so i bought a Revell Enzo...

[love-less]

...and im not sure why,lol.

Actually, i know why i got it, because of its cheap price and availability! But now, im starting to question myself if i should have really bought it because the Tamiya kit just seems so much better.

Anyways my goal for this kit (and im sure for a lot of others who bought this kit) is to build a nice 1:24 scale replica of the 1:1 Enzo for a fraction of the cost it would be had i gone the Tamiya route. (about 1/3 the price from towerhobbies, and some ppl still buy nice P/E parts for their Tamiya Enzo's, which is even more $$)

So how do i go about doing that? There a a few parts of the kit that needs attending to.

the first thing that comes to my mind is the carbon fiber. I assume the Tamiya kit comes with cf decals. The Revell kit doesn't. So what kinda cf decals should i buy? And where should i but them? or should i even buy cf at all? ooo that also brings something ive been thinking about. In some sence, isn't it MORE accurate to just paint parts metallic black (or any other black) than to use cf decals (as the texture of cf is so fine) vs covering it with checkerboard looking decals :P. I dont have experience with cf decals, so excuse me if this was a stupid comment. Also if anyone could help me with the placement of the cf, specifically reguarding to the undercarraige, as i cant find any pictures of it.

the taillights...the tailliights on the Revell Enzo are pre-finished in clear red, only problem is they covered the whole dang thing! which is not how it really is on the 1:1 enzo. Anyone have any solutions to this?

the wheels... the wheels are finished with a nice chrome coating...nothing like the real Enzo rims, what are some techniques on stripping the chrome off these wheels? Also, what are some good colors/paint, to paint them with?

lastly, are there any other things that can help the Revell Enzo better ressmble the real thing?

[freakmech]

almost all of your questions are answered in the how-to section and if you search "enzo" in this forum youll find all the CF reference youll ever need. ps... the Enzo is probably not the kit to learn CF on as there is a ton of it. you could easily use 2 sheets of SMS CF on an Enzo and that costs more then the kit itself.

[mustanglxboy]

a good way to strip chrome off of model parts is to get some oven cleaner in a cup and simply put your parts in it let them soak for about tem minutes and when they come out they should be chrome free. Then get and old toothbrush to get chrome out of the cracks and crevices and then finish up by washing with toothpaste. then paint the parts your color of choice.

Tony

[MPWR]

Well, let's see....

Chrome is easily stripped by any number of things, I usually use biodegreadable automotive degreaser (simple green, CSC, etc). Household bleach works just as well. Soak it in a small amount, scrub off with toothbrush. Repaint with flat aluminum for a brushed aluminum look.

CF decals are quite the rage here. Weather or not they are objectively correct is almost a meaningless question. Most CF decals are printed to look like CF exposed either to direct sunlight or a photographic flash. If you were to look at the car in a well light showroom, you wouldn't see the brilliant striped pattern- if you saw it at all, it would me much, much more subtle. If you like it, go for it- but it's alot of effort, and as mentioned before, the Enzo is probably not the best kit to learn on. If you paint CF components gunmetal and then cover it with clear smoke, you will get a very good CF color and appearence, without the pattern.

To get the clear reverse lights in the solid red taillights, carefully drill out the center section. Paint the inside wall of the drilled out hole silver or metallic grey, and when dry fill the hole with Microscale Krystal Kleer to add the clear light back. If you want orange turn signals, paint the top of the dried Kleer clear orange.

[SteveK2003]

I bought the Revell kit myself, and it's quite good. Saying it's not as good as a Tamiya kit isn't always a bad thing.

I also agree with you about CF: I think the decals are often a little overdone. The size of the pattern may be technically correct, but it doesn't always look right. One tip I got for replicating CF was to paint the parts with Gunmetal, and it seems like it will work well.

[winstona]

Originally Posted by MPWR

Well, let's see....

If you paint CF components gunmetal and then cover it with clear smoke, you will get a very good CF color and appearence, without the pattern.

This looks to be a cool trick. I'll try that out some day with my Revell Enzo.