Well, I guess it is time to call this one finished. The kit is Tamiya and the paint is TS-26 Pure White with some TS-13 clear. I used the Scale Motorsport photoetch set and some carbon fiber decals also from SMS. There's some cigarette foil here and there for heat shield material. I made the antennas from guitar string and some 32 gauge wire (for the spring base) and added valve stems to the wheels. Weathering is mostly Tamiya acrylics in a variety of dirt and mud colors airbrushed with a fan blowing to help carry the paint in a wind-tunnel sort of way. I made some caked-on mud in the wheel wells using Tamiya basic putty that I roughed up with a wire brush, painted with very thin mud colored paint, then airbrushed. That might be all.
I feel it is necessary to announce that I'm not here trying to replicate this particular vehicle in any conditions under which it may have raced or even existed, nor am I attempting to duplicate precisely the actual car in miniature. There are those on some modeling forums who simply cannot comprehend the we modelers are allowed to express some artistic license when building. That said, my goal is to present something that is a fairly realistic scale model and that is well-executed from the perspective of deploying the full range of modelers' skills.
But as a sop to the rigid purists I offer the following: I know that this particular race was mostly in dry weather on asphalt; however, I have seen some footage that shows at least one stage of the race was in wet and muddy conditions. So let us say this is the car after that particular stage, okay?
Any and all comments, suggestions, criticisms, and purchase offers welcomed.
More can be seen here:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...%20206%201999/
