Revell 1/24 Volkswagen T1 Camper

[PatW]

On 2/11/2022 at 8:27 AM, Jonners said:

I've also just read through this thread for the first time, Jeroen. I really like some of your individual touches, such as the 'wooden' floor, and that was a good tip about bleach removing the chrome effect from plastic parts- I'll make use of that on my 2CV build, which at least doesn't have the same problem with ejector pin marks, thank goodness. I'll be watching your progress with interest. 

Jon

 

Hi Jonners, I use Oven Pride oven cleaner from the local Tesco store to remove chrome, quick and easy and safe! I've been using it over the last five years or so.

[JeroenS]

Thanks @PatW, too late for this build but I'll file this for future reference!

[JeroenS]

Today it was the little bus's turn in the paint shop. I spent some time masking it yesterday and again spraying white over the edges first. Again, I'm happy overall, this side will need some repairs though. Not too happy with that, but it should be possible to carefully fix.

 

 

A little bit on the rounded corners. 

 

 

This side is really nice and tight though. I left the tape a little too low in the other spots. It's difficult too see when masking, because it's not a flat area. 

 

 

I'll let this cure before starting the repairs. 

[JeroenS]

Yesterday I masked and resprayed the white on all of the doors. These are fine now. The roof has had its final coat of white and there's only one tiny speck of dust on it so I'm really glad. 

 

As you can see I did a total respray of the white on the front panel, I wasn't happy with it. 

 

 

I will mask the white again (it's a tricky curve and it has a not very sharply defined edge) and respray the blue. 

 

While I'm doing that I'll fix this spot on the bus itself, the "dip" in the blue paint is too visible. 

 

 

I hope to finish the paintwork today. 

 

In the meantime I painted the front seats and the rear benches, the greys are a mix of Vallejo colours, brush painted. 

 

 

On the chrome side, mixed feelings. Earlier, I buffed the paint with a soft cloth and the shine was excellent. Yesterday I applied the Aqua Gloss Clear and although I'm happy with how the logo came out (after some more buffing, I have to say this chrome paint is very sturdy),

 

 

I'm not so happy with the hubcaps, I couldn't see properly and sprayed too much of the Clear. 

 

 

There's a definite edge there. I think I'll micromesh them back and respray the chrome if necessary, then respray the clear. I like the realistic shine though, I'll definitely use this stuff more often. 

 

[JeroenS]

OK, so it's .... 

 

 

 

round 2 for the front panel and the hubcaps... 

 

 

What happened to the front panel, you may ask... Well I thought hey let's use some Frog tape on this for masking. But it reacted with the paint in a major way so at first I tried sanding but in the end wiped it clean with a piece of cloth drenched in IPA (the one you don't drink, obviously). I did the same with the hubcaps, they needed new gloss black primer after sanding back the chrome paint so I cleaned them as well. 

 

However... I can't paint right now because it just rains and rains... And I have to open a window to let my extractor hose out. Doesn't look like it will be dry later this evening but who knows. 

[bigbadbadge]

Shame that the paint and tape reacted.  Just like spraying the real thing!!!

I am certain that you will be able to sort the paint again.  The bulk of the body together looks fantastic. 

Great work 

Chris

[Pete in Lincs]

I just did a catch up. It was all going so well. I wish you good luck with the repainting.

You could always go basic and paint the hubcaps and bumpers in white?

I do like that floor in the back. 

[JeroenS]

Thanks guys! No worries, it will be fine. 

 

@Pete in LincsThe bumpers are indeed white and looking good. The chrome respray on the hubcaps should be quick enough, I like them chromed up. 

[Bertie McBoatface]

15 hours ago, JeroenS said:

However... I can't paint right now because it just rains and rains... And I have to open a window to let my extractor hose out. Doesn't look like it will be dry later this evening but who knows. 

I have exactly this problem. 
 

You have been busy on this build for a while though. Civilian vehicles aren’t very forgiving, are they? I prefer to be able to hide mishaps with a bit of weathering!

