Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II by CDW - FINISHED - Meng Models - 1:24 Scale - Plastic

[CDW]

The Meng Models Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II is one of three model cars I plan to complete in time for the upcoming Southlandz 2025 Spring Model Car Show, June 7, 2025.

I may be biting off more than I can chew in this short time span, but we'll see what happens together.

[CDW]

I’m calculating approximately twenty calendar days maximum for each of the three models I want to enter at the Southlandz event. With that said, I’m going to start with the Audi first.

 

The body is very nicely molded with no flaws, blemishes, or mold lines anywhere to be found. Excellent mold. I’ll start by washing everything first in a mild water/detergent solution, then assemble and paint the body with Mr Surfacer 1500 black. Finish color will be Tamiya gloss black lacquer.

 

The kit supplies two big decal sheets, one for the livery and one for the carbon fiber. Also included with the kit are a set of paint masks for the glass.

 

[CDW]

With warm water and a couple of drops of Dawn dish washing liquid, into the sonic cleaner it goes for a nice bath.

[CDW]

After just 8 minutes in the sonic bath, the parts are cleaned, removed, given a rinse and left out to air dry.

 

My 1st cousin is celebrating his 95th birthday today. My wife and I are getting ready to make a two hour drive north to celebrate with him. If I get home in time, I will assemble the body parts and give it all a coat of Mr Surfacer 1500 black.

[CDW]

The body and its component parts got a good coat of Mr Surfacer 1500 black. Two panel parts were given a pink Surfacer. Tomorrow, all will give a light polish with 1500 grit sanding sponge and then begin painting the gloss black lacquer. The pink panels will be gloss red lacquer.

 

[CDW]

The lacquer is on, it’s very very black and very very glossy. An excellent canvas for all the livery decals yet to come. I will leave the body alone for a few days while I begin preparing other sub assemblies.

[Canute]

That deep black just eats up the lighting. The side panels are a black hole. 

[CDW]

32 minutes ago, Canute said:

That deep black just eats up the lighting. The side panels are a black hole. 

All this will change with the livery decals. Gotta be this way for now. 

[yvesvidal]

Craig, could you specify what kind of paints you are using? That glossy black is fabulous.

 

Yves

[CDW]

47 minutes ago, yvesvidal said:

Craig, could you specify what kind of paints you are using? That glossy black is fabulous.

 

Yves

This is Tamiya lacquer, LP1 mixed 50-50 with Leveling Thinner 400 for the first three coats. For the last coat, I add more Leveling Thinner 400 to the 50-50 mix, so that it's more like a 60-40 mix, 60% being Leveling thinner. That's where the glass smooth finish comes from, that very last highly reduced coat.

[CDW]

This particular model is an ocean of black, it's that way on the 1:1 car. With the interior now 90% built and painted (flat black), there is not a whole lot to see. Hopefully the plethora of decals will change that somewhat. if not, I may need to give it a little bit of help with some dry brushing in the cockpit area. But even the real car is very black as the photos I will attach can attest. All that carbon fiber gets replicated with decals from the sheet supplied in the kit.

 

The real car:

 

 

The model at this stage:

 

[DocRob]

Nice progress Craig. The paintjob looks pretty good. I use the same process for painting the gloss black Tamiya lacquer (and others). I don´t wait very long for the last coat. My thinking is, the high percentage of leveling thinner levels not only the last coat, but melts into the one before and evens everything. A guy, over on LSM claimed, that his last coat is sometimes pure leveling thinner. He learned that while airbrushing real cars. I haven´t tried that until now.
The blackness, well, I had difficulties with the semi flat black interior of the Cobra Coupe at times. It was hard to see, where to place the parts, especially those which were fitted with the body already mounted on the chassis.
I thought about the Meng Audi R8 as well, while there was a very good offer, but I can´t overcome my German background, where I always thought about Audi´s as the typical civil servant car . 

Cheers Rob

[CDW]

4 minutes ago, DocRob said:

Nice progress Craig. The paintjob looks pretty good. I use the same process for painting the gloss black Tamiya lacquer (and others). I don´t wait very long for the last coat. My thinking is, the high percentage of leveling thinner levels not only the last coat, but melts into the one before and evens everything. A guy, over on LSM claimed, that his last coat is sometimes pure leveling thinner. He learned that while airbrushing real cars. I haven´t tried that until now.
The blackness, well, I had difficulties with the semi flat black interior of the Cobra Coupe at times. It was hard to see, where to place the parts, especially those which were fitted with the body already mounted on the chassis.
I thought about the Meng Audi R8 as well, while there was a very good offer, but I can´t overcome my German background, where I always thought about Audi´s as the typical civil servant car . 

