The Paintshop: Subaru Impreza by MSC

Next on the "Paintshop section", one of the earliest models which served as test bench for... not running as it should, but for some advanced painting techniques.

While not the first ever, this Subaru was one of the first models where I used the previously presented washing technique. However, it was the first time I've ever applied it on a rather dark base color. Here's the result:

The idea of the "Bosch" livery was actually brought up by the use of the additional headlights... the thunders just came next to fill in.

The base color was painted using a non-modelism designed acrylic spray that actually is very kind on the plastic! It's brand is PECOL and the selected RAL is 5010.

As you can see, I always try to pay attention to detail when I paint my cars. I find this MSC production amazing, the level of detail is really very high, so I've tried to pay homage the best I could. It even crossed my mind to fully light up the car - no less that 8 leds were required for the front only! Maybe for another project...

I've started this post describing this model as a test bench for painting. Along with the now habitual washing to bring up the depth level of the model, this time I used another technique: glazing. This was used on the thunders, to avoid the direct contrast between the dark blue body color and the white/blue tone of the thunder. While this process is not strange to oil-based painting, using acrylic paints like I do limits the diffusion process between colors, as the paint dries up too quickly. This PDF illustrates just that.

I've started painting the thunders (listening to "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC - bad pun!) using Vallejo's "sky blue", then applying a 2/3 "sky blue", 1/3 white and just a small drop of glaze medium to paint over the blue thunder (another bad pun?). The glaze medium did increase the drying time and after half hour I've layered it again, this time with a 1/3 "sky blue", 2/3 white and the extra drop of glaze medium. The final result was quite interesting, even if the paint still dried too quickly for what was needed, the objective was still achieved.

I would really love to end this post with the test drive of this model, but somehow, I'm lacking the courage to take in to the tracks now...

The Paintshop: A tale of 2 Moslers

Next feature of the "Paintshop", here are a couple NSR Mosler bodies I've painted in very known liveries, the "Castrol" and "Marlboro" themes. I find that these look great on any car body, actually, but the great looks on the Mosler body match them amazingly:

I must confess I loved the results on both as well I enjoyed painting them. I've decided to present both bodies at the same time as they not only show the application of the washing technique, previously presented, as they were painted in different ways.

The Marlboro livery was painted using the Tamiya TS-36 "Fluorescent Red" spray. I find this paint very similar to the Marlboro color, which makes me believe that naming it "Fluorescent Red" was a nice way to go around licencing... Using tape mask from Tamiya again, the basic design is easily achieved.

The Castrol livery was a different process. After applying Citadel White Primer (actually, the Marlboro body was also treated this way previously), the flowing green and red sections were painted freehand. I used Vallejo Acrylics "light green" and "vermillion" and I found them to match the original Castrol colors very nicely. It was a bit of a trouble to get nice and flowing lines in freehand guise, but eventually I think I managed a good scheme and result.

The drawing of the black lines through washing was quite easy on these bodies. The cavities and details are very sharp in NSR bodies, making them great for this technique. Additional details were added throughout, to liven up the looks (I'm kind of a detail freak, maybe due to my past on miniature painting).

This is it, a post on fresh bodies, using a few of the simplest advanced painting techniques that I can achieve so far. Stay tuned for more...

The Paintshop: Do you Wash your car?

Well, to kick off this return of mine to writing, here's an article on a few "advanced painting techniques" that I used before in miniature painting and I've been trying to apply to slot car painting.

To better explain, here is an example of two similarly painted bodies which only one has been painted with this new technique:

(left: Slot.It Sauber-Mercedes; right: Fly Racing Porsche 911 GT1)

You you look closer, you might find an additional effect to bring up the detail on the gaps where the real body parts show fit. Here's a close-up:

If you look at the Porsche, the black lines painted along the body part gaps and crevices help creating a more realistic effect, by bringing up the apparent visual depth of the model. Here's another example applied to a more lively color model, between two Nissan R390 in white/blue and white/red liveries:

So, as I said, this technique was not unknown to me, but I never tried it out on slot car painting, only in miniature painting. I've been doing Modelism since I was 12, starting with pretty much everything: cars, aeroplanes, whatever. Slots came much later, when I was 26. However, during much of the time in between, I've been playing a miniature wargame known as Warhammer Fantasy (know it better here!). It's a whole different thing to slot cars, for sure, and I'm not ashamed of that part of my past... but I keep some skeletons in the closet. When I mean I have skeletons in my closet, I literally mean I DO HAVE skeletons in my closet. See to believe:

This is only a small part of my entire army of Undead creatures (if you know Lord of The Rings you have a global idea of the fantasy theme of this wargame, don't judge me on my choice!). I have taken them out of their graves... I'm sorry, their boxes I mean, for countless battles. This time I've awakened them again to show you were I learnt the two most basic techniques in miniature painting: washing and drybrushing.

Before we get started, let me just put something pretty clear to everyone: I am by no means the most gifted of miniature painters, I really just know a few basic stuff. If you really want to get rocked by the masters, see here!

