WIP: Ford GT 40 P1075 '68 LeMans

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Working on a mostly OOB buildup of Fujimi's #9 GT40.

Has been a bit of a nightmare so far, I didn't prime the body well enough to protect it from the MCW Gulf Blue paint. It etched the body, and so did a few coats of Tamiya clear. The orange paint didn't match the decals, but it's not too noticeable because the separation line is on a crease on the front end.

So I get to the decals, and have problems w/the Micro Sol I use to get them to conform. Luckily I am able to persevere and use some of the extra decals to fix my problems. Until I get to clearcoating. I airbrushed Tamiya clear slowly over the body/decals. Well...it etched the body again, and caused some of the decals to crack. I sanded the clear smooth and switched to Gunze Mr. Topcote, which looks great. But I need to scrounge up another roundel and a couple of 9's to repair cracks in the door decals. Everything else is working out. So far it's been a bit like at every step.

It needs one more sanding/clearcoat step before polishing, and a few flat black body details masked and sprayed. I also painted the door panel tops to match, and made some extensions to them so that the side windows have the proper depth...there's a lot of body color inside the side glass, and most people miss that detail.

[Technoman]

That looks beautiful..

[Whumbachumba]

I love this color scheme. The Gulf colors have always been so pretty. I can't wait to see the rest of your build.

[RallyRaider]

You say you're having trouble but it sure as hell doesn't show in those pics. Brilliant work!

[sjelic]

I am with Phil, can't see a flaw. Is there something in those panels or just scriber?

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Thanks for the comments! When I have problems I sometimes enjoy figuring out how to fix something that's not always a simple fix. Decals are what give me the most problems on a model, they fight me all the way

My pics didn't really show the problems, I didn't take closeups of the decals. Look closely at the upper left corner of the 9 on the door (about 10:00), you'll see a crack in the white roundel. It looked a lot worse on the model, part of a series of cracks that looked like blue "fuzz" laying on the decal. The 9's on both doors and on the front end had many microscopic cracks, showing white through them. I had taken sections from "0's" from my parts kit decals to remake that particular 9.

Since posting the pics, I put a new roundel on the left side and designed a set of identical 9's on my computer and printed them on decal paper. Now the model wears fresh numbers covering the old ones (except in back, that one never cracked and is perfect).


As for panel lines, I do them with a .005" black pigment liner aka disposable technical pen. I apply the lines over a base coat of color, and then re-apply color over the body. This tones down the darkness of the lines, and fixes any problems w/the first color coat. This is by far my favorite method of doing panel lines, very effective, extremely easy and clean results that look correct in scale. I often will rescribe panel lines to make them deep enough and uniform enough (and cleaning out the residue from sanding) to allow the pen to smoothly navigate the recesses.

[sportracer02]

Great Gulf colour GT40 ...

[bigfrit]

WOW, this is superb, love the detailing, panellines especially!

thanks for sharing.

Olivier

[Jekill]

Outstanding finishing, as usual. Despite the occurred troubles.

Roberto

[Eric Cole]

Ah yes.... Mr. Downie builds my all time favorite car, the Ford GT40. Looking forward to seeing this one complete.

[robrex]

Great work getting through those problems you've encountered. I would have probably packed it away in the cupboard?

Nice idea with the panel lines! Do you ever get any bleed through from the ink when you put the colour over the top. I once used a Gundam marker before a clear coat and the black bled and looked horrible!

[vwracersam]

the paint is fantastic and thanks for the tip on the body lines

[blubaja]

Looks awsome so far Bob!

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Originally Posted by robrex

Great work getting through those problems you've encountered. I would have probably packed it away in the cupboard?

Nice idea with the panel lines! Do you ever get any bleed through from the ink when you put the colour over the top. I once used a Gundam marker before a clear coat and the black bled and looked horrible!

Thanks! The model is close to finished. Another hour or two and it's done

I haven't had any problems w/the ink bleeding through paint. It's water soluble (while it's still wet at least); I use mostly lacquers so I've not had any bleed through. And I always shoot color over the black lines, haven't shot clear over the black.

[GvEman]

Looks good to me! I have ordered the '69 winer and i am painting it in Tamiya French blue and bright orange. Keep it up!