LEXUS IS 350 (Fujimi 1/24) Work in progress #6

Hi all, .... Oh? Did I post yesterday too?? It's miracle!! Anyway, don't stop posting for today's updates.

 One more thing to do on front axle. Normal setting of this kit was a bit too toe-in. I wouldn't like my Lexus's tires worn out quickly:)  So I cut the link shaft and re-jointed in a plastic pipe. Now the alinement looks good. The pipe was painted in flat black later.
  

 Then covered by this part. Actually I can't see anything under this panel so I didn't need to paint that pipe...? BTW, this cover part showed "Ultra-fit" between the body and chassis, so I recommend you to fit this part after docking the body and chassis to make their docking easier. I happened to do so (I did all the suspension, wheels and tires after docking them because I wanted to hold the chassis surely when docking to the body. Also it was good to adjust the balance between the body and the wheels. 

The final polishing has been held with Tamiya's finishing compound. I tried to do this after attaching almost everything to the body, because I would touch the body too many times so that bunch of fine scratches would be made. This trial went so well, I could skip one polishing process so I could prevent cutting through the clear coat.

 Roof antenna(?) was attached with Konishi's Aquli-Anchor (clear bond). I couldn't manage to make it clean, but I could wipe the excess with enamel thinner.

 Now the exhausts (the center was drilled) and metal logos were attached. Wow, I can't help smiling!! Looking cool!! Best thanks to my best hobby friend Denith, who gave me those logos for free!!! I like your "real" IS 250 in gun-metal too!!!

Fujimi's genuine chromed mirror parts shows good reflection, too. I set 0.5mm plastic rod in the mirror stay, and same 0.5mm hole were drilled on the body side, then used the clear bond. It's stress free when I use the clear bond, no need to worry about harming the body paint!!

That's all so far, I'll treat the number plates soon, and upload this lovely one on the gallery!!
OMG, this progress is only #6!! I spent until #33 on the last crazy GTO. It's soooo relaxing! 

See you soon, hopefully ;)

LEXUS IS 350 (Fujimi 1/24) Work in progress #5

Hi all, there were some progress on my lovely Lexus :)

Before docking the body and chassis, these hoes were needed to be drilled.

This is backside. Using very small nuts and bolts; they are actually for the glasses, about 1mm thickness.

Nuts were fixed onto the chassis with CA glue. Now it is ready to attach to the base. But for now I'll leave this until finishing all the works.

One more thing to do before docking the body and chassis. I attached the black tape (insulating tape) on the bottom of the rear window 'cause I could see through the inside body from the gap. I can't leave it if there were any gaps between the body and windows which the real car doesn't have.

 Now docked and the wheels were test fitted.

Muhhh.....? I can say the wheels look a bit small now. It's a kind of fair seeing the pictures, but if I actually have a look with my eyes, still... yes, they were small.

Then I tried to "inch-up"... oh, this was what FUJIMI meant!!! (It's not, as you knew)
I applied 0.25mm plastic paper, 2 layers. This was, 1mm-up for the 1/24 wheel, meaning about 1 inch up. 

 Slightly inched-up.

 Then applied silver paint for the test fitting, please ignore the rough surfaces on the wheel rims.

 It was fairly looking... fair. But I felt it still plain.

Then I tried this. Looking super cool!!!

To fit Aoshima's wheel to Fujimi's kit, I needed to slim the axle.

 ...Still showed the negative camber, also the height of the body was a bit high. 

I found the wheel rim was hitting to the shock spring. It's a bit rough solution but I scraped the spring. Don't care what we can't see...lol. And, top of the shock absorber were 1mm cut off to low down. I attached 1mm cut plastic pipe to the lower arm to fit the low-downed shock.

 To fit to Aoshima's loose hole (I can say Fujimi's pin is too skinny, anyway they were from other makes), I simply attached slender masking tape.

 Now it's good! Centre gold parts were re-painted in Tamiya's enamel Gold Leaf (X-12? as I remembered) 'cause the original surface was a bit rough.

There was no need to adjust the height or width on rear ones. 

That's the progress so far, thanks for watching!!! Have a good nite... zzzz

LEXUS IS 350 (Fujimi 1/24) Work in progress #4

Hi all, sorry again I was away so long... You know, it was Christmas time.

But now I'm almost there with my lovely Lexus. Let's post for today.

I masked and black out the rims of the windows.

Then tried to apply the Mirror Finish (Hasegawa's) on edges. From distance, it seemed fairly ok...

But I could see it was not clean enough from near. I found I couldn't do any better so...

Peel the Mirror Finish off and masked again. This pic shows how I mask the curved edges. I make skinny masking tape by cutting, then it becomes easy to apply to the curved lines (if the curve is sharp, I apply the wide tape on body then cut with design knife; as you can see on the right).

Then use wide tapes to cover other areas. Then I would apply cling wraps to the lest of the part.

This time I used this good one on the moles.

Now I'm confident with masking.

I'm happy with this brilliant finish, too. Actually the real car has black moles inside (window side), but I think this is clean enough and fairly looking good as a scale model.

Another problem came up. The masking tapes left the marks on body paint. I heard someone said "using leveling thinner, the paint never dries so the mark would be left", now it is verified... lol.

So I again clear coated (using normal lacquer thinner) and polished.... Though it was good to protect the silver window moles.
To prevent the fade of the gross on silver moles, I managed to apply the clear coat from far (20-30cm away from body) and made mat finish firstly, then after looking the silver paint being protected finely, I applied more coat then polished (like clear coating on the decals).

Just some metal files were used on the back of this plated part to fit to the body. Looking good overall.

To attach the clear parts, I use this method. Masking tape on tip.

Then use just a little bit of clear bond (Konishi's Aquri-Anchor). This glue is good, 'cause it's easily wiped off by tooth pic or enamel thinner without harming the body paint.

I reckon the rear combi looks somehow too brilliant as if it's turned on, but still it's fair. It was already in clear red, so I surrender to replicate "clear orange" part.

 That's all for today, have a nice Monday!! I'll go to bed.... ;)