Mitsubishi Galant VR4 second outing!

[Scargsy]

I originally started this build way back when in the Nordic GB, in a time before lockdown!

Original thread here.

 

One of three unfinished GBs this year I'm hoping to get finished (alongside the ongoing ones and Interceptor GB I want to start!)

 

I've slowly been making progress mistakes since, and here are a few pics, it's been a bit of a pig getting together.

Underside all built up - I did unfortunately snap one of the suspension components (anti-roll bar?).

Interior is mainly built up. The kit came with some (very thin) plastic material to use for the seatbelts but I just couldn't get along with it (kept tearing whilst cutting with a knife) and was somewhat translucent when I finally managed to get a strip. The aftermarket kit came with some ribbon but I couldn't get along with that either (and it was too short to match up to the guide sizes in the instructions). In the end I made up some belts out of my staple - a bit of kitchen tin foil, lined each side with masking tape, sliced to size and painted up (white primer over the yellow tape, then a coat of red).

The nice thing about the foil method is when bent it does tend to hold it's shape.

The kit supplied PE was a bit thin, but I had an aftermarket kit so used those parts instead (original buckles getting a second life in my Renault 5 build), unfortunately when looking back at the zoomed in photos I can see some of my trimming on the buckle ends could have been better!

The aftermarket PE also didn't neatly fit onto the mounting points on the belt ends on the roll cage so they're slightly offset.

The upper shell also decided to be a complete pain. The forming moulds seemed to have been slightly misaligned leaving some rather nasty seam lines along the bonnet which I cleaned up, however I'm worried the bits around the light fittings might give me some grief later on. They obviously reused the moulds from another version of the kit and blanked out the bonnet vents but left some raise lines around where they were. I smoothed it out but it was still kind of visible when the the undercoat then white coats went on but hopefully less noticeable in the decals are added.

My other woes were compounded by me trying to take a 'shortcut' and use a rattle can for the blue and going a bit heavy. I've sanded off the worst of the lumpy bits and will need to give it another coat - though planning on doing that with the airbrush this time! The bleeds aren't too much of an issue - I need to mask up and paint the black roof rails / window surrounds and there's some multi-coloured diagonal strip decals that cover across the door lines. I just hope they line up well!

 

I also noticed (after painting) that the wing mirrors have some rather nasty injection pin marks in them, I'm never sure why but I seem to find this a common issue with car kits which I really can't understand!

 

Anyhow let's hope the rest of the build goes a bit better!

 

[CliffB]

It's nice to see this one making a reappearance Scargsy 

[Scargsy]

A small update...

 

Recoated the blue but it's still a bit badly textured, I seem to always have issues with my airbrush (breaking bits) think I need to invest in a cheaper one!

Hopefully though once the decals and clearcoat are on it won't be too noticeable, but if it is I'll throw some weathering on it.

 

Masked up for the window surrounds and painted some black on - but the water based acrylic really didn't want to lay down nicely, so I wiped it off.

Once it had dried I painted them with a coat of Alclad II black primer, before removing the masking. Some of the acrylic had leaked under the tape but luckily I managed to clean it off using some acrylic airbrush cleaner without affecting the lacquer paint.

I've made a start on the decals, always nerve wracking with large ones that need to go over such complex curves and textures but they've actually laid down pretty well...

A couple of minor wrinkles and tears so far but hopefully I should be able to clean them up. Tears mainly by me being a bit aggressive when they were still too soft with the decal solvent trying to get them to conform - e.g. on the door handle but that will need painting black eventually.

I'm not entirely sure how to fix the bit above the door - e.g. should I try and trim the decal (probably not I imagine it might rip) maybe I can just paint the black for the door surrounds over it with a steady (!!!) hand.

 

 

 

 

[Jinxman]

On 12/14/2020 at 12:36 AM, Scargsy said:

I'm not entirely sure how to fix the bit above the door - e.g. should I try and trim the decal (probably not I imagine it might rip) maybe I can just paint the black for the door surrounds over it with a steady (!!!) hand.

Maybe mask it and then hand paint?

[Scargsy]

I was too scared of the masking tape ripping up the decals - in the end I hand painted it with Vallejo black, then once that was pretty dry I cleaned up using some tiny cotton buds and Vallejo airbrush cleaner which takes it up nicely.

 

Many hours and tiny decals later I've got all the decals down!

