Nissan Fairlady 350Z Nismo Tuned (2)

In this week, I have keep myself very busy with the progress of this kit, mainly for the reason that I will be sharing my modeling hobby in another means other than the Internet! So this have to be done at some early point in May so I have come up with more meaningful pictures.

I have actually applied anther layer of clear coating at the moment to make sure the layer is thick enough for polishment. And putting the body away, I have jumped straight to the cockpit. At some glance of my reference pictures, the door panels will be enhence where the little pockets will be opened.


It was easily drilled with some holes to help breaking into it.


And some sanding work will be needed to thin the edge a little bit for relevant scale. A backing sheet will be backed soon upon finished.


Another major issue in the cockpit is that console edge. The kit seperated the console into two parts. And it will take some effort to get this done on the way of painting.


In the mean time, I have got some sampling for the carpets. I simply made use of some magazine papers for earth-saving....

I have matched the samples in some texture sticker so some actual carpets are shaped.

These works well so far for some of my recent kits.


And here it ome the console being painted. I am trying to illustrate the difference of having shadow and highlights on automobile models, and the result is appearant!

after the cockpit and dashboard were painted with base color, I have filled the gaps between the two for the connection of the console. Then it comes the masking and repainting of the second tone.

This is always my approach to mask off the edge first and then the rest with larger and rougher masking tapes.

And the cockpit is now almost done.

And underlying, the chassis was also being painted too. I am going to demostrate the weather effects on metallic items.

So this is how far I have gone. I am hoping to finish it by next weekend.

War of Zodiac - Tauro bust (1)

In the last couple of nights, I have been working on this bust for some painting practise.
The bust is actually a replica from a friend of mine. The kit is brilliant and I am surprize how these SF figures can be created in amazing details!

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro F60 (7)

Finally, after being stuggled with the carbon decals for awhile, the cowlings are ready to be coated with some GX100 Clear. I have applied just a very light layer at the moment in order to seal the decal first. Appearantly some of the carbon decals didn't really lay very well and bubbles were spotted. Some tiny cuts were made and the decals were fitted with some decal setter.
Some thicker coatings will be applied later on.

F-14A/B Tomcat VF-111 VF-103 (2)

Just got a couple of hours free and I could squeeze a little but over the cockpit.
After getting rid of the cockpit, I will be able to move on to the fittings around the frame.
I have always want to paint the display screens at the dashbaord this way for many time. But afterall, I always skipped doing that at all my previou works. In this twin build, I am working on it slowly and in this way, I have the passion to try more differnet steps around.
The way the screen is painted is like this, and it is simple. I just hand-painted some silver on the screen and then with a roughly mixed clear yellow and blue.
The little trick here is that, when the clear yellow and clear blue is roughly mised, some of the mixed clear green will be a bit yellowish and some bluish. By painting this un-balanced clear green, the screen will appear to be more dynamic, and not just a clear green over silver base.

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro F60 (6)

From time to time, some carbon fiber decals are somehow supplied with the kit. Yet, some of them may not present the pattern well enough, or I should say, some afte-market CF decals are way better. As a result, even the shape is there and you just need to put it in place, but you still would like to apply the after-market decals with the same shape.
Here is a little trick that I have recorded on my own so you may take as a reference.

First of all, paste a piece of masking tape over the original decal.


Then cut out the entire shape of the decal with no transparent edges.


Unmount the masking tape from the original decal and post it at the back of the after-market decal. This time, I am using the Studio27 one. Be sure you manage to turn the left and right side correctly. In this case, my decal is a symmetric one so it does not matter.


Cut the decal with the shape of the masking tape and you will be able to get an identical decal with the new pattern.


Simple and easy. And you may now enjoy more variations from different brands of CF decals.

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro F60 (5)

I have got a light clear coat of Gunze GX100 over the TS paint. In this way, the enamal nature of the color paint can be sealed and future paint will not be affected. Also, as the TS-58 is a metallic or pearl paint in its nature, a clear coating before applying decal also helps to prevent silvering with a polishing clear coat is applied.

After some days letting the GX100 is dry thouroughly, I have started apply the decals over the cowlings. There are only limited sponsors decals around, so it is actually not a tough job to do. But at certain point, I do recommand applying carbon decals before the sponsor decals as later, I found that a couple of those sponsor decals lay on top of the CF!