[JeroenS]

28 minutes ago, Bertie Psmith said:

Civilian vehicles aren’t very forgiving, are they? I prefer to be able to hide mishaps with a bit of weathering!

Ha! Yes indeed, that's why I like to build trucks 🙂 

 

But this camper needs to be nice and shiny which is good for a change. The front panel mishap is only the first thing that went south so overall it's been quite good so far.  There's always something that needs redoing. 

[Bertie McBoatface]

35 minutes ago, JeroenS said:

There's always something that needs redoing

Just like a real one 

[Old John]

Hi Jeroen Just picked up on this build. It is coming along very well. Like the look of the box art.I have done a couple of them but not the camper.Will follow as I am sure it will turn out great.

[Quiet Mike]

This is no help at all, but thought you'd like this image I did years ago, as if you've not looked at the front panel enough 😉

Barndoor Badgery by Mike, on Flickr

[JeroenS]

I really do like that compilation @Quiet Mike!

 

Meanwhile, I've been working on "my own" front panel. It was primed grey, then white, like the others (and like this panel was as well, before the screw up). Tonight I sprayed the blue, of which I had enough left luckily. I decided to do this panel in the way I had planned on doing the entire bus, namely blue first, then white. 

 

 

This is because I feel this edge is easier to mask "from the bottom". It should leave the raised area completely free of tape, which should lay nice and flat on the blue area. I will apply tape, spray some more blue around the edges so that if there's paint bleed, it is blue (or should be). Then I will reprime the grey, then white and then finally the top coat of white. And then I will leave it alone and spray my next VW bus in one colour!!!

 

While I had the blue out I carefully masked the rear left corner and made the repair. I'm happy with that.

 

 

Also, the hubcaps are painted and clear coated, this time it went better. A spec of dust on the one bottom left but I felt I would ruin the paint if I tried to fix that so I left it. 

 

 

These look fine now as far as I'm concerned. 

[Spiny]

They look fine now as far as I'm concerned too. And the blue looks pretty good too.

 

I must admit you have made me a bit nervous with all your comments about masking around the rib which runs right around the thing - it wasn't something I'd particularly been concerned about but now I'm not looking forward to that bit of the masking. At least on the van there's a decal which I can use to cover the join 😁

[JeroenS]

13 minutes ago, Spiny said:

They look fine now as far as I'm concerned too. And the blue looks pretty good too.

 

I must admit you have made me a bit nervous with all your comments about masking around the rib which runs right around the thing - it wasn't something I'd particularly been concerned about but now I'm not looking forward to that bit of the masking. At least on the van there's a decal which I can use to cover the join 😁

I think it's definitely easier to not mask the rib, if I'd do a two tone again, which I won't, I'd do it like I planned to do it this time around. But didn't 🙄

[bigbadbadge]

The repairs looking good, great work,  I do love those hubcaps.  

My kit arrived today, will be covering to a 57 tin top using the panel van roof to make a model of my mates Sun bus.

The Revell kits look lovely really.

Chris

[JeroenS]

23 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

The Revell kits look lovely really.

Thanks Chris. 

 

The Revell kits do look lovely, I'm seriously considering getting the panel van. 

[JeroenS]

I clear coated the body, the roof, wheels and bumpers today. I micromeshed body and roof first, wet sanding with 4000 first, then 8000. 

 

There's a nice shine, I'm not going to do much more on this. 

 

 

I was happy with how the roof looked with just paint on so the clear coat should only improve that, and it did. 

 

 

However. 

 

Don't you just hate that???

 

 

In the spray booth, bench vent on full auto, and this ... thing... got sprayed on with the clear! Grrr.

 

Same happened on the door side of the bus, though less conspicuous. 

 

Question for the more experienced in nice finishes: will this polish our after careful sanding? 

 

 

[Spiny]

30 minutes ago, JeroenS said:

Question for the more experienced in nice finishes: will this polish our after careful sanding?

