Progress: Crocodile Audi R8

Had a bit of a holiday from modelling in the last month but am back working on my latest build. It is an Audi R8 as raced by McNish and Capello in the “Race of a Thousand Years” on the old Adelaide Grand Prix circuit on the last day of 2000 into the first day of 2001. Not only did McNish and Capello win the race but McNish clinched the ALMS Championship there too. The car is very unusual, featuring the very Australian, crocodile livery specially designed for the event. A sneak peak:

http://files.automotiveforums.com/img/190crocaudi.jpg

It is mainly because of this livery that I wanted to build this model – lots of decals, covering about 90% of the bodywork.

The kit is in 1/24th scale from the French firm Le Mans Miniatures. It comes nicely molded in resin with some photo etch and lots of very well printed decals. Not a lot of parts but each piece requires a lot of clean up work before painting.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/img/774Dcp_1518.jpg

http://files.automotiveforums.com/img/686Dcp_1519.JPG

http://files.automotiveforums.com/img/912Dcp_1520.JPG

So far I’ve done all of the cleaning up and am painting all the pieces. The body is now white and after curing a couple of days the decaling can begin.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/img/137Dcp_1601.jpg

The cockpit came with lots of nicely molded in detail. Naturally, I removed most of it to be replaced with 3D details later, plenty of scope for carbon fibre decals too…

http://files.automotiveforums.com/img/835Dcp_1608.jpg

Very cool project/livery, cant wait for some more progress.

Excellent project, Phil! :cool:

Very interesting! The decals look like they'll be ..... fun :grinno:

Real nice! Gonna enjoy this build up.

Can't wait to see more. Nice choice doing this project.

*runs in terror from the decal sheet*

Good luck and It's way cool that you're willing to take that on.

*runs in terror from the decal sheet*
Good luck and It's way cool that you're willing to take that on.

Yeah all those decals are a bit scary :smile: Applied the first one tonight:

http://files.automotiveforums.com/img/576Dcp_1611.JPG

Going to take a week or two to get them all on. :icon16: The decals are pretty thick and tough, but don't take to the curves too well. It is going to need a lot of Microsol, heat and fiddling to get them to snuggle down and conform.

This is kind of kits i love !!!! because there is a lot of decal to put ...what i prefer :-p.

Hey Phil, good to see you back - and what a return! Can't wait to see the build-up. Good Luck.

Very interesting project. This is going to be sweet when it done. Keep us posted.

Phil, welcome back.

That is an interesting project you got there. I can't wait for more progress. Is it all resin? it's just that there looks like some injection plastic also.

Cool project. Let us know about all those decals and problems you have.
Did you make any modifcations to the body for extra detail or for this specific race?

Had a bit of a holiday from modelling in the last month but am back working on my latest build. It is an Audi R8 as raced by McNish and Capello in the “Race of a Thousand Years” on the old Adelaide Grand Prix circuit on the last day of 2000 into the first day of 2001. Not only did McNish and Capello win the race but McNish clinched the ALMS Championship there too. The car is very unusual, featuring the very Australian, crocodile livery specially designed for the event. A sneak peak:

http://rallycars.topcities.com/AudiR8/crocaudi.JPG

It is mainly because of this livery that I wanted to build this model – lots of decals, covering about 90% of the bodywork.

The kit is in 1/24th scale from the French firm Le Mans Miniatures. It comes nicely molded in resin with some photo etch and lots of very well printed decals. Not a lot of parts but each piece requires a lot of clean up work before painting.

http://rallycars.topcities.com/AudiR8/Dcp_1518.JPG

http://rallycars.topcities.com/AudiR8/Dcp_1519.JPG

http://rallycars.topcities.com/AudiR8/Dcp_1520.JPG

So far I’ve done all of the cleaning up and am painting all the pieces. The body is now white and after curing a couple of days the decaling can begin.

http://rallycars.topcities.com/AudiR8/Dcp_1601.JPG

The cockpit came with lots of nicely molded in detail. Naturally, I removed most of it to be replaced with 3D details later, plenty of scope for carbon fibre decals too…

http://rallycars.topcities.com/AudiR8/Dcp_1608.JPG

Can't wait to see some more progress.

