Aston Martin DBR9 Airfix

[johnlambert]

I fancied something that might be a quick build and also wanted to see what a modern AIrfix car kit was like.  I also wanted a few 1:32 companions for my Airfix E-type, I've got a DB5 in my stash but didn't fancy attacking lots of flash and poor quality mouldings.  I'm not looking forward to tackling the decals, which is something that always puts me off racing car kits.

 

Despite being a simple kit the box seems to be packed tight with pieces.

 

Perhaps packed a little too tight, there's a bit of distortion to the windscreen pillar.

 

Some good, clear instructions including a colourful paint and decal guide.

 

Nice mouldings although it's a pity the kit doesn't run to rubber tyres.

 

Colour choice, this Ford light blue looks like a reasonable match, good enough for me anyway.

 

A few ejector pin marks to clean although a coat of black paint will hide a multitude of sins.

 

Windscreen pillar straightened up, but there's also a mould line to smooth.

 

Some smaller parts that also need body colour, including the centre part of the tail lights.

 

First primer coat showed that my cleanup wasn't quite good enough.

 

I also sprayed primer on a spoon, just to see how the paint would go before painting the car.

[phildagreek]

Looks good.

[johnlambert]

This was the result of the spoon test:

 

Ford Bermuda blue over Tamiya grey surface primer, It gives a lovely finish.  I'm now thinking of using this colour on a future project if I can find the right car.

[Kitkent]

This is the blue I have been using for years now for any Gulf Porsche/Ford models.Good choice,and I can't believe how busy you are! I haven't had time to touch anything for a week,though still managed to increase my stash by 4....Chris.

[Spiny]

So many models on the go... like Kitkent I'm surprised you have time for them all. Looks like a good start to the kit, and that blue looks pretty much right. I wouldn't worry about having to go back after applying primer - that's pretty much par for the course on all my bodies as the primer always seems to show bits that you can't see on bare plastic.

[davecov]

That Ford Bermuda Blue looks nice, John.

 

I built one of these ten years ago and the biggest problems for me were getting the bodyshell to sit on the chassis correctly and the side windows to fit flush to the body. As for the decals they were a bit fiddly but the orange surround at the front is better cut into two before applying.

 

Dave

[johnlambert]

Thanks for the feedback and tips.  I'm trying to reduce the number of models on the go at any one time but I quite like having few on the go, so that I can be messing with one thing while paint/glue/filler is drying on another.  I've done some more spraying on this, which I've not photographed yet, but I made some more progress today.

 

Wheels and tyres, the rear ones are slightly bigger than the front ones.

 

The rings fill in the gap on the rear face of the tyre.

 

I'm not going to fuss over the fact that these don't sit flush.  These are the front tyres (I think).

 

The same is true for the rear pair.

 

Sprayed Tamiya Nato Black, which seems quite good for tyres.  I'll probably do the wheel centres in either gloss black or gunmetal.

 

At the same time I sprayed the seat...

 

...and the dashboard.

 

[johnlambert]

A quick catch-up on the Airfix Aston.

 

This was the under side of the rear wing.

 

Now cleaned up and ready for a fresh coat of primer.

 

I painted these bits a while back, Halfords Satin Black, which gives a great finish.

 

The body was painted a while back.

 

I've sprayed silver on most, if not all, the parts as indicated on the instructions.  I'm not sure what to do with the electrical boxes on the floor, probably paint them black.

 

I wasn't convinced that silver was right for the roll cage but pictures of the real DBR9 suggest that it is accurate.

[FunkyChiken]

this is a nice little build, i completed mine a few months back.

you will not notice the non-flush tyre inners on the built car

and agree with the other comment, the orange front stripe needs to be cut to enable a clean fit.

the rear orange decal finishes short of the black bottom edge, but it doesn't cause too much concern.

 

if you get the decals right, its a great little build! enjoy

[roymattblack]

It's a great kit. I've built two - one was a conversion to a different car.
I'm sure you'll build a great model.

 

 

 

 

[johnlambert]

Thanks @roymattblack it's inspiring to see how well your models turned out.

 

This is where I am with the build tonight.

 

Wheels were masked to paint the centres.

 

For some reason I decided to strip off the masking having painted gloss black (I've got some Valejo metallic paint to try), so now I'll have to mask up again.  It's not easy as there isn't much of an edge to trim or lay the masking tape.

 

A quick check of the bits.  I need to spray some black paint on the body around the sills and lower part of the bumpers.

 

I painted the underside of the rear wing gloss black, once the paint has cured I'll mask it up, attach a stick and paint the top side.  There seems to be a mark in the paint, I'm not sure how that happened but I hope it can be fixed.

 

Dry fit of the body, base and interior tub.  It's not great; some pegs and holes (or something similar) would help.

 

Also on the snagging list is tidying up the blue paint before adding some clear red.

[johnlambert]

A bit more progress on the Aston this morning:

 

I started with some masking; I decided to try some masking fluid, which seems handy for getting around tiny details.

 

Some generic Halfords gloss black for the sills, lower bumpers and rear wing (which was lightly sanded to see if this coat goes on better).