 

Answer: Yes, with a but. A lot depends on at what stage that insect leg (or whatever it is) landed in the clear. If it was in the first layer then it's a big problem because you would have to polish back to the colour coat with all the risk of burn through - better to do a local polish then apply another top coat in that case. But if it was in one of the later clear layers then no reason at all why it won't just polish away with the paint.

[bigbadbadge]

Nice shine, what a shame about the bits that landed on it, hope they polish out okay.

Chris

[JeroenS]

So... I did manage to sand and polish most of the mishap from the roof. 

 

 

As soon as I put this picture up I realized it was no good because you can't see anything which is actually kind of a good thing, but there's still some evidence as you can see in this close up I made later. 

 

 

I'm leaving it, the roof is going to look something like this anyway!

 

 

Just started on the racks, they got a coat of flat brown. I'll be trying to make it look like wood, the rest will be chromed. The racks will get a chrome rail on them as well.

 

The walls of the "turret" will get a sandy colour I think, and some chrome "scissor" parts as well. I'll be brush painting that chrome with Greenstuffworld chrome which is great paint. 

 

I clear coated the rest of the panels.

 

 

Which went well except for another mishap... 

 

 

No, that's not a nice shine, it's white paint showing through because... the lid of my curing box fell on it as I closed it, somewhat clumsily... well, leave the "somewhat" out. So this will have to be sanded and repainted. Ah well. I also managed to screw up the front panel, again. Obviously, my desired method of laying masking tape and then cutting it along the edge is not working for me. The edge is not sharply defined so there's nothing to set the blade against and apparently my cutting skills are not well enough defined either. Also, I managed to damage the paint with the knife. A little sanding and some more blue paint, and it's now drying again. I'm not touching it for a week and then I'll have to come up with a different method of masking. I have the thin white flexible masking strips, I think I used those on the first build as well. 

 

Anyway, about that March 1 deadline... I won't be making it, I didn't get to spend as much time on this build as was needed. Some three weeks ago, the company for which I do a lot of work suffered ... let's call it an unfortunate incident... and we're still dealing with the fall-out now. It's been mentally draining so it's been only the fact that this build is for a friend that's been keeping me going, which is a good thing. But, he'll be throwing a party on the 12th so that's my new deadline. How convenient!

[bigbadbadge]

Sorry to see the mishap on the door paint  that a shame, re your tape, I use fineline tape, it's great stuff for edging, it's a vinyl tape that goes round bends well and is used in the automotive industry , I use it when pinstripes around the panels on my VWs ( 1:1 ones) and it's great stuff. I get mine on ebay in varying widths.

Roof looking good and this is is a very pampered bus with lots of chrome.  Hope you can get finished in time for your mate's birthday.  

Great work

Chris

 

 

[JeroenS]

7 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Sorry to see the mishap on the door paint  that a shame, re your tape, I use fineline tape, it's great stuff for edging, it's a vinyl tape that goes round bends well and is used in the automotive industry , I use it when pinstripes around the panels on my VWs ( 1:1 ones) and it's great stuff. I get mine on ebay in varying widths.

Roof looking good and this is is a very pampered bus with lots of chrome.  Hope you can get finished in time for your mate's birthday.  

Great work

Chris

 

 

Thanks Chris, I was able to get some of that Fineline tape online.

[JeroenS]

Got a little bit done today, work is still eating up quite a bit of time and energy. I'm not moving as fast as I would like. But, well...  It had been a while since I actually had the glue out but I finished the wheels today. 

 

 

The tyres are devoid of detail but the thread is ok and the hubcaps are nice. So a good look overall. 

 

I painted the "turret" as well. That nice orange/brown/yellowy fabric. 

 

 

Which is exactly how I painted it... mix of orange brown and yellow. Box art says very orange but I didn't want to go there. I didn't even check Revell's call out actually, I rarely do anything "by the book". 

 

I fiddled with the wooden roof rack, brushed some oils over it. I think it's about how I'd like it to look. 

 

 

Looks a bit like a small boat.