TOPIC:

Steps 17 to 19:

I'll start by cutting and painting the body, then do the driver's head, the driver cocpit, and finally the decaling.

The body is good old Lexan, with no protective film, and quite thin. Luckily it was not "crisp" like some old Tamiya bodies I have done.



I use a standard pair of scissors to cut the body as long as the wheel arches are pre-cut.



To "drill" the holes for antenna and body posts, I us standard drill bits, and turn them by hand. If they are sharp enough, like these, they will make nice holes.



One major concern I've had with the Tornado body is how to paint the rear side-wings. They are so narrow that the mist from a spray can will never enter the relatively deep crack.
I decided to hand paint the wings by the use of a very large brush before the body was spray painted.



And the result was not too bad. This pic is after one layer with the brush, I had to do another two to make it ok.



And, this is it, after painting is done. Nice and white, and ready for decals.



Next is the driver's head.


-Lars

Steps 17 to 19: Driver's head, delivered to you from France

On a model with no roof, where the driver is very visible, it is in my view important to get the details as good as you can. So here is the way I usually do it.
Mind you, I don't claim to be an expert on this...

These are the parts for the head:



I make sure to glue the two halves and also use the screw. Then I usually cut the groove down with a sharp knife because the halves rarely fit together very nice. Then I add Putty, wet sand, more Putty, sanding etc, until it looks and feel nice.



These are the paints needed to paint the head and cocpit / body. Quite a selection for a simple driver.



I start with the face, in this case only the openings in the balaklava for the eyes. Add minimum two layers of "skin". At the same time I start adding layers on the helmet. I usually end up using 3-4 layers. I use a large brush on the helmet to get the paint on quickly before it dries.



After the skin is dry, add white for the eyes, flat white for the balaklava. Again, a couple of coats is needed. Then the blue in the eyes together with the flat black trimming on the helmet. In this case I skipped the usual washout process (very thin brown paint to highlight the face), you should do it if you can.

And this is the result.



I usuallly have to do some adjusting with the skin colour, after making the eyes. The shape and size of the eyes are very important for the right look, and I still don't have it naild down as I would like...

Anyway, next is the driver's body and cocpit.

-Lars

Steps 17 to 19: Driver's body and cocpit

Ok, I'm back..
This time with only the driver body and cockpit detailing.

As you may have noticed, I sprayed the complete body white, including the cockpit area. That was done on purpose, because painting details from the inside is very hard, and there is an alternative.

I learned the trick while doing the Celica Gr.B body: ( link to showroom here )

Use PC paint mixed with 30% X-21 Flat Base. This makes the PC paint somewhat thinner and gives the paint a nice flat finish. I can not distinguish it from regular XF-paints.
So after painting the cocpit, it looked like this.
(Note that the paint has not dried her, so still glossy.)


Then it was time for the driver body. Again, mix blue and X-21 and you get a nice finish. I did not have any appropriate colour for the gloves, so I left them in the body colour.



And there you have it, the shell and driver ready painted



Next are the dreaded decals... :o

-Lars

Steps 17 to 19: Decals :o

So, the final step in the build, the decaling.
As earlier said, I feared the decals on this one as they are long and connected in a loop. The problem is to get the 6 decals making up the blue stripes on top of the body connect all the way around.

As usual, preparation is the key, and so is patience.

First, a small trick I use all the time. My fingers usually get in the way when positioning smaller decals, so I put the decal on the tip of a knife. It makes very accurate positioning a beeze!



Cut the decals accurately. Trim off whatever is not supposed to be there; removing all the clear stuff on the outside makes a big difference in the final looks. Then test fit the decal on the shell. Take your time,and cut and test fit any "connecting" decals before starting. In this case I test fitted all 6 major decals befores starting over on the first one.



Following the manual, the decals should be placed in numerical order (not all decals have numbers) so No. 1 is first up.
As Tamiya writes in the manual, it is VERY simplyfying if you only remove a smaller part of the backing while positioning the decal. Longer/bigger decals makes this even more important.
Here is No.1, with some backing removed (the bent part actually keeps the glue off the shell until I press down, so positioning is easy.



When removing the remainder of the backing, only remove bits by the time (cut them of if you like). By doing this the long decals will not start sticking to itself, your hands, the shell, etc, etc, and saves you a lot of trouble.
And remember, if you place one decal wrong, you still have the chance to pull it off and try again. I had to do this once on the Torndo, and it works great if you are quick and careful



So, THAT'S IT, Job done! Take a look at the finished result in my SHOWROOM, HERE


-Lars

Great job Lars, Mr. Tamiya's cars are meant to in stead of being kept in silly cardbox boxes... Looking forward to the results!

Great job! Which took longer the taking the pictures or building the car? Both tasks are outstanding!

Looking good Lars!