I always thought this was the coolest paint scheme on any race car ever. The guy who first said: "Yo, let's paint it like a crocodile in a river" must have been on somethin' pretty potent. Still, it looks wicked cool, and I've been dying to see someone build the model of the car... Good luck with all those decals! And I (at least) can't wait to see this thing done.

Phil, welcome back.
That is an interesting project you got there. I can't wait for more progress. Is it all resin? it's just that there looks like some injection plastic also.

Yes exhaust smoke, it is all resin, no injection molded plastic. In addition to the resin bits, the light covers are vacformed plastic, and there are three frets of photoetched metal, one brass, two steel.

The resin is rather well done although not as crisp as a plastic kit. Here is a photo of the brake discs, showing the nice attempt at caliper detail, as well as the roughness of resin.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/img/918Dcp_1620.JPG

The wheels are nicely done, once again a bit rough in close inspection. I painted them using Gunze Sangyo "Mr. Metal Color Chrome Silver". First time using this and I'm impressed, not as real chrome like Alclad, but it buffs up to a very nice shine.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/img/983Dcp_1623.JPG

Cool project. Let us know about all those decals and problems you have.
Did you make any modifcations to the body for extra detail or for this specific race?

No, no modifications needed to the body. The LMM kit is pretty much spot on to my eye. It includes the different louvers above the front wheels and extra winglets used at Adelaide 2000/2001.

Speaking of winglets, they are going to be a major pain in the ass to build up. There are four of them in total, each made up of three pieces of PE and decaled, with no attatchement points to speak of. I ended up drilling out the rivet points to have some kind of positive placement so each winglet will be secured with three brass rivets.

Having a good close look at the decals the printing suffers a bit from "Tamiya MP4-13 syndrome" in that the graduations in some areas aren't smooth, rather a series if dots. Looks okay from a distance but not brilliant close up. With that in mind I don't really think it's worth going overboard with much extra detailing.

Was going to CF decal all the underside but will just leave it black now. Here is a shot of the front underbody with PE vertical strakes.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/img/834Dcp_1632.JPG

I always thought this was the coolest paint scheme on any race car ever. The guy who first said: "Yo, let's paint it like a crocodile in a river" must have been on somethin' pretty potent. Still, it looks wicked cool, and I've been dying to see someone build the model of the car... Good luck with all those decals! And I (at least) can't wait to see this thing done.

Yeah the livery is the the coolest, the shape of the car fits the concept perfectly.

The decals are going to take forever, so far I've applied four of them, each took about 30 minutes! And so far they are the easy ones, when I get to the nose of the croc, particularly the eyes, things are going to get much more "interesting".

http://files.automotiveforums.com/img/506Dcp_1643.JPG

Can't wait to see more. Nice choice doing this project.
:iagree: Looks good so far.

Look fantastic. So far so great, keep us all posted with every decal ;)

Placed a few more decals on the Audi, not having much luck with them. They don't react much at all to Microsol, had to cut the decal arround the eye up into three seperate pieces! Then it wouldn't align back properly, can see I'll be having to mix up some paint to touch up all the dodgy bits!

http://files.automotiveforums.com/img/338Dcp_1655.JPG

Here is the left eye. You can clearly see the misaligned sections as well as some white through splits in the decals. The bumpy surface of the decals can also be seen. Several coats of clear, followed by sanding and a polish will fix that in the end.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/img/910Dcp_1657.JPG

Oh well, I didn't expect it to be easy - nothing that can't be fixed up though. :)

Looks like you're having "fun" :banghead:. You're a brave man, do you live in the outback or something :iceslolan?

Seriously, what do you think of LMM kits? I was thinking of getting one. Have you tried any part fitment yet?

