[Revell] Ford GT LM 2017 - WIP

Washed. 

Removed convex parts. 

Removed convex parts.
It was cut really cleanly. 😉 

I had to make it again because I cut off 1/3 of it while trimming it. The plate was made by cutting the plastic rod, and the tiny thin part that was originally attached was made by extending the runner. 

Like this... 

Since the wiper was molded together with the body, I used nippers to cut it out. 

After trimming it well, inserted the metal rod. 

The plastic was too thick so I thinned out the fender area. 

I removed the small rivets and drilled holes to mark their positions. 

The side parts that are to be attached to the body do not fit perfectly.
And when I looked at the real car clip, that part wasn't even split. 

It was firmly attached with various adhesives. 

And then I split it along the panel lines. 

Since there was nothing to hold onto where the back cover touches the door, I made a small projection and attached it. 

Since I plan to replace the air intakes on both sides with mesh, I measured the size and shape by attaching masking tape before cutting them out. 

Then I removed it.
And, I also removed the fuel filler and the part with the unknown device on the front fender. Since the plastic is quite thick, I also scraped the inside of this part to make it thinner.
 

I applied the putty where needed.
I covered the area where the wiper had been removed by attaching masking tape to the opposite side and then applying putty. 

Polished. 

I checked to see if the removed wiper would fit properly. 

The part that was separated earlier, the passenger side is fine, but the driver side has too much space, so it seems like it needs to be modified. 

Adhsived an pla-plate 

I cut and sanded to get it just right. 

I did the same thing with the space on the top. 

The front grille was removed because it was designed to be applied with a decal and not a molded mesh. When I looked at actual vehicle images, I found that some vehicles have mesh and some do not, so I am debating whether I should use nylon mesh or just leave it as is. 

When I tried to assemble the upper and lower plates, the marked areas interfered with each other and did not fit together perfectly, so I had to cut a lot of them off. 

There should be a groove for a tow hook where indicated, but it is missing. (There is a decal included though) 

The canards are molded into the body and get in the way when polishing, so I measured their size and shape with masking tape and then removed them. 

I cut a thin piece of pla-plate and made it into its original shape. 

This is how we plan to fit it into the groove we scraped out earlier. 

I drilled the rivet holes. 

The thick vertical wings were sanded down to make them thinner. 

There are a lot of design flaws with this kit, the biggest of which is the extremely thick rear diffuser. 

I cut them all out. 

Before sanding, I marked the original location with a iron pencil. 

Sanded. 

The marked part seemed thick, so I looked for a video of the actual car and found that it was detailed completely rubbish, so I removed it for scratch build. 

I filled the pin marks with putty.
This is because sanding later can cause the part you made to chip or distort, so it's better to do it beforehand. 

Now start working.
I started by slicing the thin plas-plate into narrow pieces and gluing them together. 

First, I've attached everything so that it's right angles, now I need to round the corners. 

After covering the putty, I sanded the surface to clean it up and shape it. 

Next, It's time to make the auxiliary diffusers on both sides.
sizing them so that they don't interfere with the tires. 

I attached it while slightly bending it so that it was curved from the middle. 

I cut the pla-plate into the appropriate shapes, glued them to the markings, and sanded them to remove any unevenness. 

I then cut another piece of the plate, attached it as shown, and trimmed the shape to finish it off. 

Finally, it is time to work on the main diffuser. First, I cut the pla-plate into 4 long pieces and 4 short pieces(width is same), and roughly drew the shape. 

Because the rear plate is not flat, but slightly curved, it will float at the ends as shown. 

There is no easy way to do this job other than to keep sanding and trying to fit it in. 

(Gasp of breath) It took a long time, but I finally finished pasting all eight. 

Length and parallel check. 

Interval and vertical angle check. 

I refined it by sanding the end length and the edge-line of height. 

I like it. 😉 

There are shrinkage marks in places that are not good for sanding work. 

Sanded. 

I just finished sanding the entire body (I forgot to take pictures of the main body) 

I sprayed some gray surfacer on it to check the surface condition. 

Sanding... 

Sanding... 

Sanding... 

Sanding... 

Sanding done. 

