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.... ;)