Tamiya Aston Martin DBS - Complete

In the end I think you did a nice job on the DBS. Painting cars is very hard work even in the real world where they are so much bigger, when you scale that down any small mark looks huge.

We are all constantly learning with this hobby and the main thing is if your happy with it

Phil

Cheers Duster.

Hapy new year to you and the rest of the community too.

Well done Dave. Your experiences have prepared me for a "reality check” when I get to painting my first (in a long time) vehicle. I guess I'll have to develop some extra patience toward  getting an acceptable finish; Heck,  who am I kidding? Any finish that doesn’t have runs and thin spots likely will be “acceptable” to this modeler

Happy New Year to you and yours

Thanks Greg. 

I was pleased with the colour and am impressed with Zero Paints. Just need to practice a bit more on the polishing.

The Tamiya kits are very nice to work with. Just started another for the Santa GB.

Thanks for sharing this project, Dave.

Nice looking kit, I liked your choice of British Racing Green (perhaps my favorite colour of all time), you did a nice job and was fun watching it come together.

It's been about 46 years far as I can figure since I've built a Tamiya 4-wheeled vehicle and I used to enjoy them very much. You may have pushed me over the edge to procure one, so thank you. I think.

TB, that's kind of what I had in mind re the gold. ;)

Thanks for the comments. Living in a one bedroom flat makes it hard to have room to take photos etc and I only have my phone camera. Also, kinda good to hide some of the details as I am not that satisfied with the finish.

However, I did take a few more with a box for a background so hopefully the quality is a little better:

Thanks

Dave

Well done, great color. How about a chassis pic? You may want to use more lighting, and add a white  background to the pics, details would come thru better. Just for a example:

tankerbuilder

Greg;

   Don't paint it gold . Foil the whole car in Gold ala " Goldfinger "    T.B.

 

That's not such a bad idea. I'm not totally happy with the finish and have learnt a few things while doing this. Mainly, paint and polish all the body parts as one to get an even finish.

Anyhow, I'm calling this one complete now. I didn't glue the bonnet down as it was broken in the box and missing a hinge so figured I would leave it so that it could be taken off to view the engine:

Thanks

Dave

Greg;

   Don't paint it gold . Foil the whole car in Gold ala " Goldfinger "    T.B.

Small update. 

My finest masking yet on clear windows:

Loving the metal transfer stickers:

Got some more body work done:

Thanks

Dave

Cheers Phil, will keep at it 

Dave

You just need to keep polishing. Dont forget that flat surfaces will always polish easier than curved ones and you have to take more time on a curved one or you can burn through the paint. It was suggested to me to work my was through the compounds and the grits one at a time, even down to using tooth paste at the end. Also remember you may need to use gloves to stop finger marks as even a little grease can affect the finish.

Car models can take a long while to get right but your on the right track its just a time thing.

Phil

Small update. Done some work on the interior:

And been at the body with a few coats of gloss and polish. Still more to do. I'm struggling at the moment to get the shine that I was hoping for, although the bonnet is much better than the body yet I used the same technique.

Thanks

Dave

Thanks Phil, that's very helpful. I was expecting the sanding and polishing stage to take some time but didn't appreciate the ratio.

Dave

I've only built one car so I'm no expert on this but personally I sanded before and after the gloss coat using all the grades I had at the time. I think I had up to 20000 grit. You have to be gentle with sanding at any grade as you just want smooth not to really take a lot of paint off. The main thing is to loose the orange peel you get with painting. A good light can help a lot and constant checking with the reflections.

With the alclad use light coats and keep the model moving. Think if it this way you can always add more you cant add less. You will also need to add enough so you can smooth it out with sanding.

The car I built was a copy of my sisters Mini, the paint work took a day to get down and about 4 to polish to give you an idea of how long it can take.

Phil

RudyOnWheels

Looking good, I really like the British green! All of the cars and trucks I have ever built were revell/monogram. I am going to try a higher quality kit like a tamiya, they look SOOOOO MUCH BETTER. 

