This is my first car model and about the 4th or 5th model ever built. A friend bought this kit, painted the body and hood with a spray can, messed it up and gave up on it. I stripped the paint (during which some of the body detail was lost and other damage occured) and re-did it for him.
I know there are a number of flaws and things that could have been improved, but I got tired of this model and decided to not mess with it anymore (the more I messed with it, the more I screwed things up). Let me know what you think!

Your 4th or 5th model, your 1st car, and you resurrected it from the dead!?
Good job! Looks great. I don’t see any blaring errors. Nothing jumps out.

How did you strip the paint? I’ve heard Easy-Off Oven Cleaner will work and not harm the plastic.

What’s your next kit gonna be?

Keep up the good work.

Sorry if I don't believe you that this is your 5th or 6th model!!! Of course I am just joking, but believe me my 5th or 6th model didn't look as good as your's does!!

Good overall apperance, very cleanly done! Something you might want to consider, for this model or others down the road, is darkening the panel lines and things like that. Cause if you look at a real car you can tell where the different panels come together, it looks like a thin black line. Most models, this one included, has molded detail that you could darken through either a dark wash, black paint marker, or pre-shading before you paint the car.

Something else I noticed are the tires - they look plastic. Again on a real car they will be a flat, dark grey or satin at best.

Chrome details on models rarely look like the real thing. One thing you can do there is wash it with a dark wash to pick out the highlights, which gives the piece a sense of depth.

I hope you don't take offense, I'm not being picky it is just some of those things I've seen others do, which I have done on my models. These basic things pull a model into something more than put together pieces of plastic.

Again very well done!! Keep it coming and enjoy!!

Thank you very much for your replies, guys. Yes, this is actually my 5th model. I've built 3 submarines and one plane before this. I will stick to ships and planes from now on, but this was a nice model to gain some experience.

The paint he used was spray can black enamel and he had some serious overspray some places. I initially tried to sand it out, but that ended up ruining other details and it was a PITA. Then I used lacquer/enamel thinner and a toothbrush. I also used 91% alcohol. Alcohol is good for cleaning up after the above but normally isn't strong enough to cut through some thicker paint deposits.

The problem with lacquer/enamel thinner is that it softens the plastic and so the hood ended up braking in about 4-5 places (I hate that damn hood!) and the body of the car in about 6 places (mainly thinner details such as top pillars and rear side where the tail lights went in.

I have since purchased some Gunze Sangyo paint stripping fluid but I have not tried it yet.

Now as far as darkened lines, I have successfully used this technique on my previous model (pardon the canopy):



but I know my friend doesn't really like weathered stuff, although now I realize that I could have done it and he wouldn't even notice it since this is technically not weathering, but accenting some lines. So that's something to keep in mind if I decide to build another car in the future. Another issue was that the lines were not that deep anymore after tons of primer and such (to fix flaws from stripping/sanding) and from my limited experience, washes tend to flow better in slightly deeper lines.

As for the tires, I actually have a Gunze Sangyo flat "Tire" acrylic bottle that I could have sprayed them with, but I did not think of it....

I think the only reason I've made progress with my few models is that I've SERIOUSLY developed my patience with this hobby so I took the time with them, but apparently I didn't take enough to notice these other smaller details. I do very much appreciate all your comments and criticism as this is the only way I've learned how to build these things.

My next kit is another german u-boat, an XXI 1/144 scale, although I *might* build another car for him for next new year's (I swore this was the last car I was going to build but he told me he's gonna make him build a 'Cuda too ).

Thanks again for all the comments!

PLEASE do another car!! Looking at your building thus far you have a natural talent for this. It would be a shame to only use it on - gulp- boat models

I probably will, especially since I used to do a lot of 1:1 stuff.



This is my old '94 Z28 that I have sold not too long ago. Putting one together on a desk is much cleaner, safer and more enjoyable for me at the moment.

PS. By the way, perfect weathering example.

Now I know where you have honed your talent!! Yes, that is a great pic to use for weathering an engine!!!

Very nice resurection.
The paint is nice, I love the tail lights and doors, the whole back end is nice the way it transitions from red to white.
The wheels/tires are what they are - production plastic wheels/tires. Not a ton you can do unless you go After Market (that I know about).

One thing I would like to see is a bit of 'plumbing' on the engine. A battery wire, or spark plug wires would really 'jaz' it up a ton. Not that it's not finished or something to be proud of, just something to consider.

I like it overall.