Porsche 550 Spyder - WiP
Okay gents and ladies, let's see what we got...
A nicely cast body and underbody
Being a resin kit the number of parts is not too overwhelming. But then again, the quality seems to be very nice at the first glance, I do not see any air bubbles whatsoever
There is a nice mix of materials as well, we have rubber tires, two PE plates, some metal parts, decals, some seatbelt fabric and "glass" parts from clear resin
First step is drilling open these holes
The skin is very thin, first I removed some material with the knife and proceeded with a grinding bit
It's a part of the inner body structure
Cleaning and fitting the exaust parts. The material is beautifully malleable, and not too brittle
Second PE plate
Vacuform windshields, two variants
Everything packed in this neat little box
Let's not forget the instruction booklet
Which presents beautiful 3D drawings in color and leaves no room for error
When working with PE parts I like to clean them with a fiber glass eraser. Removes the oxide layers and roughens up the surface for better paint adhesion.
Let's work on the body. This part of the structure with the dashboard has to be glued in before painting.
It was probably easier this way to recreate all the beautiful detail inside when making the resin mold prototypes
Which means for the model maker this nasty gap has to disapper (except for the gap between the body and the door)
First step adjusting the part as evenly as possible and fixing it with super glue
Despite all adjustment efforts there is a nasty step in the surface which has to be evened out
Much better
I like to use makeshift sanding sticks for this purpose which I created by glueing popsicle or coffee stirring sticks with double sided tape to sanding paper and cutting them out
Now the surface is flush, we need to fill the remaining gaps. To prevernt the seam from showing later on I carved a groove with a dremel tool
A good quality super glue is a fantastic gap filler and putty material which is often overlooked. I does not sink in after curing and bonds unsurprisingly very strongly to the surface
There is a beautiful seamless transition after sanding
You can check for holes by holding the surface against the light
Incidentally I noticed some very thin areas in the casting. It was so thin there were holes in the hood gap. I reinforced it from the inside with super glue + filler powder
Some suspension detail
Steel rims look also very good with some fine detail
Etched parts are very finely done like this "Spyder" logotype
There are recessions on the body where the hood straps are supposed to go
USCP placed them a little far on the outside to my liking
So I decided to get rid of them completely, the etched parts for the straps can be applied without them
I can't emphasize enough how well super glue works as filler material, it is very quick to dry, does not sink in after sanding and the transition is very smooth
Primer time! I use 2K 4:1 acrylic filler. Used for "real" car paintjobs. Fast to dry, solvent resistant after curing, great adhesion. Fantastic material to work with.
The gap between the dashboard part and the body is no more. Looks like a uniform surface
That is the setup. Primed the lower body and some accessory stuff which is bound to be body color as well
As mentioned above, the door panel line has to be reconstructed
Missed a little hole while preparing the body. Will be filled with a tiny drop of thick primer
Other than that very happy with the surface!
Painting time! This is not the "original" German Racing Silver most of the Spyders were painted with but I decided not to overthink the issue.
It is silver, it is from Porsche, good enough! I order my paints from eBay, this is automotive lacquer. Same stuff what you get from Zero Paints but much cheaper. And they have basically an unlimited shelf life.
Just add 50% lacquer thinner so it will go through a 0,4mm nozzle. I am not affiliated with those companies btw. just showing what I use.
I started with the lower body and some small parts just to see how the paint looks and behaves, silver can be very tricky! Two wet coats, followed by a last mist coat (important if you are painting metallic paints) Gives the surface a much more uniform and silky look.
Clear, 2K, again from eBay, again basically the same stuff as Zero Paints. I am using this 1L jug for several years now, still good.
Two wet coats with 10 mins drying time inbetween. That`s it.
The inside door panels, the mirror hull and the engine lid handle were painted as well
24 hours have elapsed, the paint is dry. The Silver looks.....well silvery?
Silvery and shiny, will look good on the rest too, but before we paint the body we have to take care of a couple of things
The window is held in place by this etched frame which is conveniently equipped with screwholes. I wonder what we could use to attach it, hmmm....
My new favourite little helper of course! Little 3D printed screws by Decalcas
Because glue is for casuals right?
The door gap is restored with Tamiyas bendy tape and also Tamiyas obscenely expensive engraving tool
That`s better, but not that James Dean would need a door to enter his little silver pocket rocket
Now I will tell you about the most important and crucial step when painting Silver
It is not the paint you apply nor the airbrush or nozzle size you use, neither of these. It is SURFACE PREPARATION. I cannot stress it enough, the surface has to be FLAWLESS because silver is merciless and will show every little scratch you missed.
