1993 Honda Civic

[Marianitem]

Hi. This will be my first WIP thread so I´ll be learning how to go with it on the go, even when I read too many. Also, if you read any word that doesn´t make any sense, that was me trying to translate from spanish.

This one is a Revell Honda Civic from 1993, tuner edition. And guess what it´s gonna be based on?... Yeah, just another Fast and Furious build. I´ll building a couple of models that I like, but the way they appear on the FnF movies: this Civic, first Charger, orange Supra, GNX (I don´t have the movie´s wheels...), all of them already boxed on my wardrobe, and maybe a couple from Tokyo Drift.
Anyway I love this model since 1993.
The only thing Revell did not add to this kit to make it a "FnF kit" is the manual saying "if you want the FnF version use this parts". The overall moulding look OK (I never check scale). Mold lines are really hidden which is nice except for the search. A good one on this kit is the clear hood, which is REALLY clear! And it comes with a 3 part decal for the hood of "striped carbon" which would look great for the engine to show with the hood closed. Also hood hinges are awesome: thin, great moving, and it locks when raised.

The downside so far are the clear parts for lights. They are big here and too small there, so fitting is not perfect and not easy to repair if you´re not used to.

For test fitting body work over wheelled chassis I spent a total of about 2.5 hs, never done it before. The worst part to fix was the front end, the joint between bumper, headlights, HL buckets, hood and body. It was pretty annoying as I was trying to gues were to cut, sand, trim, slim, whatever. Here the pics for that:






I really like the way it stands low just without any mod. There´s a little gap between bumper and body but I did the best I could with my experience. I´m pretty sure it´s gonna get closer when glued.

Today I finished with primer, first time I primer a body with so much care: wetsanding OOB, toothbrushing technique, 2 mist coats 6hs apart, checking for dust, really light wetsand 600, another light coat. I´m not gonna tell you what did I use yet, as I want to go through the full process that I thought of and see the results. Also, it would be nice if you can guess what kind of products did I use



This is how far I got up to now.

I might be making little progress updates because I might not be doing it if I wait for too long.

Not much too say, but any comment is really appreciated.

By the way, I´ve been modeling cars for about 15 years (interrupted), almost always using brush and ennamels for EVERYTHING, not wetsanding/priming/testfitting, not using tweezers and many other "mistakes". I´m gonna make a "before knowing AF" gallery so I can share how far i´ve gone up to now with modeling, and to compare my results with the AF-learnt techniques.

Thanks for following up.

[drunken monkey]

do you have bigger photos?
also, how are you storing them?
they're a little blurry and could do with being a little bigger.

If you want a place to upload images to, Flickr, Picassa and Photobucket are some relatively pain free options to look at.

[Marianitem]

I have bigger pics, but they suck anyway. Those are from a 5mp Milestone cell camera. I´ve just tried a 6mp pocket camera in "super macro" mode and it´s still awful. I will have to try with natural light tomorrow, maybe already wetsanded.
Thx for the storage sites. I´ll be uploading full quality (when I get there...). Meanwhile I´ll try to do my best with what I have...

[Marianitem]

Hey! Maybe I learnt how to take pics!
As requested, here are some details on the primer, not wetsanded yet.



Later.

[luchoteam]

Se lo ve muy bien al civic...a meterle mano!

[Marianitem]

Finally 3:23 AM and I almost finished with the engine, just missing a few parts, color details and the upper cover decal. I just stopped from making more details as I think I´ll start messing it all up, I can barely see right now. It has been built right OOB, but looking at 10 full different B16A2 engines´ photos. As the engine is not shown in the movie I felt free to improvise and express myself (¿!?).
It may look quite simple to many of you, but for me is the first 4 cyl engine, and the first one to have so many paint details, as I used to just follow the instructions which are usually very simple and undetailed. It looks way better in person, and that orange is actually red...

Now the pics! Enjoy, as I do right now.

Honda B16A2 | 160 hp @ 7600 rpm




And a teaser of how it will look inside of the car already painted (not taken care of yet).




Comments are always welcome. Pics are a little blurry as I don´t want to look for a camera stand at 3:30 AM.
Thx for watching.

[crisjr]

very nice progress so far.. looks promising!...good choice not to go with clear hood..

[Marianitem]

Thanks Cris and Lucho.

Body got fully sprayed with about 3 or 4 layers (I can´t remember right now).



Then I´ve been wetsanding the body. I got to the primer in some points but fixed it with a paintbrush. Question for you is: show I keep sanding with 2000 until I get a PERFECT matt black finish? Or may I move on to a light 2500, and then to the polishing cloths? (yes, some Mr. Laplos polishing cloths arrived yesterday). I think I will not be clearcoating this one, but just polishing all the way. Just in case I were to add clear, should I do it now (after 2000 grit), or previous to that (just sprayed), or after going thru 2500 grit?