So, to demostrate the effects of washing and drybrushing, here's a close-up on one of my skeleton minions:

If it looks complicated, trust me, it isn't. The white brush was used to paint the whole miniature in a mixture of black/brown wash, which fills the holes and deep spaces. The bigger brushes were used to drybrush the miniature with a white and bone color mixture. Drybrushing lays paint on the higher areas of the miniature, leaving the holes and deeps untouched. I've already mentioned drybrush on this article.

While the washing is fairly simple in this miniature (you just need to wash the whole thing first and then the drybrush will correct the rest), doing so in slot models is not that easy as you can't or it's better not correct it after you use it. So, it's better to use a specific wash rather than just dilluting normal paint. I use these ones, which are acrylic, from Vallejo and Citadel:

These washes are different to normal acrylic paints as they are specially diluted with different mediums so that the paint can hold on to the surface tension in gaps and holes. A normal paint, very diluted, is not as easily applied as washes in these surfaces.

To apply these to a slot model, you need 3 things, basically:

- the appropriate brush (a good one is required);

- being able to hold your breath for the appropriate amount of time;

- patience.

I'll be showing you the application of a wash to a NSR Porsche 917 body I've painted and which I find the looks very bland. I'll try to liven it up by creating the depth detail. Here are the materials:

We're set, let's go. It's better to clean the brush regularly during the application of the wash. Just dip the brush into the wash, set it on the gaps you want to paint and let the pigment flow from the brush into the spaces with gentle slow movements.

The wash will flow, fill in the gaps by itself without leaking out. If that happens, you can just wipe it out while it's fresh, with a cloth or even your finger!

This picture shows a comparison. Only the right side of the model was washed. Which effect do you prefer?

Well, this is it, a simple guide to explain a technique I've implemented to my artwork on slot models.

In the next weeks I'll be presenting some models I've been painting and you'll be surely seeing this technique being applied.

See you soon...

The Paintshop - NSR Fiat Punto Abarth

Back to the "Paintshop" section, here's a recent work on a Fiat Punto Abarth from NSR...

I had no ideas on what color scheme I should use here, so I just ended up painting 3 stripes resembling the Italian flag (it's the same order actually...). At first I thought it was a shame I ran out of white primer, but the grey primer I used here actually ended up looking good. Plus, grey is not stranger to an Abarth car.

The stripes were brush painted using the always helpful Tamiya masking tape. The side mirror housings and wing were painted without help of tape, so it ended up with some flaws...

Here are the grid details. The top was a simple drybrushing with Tamiya Chrome Silver. The lower one was also painted by drybrushing, starting with the white (all surface) then applying either red or green on top, fitting to the lining on the hood. The green section looks a bit brighter than the rest, due to the white base it was painted on. I was about to correct it with some darker tone, but looking at it again, I thought a little contrast would look good. Strange though, the red tone actually didn't bright up that much as the green...

Also, this was the first time I tested the Vallejo brilliant varnish. I think I have applied too much, you can see the reflex on the hood. Now I'm getting more used to it and the results are better.

'Till next time...

The Paintshop - Slot.It Audi R8C "paintball"

Well, having been "slot-busy" for a while, I'll be trying to catch up with posting some articles, and for the time being, I'll show you another recent paintwork of mine.

The model is the Slot.It Audi R8C, which was allowed for a LMP championship that took place back in June. I could only contest 3 races of this championship and was intending to use 3 different Audis: this one, the Avant Slot R10 and the fabulous SCX Pro Audi R8. Well, in the end I could only take part on two races and I took the SCX model only (which was already commented on the "X-files" section here).

Still, the intentions of racing the Slot.It model forced me to paint the model hastily. I bought the orange hard-tuned version from Slot.It, with the Flat 6R motor in Anglewinder configuration. I had only applied the white primer by the time I decided I wanted to race this car, but was undecided on starting the series with the Slot.It or the SCX model. So, what happens when you have little time to paint the car and don't have a clue on what color scheme you want to apply? Well, you might get this:
This is what I named "Audi Paintball LMP", which actually never raced. But the hastily painted color scheme was enough for some good laughs from the chaps, and I wouldn't definitly say no to racing this car somewhere in the future...

The Paintshop - Slot.It Porsche 956 for the Group C Championship

The next feature on the "Paintshop" is the car which replaced the Porsche 956 "Marlboro" that I painted considering a future participation in racing (as I told here). However, I kind of felt bad about racing that model, so I decided to paint a brand new model (the Marlboro had some woes, ias the chassis and body were used).

While searching for a different livery for the Porsche 956, I was browsing the Racing Sports Cars Archive when I found a nice looking and mostly unknown Porsche 956 that contested the 1984 Le Mans 24 Hours, the #21 "Rollei Cameras" from Charles Ivey Racing, this one:
Since this is also a quite simple color scheme (and I had the silver and black spray cans!), I decided to paint my model based on this car. So, here's the result:
The black section was painted in first place, since the silver paint never dries completely and for that reason, I prefer not to use mask on silver painted sections. I missed the masking on the mid body air outlets and some black "smoke" entered (better seen on the top-down view). If this was a model for the shelves or if I had some extra time to paint the car, I would have corrected this. Since it's a racing car - what the heck, no one will notice it when I blast around the track with it!