 

Interior tub, I'd already sprayed overall silver then the white part as indicated by the instructions.  The white was only painted yesterday so I'll wait until tomorrow to mask over it before spraying some matt black.  I'll probably sand that big ejector pin mark on the transmission tunnel before spraying.

 

I decided to try Valejo paint for the wheels, this is flat aluminium over a black base.  I think it will need a coat of clear to seal it in, which I'll do before removing the masking tape/fluid.

 

It's amazing how involved even a simple build can be.  It feels like it's taking an age to get to the point where I can start putting this together.

[Pouln]

Looking nice, John.

Before you spray clear on the metallics, be sure to check it on a sample piece, because it can dull the metallics badly. Would be a pity if that happens on your wheels.

 

[johnlambert]

One more update for today.

 

Gloss black paint seems to have gone down pretty well on the Aston's sills.

 

 

Dashboard, steering column and wheel; the parts are a very tight fit and needed a bit of sanding down to fit cleanly together.

Interior tub sprayed with Halfords matt black (the eagle-eyed may also spot the pedals for my Honda Prelude build.

[Sabrejet]

Somehow the Airfix DBR9 had passed me by: it looks like a good kit. Lovely stuff you are doing with it too

[roymattblack]

Just wondering - do you use Halfords plastic primer before putting on Halfords colour?

The crazing/orange peel effect might be caused by not using their plastic primer. Halfords paints, even though acrylics, are far too hot to go straight onto polystyrene.

[johnlambert]

5 hours ago, roymattblack said:

Just wondering - do you use Halfords plastic primer before putting on Halfords colour?

The crazing/orange peel effect might be caused by not using their plastic primer. Halfords paints, even though acrylics, are far too hot to go straight onto polystyrene.

I think this was primed with Tamiya primer; I'd tested Halfords paint over Tamiya primer with no ill effects.

[johnlambert]

10 hours ago, Sabrejet said:

Somehow the Airfix DBR9 had passed me by: it looks like a good kit. Lovely stuff you are doing with it too

Thanks, it's not a bad kit; my greatest wish would be some proper rubber tyres although I think I've done a reasonable job on the painted wheels/tyres.

[Sabrejet]

I have to say that I'm not a fan of rubber tyres; on most race cars I end up having to varnish them before putting tyre decals on and then matting them afterwards. For any car model I'd prefer separate tyres, but in a medium (resin or white metal) that means I can paint them 'tyre colour' instead of being black. Horses for courses I'm sure but for me, rubber/vinyl tyres and geared swing-wings on aircraft kits are the last vestiges of a 'toy' legacy. 

 

So I'd say bang-on to Airfix on this one!

[johnlambert]

I've done a test spray of Halfords clear over Valejo aluminium paint on a plastic spoon, no pictures of that as I'm leaving it to dry.  The bare paint actually seems quite durable now it's fully dry so even if clear coating doesn't work I don't think I need to worry about damaging the aluminium paint on the wheels.

 

The body with the masking removed.  It needs a bit of a wash and some touching up, but it's not bad over all.

 

 

 

I think a bit of paint has lifted on the bonnet but the decals will hide it.

 

I'm quite pleased with the masking on the rear bumper.

 

The dashboard is also assembled.

[johnlambert]

Just taking stock of where things are with the Aston.

 

Interior tub unmasked.

 

Dry fitting various interior components.

 

Roll-cage is a bit fiddly if you try and assemble it off the base as indicated in the instructions, but seems to come together once the pegs locate in their holes.

 

Another view on the interior tub, there's a little paint touching up to do.

 

Test piece, Valejo flat aluminium over Tamiya fine surface primer.  Left side is the bare paint, right side has a coat of Halfords clear; best left un-coatet if possible I think.

 

Wheels; not sure if I need to re-do these.  I can see that I may end up tearing out what little hair I have over these wheels.

[Windy37]

Looking good , John . My rule of thumb with roll cage building is ignore the instructions and build the sides first , then usually cross bars can be squeezed in . Sometimes I don’t use glue until it is all built and in position. Tamiya and the Aoshima Beemax kits I’ve built lately fit together well enough without needing to glue until the last minute. Yours looks fine , straight and true . 
Gary . 

[johnlambert]

35 minutes ago, Windy37 said:

Looking good , John . My rule of thumb with roll cage building is ignore the instructions and build the sides first , then usually cross bars can be squeezed in . Sometimes I don’t use glue until it is all built and in position. Tamiya and the Aoshima Beemax kits I’ve built lately fit together well enough without needing to glue until the last minute. Yours looks fine , straight and true . 
Gary . 

Hi Gary,

Yes, once the roll-cage is together it's pretty much self supporting. The interior is glued together now, no point taking photos as it doesn't look any different.  As per your advice, I didn't bother with glue until the cage was in position.

John.

[Sabrejet]

Nice work: I guess those wheels must have been a pain to paint, but worth the effort. I may see if I can get one of these and do it in the green.

[johnlambert]

Thanks, the wheels are a pain and I'm not happy with them. I've put this kit to one side for a while for the sake of my sanity. But don't worry, 009 will return (OK, that's a bit tenuous but I'm sure some of you will get it).