Tamiya 1/20 Renault RE30B Build
Tamiya 1/20 plastic kit.
This build was my first completed model kit which spanned March - May 2018. I have reposted the original WIP thread here
When digging this out from my dad's closet, it turns out the one thing he did was paint the body with some very hard yellow paint. Why yellow instead of white I don't know, but it's quite obvious he wasn't very big on planning his builds thoroughly. The body spent a few days in IPA but it took some REAL hard rubbing to remove most of the paint. There were some bits I couldn't reach but they were out of the way anyways.
Engine was painted with Alclad highly polished aluminum on-top of semi-gloss black. I find that the HPA on top of semi-gloss gives a much, much nicer aluminum finish than the non-polished aluminum offered by Alclad. Then Alclad transparent blue was used for the headers.
I dry-brushed the engine for the silver stripes. This is probably the part I wish I could re-do the most, after discovering the existence of micro brushes. I could definitely have done better.
Base of white applied.
If you look at pictures of the RE30B you'll notice that the nose isn't nearly as boxy at the one provided in the kit. I wasn't interested in attempting to re-shape it though, not enough experience to do that confidently.
Masking the body was terrifying for me. Tamiya's flexible masking tape was so easy to use though.
Should've measured my heartbeat when I was peeling the masking tape. The end result left me breathless though, I couldn't really have done it any better. I read that it's safer practice to put a layer of clear between colour coats though, I'll consider that next time.
Toothpick and Tamiya XF-16 Flat Aluminum is great for bringing out details.
Tub was painted with Alclad Gloss Black Base. Same story with a lot of people here though, it never fully dries. I ended up stripping it down mostly and using Zero Gloss Black, but I can't achieve a good consistent gloss surface from it. Whatever.
Poor masking job.
Top half of the tub painted with Alclad Highly Polished Aluminum.
Studio27 photo etch upgrade set:
I read on the forum after that most people do 100/50/50 for a super smooth coat. Worked like a charm on this one, but as I mentioned previously I had contamination issues. Still not exactly sure what specifically contaminated what.
You can see this little divot here that goes straight to the base coat. There were several more of these around the body and side panels. Did my best to sand it down and give it another coat. It's not easy sanding through hardened 2K.
Added PE mesh to sidepods. These don't exist on the real car, but on the model the sidepods just open up to the ugly un-designed plastic radiator underside. Lesser of two evils. Plus I think it looks cool.
Wish I knew how much these wing end plates would end up tormenting me later.
How I masked the brakes. I wish Tamiya didn't mould brakes into single parts, makes painting them so much harder.
My hack rear wing jig - didn't even end up working that well in the end since it's slightly crooked now. Oh well!
The exhaust system was a mess to install. Happy with how they turned out though.
Misted the end of the exhaust pipes with some semi-gloss black and gold mix.
Followed by some blue Tamiya weathering pigments. Did the same on the rest of the exhaust system. Very subtle effect in the end.
More PE details.
Rear wing assembled.
And that’s a wrap! Head on over to the completed Gallery by clicking on the image below:
