I spent the last week continuing the process of finishing the two part shell now that the decaling has been completed. I gave the decals a good 72 hrs to fully dry and cure. The next step was to clear coat the entire body.
I've resisted the move to any of the 2K Urethane systems, as being old school I still prefer to shoot clear gloss lacquer. My preferred clear is Mr. Hobby's Mr.Color lacquer clear #46. Unfortunately, it only comes in 10ml bottles, so I try to stock pile it, as it's not always the easiest clear to get when I need it. I thin it with Mr. Hobby's Mr. Color #400 leveling lacquer thinner @ a 2:3 ratio. I air brush this at a flow rate of 20 psi. My usual method is two tack coats, then three wet coats with 10 min between wet coats. The leveling thinner really does an amazing job.
I let the clear coat dry and cure for 72 hours, then I start the polishing out of the clear coat.
1-Lightly rubbing out the clear for a smooth surface with Tamiya #3,000 sponge wet.
2- Next comes the Gravity 3 part polishing system from course to fine.
3- And finally the Gravity Carnauba wax. I'll leave a 2nd coat for when the build is finally finished.
Here's a few pictures greater then 1:1. Notice the smoothness and shine of the paint. To say the least, I'm more then satisfied.
I've also started to mask the inside of the front and side plexiglass windows. Here's the main windscreen masked on the inside with Tamiya curvable tape then filled in with Tamiya 10mm tape. I'm still trying to figure out how to go about doing the side windows.
Joel