Hold the body against the light at all angles, work with soft sponges (Tamiya 2000-3000 grit) Even finer sponges if you have (3M or Mirka)
The painting process is the same, two wet coats, followed by a dry mist coat
Two wet layers of clear with 10 minutes drying time inbetween
Work fast, we want as little exposure to the dusty air as possible
The second layer of clear brings that thick greasy shine
Fitting suspension parts before painting, looking good..
A batch of soon to be black and metallic parts ready to receive some paint
Out of nowhere this happy fella appeared
Turned out to be some headlight reflectors, a fuel filler cap, a handbrake handle with some nice PE parts and a window frame
Anyway, before the actual paint the parts receive a coat of primer. Important, especially for resin parts. This is my medium of choice, fast drying and comes in a variety of colors. I use the smaller dripping bottles for my paints for easier paint handling and airbrush filling
Rim detail
Brake drum
My painting booth, exhaust leads out of the window (no neighbors complainerd yet)
Even when painting with a booth, I additionally operate this air cleaner. Especially in a tiny room like mine I think it does not hurt and doesn`t cost a lot.
When choosing my metal shade I consult my reference card which I made myself, every shade of metal on a grey and black background. Really useful
This is the prime candidate for the rims, brakes and exaust
The exhaust parts received additionally some color variation with heat discoloration etc.
Our happy fella or what is left of him received a thick layer of 2K clear and immediately after a treatment with Alclad 2 chrome. Had the idea of spraying a fine mist of Chrome directly on the wet sticky clear for better adhesion, we`ll see in a couple of days if it worked or not..
Steering wheel parts, looking good except the turn signal switch which is too flat to my liking
The gap between the plates was filled with UV glue to give the center hub a solid uniform appearance
Found a little chrome ring in an other PE set which serves as a decorative element for the center hub cap. The wheel itself was painted in a glossy ivory color, mixed Tamiya X-2 and XF-15 30:1
The ring itself serves as a border for the black paint
Decal on top, a dporlet of UV glue in the middle
Couldn`t resist!
USCP suggests painting the footrest area black
Seems to be some kind of a carpet in the footrest area. Not sure if all 550s had this back then, probably not. Mine will!
So, instead of using paint I had a different idea in mind
Found this leftover material, probably from my Pocher Lamborghini kit
It is self-adhesive, it is fuzzy. Perfect carpet material!
The Photoetch parts do oxidize quite a bit overtime, left one is cleaned up
Again, for the cleaning and before painting PE in general I use a fiberglass eraser pen
To prevent further oxidation in will coat the parts I want to remain silver with Mr. Metal primer.
The emblems on the other hand are a goldish color.
So I`ll leave them oxidize in peace!
Let`s tackle some interior. The kit seats, pretty but smooth
Found some detail pictures of a 550 online, hard to tell if this is the original upholstery or not but I wanted to recreate this look. Doesn`t look like leather grain, more like linen or sth.
Anyway, first I added some texture
applied some UV glue on a cotton rag..
...held it against the surface and pulled it off, which left an imprint with a textile texture
Mixed a beige shade from Tamiya acrylics which was treated with a dark brown wash (right) and a subtle dry brushing (left seat) afterwards
For dry brushing I started using oil pastels recently
The effect is very subtle and soft
The "back wall" was treated the same way
Anyway this is the result
Just some lovely variety in texture, colors and shades
The stick part of the gear stick was replaced with a metal rod, the knob is the same ivory color as the steering wheel and othe elements
The lovely PE pedals from the kit
A tiny droplet of, yes, UV glue on a metal rod
dipped in my interior ivory paint makes a great little turn signal lever
The body paint has cured for a week and ready for some finishing touch
There are almost no impurities to speak of
An occasional dust particle here and there, that`s it
In fact the paint job went so well I decided not to polish the whole body but just get rid of the dust specks
Why fixing it if it aint broken right?
The usual tools, 2000 grit wet sanding paper, 4000 Mirka soft pad
Rotary buffer, Tamiya compound. 20 minutes and it shines like a museum piece
Got inspired by my dentist
and if you are feeling overly confident with your progress and think you can smell the finish line disaster strikes....
I`ll spare you the details, let`s say I was "attempting" attaching the ventilation grilles using super glue and failed miserably
It`s bad mkay?