Good job so far, it's only a small problem with the eye, I'm sure you'll be able to fix it through re-arrangement or touching up. What paints don't melt decals when you touch up? My f2001 white decals all melted when i touched them up with white paint cos they'd split on the edges of spoilers.

Man, that cool! It's going to eat all it's competition!

WOW...What a huge project so far.
Looks like it's getting there slowly. Take ya time on those decals and i'm sure we will be looking at a master piece soon

Man I envy you, great taste in subjects, even better talent and fabulously well-made build ups!


This is going to be a very, very cool car, and a wonderful addition to a great collection.

Keep it uppy!

Ciao

Olivier

Sure is something different. I bet it gonna look real nice.can't wait to see more. :thumbsup:

I think you're doing a bang-up jobs with the decals!! Good luck on the rest - can't wait to see this one done! :smile:

Thanks for the words of encouragement guys. Haven’t done much to the Audi, been working on a Stratos instead. I have finished off the decals on the nose and touched up a few of the bad areas with paint. So here is the croc coming at ya!

http://files.automotiveforums.com/img/961Dcp_1685.JPG

No Bangai-o I don’t live in croc country just the wide, brown land of Australia in general, Wagga Wagga NSW to be exact. The LMM kit is quite impressive compared to other resin kits I’ve seen. Fit of parts is pretty good, not Tamiya level by any means but acceptable for the medium. If the R8 is typical of the quality of LMM kits I wouldn’t hesitate to build another.

What paints don't melt decals when you touch up? My f2001 white decals all melted when i touched them up with white paint cos they'd split on the edges of spoilers.

Woops, missed this question first time round. Did you check the FAQ, there might be something in there? Anyway if your worried about that it would be a good idea to use a less reactive paint like water-based acrylics or ‘future’, even an enamel. Lacquers are much tougher and clear IMHO so I take the risk and use them, but you need to be careful.

First make absolutely sure the decals are dry with no air or moisture trapped underneath. Then start off with several very light mist coats so the paint is almost dry by the time it hits the model and the solvents don’t get a chance to eat into the decals. Only after building up a barrier can you then lay down a final wet coat. But still make sure it isn’t too thick to burn down through the previous coats.

Good luck.

I've now offically put the Audi R8 back on the shelf, I need some stronger solvent to work with the very tough decals. Found a place that stocks Walthers Solvaset but they won't post it to me! Will have to try wait till the christmas holidays when I go to Melbourne.

As a final update before closing up the box and consigning the Croc to the half finished pile, here is a shot of the seatbelt buckles. They're made by F1 Specialties, intended for 1/20th Formula One cars, so are nice and chunky for 1/24th scale.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=502/50846Dcp_1731.JPG

nice progress, looks tough.

I've now offically put the Audi R8 back on the shelf, I need some stronger solvent to work with the very tough decals. Found a place that stocks Walthers Solvaset but they won't post it to me! Will have to try wait till the christmas holidays when I go to Melbourne.



Phil,

Maybe you've never heard of this company 'Daco Products', but this is a guy from Belgium prodcuing decals, only aricraft stuff, but over the years he gained himself a very solid reputation quality-wise in that market. Some Revell aircraft kits do contain decals which are from his hand... So that should mean something.

The reason why I mention this, is that he has also a range of decal setting solutions in his catalogue. Ranging from soft to strong. The strong is a product that I really recommend. A friend of mine once build a Mirage 5 in 1/48 scale with a special colour scheme and the decals where a nightmare, didn't fit etc. because too thick and so on. Even after the model was build, he applied the solution to the decals and they confirmed to the shape of the wings. Just amazing.

Daco's homepage (http://ultra.glo.be/daco/)

Direct link to the decal solutions page (http://ultra.glo.be/daco/Ksetting.html)

Direct link to how to order page (http://ultra.glo.be/daco/KOrder.html)

Maybe it's worth the try. :wink:

Thanks for the Daco decal solvent info and links Huudo. That stuff sounds exactly what I'm looking for.

