complete: GTR Rebuild

i built this r33 skyline a few years ago. i didnt know too much about painting, so i got some pretty poor results.

the paint is flat and splotchy. in addition i had a bad fingerprint on one side of the car where i got glue on it. the mold lines were still there, and i didnt paint the rubbers.
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/212844P8050425_small.jpg

later i decided i would try to fix it up a bit. i added a few coats of future floor finish and managed a decent shine. but the flaws were still visible.
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/212844DSCN4341_small.jpg

i finally decided i would just repaint the car. i went with black pearl. i didnt have anything i could remove the paint with, so i decided to take my time sanding. heres an initial shot of the sanding
http://img89.exs.cx/img89/5893/dscn46163rx.jpg

after primer and painting, everything went pretty well. unfortunately i wasnt aware of the consequences of polishing pearl paints. so the result was dull paint. i had posted earlier about this and i appreciate all the replies. i finally decided to try using future again to see if that would help, and sure enough it did. the shine returned, but i lost some of the pearl effect.
http://img30.exs.cx/img30/6277/dscn48086ga.jpg

this is after applying future
http://img155.exs.cx/img155/5831/dscn48100cz.jpg

after a bit of assembly, its completed. i was mainly focused on the paint job, and im fairly happy with it. i still think the r33 looks best in silver, but this is good too. while disassembling, i lost one of the fog lights, so the final product is fogless. lol.
http://img89.exs.cx/img89/4732/dscn48369ox.jpg

http://img89.exs.cx/img89/2614/dscn4841small1im.jpg

http://img89.exs.cx/img89/2933/dscn48350rt.jpg

http://img89.exs.cx/img89/7020/dscn4845small4sk.jpg

of course, all the decals were lost so i had to paint in the gtr in the front grill. just wondering, how do yall paint small details like this? i have a really fine brush, and tooth pick, but i was wondering if there was a more efficient way? thanks for looking, comments welcomed

all i gotta say is NICE SAVE!! it didn't look too bad in the intial shots, but you can see the difference is pretty noticeable now. good job!!!

Nice job saving a good model. But I think it could have used a bit of a lowering. but that is just my opinion.
Looks good though :)

Good save!!:sunglasse I might have some of the decals you want; PM me a list of the decals needed and I'll see what I have.:)

Looks good! Progress is great. Doing a project like this is fun, because not only are you proud of your final product, but you're proud of the difference between the old build and the new. It's a real confidence booster! Great work, the black car looks great! And unfortunately, no, there's no better way to paint small things than a small brush (or, for real experts, an airbrush and really small bits of tape. Yikes!).

Nice recovery, a damn fine result if you ask me. :)

Great save!

Bill

Great save!

Bill

:iagree:

Yeah, looks great! Nice color, nice shine, and nice pictures, too.
Keep it up!

Nice redo! The color and shine is great! The exhaust looks cool too.

Awesome work!! One thing that need is bigger wheels!

thanks for the compliments. for some reason, when i reply with a post, it doesnt show up... i wonder if this will?