But the wallowing in self pity lasted approximately for two minutes, luckily just the engine hood needs a repaint, it can be conveniently masked off at the gap. So the damage was carefully sanded as smooth as possible
And another round of 2K filler applied
To end on a positive note, I was thinking for a long time how to paint the chrome ring of the little lights at the front and back.
They come in one part and masking was impractical because of the size
Then realized sometimes the best solutions are the simplest ones
I am using this jar for 20-25 years now? Model Master Chrome Silver, what a fantastic paint. Sadly out of production.
Dries a bit slow but the chrome effect is beautiful.
A small update on my little silver bastard. Long story short, ended up repainting the whole body.
First attempt was just to repaint the rear hood, but the shade of the silver paint ended up to be noticeably different to the rest of the body so I said screw it...
The paint layer is pretty thick now but still acceptable and it turned out even better than before! Now I`ll let it cure for a week or two and if there are no more mishaps the final assembly shouldn`t take too long.
Brake drums rear and front, details enhanced with a bit of a pinwash, paint and drybrushing
again, very lovely detail
Let's take off again where we last get stuck, the grills.
Oh man these things gave me some grief. But after a cursing and praying session they were finally attached
USCP provides the instruments in two version, European and US. Since I am biased towards the metric system, I'll take the left one.
The panel was glued to the foil first, which serves as a cutting guide. A bit of paint chipped away, but at this point it is just a little inconvenience
The tarp at the back was restored as well, decided to add some detail
There are these rivets which are holding it in place
Just adds a bit of crispyness to the model
Window frame in position, looking good. Time to tackle the window itself!
We are close to marrying these two 👍
Before tackling the windshield, let's make some safety precautions. USCP gave that some thought too.
Seems like a good spot!
Okay, let's talk about the elephant in the room, it is transparent and made from 0,25mm PET sheet.
A bit too thick to my liking. Anyway, the lower edge was marked from the inside to ease the cutting
Time to try out some new tools I acquired during my Japan trip!
Scribing tape placed on the lower edge of the marking to leave some wiggle room for corrections
The cutting was done with a Tamiya scriber and a 0,1mm blade, expensive but a great tool!
It took a while to cut it out and fit the glass to the frame with sanding, fitting and more sanding
I have to be honest with you guys I thought about taking the easy route and just glueing the damned thing to the frame but that would just be dishonest
I wanted to do this great kit justice
It was an epic 5 hour battle of cutting, trimming, sanding, drilling and cursing...
but in the end everything went as intended....
once again the lovely detail inside the cockpit tub before inserting the seats
For the chrome parts I initially sprayed Alclad 2 directly onto the wet 2K clear. Looked good initially, but they became dull since the clearcoat sunk in a little while it was curing
A quick sand and buff with a nail polishing file and another couple of rounds with Alclad 2 Chrome solved the problem...
Fuel filler cap is shiny again too
Fitting the wheels
Almost there! All the little emblems and badges remaining
Lights installed as well btw
Looking good
hood straps are provided as PE parts
first the "leather" is painted
Then the whole little sandwich is folded
lovely!
Meanwhile the chrome parts keep "busting my balls". I somehow managed to wipe off the plating off the headlights on the outside, here we go again
Last time hopefully?
To hold the tiny PE badges and emblems I use this kind of a tool, a gemstone picker. It is basically a wax pen. You can get them pretty cheap on eBay from China
To apply the parts and to prevent any kind of mess I use Micro Liquitape
The parts are firmly attached but still repositionable and can be reapplied if necessary. Any mess or excess glue can be wiped off with a wet toothpick
tiny droplet on the backside, let it dry until it is clear
Place it on the surface and gently apply some force with the flat end of the pen
Done!
Rear badge, spare wheel is peeking through the mesh
Found this unnamed decal sheet I think I purchased on eBay, anyway it had the Porsche badges in the correct size
Last emblems, again tiny amounts of glue were applied on the back side
No mess, great adhesion, correctable
A set of wheelcaps was provided in the kit too
But I am not entirely happy with my chrome application, I think I am going to redo it
评论
67 15 May, 11:09
TreehuggerQuestion for OP:
What brand might be selling vacuum formed clear parts? Seems like you found some as seen in photo #11. I've seen some for airplane/jet canopies, but none for cars, so I wouldn't know where to look.
3 June, 13:37
Alexander GrivonevHey Treehugger, the parts in the picture are part of the kit. But funny that you mention this topic because I actually dealt with this question myself recently. I finished two 964s earlier this year (Revell and Fujimi) and the clear parts in both kits were of very poor quality. Searched for aftermarket replacement and found nothing. So I decided to try myself at vacuforming and made the clear parts myself which turned out to be pretty decent (after countless tries and errors) I have not posted pictures of the builds yet but intend to, keep an eye open. You are right, there is definitely a lack of aftermarket windshields for cars...
