Fujimi RX-7 (Initial D Series)

Day 1

This should be a quick build since :

1. the interior is in one color as stated in the instruction sheet. love the fact i don't have to mask

2. typical fujimi kit with little parts and lack of details.

mold lines were sanded. parts on body shell were tested for fitting problems and were solved (i think).
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/GabrielN/IMG_1033.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/GabrielN/IMG_1032.jpg

tested the ride height. not so good. going to try lowering the ride height for the 1st time. hope no screw ups (though will expect many). will drop the front by 1.5mm and the back by 1mm as the back wheel is closer to the wheel arch than for the front. wheel alignment will be next.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/GabrielN/IMG_1030.jpg

primed with 1 coat of grey for inspection and 1 coat of white after that. misted one coat of yellow
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/GabrielN/IMG_1036.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/GabrielN/IMG_1035.jpg

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Day 2

decals were applied and a few mist coats of clear were being sprayed. will start laying down wet coats of clear when it dries. quite happy up to this stage as this is the first time i have no torn decals during application. the rear wing will be sprayed with clear too when it's final paint coat dries. pictures are blur as i have to keep the parts in a container while they dry to avoid dust problems. :lol: :lol:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/GabrielN/IMG_1043.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/GabrielN/IMG_1042.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/GabrielN/IMG_1041.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/GabrielN/IMG_1039.jpg

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Night 2

the wet clear coats were drying faster than i thought they would. it's been 4-5 hours since my last wet coat of clear. parts are currently out of the container to totally "gas out". took some pictures in the meanwhile as the previous pictures were taken through plastic containers. will wet sand-compound-polish later in the afternoon when the clear paint is totally dried. not very perfect but i'm quite satisfied already given my limited modelling skills. :lol: sorry for the bad lighting and bad photographs. amateur here. :lol:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/GabrielN/IMG_1045.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/GabrielN/IMG_1046.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/GabrielN/IMG_1048.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/GabrielN/IMG_1049.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/GabrielN/IMG_1050.jpg

Thanx for lookin :lol:

WHOAH!! nice paintjob i like it very much!!.....nicely laid decals!! i love it........looks hot!!

Awesome paint job, and it's not even polished :sunglasse

with the way this is going so far, you dont seem like an amateur to me. that shine is amazing. keep up the great work.

happy christmas everyone.

a little update here.

polish-ed and wax-ed the roof and the hood. am too tired to continue doing the rest so i will stop here for today. did not know that polishing car body is such a chore. especially for impatient people like me. rub gently, very slow polishing progress. if i rub harder, introduce swirl marks. guess this is good character training for me.

and yeah i know, no picture no talk. so here's a few pictures of my little update. sorry bout the small progress. i'm a very slow worker.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/GabrielN/IMG_1059.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/GabrielN/IMG_1060.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/GabrielN/IMG_1061.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/GabrielN/IMG_1062.jpg

Thanx for looking :lol: Have a fun day today with your friends/family. :lol:

that is a super clean paint job mate AWSOME WORK

:eek2::eek:!!!!!im speechless!!!!:worshippy..........very fine build!!

that is a super clean paint job mate AWSOME WORK

thanx for your kind words rexsins-art. and those who replied in this thread, big thanx :biggrin: :biggrin: currently working on the interior. hope to finish them by tomorrow. going out later(X'MAS) :biggrin: :biggrin:

It may be a chore but a chore WELL worth it, the polish on your paint job looks flawless! I also get impatient on most of my models and since I always paint the body last (or near last anyway) my patience is always tried cause i just want to see it completed. My respect goes out to you, can't wait to see the finished product. :)

nicenice! really well done job on the paint!

i too had a fujimi initial d rx-7~ except my paintjob turned out a disaster as it was my first model... but i dont reckon my ride height was too high?

yours seems higher then mine hahaha =D
goodluck on lowering it!

but nevertheless! good work! keep it up! =P

10/10 for that stunning paint

10/10 for that stunning paint

it's all thanx to your articles on compound/polish :grinyes: 3 times for good luck. still remembering it. :grinyes: :grinyes:

That paintjob is truly awesome!!:eek: Keep up the awesome work!!:sunglasse

what brand of clear is that?