I painted black surfacer to the lower body, inside of the body shell, side mirrors, and the bottom side of the wings. 

White surfacer. 

The white stripe in the middle is included as a decal, but I thought it would be easier to paint, so I painted only the striped area and the white area on the side with glossy white. 

I masked the parts that should be left white. 

On top of that, I covered the area to be painted blue with low-adhesive masking tape and painted it red (Italian red). 

Masked again for blue painting. 

Then , painted blue.
The instructions say to mix ultramarine and blue, but I thought it would be too dark, so I looked up several videos and mixed the colors to get a similar color. 

Now it's time to apply the decal. 

I didn't think there would be much decals, but there were more than I thought. 

1st clear coat. (UV cut clear) 

The windshield is pre-painted, but it's printed matte on the outside, so I'm going to erase that and repaint to inside.
So... before erasing, attached some masking film on the inside. 

And I masked it by cutting it according to the shape printed on the outside. 

Now I have to erase the printed part with a compound....
I don't know what kind of paint it is, but it doesn't erase well. It's the coarsest compound I have, and it seems like it will take all day to erase it all. 

I ended up changing my plans and erasing all with sandpaper.
After all, a model starts with sanding and ends with sanding... 🙂 

I restored the surface condition. I didn't use any compound, and just sanded it with a finer and finer sandpaper(final: Glossy Sandpaper). 

Now I'm trying to fix the rest of the parts, but they're already broken.
I wish the Revell would just drop away the side open box. 

Anyway, all the parts were trimmed and sorted by paint color. 

Painted some parts and overcoated body. 

But, because the paint on the body has large steps, I concentrated on the steps rather than the entire body and painted it thickly to the point where I thought, "Is it okay to paint it this thick?" 

The exhaust hole was blocked, so I tried to unclog it, but it looked awkward. So I removed the entire thing. 

Two diameters of steel pipe were cut diagonally and then trimmed. 

Then, after fixing the two together well, I plan to install them as shown in the picture on the right. 

I smoothed the surface of the headlamp cover. 

I started painting in earnest. This time, I also did an clear overcoating on the entire bodyshell. 

I finished painting the parts that I couldn't finish painting earlier. 

Painted with paint brush. 

I was concerned about the step on the white stripes and the two overlapping decals above them, so I lightly sanded them down, and as expected, the step was very severe. 

So before I did any additional coating, I sanded all and removed any steps. 

B, I got a little too greedy and scratched the paint in a few places while sanding. 

This area is prone to scratching paint. 

Since I will be repainting using a No. 2 brush, I only did partial masking like this. 

Masked. 

It looks fine in the photo, but since I accidentally used different paints to mix the colors, you can feel a subtle difference when you see it in person. 

This place doesn't really stand out, but... 

I have 3 cobalt blues, but I accidentally used the wrong cobalt blue instead of the one I originally mixed. 

Paint also spattered out beyond the mask like this. Fortunately, this can be easily erased with a compound. 

Masked again for paint tocorrectly color 

Same... 

It's finally been painted in the right colors. 

And then I coated Clear. 

Prepare 2 sheets of pla-plate cut into circles and 2 sheets cut in half. The metal parts in the container are products sold for Gunpla. 

It seems like it can be used like this.
The fuel inlet at the back is a product sold for Gunpla use, but it looks a little different from the actual fuel inlet, but I just ignore that 😉 

Youtube Video
I painted the board inside with Musou Black. (I was just bored..)
This paint is a similar paint to Vantablack and is characterized by blocking 99.4% of light reflection (Vantablack blocks 99.96%, MIT blacks 99.995%). 

The part that will be attached to the front fender has a little more detail. 

Last sanded 

Polishied. but, the paint steps where the number decal is located could not be completely removed. 

Painted with Tamiya Panel Line Accent. 

I also attached all the remaining decals. 

I also need to put a decal on the headlamp cover, but it doesn't fit perfectly. 

It's much easier to just mask and paint something like this. 

I cut a piece of nylon mesh and attached it to the air intake that had been removed. 

Painted with Vallejo Mecha Surfacer. 

Since this area is quite uneven, I decided to mask it and paint it with an airbrush because I was worried that it would bubble if I painted it with Vallejo paint. 

