Renault RE20 Turbo by DocRob - FINISHED - Tamiya - 1/12

[Landlubber Mike]

Wow Rob, this is insanely good.  You're outdoing your already stellar line of prior work.

[DocRob]

Thank you Mike, I'm enjoying this part of the build, when everything starts to come together, it's kind of cash in time.

 

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Near the finish line now with the Renault. With the added gearbox, rear wing and loose attached nose, this car becomes longer and longer. I added the decals to the chromed wings and glued them in place. I'm lucky, that I dared to strip and repaint the chrome, as it looks much better. The Cartograph decals again behaved perfectly well, important, because I didn't want to use any solvents other than water on the chrome.
 

The exhaust installation was again a bit adventurous, due to ill fit and in case of the exhausts, only one contact point to glue. I used CA for that job. Many additional pars were added using super glue, because I didn't want to ruin my paintwork.
What's left do do, is the installation of some lanes, where I couldn't find the place they end in the manual and of course the rims and wheels.
 

 

 

 

 

Cheers Rob

[yvesvidal]

12 hours ago, DocRob said:

 

That is fantastic Rob. 

 

Yves

[gsdpic]

Wow.   I agree with Yves, it looks fantastic, both the wing picture and the other pictures as well.   I know you mentioned using the AK Extreme metal line of paints.  I've not used them, though I've used the alclad metal paints a few times.  Maybe your technique is better or maybe the AK paints are better, but the metal bits definitely look more metallic than I've achieved with the Alclad paints.  And it is not just the wing...the exhausts, turbos, brakes all look like metal.  I might have to give the AK paints a try.

 

One minor nit....and maybe it is just the photo angle or maybe there is more you plan to do with it....but that one braided line in the wing picture looks a bit loose, like it would just be flapping in the breeze there.  Maybe add a couple of wine cap foil clips to hold it to the structure.

[DocRob]

11 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

That is fantastic Rob. 

 

4 hours ago, gsdpic said:

Wow.   I agree with Yves, it looks fantastic, both the wing picture and the other pictures as well.   I know you mentioned using the AK Extreme metal line of paints.  I've not used them, though I've used the alclad metal paints a few times.  Maybe your technique is better or maybe the AK paints are better, but the metal bits definitely look more metallic than I've achieved with the Alclad paints.  And it is not just the wing...the exhausts, turbos, brakes all look like metal.  I might have to give the AK paints a try.

 

One minor nit....and maybe it is just the photo angle or maybe there is more you plan to do with it....but that one braided line in the wing picture looks a bit loose, like it would just be flapping in the breeze there.  Maybe add a couple of wine cap foil clips to hold it to the structure.

Thank you Yves and Gary,

 

the wing with the Renault and Elf decal was the worst chromed part, but good enough, not to respray it.
One thing, which keeps me driving in modeling is to replicate materials and let plastic look like metals, wood, cloth or whatever. It's kind of a passion.

Metal for a long time was difficult, with often grainy and unreal results. That changed with Alclad and I thought, I found the holy grail of airbrushing metal colors. I liked many aspects of the Alclad range, but the coats are not very durable and masking over them, can be nighmarish.

Xtreme Metals from AK are mostly much better in this area, except Titanium, which is very fragile and naturally chrome and polished aluminum. I used a lot of the Extreme Metal colors over the last years on many projects, but never liked their high shine finishes a lot. 
Remembering this, I switched to Alclad for the chrome on the Renault and tested for a while on different parts.

Application is the secret for metal colors and for the high shine finishes, that's even more important. I use a gloss black base, a mix of 75 % leveling thinner and 25% Tamiya LP1, which sprayed with low pressure gives a perfect gloss surface.
The following Alclad was applied with the same low pressure in very light misting coats. You can see, how the hypergloss black transforms into high shine chrome. The grade of 'non-blackness' tells you, when you're done. Don't apply more, then the outcome is like on my 'Renaut Elf' upper rear wing .
Some metal colors react well to 'flooding' the plastic with one heavy coat. Alclad chrome is definitely not one of these.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

6 hours ago, gsdpic said:

One minor nit....and maybe it is just the photo angle or maybe there is more you plan to do with it....but that one braided line in the wing picture looks a bit loose, like it would just be flapping in the breeze there.  Maybe add a couple of wine cap foil clips to hold it to the structure.

Oh, I nearly forgot, the braided line you spotted, is only temporarily attached. It's one of those, where the manual shows, where it stats, but not where it goes. There are a few others which need to be addressed.