Super paintwork :)

wow that is some shine. Great job on a hard to paint colour. keep up the great progress

Thanx guys for the compliments. :biggrin:

To ATMDC : I used Super Clear Gloss UV CUT Spray for this car. :smile:

can't wait to see finishe: awesome paint work

im gonna use primeras polishing and compuond tips aswell lol

im gonna use primeras polishing and compuond tips aswell lol

i used his method of polishing in a circular motion and doing it 3 times each step. i am using quite a number of products for the compound/polishing step. have narrowed down the number of products but there's still quite alot. so far every product in the current steps i used seem to improve the shine further (rather significantly). will try to narrow it down further in my next build.

currently trying to settle down to do my interior and undercarriage. xmas was fun :biggrin:

very shiny paintwork... :biggrin:

Wow Keisuke is looking shiny!

Finally completed. Loads of screw ups, learnt loads too.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/GabrielN/IMG_1099.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/GabrielN/IMG_1100.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/GabrielN/IMG_1101.jpg

Thanx for looking. :)

Great! Thumbs up. It ought to win AF's first most shiny car of 2006 award. :P

wow
very shiny paint job
awesome !

One thing though, I do believe there is supposed to be a cover over the fog lights.

One thing though, I do believe there is supposed to be a cover over the fog lights.

yeah, you're right. i lost it bout a year ago when i first started car modelling :)

turned out just perfect. if there are screw ups, i sure cant see them. keep up the great work.

thanx for all your kind words guys...will try harder to minimise mistakes on my next kit.

learnt loads especially on safety. index finger was in the way of the design knife. deep cut. LOL :)

Screw ups??
It looks ok to me!

Too bad the light cover went missing (drove me nuts as that happens to my Integra before), very nice work on the paint! So, what's next in line? FC?

Too bad the light cover went missing (drove me nuts as that happens to my Integra before), very nice work on the paint! So, what's next in line? FC?

planning to get the aoshima fc3s in this coming mth or so. really love the classy retro look. for now i think it would be either a red civic, white evo 6 or a white v spec II. most probably a red civic to see if my mistakes can be minimised before building the evo or the skyline (my favourite cars) :iceslolan

Very nice! I am planning to build this car too sometime down the road...

Looks great, nice and really clean build. I believe the wheels should be black though

Looks great, nice and really clean build. I believe the wheels should be black though

i was making the fd from stage 1 so it's chrome rims with red suns and tuner decals. i believe the black rims you saw were from the fd in stage 4 or smth. anyway, i am not really into accuracy. anything that looks nice goes. LOL

clean paint job,keep up the good work.don´t like the wheels to much but its your car.

I like the wheels! I have a set but they appear to be a bit small. The car turned out great!:sunglasse

Hey wassup Gabriel, didnt expect to see ur work here too, i stumbled upon it a tad bit late, well better late than never, nice, clean FD. :)

looks great!!! Next try using a panel wash thats a little more subdude, the car will look even better then.

the panel lines are just a tad too dark, but other than that it is fantastic!!!!

Nice shine on the paint, It looks very nice! As for cutting your index finger with the knife, I had the exact same thing happen to me back in July, those knives are quite sharp! :grinno:

sorry bout the late replies, been have fun during xmas and new year LOL.

midnight wangan : hey! :biggrin:

to all : thanx for all your comments and suggestions. i feel that that's the way to learn. and thats also one primary reason why i am posting my model diaries in here and i try to make them more detailed so others can spot mistakes that i can't see.

and yeah i agree about the panel lines being too dark and too thick. guess i shld add more yellow into the mixture of yellow and black. 1:1 ratio is still too black. will take note of it in this new build of mine that i am doing. glad i learnt many things during this build. guess the fun thing about modelling is that there are always new things to learn.

one question : is it me or enamel thinner will cause the clearcoat to become "sticky". it is squeaky when u run your fingers through the body. i used to use acryllic for panel lines but acryllic thinner don't really remove the excess paint very well and it causes the clear coat to become "sticky". happens with enamel thinner too i realised. btw my clear coat is gunze super clear gloss uv cut. maybe someone can enlighten me on this. :biggrin:

another thing that i learnt is that my paint and clear coat (either or both) are too thick. some contours ended up not being as sharp as they should have been. another mistake of mine is that i did not scribe my panel lines deep enough esp after primer coat. that's why during the panel line stage, some area have no "drainage" for the enamal paint to "run" and i need to manually mask and paint it out. of course they are loads of mistakes, just thought of sharing a few major ones so others can take note of them without making the same mistake as i did in their build. :biggrin:

Sorry for the long post and big thanx for looking. :biggrin:

hey... really great paint job.
questions: what do you mean by 'wet' clear coat? and what is scribing of panel lines?

hey you have to chage the rims they are ugly