the GTR Family... progression tips and things (other tips welcome)

Hey all, been reading all the post, sorry that I don't post much, but school working at a bank and modeling cars don't nessecesarily give you enough time to write posts :p

So now i have time to report what I've been doing. Anyways a few weeks back I started the GTR 89 - 2002 family tree...

It consist of four kits

Tamiya R32 Vspec
Tamiya R33 Vspec
Tamiya R34 Vspec
Tamiya R34 Vspec II

These are the four cars i've been working on.

I tried to juss use the colors called out on every part. the paints themselves are great from tamiya, because all four kits are using the same colors. The painting was fairly simple I guess, but wow the acrylics are hard to paint on sometimes when its dry :bloated:

But I think i acurately reproduced the colors and I used a GTR reference book to do the detail that arn't shown in the instructions. It takes some time

Some tips that I found out as a newbie is that (1) some parts are not colored right so beware, (2) the rear spoiler for the GTR R33, does not stick out so trim, (3) the orange back tail light signals are orange inside... not outside. (cut the clear orange with some thinner to make it a little less dense in color and paint it on the clear part of the part... make sure it can see through the silver backing so it gives it an realisitic look. (4) The back spolier for the R34 is actually flat black for the moving part, the fin in the back. (5) DO NOT SAND THE MODEL before painting. For the tamiya bodies... (tried 3 kits) Just prime it with Matt Black if you are doing meticallic colors, (gun metal, mica blue, gloss aluminum), and if you are doing white, prime it with Matt white.

These are the things I learned from myself with trial and error, all you experienced modelers tell me if im right on what I learned or teach me more!!!

Anyways onto the bodies... How I did them was I painted the four cars in this color... Im going to list the steps I painted them with.

R32 - Flat Black ----> Gun Metal
R33 - Flat Black ----> Gloss Aluminum
R34 - Flat Black ----> Mica Blue
R34 Vspec II - Flat White ---> Pearl White.

Now at the end, this is something I learned f***king around with. I went ahead after hearing about it from a guy a hobby shop. I went the my uncles auto body shop and i got some automotive clear, and clear hardener. The stuff they coat real cars with. And of course some automotive thinner. Directions are 50/50 of clear and hardener, then some thinner to make it thin enough to spray through the airbrush. I painted all four cars with this stuff... it works (TIP!!! DO NOT WAX THE BODY BEFORE PUTTING ON THE CLEAR SOULTION) Then afterwards just wait a good 2 and a half days for it to fully dry, but try not to handle it for a good 5 days.

Im still working on the models... but when I got time I will show you guys!!!

I think the body painting can apply to all cars. It works. I don't prime because primer is too thick... as matt black and white, will blend with the colors you are gonna paint so its good to use at a "thin layer". BTW for all the other newbies like me that didn't know, any metallic colors have black in them, if you don't shake a bottle of metallic, and just open the bottle, there is black flakes... so naturally the flat black will have a chemical reaction... paint the flat black... and then don't let it sit for too long, paint on the color you want after 5 to 10 minutes when you lay down the flat, cause it dries fast. But at that time the colors will react and the metallics come out MUCH MUCH better.

Ok well that is my post for now... I will have more updates soon... I will try to post pictures of the cars soon.

thanks for reading :smoker2:

Originally posted by skylinehks
(5) DO NOT SAND THE MODEL before painting. For the tamiya bodies... (tried 3 kits) Just prime it with Matt Black if you are doing meticallic colors, (gun metal, mica blue, gloss aluminum), and if you are doing white, prime it with Matt white.

You need to sand the body to get rid of the seem lines first.
The primer is need after sanding to help fill any scratch marks and helps to check the model before the finish coat that it's looking good

You should primer, it's not thick if you do it right, use Tamiya.