fnick

Hi Grant First of all great job on the car irrespective of how much advice you are using you are still the one doing the work! The molotow pens are amazing. One tip I saw on another forum is if you are to brush it on, add a bit of alcohol to the chrome, work quickly and if you need to redo a bit wait till fully set before attempting second coat and you should get a smooth finish. Keep up the good work. Nick

Really nice tank! And interesting too. 🙂 Thanks for showing us your work Nick

Hi all Thank very much to all who commented and pressed the like button. So I sanded, polished and waxed the body and after much consideration decided I was happy enough with the result. Yes you can still see a bit of the orange peel if you look at it in the right light. However as I had sanded down to the paint in a few areas despite being super light I didn't want to risk more damage. I've also started on the metal trim around the windows. I am using the molotow chrome pens for this. I'll let the pictures do the talking. So overall I'm pretty pleased with how the car is turning out and I am gaining a lot of experience from doing it. Cheers Nick

Thanks for the advice guys. I clearly havent precise enough with my information so apologies! I used a spray can for the gloss varnish (I don't have an airbrush) but I am guessing from your comments that that won't make much difference. I am planning to finish sanding the gloss tonight. Next question is... If I can still see the orange peel should I respray anothet coat of gloss on the affected area or still carry on with polishing compounds to see if that solves the problem? Thanks again for all your help and advice. Nick

Erm... Didn't use spray cans for painting...🙂. Brush painted and gloss spray. But thank you for the tip since I am thinking of using spray paint for my next model. Out of interest does the distance play a part in orange peel for gloss varnish too? Nick

Well what did you expect? it's the first time i've inadvertently managed to do an orange peel effect! 😋 On an equally serious note: thank you. Much appreciated! 😊 Nick

It must be. I sprayed the gloss on...😋🤪 Slightly annoying since the first coat went on fine and I gave it 24h to dry. The can is new so don't think that is the problem. Like you say it just happens. I'll try sanding the whole thing down gently and then decide if I want to add another coat or not. I might try and polish a small area to see how that turns out. I don't want to make the car body look glossier than the bonnet. All an experience. All good fun! 🙂 Nick

Hi all Ready for the gloss coat. 2 coats on the bonnet went on fine. However second coat on the body did this...☹️ Yep the dreaded orange peel effect... I am planning to sand the gloss back down anyway and polish it back up using Tamiya compounds. This is the bonnet after sanding and polishing. Started with 3000 grit then 5000 and finally 7000. Think the 3000 started to take off the shiny part of the gloss paint slightly despite trying to sand very lightly so might just go with the 5k and 7k for the body. Cheers Nick

Looking good Mike. The yellow on the bonnet is much nicer in my humble opinion. Regarding the molotow chrome pen you can put a bit of chrome on a palette and paint it on. Trick is not to try and paint it on too thinly. Also work quickly and don't try to go over an area a second time without leaving it time to dry properly or you don't get the same finish as out of the pens. Hope this helps Nick

Hi all Thank you for the likes. The F is now sorted. Had to redo it since I was not happy with the first attempt. The F being raised on the bonnet is fine when using the normal decal but a bit of a pain when using three tiny strips! Not perfect but it will do. It passes the 1m test!🙂. Anyway it's that or I'm building a car called an Ord Mustang...😁 Cheers Nick

Haha Egilman thanks for bringing that typo to my attention. Stay stuned is now stay tuned...😊😀 And thanks for your nice comment. Nick

So I thought I'd start putting the "Ford" decals on the bonnet and guess what muggins here decides to do...?🙄 Yes you've guessed it I managed to lose the "F" 😠🤬. Queue lots of colourful French language... Thankfully the kids were already in bed! 😁 This morning once I had calmed down and after having a quick look to see if I could easily find some replacement decals (I couldn't) I started building the "F" using thin strips of unused decals. I also put on the rest before I lost those too,😋 Although not perfect I think it might just do. Waiting for the whole thing to dry before finishing the F off. Also I've decided to go with the glossy coat because a) it will protect the model and b)if I apply just one thin coat followed by a slighter wetter coat it will have the new car look without it being too blingy. Hopefully... Stay tuned for more trials and tribulations! Nick

