LEXUS IS 350 (Fujimi 1/24) Work in progress #2

Hi,

Some of my friends asked me in person, "what paints and thinner did you use actually?"

These are the all casts for Lexus body painting.

I called the thinner "Retarder Mild" in the last post but that was wrong, sorry. It was "Mr. Color Leveling Thinner". That's the special thinner for airbrush which provides us smooth surface. "Retarder Mild" was the additive to normal lacquer thinner; if the "Retarder Mild" was added to lacquer thinner, it works the same as "Leveling Thinner", actually.

This is the picture after Super Clear applied. I can say the sanding or polishing are almost not needed (actually I will).

The gross on the bonnet is not enough, but on the fender or around the head lights are almost perfect, 'cause I made the airbrush "stay" fairly long (You could say I should have done the same thing on the bonnet. Yes, I should). I should have applied more clear at the same time on the bonnet to save my time to polish. But I also know, this "Orange peel" would disappear once some sanding process were taken place.

Side body also shows almost perfect shine. Muum, I should have used this method on last GTO, I don't know why I didn't trust my good-old method.

Now I am looking forward to the next process; sanding and polishing.

Have a good night (or good day, good evening!; Thanks for visiting from all over the world)  

LEXUS IS 350 (Fujimi 1/24) Work in progress #1

Hi all,

I've started my rehabilitation. I choose Fujimi's LEXUS IS350 (1/24), because....
1, I've heard lots of good reputation; great on styling, good parts fitting, etc
2, Engineless easy kit= I can try several thing on painting of body
3, I like this car, but not too much= I can stop doing too much (I feel sorry about this to owners of IS 350 or IS 250)
4, Overall, I thought this is the best for now for my rehabilitation (I got ill doing too much on the last one; 288GTO full open).

Package:

It says "Inch-up" series #18, but ironically you can see the wheels seem to be "Inch-downed"(I sort of like that balance, though.

What's included in the box

 ...Every part has fine and sharp molds, I felt like I was looking at Tamiya's kit.

Dry fitting. Front and rear bumpers, side skirts... everything showed perfect fits!! I really doubt like "Is this really Fujimi's job???". Some say the tires and wheels are small, but I like this balance. I like the height, too. Amazing thing was, there needed no adjustments!!!

Front grills also shows perfect fits. Window part as well.... Oh, I am really confused, am I really working on Fujimi's kit...??! Anyway, this is perfect for my rehab.

First sanding with #800. Some dents were found, but still not so deep so that easily I could sand off.

This time I'll try something new (or, back to my basic). To examine the painting and polishing scheme, I airbrushed GSI Creos (Gunze Sangyo) Super Clear (lacquer based paint), thinned with Retarder Mild (Super Clear 1: Retarder Mild 2).  After drying for 3 days, I sanded with #1500, #2000, #3000, #4000 sanding papers, then polished with Tamiya's Course Compound, Fine Compound, Finishing Compound. I am so happy with this smooth gross. Since I was using only GSI Creos's paints and was only happy with results (such as 246GTS, 427 Cobra), now I decided to use them again.

 Then the body color was airbrushed. GSI Creos's Metal Black 70%+ GSI Creos's Super Italian Red 30% = Dark Brown Metallic. I couldn't take good pictures though, this color seems better to my eyes than this picture! I'll wait for 3 days, then I'll apply some clear coat (with Super Clear).

 During waiting for the body paint dries, just quickly proceed to chassis. Since I would never see the chassis from the bottom after completing this Lexsus, I airbrushed silver on certain places...

Then airbrushed flat black around the silver, even without masking. It's enough, even I thought I didn't need to paint the chassis (I couldn't be that too lazy). I believe I would do the same thing on these kind of easy kits.

Quickly move to wheels and tires. Still, it shows perfect fits, I don't even need to cut the back rims out...! The plating were taken off by soaking in the breach (I used White King, thinned with the same amount of water).  Then I found these wheels had nice colors themselves!! I don't even paint the wheels (maybe).

That's all for today, I reckon I'll finish this work very soon (I would take only about 10 hours to finish, I believe!!). I am sure I am having fun....:)

Have a nice day!

Some detail photos of GTO

Some of my friends told me they want to see detailed photos.
Here are some:)

 Sorry, dusting was not enough....

That's all I can show you so far. I took hundreds of photos but most of all were crap ;)

See you next time!

Ferrari 288GTO 1/24 Completed (my second 288GTO; Full Opening)

My second 288GTO.

Since I made the last one, I found some errors on it such as too fat shape, lack of the numbers of louvers on the front light section, wrong appearance on rear section, too big rear combination lamps ..... and so on. So I made up my mind not only to revenge but also to make "one and only GTO (for me) in the world"...
But after a while the aim was too high, I realized.    
I'd spent too much time and concentration, the more I proceed the more feared to fail I became... Finally I decided just to finish these complicated works and go on to the next project.

But now I found, completing a work gives me a great satisfaction anyway;)

Now I fairly feel good and I would like to share some photos.

I don't really know how I could upload short movie, but just trying...

Ok, now it's time to move on to another project (or, fishing??)