Brabham BT45 by DocRob - Model Factory Hiro - 1/12 - multimedia

[DocRob]

Clear coating went very well. I used Zero Paints lacquer clear, which did a fantastic job on my Cobra Coupe. My approach is similar to the application of the base coat and it works for me. 
First, I spray a thin un-thinned layer, which dries very quickly with the help of the airbrush blow, to hinder the aggressive lacquers to attack the decals.
The second layer after about 15 minutes consists of about 25%-30% leveling thinner and is applied "wet"
After again 15 minutes of drying and leveling time, I applied the third layer, this time with 50%-60% of levelling thinner, this time very "wet".
The brief drying time leads to later layers "melting into the layers applied before and give a better surface. I may could push my luck with the application of pure leveling thinner as a fourth coat, but I fear running paint.
The result looks far better to the real eye than on the pictures, but I learnt through other builds, that´s always the case with high shine finishes.
Anyway, today or tomorrow I will slightly sand and polish the surfaces.

Cheers Rob

[kgstakes]

On 4/26/2025 at 9:43 AM, DocRob said:







 

From the looks of the parts it’s going to be a lot of time at the spray booth as well.

 

 Looking forward to the progress as you build this one!!

[DocRob]

9 hours ago, kgstakes said:

From the looks of the parts it’s going to be a lot of time at the spray booth as well.

 

 Looking forward to the progress as you build this one!!

Airbrushing is already done and didn´t take up much time. There are three sessions, first primer, than three coats of body paint and finally three coats of clear. The prep and polishing time exceeds the spraying time by far.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

There are few steps more rewarding in modeling than to finish a car body to a high shine surface. All the work going into took a while, but I love doing the polishing as a last step. I used Tamiya´s polishing compounds starting with coarse, then fine, followed by finish. I didn´t apply wax now, because there are still many parts to add to the body, so this will be kept to the finish.
The coarse polishing is by far the most important and also time consuming one to my eye, as you remove all the tiny imperfections, check against the light and continue until all looks good, always taking care not to polish through the clear coat.
I couldn´t resist a little workbench mock up.











Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

After all the body work, now it´s all about subassemblies and not to damage the polished body with scratches or CA fingerprints.

The polished tub went finally onto the floor pan and got screwed there permanently. I further added some details like the pedals.



The rear of the tub received the gas tank with all the needed attachments.



Then I finished the front suspension sans the steering. Most delicate were some turned pins and the intersecting tubes, which hold the nose in place later. There was a need for absolute precision, to prevent gaps from the monocoque to the nose part.



Cheers Rob

[Canute]

Love the precision. Your build is exquisite.

[king derelict]

Coming together beautifully Rob. The details on the kit are amazing.

alan

[DocRob]

2 hours ago, Canute said:

Love the precision. Your build is exquisite.

 

2 hours ago, king derelict said:

Coming together beautifully Rob. The details on the kit are amazing.

Thank you Ken and Alan, the build is time consuming, but a lot of fun. I like to do one or two steps in the manual at a time, preparing the needed parts and add them to the model. The detail is indeed fantastic, these kits are little marvels.

Cheers Rob