Thanks for all the likes and comments. Right bonnet sorted now. Well at least that was the case until I started sanding the paint ridge on the white paint and some red pigment ended on the sand paper and on the white... So a small amount of touching up to do. Some pics Thing I'm not so sure is whether to do a glossy clear coat or maybe just a satin finish (which I would need to order). I also need to do the interior colour in the car body. Nick

Thank you my friend. Appreciate it. I'm quietly optimistic this will turn out ok... Trying not to rush it (always a temptation 😋) Glad I am taking the time and redoing things if I don't like the way they turned out. Plus I don't want to disappoint you lot!😁 Tough crowd that you are! Cheers Nick

Really interesting subject. Should I do a tank model at one point a WW1 era one would be my choice. Nick

Thanks Popeye!☺️ Bonnet is coming along just fine. I may have it finished next week. Nick

Finally... ...managed to get a couple of good enough white stripes. Not perfect but good enough... Well...😁 Why wait! Just about to restart the stripes on that but at least I now know this will be the last time I do that! Overall pleased with the outcome. A few places where the white paint bled into the red but that was sorted with some gentle scraping. I'll double check those areas again just to make sure they don't need more remedial work. Thanks for looking. Nick

Hi Popeye yes I am using a brush. Sorry I am not sure what you mean by coloured plastic. The parts are all white. I just painted the red first thinking it wouldn't be so flipping difficult to paint white over it!☺️🙄

Hi all Still having issues with white paint...☹️. As good as corax white is coverage wise it is not white more very light grey which means that when I try to put a coat of Mr colour aqueous gloss white (which slightly translucent) then the grey shows through... Ggrrr... So another acrylic flat white paint is in order to see if that will help... I'm not going to re-strip the bonnet (yet...) as I need to concentrate on the main body as most other bits are painted. Here's what the bonnet looks like at the mo. As you can see not the best finish. More experimenting required. I'll get there eventually!🙂 Nick

See where you are coming from. A hobby that ain't fun ain't a hobby. Just wanted to make sure you didn't stop without really thinking about it (been there done that...) You clearly have. Nick Ps. Just don't mess up the next one😁🤪

Second that! Finish it you'll be glad. Also just think how pleased you will be when you do get it right on your next model. We are our worst critics... 🙄. It would be a shame to throw away all the good work. Nick

Hi all So I decided to go down the painting route main reason I wanted the finish to look the same on both colours and I wanted to see if I could do an ok job! ☺️ If the whole thing goes pearshape then I can always strip the paint of the bonnet and start again...(plus I still have the decal option up my sleeve) ... Which is what I have just done! 😀 No it didn't really go pearshaped it's just that I was struggling to get a good finish with the white even with a base coat of grey. Even after sanding back down and retrying a couple of times. So I ended up doing what I should have done a long time ago... Listen to the experts in this particular case Plasmo who mentions in a couple of his videos that in his opinion the best white coverage wise is the citadel base white paint. The main reason for stripping the whole bonnet back was that I was worried about not being able to properly sand back right near the masking tape and ending up with a big paint ridge. This in fact is what happened as I confirmed when I removed the masking tape. On the plus side doing that showed me that if or more hopefully when I get this right the two white stripes are going to look really good and quite close to the picture I put up at the start of this build. Anyhoo enough rambling here's a picture. I decided not to paint the white stripes first which yes would have been easier because as the car body is already painted red then I'm also going to paint white stripes over red for that as well (and I am not stripping the car body back!). Hopefully all I need are a couple more coats of red on the bonnet and I can start the stripes again. As you can see I have also been playing with the molotow chrome pens. My aren't those things great! 😀 Thanks for looking in Nick

Too late you've shown us the plans... Well that was a bit silly...😋 Besides you clearly love a challenge...and you certainly have the skill level... K. I'll stop now😁 Nick

Those street level shots make you feel like you are actually walking through a medieval town...😮👏👏 Nick

Cheers Craig that is not something I had thought of. Have to admit the challenge of doing it the hard way with paints is also appealing... Why make things simple when they can be complicated...😄 And thank you for your compliment. Nick