Rudy

 

Thanks Rudy. The Tamiya kits are very nice and are great for beginners like myself.

P mitch

If your looking for a high shine once you have finished the polishing have a look at Alclad Aqua Gloss its a really high shine. Don't be scared of it but do practice it one something you dont mine making a mess with.

Phil

 

Thanks for the advice Phil. I did purchase the Micro Mesh kit (https://www.hiroboy.com/Micromesh_Polishing_Craft_Kit__MSCraftKit--product--441.html) and some model wax polish (https://www.hiroboy.com/Model_Wax_Polish__60g__ZP6004--product--3538.html). However, I am a little confused as to their application. Once I primed the body I did sand it down using 3600 and 4000 before then applying the base coat. However, are you supposed to further sand the body using the less coarser grits prior to a gloss coat or after?

I am assuming the wax will be applied after the gloss coat? Also, would decals go on prior to a wax and then add some clear to seal it in?

Any answers to the above would be much appreciated.

Oh yeah, had my first major mishap yesterday. Was applying a gloss coat to the body (using Mr Hobby Gloss in a can) and it was starting to look pretty good. Figured I would do one more coat before popping out and picked up the wrong can, ended up spraying primer over it. Had to sand it down and in the process of applying more of the base coat.

Dave

If your looking for a high shine once you have finished the polishing have a look at Alclad Aqua Gloss its a really high shine. Don't be scared of it but do practice it one something you dont mine making a mess with.

Phil

Looking good, I really like the British green! All of the cars and trucks I have ever built were revell/monogram. I am going to try a higher quality kit like a tamiya, they look SOOOOO MUCH BETTER. 

Rudy

Finished the under carriage:

And got the base coat down for the body:

Next is polishing the body. I'm gonna try and get a high gloss shine on this one.

Finally, a little test fit to see how it's looking:

Got the body primed and sanded ready for the first light coat of BRG:

Decided that a Tan interior would look pretty good with the BRG:

Finally, the wheels:

Not much done in the last few days, but I did more work chassis:

Fitted the engine and tried a little test fit to see how it looked:

I also asked the missus for some ideas on colour and the first colour she mentioned was green. So showed her British Racing Green and she concurred. So paint ordered and that is the colour it will be. Now all I have to do is try to achieve a good gloss shine.

I've decided to try and take my time with this build as it is such a nice kit and car that I would like to do it some justice.

So while it may not look like much, the following is the result of 3 days effort.

Finished the front uprights:

and dry fitted the front suspension, no glue yet:

Then started on the engine:

This kit comes with Metal stickers, a first for me. I have to say, the effect is great. However, I did manage to stick the V12 sticker in the wrong place and spent half an hour getting it off and into the right place. Not much fun and it is a little off centre now but the best I could do.

Another dry fit to see how it looks:

And finally, started on the chassi undersurface. Still a lot more detail to go here but quite happy with how it is looking so far:

Might need to put another coat of black down.

Comments and critiscms welcome.

Dave

Greg

 

 

djjeavons

Thanks for the feedback. Still debating on colour, was toying with a silver finish but will give it some more thought.

 

 

 

 

Maybe add an ejection seat hatch in the roof and paint it gold?

 

Now theres an idea :)

djjeavons

Thanks for the feedback. Still debating on colour, was toying with a silver finish but will give it some more thought.

 

Maybe add an ejection seat hatch in the roof and paint it gold?

Thanks for the feedback. Still debating on colour, was toying with a silver finish but will give it some more thought.

Great kit. It's full of detail but not too difficult to build. British racing green is a nice choice for an exterior color.

I didn't know about the detail up set until you just mentioned it. Had a quick look on Hiroboy and yes, does look a bit daunting but excellent detail. 

Unfortunately, I don't have the skills or tools yet to tackle anything much other than OOB builds but this will change.