Recent graduation and moving have nearly thrown me into a modeling hiatus. To get back on feet, I decided to finish this Tamiya Zent Cerumo SC430. I messed up the original decal at the clearcoat stage, and had to shop for an aftermarket decal. Inspired by the full-carbon version attempted by gionic (did he ever finish?), I picked this test car decal by Shunko. The quality of decal is top notch; however, you can save yourself a few bucks by cutting/rearranging the Tamiya kit decal to achieve almost the same scheme. Unless, a perfect replica is what you have in mind (mine still is not).
Underneath the decal is a full-carbon finish by woman tights, the same method I used for the 575. Here is a brief tutorial, which I promised and was long overdue.
1. Prepare and prime the surface as usual. Lay down a coat of black (in this case, semi-gloss black).
2. Stretch and wrap tights over the surface to achieve the desired pattern. Do not over stretch. I prefer to work panel by panel (hood, roof, doors, trunk, etc)by masking off other areas.
3. Spray a very light coat of custom silver/gold mix. Absolutely avoid wet coat. Tights will soak up the paint, smearing the pattern. Adjust the ratio of silver to gold to achieve different looks (left vs. right).
4. Finish off with a light coat of smoke (top) or semi-gloss clear (bottom). I prefer a bronze looking carbon finish.
This technique is faster and cheaper than carbon decals. And a lot of funt too. But it is far from perfect, especially over complex and bowl-shaped surface.
Here are the final pictures. Couldn't resist to take some vertical shoots which may be annoying to look on monitor. I still hope you liked them.
My cheapo photobooth
