1/32 Petron Porsche 918 Spyder

During a recent promo by a local gas company, they decided to sell some Porsche die-cast models after you buy a certain amount of fuel from them. This was their 2nd run (I only got a 911 GT3 RSR in their 1st promo) and the only car that interested me was the 918 Spyder. This had the following gimmicks:

-pull-back and release action
-opening doors
-keyfob included which operated the following: startup sounds and lights, alarm and rev sounds (only the 918 and Carrera GT had this)

According to a friend, this was done by Fastlane aka realtoy aka motorcity.

I was initially planning to do a Martini livery for this but then decided to give it an itasha scheme, copying the RX-93 nu Gundam's color scheme, especially since I did have a Bandai 1/144 decal sheet for the nu Gundam lying around.

So here it is when I first got it:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/22/a38f.jpg

And here are the other cars:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/689/vxs0.jpg

And the body disassembled from the chassis:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/542/xnu4.jpghttp://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/585/5udx.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/812/30tl.jpg

So I started by wetsanding the body with 1000 grit before painting:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/594/szez.jpg

And here it is after a few coats from a spraycan:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/824/hky1.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/837/aksu.jpg

Disaster though struck with the spraypaint - turns out it was running low on propellant and decided to spit paint. Had no choice but to redo the paint by soaking the parts first in 99% isopropyl alcohol, then sanded smooth some molding lines I discovered on the metal body (looks like the original paint was thick enough to cover those mold lines LOL).
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/546/mjq3.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/42/25ui.jpg

And here it is after a few coats of urethane primer (was doing this at the same time as the Aoshima Pajero conversion):
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/138/l0d1.jpg

And after a few coats of white urethane paint:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/580/u3se.jpg

And the last coat of white:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/843/nqa9.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/14/1du4.jpg

Since the nu Gundam had a white/black color scheme, the 918 was painted as such:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/842/kdw3.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/541/dbak.jpg

And here's the decal sheet (which I actually got 2 years ago and it was just sitting there in my computer desk):
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/12/vqah.jpg

Finally, applied the relevant decals (it was marked in the decal sheet which models they would go to):
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/197/ndip.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/826/otse.jpg

So far that's the progress. I'll go back to my school stuff first and once that's done, I'll shoot a couple of layers of 2k urethane clear on this and then off to polish and wax it.

After a few coats of 2k urethane clear:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/59/qswp.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/18/mhlt.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/585/ch92.jpg

I will have to sand down and respray clear on the right door as after the pics were taken and I was putting the doors and wing away, the wing snagged on the door near the handle and gouged the paint. I don't think it's gonna level it self but still hope it would so that i won't need to sand it flush.

I'll give this a couple of days before I start polishing and fixing the panel lines.

so i managed to squeeze this in while waiting for my revised thesis draft to be critiqued.

here are the polished body parts:
http://i62.tinypic.com/wrhybq.jpg

a test-fit with the chassis:
http://i57.tinypic.com/o59a20.jpg
http://i61.tinypic.com/1077t5d.jpg

i managed to lose one pair of exhaust tips, so i had to duplicate one. used oyumaru as the mold, and 2-part epoxy as casting material:
http://i58.tinypic.com/knfoj.jpg
http://i58.tinypic.com/27ybz1l.jpg

and here it is, all done and back in its box:
http://i58.tinypic.com/2q1xhrq.jpg

i'll do finished pics once i'm done defending the thesis.