Today I´ve been working on the interior and have just finished it. It might be one of the most detailed interiors I´ve ever done. It might not look that much detailed, but I started scratchbuilding so that will add some extra points. I´ve made a couple of seatbelt buckles for the front seats (from some numbered plastic of a part-tree), and added floor mats, made of that soft fur that goes inside of sunglasses´ boxes. I might be adding some belts between the windows. Also I think it´s pretty much clean. Rear loudspeakers are just decals. I know they suck, but there were no grills molded on the plastic and I don´t have any idea on how to scratchbuild them. Also, I think there´s a point where I have to stop adding new details, just not to screw up the progress. I will have time for that on my next project. Anyway I might be adding window tint on all 3 rear windows so that will not be very visible (still have to find a how-to for that).
Enjoy the pics. Comments, tips, whatever, always welcome.

[crisjr]

I think you should remove those fake grills from the front bumper.. it would make it look more realistic..

Keep going....

[Marianitem]

Thanks cris. I considered ripping em off, but should do the same on the back, which looks harder to do. Also, I couldn't find a good mesh to use here in my country, and I'm not buying a detail up sheet. For now I will paint them with mix matt and satin to keep faking and if I come up with some mesh I'll do the surgery. Anyway it scares the hell out of me doing such.
Last night I gave the body a final coat over sanded texture. The top is drying glossy with the sides grainny. I'll give it a week before final polishing process. My is now too humid and cold for painting and drying.

I'll be sharing some other wips in the meantime.
Thx for following

[crisjr]

Despite of what you said, i think that this ain't an easy model to build.. i live nearby you.. in Brazil, and if you need something that i can get for you, just let me know ok!

[Marianitem]

Thx for your offering Cris, I appreciate that. I´ll let you know.

Guys, I think I have right there. I´ve been working on body sanding for about 6 hours, going 2000-2500-4000-6000, and back to 2000 and again in many spots that looked like shinny holes. I fixed some minor rub thru´s with a small brush, only sharp edges. It´s not perfect, I know, but is beyond what I expected to get. Also, 2 days ago I was just about to the body thru the open window so I consider that I succeded with this one. Here are the pics:

After spraying clear:




After 4000


After 6000




It might not be interesting for many of you looking at sanding progress pics, but I´d really appreciate comments on any pros or cons of what I have done.

Clear lens parts are difficult to paint right. Each clear has 2 bars coming out of it so you can insert them on the chrome lens bucket (good idea). But the bars are too thick and raise from the middle of the deepened line that should be painted black.I had to trim the contact point and re scribe the line, ending up on an ugly finish. Painted that black line and here are the results:



But wait for it! It gets better. I´ve done that by memory, I was VERY tired of 2hs of polishing. Now re-checking some pics I found out that the horizontal line does not exist. It´s carved on the model plastic, but there´s nothing on the 1:1 car.
So, now I have a clear part a bit roughed and painted from the inside, where I should have done nothing. What shall I do to fix that? What I need now should look like this:



Please don´t say that "tired" is not a good moment to build models... I already learnt that

Thx for your help/comments/tips

[Marianitem]

Thx for your offering Cris, I appreciate that. I´ll let you know.

Guys, I think I have it right there. I´ve been working on body sanding for about 6 hours, going 2000-2500-4000-6000, and back to 2000 and again in many spots that looked like shinny holes. I fixed some minor rub thru´s with a small brush, only sharp edges. It´s not perfect, I know, but is way beyond what I expected to get. Also, 2 days ago I was just about to throu the body thru an open window, so I consider that I succeded with this one. Here are the pics:

After spraying clear:




After 4000


After 6000




It might not be interesting for many of you looking at sanding progress pics, but I´d really appreciate comments on any pros or cons of what I have done.
I´ve just found that panel lines are now glossy and dust-grainy. What should I do to it? I toothbrushed the body every bit of the body each time I was about to spray it, but it happened anyway. Any tips for that fix?

Other than that, I was working on the clear parts. Clear lens parts are difficult to paint right. Each clear has 2 bars coming out of it so you can insert them on the chrome lens bucket (good idea). But the bars are too thick and raise from the middle of the deepened line that should be painted "some color" (more on this later ).I had to trim the contact point and re scribe the line, ending up on an ugly finish. I painted that black line and here are the results:



But wait for it! It gets better, yeah, I´m that stupid... I´ve done that by memory, I was VERY tired of 2hs of polishing (3am, after work). Now as I was re-checking with some pics I found out that the horizontal line does not exist. It´s carved on the model plastic as if it were to be painted, but there´s nothing on the 1:1 car.
So, now I have a clear part a bit roughed up and painted from the inside, where I should have done nothing. What shall I do to fix that? What I need now is to get it to look like this:



Please don´t say that "tired, 3am" is not a good moment to build models... I already learnt that the hard way

Thx for your help/comments/tips

[Ferrari TR]

What kind of paint did you use on the tails? Knowing that would help with any clean-up suggestions.

[Marianitem]

Forgot to add. It was modelmaster acrylic, barely thinned with water, brushed, thin coat.
I thought of a toothbrush with alcohol or polishing cream, but I will wait for some suggestions first. Don't wanna mess up in the final lap any more.