 

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Chequered flag, yeah, after a bit more than a month, the Renault RE 20 is crossing the finish line. I added the wheels and still think about adding some chalk markings on the tyres, connected the last hoses and mounted the body onto the chassis. It was a pleasure build, with only a few letdowns, namely the huge amount of clean up and some overcomplicated subassemblies mainly around exhausts and turbo chargers. 
I will make some final adjustments and then step to the next project, but still have no idea, what it will be. Thanks for your support and help.
 

Cheers Rob
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[yvesvidal]

This build is most definitely THE reference for any Formula 1 lover. Your turned that old kit into a work of art.

 

Yves

[CDW]

Superb! Excellent build and very realistic.

[gsdpic]

What they said 👆.

 

Beautiful end result.  Makes me want to dig into one of the 1/12th scale F1 cars I have in the stash.

[Egilman]

Beautiful, simply beautiful....

[DocRob]

5 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

This build is most definitely THE reference for any Formula 1 lover. Your turned that old kit into a work of art.

Thank you Yves, the build went mostly well, but I'm far from the detailing level of some of these car model gods. In the end, I'm a bit proud about the outcome, because it was my first large scale car and second overall.

 

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

2 hours ago, gsdpic said:

Beautiful end result.  Makes me want to dig into one of the 1/12th scale F1 cars I have in the stash.

Thank you Gary, these large scale F1 cars are great kits, demanding due to the complexity of the originals, but not overwhelming, why not starting one?

 

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

1 hour ago, Egilman said:

Beautiful, simply beautiful....

Thank you Egilman, it's a colorful addition in the display shelf. I build this one as my first large scale car, because I like it the least of my stashed ones. The engine characteristics reminds me too much of our second car, a Dacia, which has minimal power from it's engine, until the turbo kicks. A bad combination for our steep hills.
I German we used to call these type on engines 'Luftpumpe' (air pump) with minimal ccm and maxed out turbo power.

 

Cheers Rob

[gsdpic]

1 hour ago, DocRob said:

why not starting one?

The usual...life gets in the way, I have two other kits in progress, I spend too much time looking at MSW and not enough building.  

 

Actually, this week I expect to have more time and hope to make a lot of progress on one of those in-progress builds, a Ferrari 512S race car (testors, 1/25th).  And just today I received the Tamiya 1/12th scale Lotus 72D I snagged off of ebay.  The kit looks complete but could be as much as ~30 years old, so who knows what will happen when I try to use the decals. 😬

[DocRob]

16 hours ago, gsdpic said:

Actually, this week I expect to have more time and hope to make a lot of progress on one of those in-progress builds, a Ferrari 512S race car (testors, 1/25th).  And just today I received the Tamiya 1/12th scale Lotus 72D I snagged off of ebay.  The kit looks complete but could be as much as ~30 years old, so who knows what will happen when I try to use the decals. 😬

I hope you got it for a good Price Gary, Tamiya re-popped them out exactly now new and I guess with Cartograph decals. I keep asking myself, If I want one.

 

Cheers Rob

[Canute]

Well done, once again Rob. You're a master.

 

Gary, Micro Scale makes a liquid decal film to use on these old decals. Coat and let dry. If they're discolored, I'd get new decals.

[DocRob]

18 hours ago, gsdpic said:

Actually, this week I expect to have more time and hope to make a lot of progress on one of those in-progress builds, a Ferrari 512S race car (testors, 1/25th).  And just today I received the Tamiya 1/12th scale Lotus 72D I snagged off of ebay.  The kit looks complete but could be as much as ~30 years old, so who knows what will happen when I try to use the decals. 😬

Shunko models produces a decal set for the 72D, including the tobacco ad, not cheap, but might be a choice if yours did not age too well.

 

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

2 hours ago, Canute said:

Well done, once again Rob. You're a master.

Thank you Ken, far from a master, but I'm learning constantly. When you diversify as much in modeling as I do, it's hard to reach master grades ever. To me, modelling is about self challenge and fun, I compete only with myself and am my hardest critique, but without having fun, I would surf more or do more of my other hobbies.

 

Cheers Rob

[Landlubber Mike]

Wow, what an amazing piece of work Rob!  I'd say you've outdone yourself, but hard to say that with your stellar portfolio of amazing projects.

 

Did you use paint for the spoiler?  Or bare metal foil?  That reflection is really cool, I didn't think one could get that with paint.

[DocRob]

20 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Wow, what an amazing piece of work Rob!  I'd say you've outdone yourself, but hard to say that with your stellar portfolio of amazing projects.

 

Did you use paint for the spoiler?  Or bare metal foil?  That reflection is really cool, I didn't think one could get that with paint.

Thank you Mike, it was a fun and rewarding project and and will be followed by other cars and motorbike builds soon.
All chrome parts were airbrushed after stripping, including the spoilers. I described my process in post #96. I was positively surprised, how good the chrome finish came out.

 

Cheers Rob