I created this blog because I could not find the kind of tutorials I needed for some models and miniatures I wanted to build. I hope it will be a useful source of information for anyone who may experience the same lack of first-hand, step-by-step reports.
I am not an expert by any means, so feel free to comment my posts or to contact me to share your advice.

Tuesday 4 September 2007

Yellow stripes

I am close to finishing the tests I wanted to make with the Europa body. I have sprayed two stripes of yellow paint, one one the hood and the other one on the roof. The green paint was applied with a masking tape in place of the stripe, then I peeled the tape to mask the borders of the stripe. All went well as I sprayed the yellow and the end product is not that bad. There are thickness variations at the borders of the stripes, but they level pretty well after sanding with 1500 grade paper. The peeling is a trouble-free operation, paint does not stick to the tape and there is no glue marks on the masked area thanks to the Tamiya product. However, I should have taken a greater care of the various shapes to wrap as paint managed to slip under the tape in small volumes. I guess the unwanted paint could be scraped to leave only the green visible but I did not bother with that.

I took advantage of this operation to make a full polishing and waxing of the roof and the hood, but I am disappointed by the result. The whole areas were sanded with 1500 and 2000 grade paper before rubbing the 3M compound but I have nasty reflections of light. It feels almost as if the lone waxing of the paint in its original state would have given a better shine. I wonder how to correct this for the Lotus 49. I will do another 2000 sanding + rubbing + waxing and see if that changes anything. Maybe I should use an intermediate grade between 1500 and 2000?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good for people to know.