Managed to do it only losing one, which I'd unfortunately ripped on the backing paper before applying - that was for one of the heated window lines that runs down the edge of the front window so isn't a major issue.

I painted up the front / rear light areas / grill (should have maybe done that earlier).

I'm not sure on what to use to protect the clear parts - seen that a lot of people use 'Future'/'Pledge' stuff so I've ordered some and will give that a go.

Once the clear coat is done hopefully I can finish this all off pretty soon, though there's lots of little bits and bobs to attach still!

[Jinxman]

Getting to the stage where it needs some mud on it - good stuff!

[Scargsy]

So she's finally limped over the finishing line, but not without a few spots of bother...

Firstly I gloss coated the canopy by dipping it in some floor polish (Pledge original) - that seemed OK though one of the heater lines on the windscreen puckered a bit (it may have been like that beforehand).

The real issue though was the gloss coat - I decided to use some Mr Topcoat Gloss from a rattle can (and a bit from an old one which may have been the issue) - usually this goes on fine and doesn't cause issues, I think it's acrylic rather than lacquer so pretty safe on decals - however I got some weird silvering / frosting, not just on decals though...

TBH given it's the Swedish rally it could be passable as frost weathering (wish it was a predictable effect), but I decided to touch up as best I could the worst areas using a hairy stick and some paint. I did mess up a little but since the paint I was using was Vallejo water based acrylic and using my new found trick of some tiny cotton buds and some Vallejo airbrush cleaner I tidied up the over paint once it was touch dry - it was at this point I hit upon a stroke of luck... it seems the cleaner also removes the frosting (I'm guessing it's strong enough to remove the acrylic clear).

So a bit of further tidying up and stuff was looking better.

I hadn't gone too 'wet' with the gloss and there were still obvious 'steps' for the decals but still wanted to dull it back a bit, so gingerly gave the whole thing a few mist coats of Tamiya flat clear from a can - which went on without issue (I was worried me cutting through the gloss errors might have caused it to bubble and melt the decals in places).

Some further construction and I got to sticking the wheels on - the rears seemed a bit tight in the wheel wells, like they should be a bit further in, so I applied some pressure and 'crunch'...

Well that's going to keep the mechanics busy.

A lot of cursing, a kit almost hitting the wall, various ill fated attempts to glue the suspension together and an amount of reflection later and I formulated a plan :

Build up some terrain to hold the car and basically just glue the wheel 'in place' on the base (but not connected to the car).

So I found some supplies I had at hand (it is boxing day and there's no modelling shops I know of within easy access of my house - even if they were open in tier 4)...

I found a little wooden trophy base - a bit on the small side but the wheels would just touch the corners, some snow texture, some plasticard and some carving foam.

I've not used the carving foam before but it's pretty brittle stuff - the plan was to create a lump / rock to balance the car under the rear scratch plate...

So some PVA glue to hold it down, then a bit of the snow texture on top - seemed to not be as much in the tub as I'd have liked, so I added a small bit then just added more PVA, acrylic paint (grey then white) and basically mucked about to make something passable (most will be out of sight anyhow) under the car.

Once it was pretty much dry (impatience) I cracked out the 5 minutes 2 part epoxy - I'd already stuck the remnants of the brake/suspension arm to the back of the loose wheel) but now used it to glue the car via the 3 wheels to the base and the loose wheel to the base too.

Once that had set I put a bit more snow texture stuff on the visible edges near the wheels, etc.

Disaster averted I carried on with the final parts - though I managed to snap a windscreen wiper, but hopefully it's glued together onto the windscreen OK.

I also noticed in all the handling I'd managed to damage a couple of decals - on the top of the A-frame and the 4 on the passenger door, but a tiny bit of touchup fixed those and it's done.

I could add some weathering but it's at that point where whatever I do seems to make things worse, I didn't bother doing the PE bonnet clips, etc. managed to impale myself on the aerial at least once (luckily I found it stuck in my jumper) so time to leave it be I guess and leave it with the other rally cars on the shelf. Progress has been made.

OK - best get on with the other couple more KUTA builds I feel I need to do from this years GBs - that first GB for next year (Desert Storm) I've got plans to do 3 builds in, would like to start without the baggage of the shelf of shame hanging over me! 

 

 

 

 

 

[CliffB]

It's nice to see that this one has now joined the collection