Car Cart (Painting Begins)

[marc_reusser]

While waiting for some parts do dry and cure on the boat project for the MIG Challenge, I decided I might need a back-up project in case I couldn't get the boats completed in time  .... plus I felt some of the guys in the build were just having too much fun with the car models, and I felt left out    ......so ......Friday evening I picked up a Tamiya 1/48 Volkswagen kit.

....and this is where I am as of this morning.

As you can see, very little of the kit was used. It is missing the wooden platform/floor, and a wooden plank seat. The horse is from my scrap box...it was part of some horrible kit from the 1960's...with a plastic that just would not take any glue.....I finally ended up filling the halves with epoxy and clamping them......seems to be holding for now. Once dry it needed a LOT of rework and parting line/gap clean-up. (took almost as long as the VW and cart). I still have some harness & tack work to do (tape is just temp.)



The brass tubing is .06mm dia. from Lion Roar. The cart frame is made from .060" 'H-column" styrene shapes, cut down to a 'C-Channel'



Since I knew nothing about VW's, I went and did some very quick research on what the basic interior and body appearance of a gutted VW was...but unfortunately a bit late...as I had already cut down and used the rear interior that came with the kit, before I noticed that it was quite incorrect in shape....c'est-la-vie. The body was heavily thinned (to about .005"+/-) at all the lower edges and the fenders, so that it could be deformed/dented. The interior of the roof was also progressively thinned and shaped, towards the exposed edge. The interior was built using .010" and .005" styrene.



Holes were drilled on the exterior where the chrome trim strips, and makers insignias were removed. The cowling for the license plate light was hollowed out, and the rear tail lights were modified (the left drilled out completely, and the right milled deeper and a wiring hole added)



Because the cart sits higher than the original kit, and the interior of the wheels might be visible , at a low angle, I modified them to have a slight bit of detail.  The mounting posts on the rear of the rim part were cut down to be flush with the rear surface of the wheel casting. The two leftover rim parts were then sanded until the inner detail could be removed....this detail was then applied to the plain rear surface of the wheel casting. The tire tread on the contact surfaces was also sanded down.



I will probably build a small base for this....thinking somewhere in Africa (Rhodesia or Angola)  in the late 1970's.....so some redish ground, grey trunked trees with green foliage.



Marc

[marc_reusser]

I thought I should probably show my "inspiration" for this:








Marc

[lab-dad]

You never cease to amaze me in what inspires you!
-Marty

[michael mott]

In Canada they were called "Bennett Buggys" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennett_buggy

Looks great Marc

Cheers Michael

[RoughboyModelworks]

Great fun Marc, love it... its a Hoover wagon!  An ignominious end to a noble beetle. Isn't that the first Yugo by the way? 

Paul

[jacq01]

  THE answer for the present car industry's problems. 
  Reduced CO2 and less speeding tickets.

  great to see idea's like this taking shape.

  Jacq

 

[LLOYD]

Humour and excel work!
I adore this way of practising model making!
Sincerely!
Lloyd

[shropshire lad]

Interesting looking project , Marc .

What I'm really looking forward to is your SBS tutorial on painting and weathering the horse . Can't wait !

  Nick

[marc_reusser]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

Michael, great link. Thanks...always enjoy learning something new.

Nick, I too look forward to seeing how I paint a horse. 


...well, today was just one of those days.

During my lunch break I painted the whole model a deep rusty shade using a mix of Tamiya acrylics thinned with Mr. Hobby thinner. Then This evening I went in and with a sponge and washes, added rust tones using the Life Color set....after which I masked off most of the model so that I could paint certain areas with color....and this is where it all went to hell...first the mask leaked/bled...then while cleaning some of the areas with warm water, the rust shedes wore off in places...then the base color started to release from the model!  ......so  I just decided to strip it....I started on the outside first using Mr Hobby thinner...then 90% isopropyl alcohol.....then warm soapy water.  I was just about to start stripping the inside, when I noticed that through whatever chemical reaction, I suddenly had ended up with a really cool weathered finish on the interior....pretty much what I was after....and it had happened all on its own!






...now I just hope I don't screw it up when I repaint the exterior again. 


Marc

[jacq01]

     I thought you modelled on your own, but it looks you are cheating.
     You received a lot of help from a fellow named Murphy     and this times not in a negative sense.

     This looks very good, sometimes it shows up best when not under control   

     When doing the interior, will you touch up the runner showing between the two rust colours ?
     
      Jacq 
   
     

[shropshire lad]

It's ironic that much of our best work is achieved by accident . I bet you couldn't reproduce what you have done if you tried to do it again .
  I am interested in seeing how this progresses as I also have the Life Colour rust set and might use it on my Opel Blitz project if yours comes out OK ( which I'm sure it will).
  What did you use for masking ?

  Keep doing the experiments so that we can learn from your mistakes !

  Nick

[marc_reusser]

Jacq;
These days I seem to need all the modeling help I can get.


Nick;
I have been wondering how I could possibly replicate that for the exterior....really is just about what I need/want to achieve.

I used Gum Arabic for the masking....since I got such great crisp and clean results on the FMW trucks....only I was trying to hurry it along, and not thinking clearly...on the FMW trucks all the paint was Floquil (Oil Based)....here I was shooting water based...and quite thinned too....this of course doesnt really work well with a water soluble mask like Gum Arabic    Were I using Tamiya acrylics thinned with Mr. Hobby thinner for the color I was spraying instead of the water thinned Vallejos I think I would probably have been OK.....but Tamiya doesnt have the colors i needed to make a Volkswagen blue engine bonnet, and a yellow fender.

I did in the process discover/create some really cool and scale layered chipping effects...which I probably also will never be able to replicate .

The Lifecolor set is "interesting"...I havent really gotten the hang of using it the way they suggest....so I am using it more with varied thinning, and then using it with a sponge or a kind of wash. I feel it is too strong straight from the jars, and really prefer building it up in very thin layers....gives more control, and tonal/depth variation....I also tend to switch back and forth between colors to achieve varied layering and transparency.
I also tent to primarily use the two darkest colors...I have no idea what to do with that lightest yellow-orange color...it just seems to garish and "off" for my taste. If I go that light I will use a mix of Bragdons powders..or something like toned down Floquil "Rust"

Marc

[michael mott]

I must admit when I first saw the pics I thought wow I wish I knew how Marc achieves these fantastic results with the paint. Then reading your explanation made me smile, trying to replicate happy accidents is the bane of all modelmakers in my opinion, I think it is in this endeavour that we do our best learning.

regards Michael

[Franck Tavernier]

Nice rust effect Marc!

You said...Serendipity? 

[marc_reusser]

When doing the interior, will you touch up the runner showing between the two rust colours ?
     
Jacq 

Jacq,

Which "runner" are you referring to?

Marc