear lever and hand brake.  The centre console is masked up to be sprayed the interior colour, which will be light grey.

[Spiny]

Not sure it's really viable with a metal body like this, but I had similar problems with the mirrors on the XJ220. In the end, I drilled a 0,4mm diameter hole though the wing (nervous moment that) and a hole in the back of the mirror, then glued a very short section of 0.2mm into the back of the mirror before using that through the wing hole to hold the mirror stronger when glued in place.

[johnlambert]

The mirrors mount into nice, deep holes through the body, the problem was holding them in the right place without drooping.  

[Spiny]

A perennial issue I think - usually I end up trying to find something the right height which is usually unsuccessful, although once I did have a partial success with a bit of blu-tak on top of a (very!) small jar to support it - the blu-tak being the fine-tuning of height. I say partial as I knocked the mirror off 6 hours later

 

[Kitkent]

The wing mirrors are nearly always a pain with 1/43 kits. The only way to make them grip in the first place is either a decent superglue,then add Kristal klear or similar afterwards. Or drill and pin them but 1/43 mirrors are mostly too small for this treatment. Good luck! Chris.

[klubman01]

Looking good thus far, despite the wonky mirror.  I always try to drill and pin where possible, sometimes using drills as small as 0.4mm and florists' rose wire.

Trevor

[Sabrejet]

On 30/08/2020 at 19:53, johnlambert said:

I'm worried that the effect might be over-scale for a small model like this, but thanks for the tip.

 

Just caught up on this: good work. I'd avoid flocking on small-scale models - matt finish should do it. I also avoid carbon fibre decals on 1/43, since there's no way you'd see it at scale eyeball distance.

 

Anyway keep up the good work: these SMTS kits are gems!

[johnlambert]

Thanks for the encouraging comments, sorry there isn't any more progress to report.

[Spiny]

Never worry about not having progress to report (especially given how much progress you made with the Fiats). Some build fast, some like me build slow, some are even slower than that. But as long as there is some progress it's a step, even a very small step, in the right direction.

[johnlambert]

Some actual progress on the TVR, not much but it is progress all the same.

 

Primer rubbed down.

 

Don't you hate it when you go through the paint/primer?

 

Managed to go through at the back too!

 

Driver's mirror is still wonky but at least it no longer wobbles as I applied a little superglue on the inside where it mounts to the body.

 

I was hoping I'd be at the top-coat stage but I guess another coat of primer here and there won't hurt.  I certainly don't want to be stripping it right back to metal again.

[johnlambert]

A bit more progress on the TVR.

 

More primer on the body.

 

Trying to cover all the areas of burn through on the paint.

 

This is going to need rubbing down again, but maybe it will be ready for colour.

 

Interior sprayed light grey, there is masking to protect the dark grey "carpet".

 

Other side.  The bright light makes the colour look lighter.

 

Seats and centre console sprayed to match.  Dash top is masked as it is black underneath.

[johnlambert]

Moving the TVR along nicely too.

 

The shape of the body makes it tricky to get paint on the underside of the bumpers, so I rigged up something to allow me to spray the under side.  The hood cover will hide any paint imperfections.

 

And we have a coat of Deep Blue paint.

 

This was taken shortly after spraying.

 

After this, the body was placed under cover to dry fully.

 

Back end.

 

Dashboard, the masking stripped off the black paint, but that is easily retouched.

 

Paint corrected and a few details picked out.

 

There are also what look like speakers in the interior tub, it seemed rude not to pick these out in black.