After painting the black rear, I allowed it to dry overnight before masking it and apply the silver section. Then it was time to remove the masking tape and apply decals. I chose the #7 in detriment of the original #21, I have this belief that 7 is my lucky number and all my racing models bear this number (well, I was born on a day 7, maybe that's where this superstition comes from). Decals were chosen from assorted letfovers of 1:43 decal sheets I have laying around. I do need some big logos to fit the wings and wide sections of my models, as it brings up the looks on the model quite considerably.

After applying the decals, I painted the black sections (this time with brush...), mainly the dashboard under the front windshield and the headlights housing. The details like fuel inlets ad exhausts were painted in silver. The pilot was also painted on this occasion (I used the replacement Porsche interior from Slot.It). After all dried up, I started covering the body with thin layers of clear varnish and allowed it to dry overnight after some 3 or 4 very thin layers were applied. Then, on the next day I applied a couple "normal" layers of varnish, and allowed it to dry again overnight.

After applying all plastic detail parts, the car was ready to hit the track - only 2 days before the scheduled 1st race! Since this was a very long painting process, I had to resort to a "T-car" I had, the less performing Porsche 956 KH, just to get the mechanical side working. In the end, this car had an astonishing 1st race result, scoring an unexpected 2nd place. But that will be stuff for a next article...

Until next time...

Slot Car Madness - The Revell Mercedes... Taxi!

After some absent time (my writing is being directed to somewhere else...), time to present you another ongoing project on Slot Car Madness. This is not a true Slot Car Madness project in itself, it's more of a "painting madness" project.

I recently purchased a Revell Mercedes 300 SE, rally version, a model I was looking for some time. Not that I want to race it... it's an idea that poped into my head soon as I saw this model on the shops.

This is a nice looking "car-bomber". The robust and powerful looks show exactly what this car was: a Mercedes. Revell did a nice work with this model, it's full of nice details. But I won't bet on the track capacities of this huge trucker... I'll show you why:

The tires are so narrow! If they are up to scale, I wonder how did these guys manage to race this 2-ton car with such a small patch of rubber underneath. One good thing that Revell did: place the motor right before the rear axle, instead of their usual choice for cars of this size (ahead).

Some more nice looking details:

Shame that the idea I told you about requires that I strip this car's paintwork. I kinda like this one, but the other choice was the grey Monte Carlo winner model - and there's no way I'm going to change the paintwork on a Monte Carlo winner !!!

This is what I want this car to look like afterwards:

Well, wish me luck... see you next time!

The Paintshop - Porsche 956 "Marlboro"

"The Paintshop" is another new section to the blog. In this section, I'll present some of my painted slot cars, either from scratch or just modified. In fact, this is not a 100% new section, as I've already shown you some paintwork before, with the "Liqui Moly" BMW 320i (here). So, to officially start this section, I'll present you my Slot.It Porsche 956 painted with the color scheme of the Marlboro brand.

The color scheme was based on the #8 car that contested the 1983 Le Mans 24 Hours race, driven by Klaus Ludwig, Stefan Johansson and Bob Wollek. The trio brought the car home in 6th place, on a race where the legendary "Rothamans Porsche" team scored 1-2 (check the results and photos here). The #8 Marlboro Porsche paintjob suffered a bit throughout the race, as can be seen from the pictures:

So, this is my interpretation of the model:


This was a "leftover" bodywork that lied around in the GT Team box of spares. It was exclusively used for testing for the annual National 24 Hours Race, that used the Group C cars a couple years ago. The respective clear parts and exhausts, fuel caps and radiators were lost, so I had to resort to another model that was left behind, a "Kenwood" Porsche 956 that ended its days in the spares box (that's why the windshield bears the "Sonauto" logo).

The bodywork was fairly simple to paint. The usual Tamiya Spray white primer was applied before the next steps. Using Tamiya masking tape, I covered all the white areas you see on the model, and then passed some thin layers of Tamiya TS-36 "Fluorescent Red" Spray, which is the color that best matches the Marlboro red from the whole Tamiya catalog. After passing some layers and a thorough pause for drying (a whole weekend), I removed the masking tape and applied the decals from some old sheets I had for 1:43 models. Then, I applied gentle layers of Tamiya Clear Spray (TS-13). After passing 3 or 4 very thin layers and allowing them to dry, I finished the model with a normal passing of Clear Spray again. The black details (headlight housing, window borders and radiators) were brush painted before the final assembly of the bodywork.

The final look could be better if I had the adequate Marlboro decals, this is the best I could do with my 1:43 sheet. The Dunlop and #8 numbers were also available from old sheets too, and that's what I used mostly.

Still, in the end it's a very easy to replicate color scheme that should look great on any model, not just the Porsche 956. To finish this post, just a small addition: this model was actually painted to race, but now it sits very well on the shelves - so I bought another "white body" Porsche 956 to attack the incoming Group C series. I've already checked for some easy-and-good-looking color schemes and I assure you that painting is in progress. So, keep an eye out for news...