WARNING - I'm having trouble with my photo links. Clicking on a picture will get you an "Open or Save" prompt. I'm trying to figure out how to get rid of that. Links fixed, switched to Photobucket.
At this year's Mosquito Con, I won a car kit in the raffle. Tamiya's Porsche 911GT3. I'm not really into car models, so I was planning on offering it as a trade to my modeling buddies. But when I got home, my wife saw it and wanted me to build it for her. How could I refuse?
I finally finished some other projects and just started putting it together one day. I haven't done a car in probably 30 years (come to think of it, that was a Porsche too, my sister bought it for my 16th birthday as a joke).
It went together fairly quickly and easily. I didn't think to take WIP pictures, so I only have the finished shots. I decided to customize it with personalized plates for my wife (because she loves her little Pom baby) and PA inspection stickers (to keep it legal for the street). Those were just images I cobbled together and printed on a color laser printer on regular paper. I glued them on using clear Elmer's thinned with water. Then a clear coat over to seal them in.
I skimped on the detail painting of the undercarriage and interior. Partly because once sealed up you can't see it, and partly because I was having too much fun putting it together (I do have an inner Calvin that tends to slap things together quickly).
Exterior color of dark blue (as per my wife's request). Flaws in that painting (and the primer coat underneath) are probably what kept it from making the cut for a bronze award at Penn Con. Expected that going in, but I like to enter models to help support the club putting on the show, even if I think they won't place.
I was mostly pleased with the taillights and turn signals. I couldn't find any of the "clear" paint called for in the instructions, so I used regular enamel painted on the inside of the clear plastic. I think it turned out pretty good, the color is there, but the clear translucence isn't covered up by the paint. One problem that I didn't notice until after I glued them in place was the part of the taillight I didn't get painted because it was still attached to the sprue when I was painting.
Another flaw that you may be able to see in the pictures was the black trim around the windows. I painted that after I installed the windows and I should have painted that before. Then I would have had better control and hopefully done a better job.
Who knows, I may do another car again in the next 30 years.
So, here are a few pictures of the finished car:
Paul