Cheers Rob

Your thoughts about the civil servant car are humorous. I can imagine how that could influence the way one looks at a particular car for a lifetime.

I like your analysis of the thinner to paint/pigment ratio and agree the leveling thinner does just that, it helps to level the pigment and carrier for a smooth finish.

[CDW]

I started off using Tamiya Markfit strong as my decal solvent for the dash carbon fiber decals. Since then, have moved to Solvaset as there seemed to be some stubborn areas in the decals that needed to settle down, a stronger solution needed. There are no less than eight separate decal pieces that make up the dash and instrument clusters. The first full color decal was used on the spoiler. It seems to be setting up well with the Markfit strong solution. So far so good, but time consuming.

[DocRob]

Looking good Craig, I found a hairdryer very helpful to lay down unruly decals. Makes the process much faster. It´s especially helpful with overlapping carbon fiber decals.

Cheers Rob

[CDW]

4 hours ago, DocRob said:

Looking good Craig, I found a hairdryer very helpful to lay down unruly decals. Makes the process much faster. It´s especially helpful with overlapping carbon fiber decals.

Cheers Rob

I keep forgetting to try the hairdryer. Thanks for reminding me. I’m going to give it a try.

[CDW]

Still working on the cockpit and adding a few details. The engine is rather simple and not a whole lot of it will be seen inside the finished model, except what will be visible through the rear glass.

 

[Danstream]

The carbon fiber panels look perfectly laid down.

Dan

[CDW]

Staying well within my twenty day window to complete this model. Tomorrow will mark one week since project began. Should be able to finish it within the next week, ahead of schedule. This is good because the Testa Rossa needs extra time beyond the twenty days.

[CDW]

The model is now ready for final assembly and decals. All the paint work is done. With any luck, this one could be finished Monday, maybe sooner.

I will plan to take the final photos outside. Too much black, it needs a lot of light to get better photos (I think?).

Edited April 12 by CDW

[DocRob]

Looks great, Craig. I´d like to see some outdoor photos. I´m actually waiting for some better weather myself, to take some outdoor shots with the Honda and Cobra Coupe. No luck so far, it rains and rains. Have I mentioned that spring is the worst time of the year on the islands of eternal spring .
 

Cheers Rob

[CDW]

This represents about 40% of the decals placed to complete this model. Thanks to the tip provided by Doc Rob about using the hair dryer to soften and improve flexibility of the decals, the job of placing them was much easier than it would have been without using the hair dryer. 

Edited April 13 by CDW

[DocRob]

De nada Craig, it helped a lot on some of my projects, mainly the carbon fiber decals on my McLaren MP 4/6 and on numerous Wingnut Wings WW1 planes, which got plastered in decals, like the huge AEG G.IV. 
Your decal job looks fantastic, all snuggled down nicely. You chose the best looking livery out of the four available.

Cheers Rob

[CDW]

In the photo, there is an acrylic paint marker shown. It came in a set of 24 colors from Amazon for less than $9, delivered. Since buying the set, they have come in handy many times for touching up or painting small parts rather than dragging out a jar of paint and a paint brush. For me, the fine tip gives better control for painting or touching up.

[CDW]

Finished

 

 

[Canute]

Sweet ride, Craig. Very nicely done. 👍

[CDW]

1 minute ago, Canute said:

Sweet ride, Craig. Very nicely done. 👍

Thanks Ken. it was a quickie.

[yvesvidal]

That is a badass car, for sure. Great model, Craig.

 

Yves

[DocRob]

That was fast Craig and looks top shelf as well. I guess, decaling took about half the time.

Cheers Rob

[CDW]

41 minutes ago, yvesvidal said:

That is a badass car, for sure. Great model, Craig.

 

Yves

 

30 minutes ago, DocRob said:

That was fast Craig and looks top shelf as well. I guess, decaling took about half the time.

Cheers Rob

Thanks for the kind words.

I guess there were about 15 hours spent on the decals alone. Decals were very good. Modern tooling, the fit was very good, so the building time was minimal. Probably 15 hours on the painting, too.