3 June, 15:17
Alexander GrivonevAhem, let`s continue here shall we? Not that I was absent for three months or something...
6 September, 17:27
MarcelLooks very good so far, looking forward to the end result. Very interesting to read your notes.
11 September, 08:06
Alexander GrivonevThx mates, I hope my explanation is comprehensive, if not do ask!
11 September, 16:14
bughunterAlexander, I'm really sorry about this mishap!
They show us the difference between a normal modeller and a master modeller: mishaps happen to both, but with you there's nothing to see afterwards!
19 September, 17:33
Alexander GrivonevIf you only knew how many car models I had to repaint! I honestly think most of them, partly or in whole. It is a rarity a paintjob succeeds at the first try. I don`t even call them "mishaps". Just "happy little accidents" like Bob Ross 😄
19 September, 17:46
bughunterOh yes, the famous late night painting sessions on TV with the "happy little trees" 🙂 I was always fascinated by his work!
19 September, 18:19
Alexander GrivonevExactly, the lullaby channel😄 no, the guy was really great.
But on the topic of repaintings again, I actually counted the car models which are right now in my home. There are a total 16 on display and I had to redo the paintjob on 9 of them! Partly or in whole. So that is actually not the exception but the rule 👍
19 September, 18:29
bughunterAnyway, your car paint jobs here on SM are the reference for me, no kidding!
Thank you also very much for the detailed description about used paints, 2K stuff and thinners etc in your build logs 👍
Fortunately, I don't normally need such high-gloss finishes, but I have helped other modellers (no SM members - yet) several times by pointing them to your build reports.
Thank you very much, your documentation effort is highly appreciated!
19 September, 18:45
Mr DVery smart 👌 and neatly done 👍
Like your parts organiser, definitely on shopping list.
19 September, 20:05
Lorraine LinAlexander, fantastic work！Really like the painting jobs, the "leather" seats and car body. And the whole process is well documented, I leant a lot. Will add this page to my favorite, as I need to go through all these pictures before I build my next car. Thank you for sharing.
21 September, 10:54
Mr DThe wheel are so realistic 👍👍
Did they use the Rudge wheel...like in the gull-wing??
21 September, 15:53
Landlubber MikeWow, this is incredible! Thank you for sharing your techniques, I learned a lot!
22 September, 02:47
Alexander GrivonevLorraine, you are welcome!
Mr D, I must admit I had to google what "Rudge wheels" are. but it seems to be an own VW/Porsche design that differs from Rudge wheels. USCP sells them separately too.
Landlubber Mike, my pleasure!
22 September, 13:45
Alexander GrivonevBack from a short vacation, the paint has cured. Let's wrap this one up..
3 October, 06:06
Landlubber MikeThank you for showing how you attach the small PE (like name badges) on the body. I'm stuck on a couple of cars at the moment trying to figure out what to do as I was worried about using CA and causing the same issue you had with your grills. I'll have to pick up some of that Micro Liquitape.
11 October, 20:56
Alexander GrivonevThx guys! Mike, CA leaves absolutely no room for error, found this glue to be just perfect for the job.
12 October, 15:35
BozzerI gotta admit, I'm gonna have to get some of that Liquitape. It certainly does the job. I do however, wonder if it lasts? We've all glued bits back on, that have fell off our models, just from age alone? You would have to carefully replace it, so as not to upset the paint?
13 October, 00:20
Alexander GrivonevHey Bozzer, I first used this method on the 964 Carrera 2 I finished earlier this year:
Porsche 964 Carrera 2 *Velvet Red Metallic* | Album by Alex G. (1:24)
The "Carrera" emblem which is a PE part is firmly attached. If I wipe with my finger over it or even pick on it with my fingernail it doesn't move. Seems like the glue solidified over time and the bond became even stronger. My gut feeling tells me not to worry too much about the parts "falling off".
13 October, 07:38
SpanjaardI have a bottle of the product, never actually used it, always thought that it was just PVA glue in a much smaller bottle..... but certainly seems to work in this case
13 October, 09:46
Alexander GrivonevHi Spanjaard, it certainly smells like PVA. Cannot confirm if it is 1:1 the same though
13 October, 10:52
Album info
In my modeling career with 150+ finished models I have yet to complete a resin kit. I think I have found the right contender...