Felt in a bit of a decaling mood the other day so pulled the Croc Audi down off the pile of in progress kits and did some decaling. The process was made much easier by some Solvaset I picked up while in Melbourne at Christmas, that stuff is strong!

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/502/50846Dcp_2243.JPG

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/502/50846Dcp_2238.JPG

That is about 90% of the body done, a couple more and it will be ready for clear coating. Also need to decal the wings and cockpit cowl then add some CF decals and other details in the cockpit.

Looks really good Phil.

Glad to hear the Solvaset works for you.

cool project man!! it look great this far

one word: AWESOME!!!



:bigthumb:

haha that rocks

I wonder what's the second wildest race car livery ever made :biggrin:
Looks great.

-Mikko

It’s great to see a new project from you Phil. And what a project. :)
Great work with the decals placement, everything looks perfect. I’ll be waiting for new upgrades o this beautiful model.

Wow. this is a pis of art

Wow. this is a pis of art

:iagree: very cool!

Great work Phil!
I was waiting to see progres on this beast. :-)

Another incremental update. Finished decaling the body and cockpit cowl and started with clear coating. Also patched up all the gaps in the decals with paint mixed to match the decals, eyes in particular look much better now. Was surprised to get a reaction by the decals to the clear coat, mainly in the decals that were applied with just Microsol. Seems it was not strong enough to get the tough decals into the crevaces. Worst areas are along the sides of the croc and on the rear wing, fortunately the overall livery is so busy it is not very noticeable.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/502/50846Dcp_2318.JPG

Lookin good ceep it up.

that is crazy man!, how could i have missed this thread. REALLY good job!

that's soo much decaling...Id go nuts trying to do it all! very cool rallyraider, take your time, what else's left?

Wow, it is tight. I want to make a pit stop diorama....with all the necessary figures....gonna be a big project. Nice job. :)

This model really should have been finished long, long ago and hopefully will be soon. Anyway, I too a quick pic of the cockpit in progress, still a bit rough in places at the moment and may just stay that way :lol:
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/502/50846Dscf1972.JPG

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/502/50846Dscf1965.JPG

Rough? Right :-), What did you use to paint wheels?

I used GSI Creos Mr Metallic Chrome and a wash of Tamiya Smoke. The wheel nuts were Tamia Titanium Gold with a smoke wash again. The inside of the spokes and everything were really roughly molded. Even though I spent a lot of time trying to clean them up it still looked bad, so I blacked the inside of the spokes out with artist's acrylic. They are still pretty rough on the inner edge of the rim but hopefully will look okay when fitted.

Great detail work in the cockpit, this is going to look amazing when its done.

They look amazing, like the real ones, perfect colour match because, realy nice, and I don't have to tell that the cockpit is perfect, I realy can't see what is rough. I am still waiting for that Stratos :-) I know you are busy, don't vory I will be waiting as long as it takes

The model looks awesome! Just one question. How did you get the CF decal on the right side of the interior over the buttons/switches? I have been trying to figure out how to get the buttons/switches to show?

Thanks guys. Moe, I cut the switches off before applying the decal for the control panel. Intention was to replace the switches later. Really the CF pattern on that decal is way too light but makes a nice contrast to the other patterns.

Amazing!!, those decals would scare me lol!!

Thank you for the info. This might be a dumb follow up question but I will ask it anyway. Did you use the same switches/buttons that you cut off or did you use something else.

The car is looking sweet great job the cf and the rims look good!!!

Thanks again one and all. Moe I haven't replaced the switches yet. If I do it won't be with the parts I cut off, rather streched sprue and styrene. Same old trick I have been using for years.

And Sasa, don't know when I'll get back to the Stratos, gotta concentrate on the GT40 and hopefully a D-Type for the Le Mans comp :)

Wow. This looks really cool. U have done a great job so far. Cant wait to see it finished!