Ready to assemble. 

The engine was assembled first. 

I started assembling the cockpit according to the instructions. 

Assembled dashboard. 

The roll bar is molded into the side frame and it was bent so much at the top(I don't know if it was just the kit I had that was bent) that it wouldn't hold in place even with super glue, so I had to glue it to the rear bulkhead.
Next, I tried to install the dashboard as instructed in the manual, but I couldn't install it because the roll bar was blocking the indicated location. 

I forcibly opened the roll bar at the indicated location and barely managed to fit it in. 

The upper roll bar also had to be forcibly bent and secured with instant adhesive. 

After cutting the nylon mesh nicely... 

Attached to the front grill. 

This kit doesn't have front wheel steering, but I decided to modify it because I thought the car would look cool if the front wheels turned. (I can't believe this is a 21st century kit)
First, I attached it firmly as instructed in the manual. 

I drilled holes above and below the indicated location (they should be drilled vertically when viewed from the side/front). 

And I also drilled a hole in the front. 

I bent the head of the pin 90 degrees. 

Bend the wire appropriately and roll both ends into circles. 

And I put it in like this. 

I cut the wheel hub connection part with an etching saw. 

I cut out the part that interfered with the steering of the wheel hub. 

And then I'll reconnect it and cut the pin like this and insert it into the hole we drilled earlier. 

I also cut off a little bit of the inner side of the wheel because it was thick and interfered with steering.
The results are attached as a link in the comments. 

I'll have to connect the muffler and exhaust pipe, but I'll just skip it. 

Engine room complete. 

All interior assembly is now complete. 

Other view. 

I attached chrome tape on the backside of the headlamp. 

A tiny metal ball was inserted into the location of the removed rivet. 

We did the same thing on the roof. 

The fuel filler cap is attached from the inside like this. 

It looks like this from the outside.
It looks different than it actually is, but it looks good, so let's just ignore it. 🙂 

To attach some unknown device to the front fender, I attached a piece of pla-plate to the inside like this... 

Then I drilled a hole outside and inserted the made parts. 

Assembled headlamps.
I need to do a rivet expression, but I don't want to do it because it's too much trouble. I'm thinking of stamping silver dots later when I feel like it. 😛 

I'm trying to combine the upper and bottom, but the rear under cowl and frame interfere with each other, so they don't fit together properly. 

I cut it out. 

I also sanded the marked parts to make them a little thinner. 

Attached windshield. 

The removed convex molds on the roof were reattached. 

I put a carbon decal on the underside of the wing. I should have cut out the support bracket connection groove and put it on, but I was too lazy so I just put it on and it ended up with wrinkles. 

Attached wing. 

Attached rear cowl. 

Attached canard. 

I made the side mirrors by cutting and pasting the stickers included in the Tamiya case. These stickers are thick and highly reflective, making them perfect for this purpose. However, because they are thick, it is a bit difficult to cut them into the desired shape. 

Now, finally, attach the side mirrors... 

All done. 

However, I was not satisfied with the quality of the wheels, so I ordered decaLcas products. So, I did not put any decals on the wheels because they are temporary. 

I really like the steerable front wheel.
However, I don't like how the edge between the blue and white in the front isn't cleanly masked.
I think it was because the narrow masking tape I had was old and had a lot of dust on it. So I threw all of that masking tape away.
 

I realized too late that I hadn't made a tow hook, so I made one and attached it.
It's really over now. Thanks for watching~ 

Decalcas' resin wheel arrived and I started working on it right away.
Since it's a 3D printed product, there are supporter marks on the inside.
And I was surprised that there were no traces of laminated layers.
Technology has advanced to this level. 

Removed the supporter mark.
It seems that 3D printing resin grinds much better than regular resin. 

Because it is resin, I used Vallejo Mecha Primer instead of a regular surfacer. 

I painted the wheels using the included masking sheet and painted the center lock with Tamiya Champagne Gold. The original plan was to paint the tires with Rubber Black, but I omitted it because the Mecha Primer alone gave off a rubber tire feel. 

The one on the left with the decal is a resin product, and the one on the right is the basic wheel and rubber tire. 

Now it's really, really, really over.
Thanks for watching~