Subaru BRZ (ZD8) - Work in progress

Martin Oostrom
Nice start. I think Alclad Copper needs a gloss black to work? In the pictures your body looks matte?

Edit: nope. Copper works on regular primer: alclad2.com/how-to/

Sam S
Copper should go fine on regular primer, chrome and polished alu requires a gloss base. Probably I'll anyway mess up something 😂

Sam S
Repainted the aft of the interior once more, there was still some mess left after the last sanding. Otherwise the interior and bottom is pretty much ready.

Will probably paint the body during the weekend, not yet sure what to do with the firewall… leave it copper or go to semi-gloss black 🤔

Jv
Very clean paint work
Sure to follow

Sam S
Thanks Jv! Slowly getting better at masking properly w/o leaking edges. After all I only have a bit over a month of airbrush experience and over 30 years since the last builds 😂

Now I'm pondering if I would dare to tint the rear windows with Tamiya smoke, would look really good but I'm a bit scared I'd f*ck it up…

Jv
Sure a butiful paint job I guess you can try tamiya smoke on something
else to practice first
How did you avoid leaking edges
Thanks for the like by the way

Sam S
Have to test smoke on a CD-cover or similar to see how it would work out 🤔 Actually clear blue could also look good…

Would say that patience is the key to less leaks 😂 Mask properly and be sure to "thighten" the critical seam, spray easy (less preasure and amount of paint) and avoid spraying towards the masking seam.

Jv
Thanks for the information
Yes cd cover or anything like that I would sure test on first

Martin Oostrom
You can tint the windows with Smoke. And if you f*** up, clean right away with thinner and try again.

Sam S
@Martin: I will do a test on some scrap first, would not like to have thinner close to the painted windshields if possible 😂

Sam S
Mandatory f*ck-up… The top-coat started reacting with the primer and messed up the surface. This despite several days of drying in between and going with 3 really thin layers in the start before two medium layers…

I'll let it sit for a couple of days and see if it would be enough to smooth the surface and add an new layer of Alclad on top. Worst case includes breaking fluid to go back to square one 😵‍💫

Martin Oostrom
That sucks

Sam S
Wet-sanded the body, mirrors and bonnet with 3000-grit. The surface looks good enough for a new try on the top-coat.

Martin Oostrom
I've seen a hammered effect before with older bottles

Sam S
Should not be old bottles, both the primer and top-coat should be fresh. I guess Vallejos primer is not fully compatible with Alcalad 🤔

Jv
Sad to hear about your problems Sam
But thanks for sharing all your experiences so we can all learn from it
And happy Xmas to all

Sam S
@Jv problems are a part of the journey 🙂 Happy to share all my mistakes and misshappenings, hope they can prevent someone from repeating them.

Merry X-max 🎄

Sam S
2nd try for the top-coat done, seems to be fine. Some dust on the surface, so a fine sanding/polish with 8000-grit might be needed before clear coating the body.

Martin Oostrom
She looks great!