I have decided with the help of Ken Marx to Detail an Artin Porsche from
start to finish. This way I can cover more information and keep it in some sort
of order. A special thanks to Todd Posner for allowing me to use his Artin
Porsche for this article. To start I would like to take a minute to cover some of
the tools used in this project.
1) Paints and Brushes - For this job
I used only one small brush. As
seen in (Fig.5) Many people would believe that you need a very fine brush to do
fine details. This is not necessarily true. I have been described as "The
guy that can paint the Mono-Lisa on the head of a pin" No, I can't , but
with an average small brush I could paint the head of pin so that a glance you
would think I had. I am as what I refer to myself as "a lazy
workaholic" I look for the easiest way to make a project look like I spent
hours working on it. In this case this Porsche was done in about an hour.
Excluding the time it took to stop and take photo's. As for paint, I differ from
most and use water base acrylic's. No smell, easy clean up, non-toxic, and they
last a long time. Every now and then I just check them and add water if they
start to dry out. The paint I used in this project is more then a few years old.
I use "Citadel Colour" Marketed in the U.S. by "Games
Workshop"(Fig.5) and is available at most Hobby shops and any good War
Gaming store, also available on the Web. What type of paint you use is not
really important, but I mention it as they have the best paint available for painting driver Faces and
I will get more into that in the section on painting Interior details. One thing to remember when using water base acrylics
is when using this type of paint on the outside of the car for window trim or
door handles is that you need to seal it with a nice clear gloss coat to keep it
from being worn off with Handling of the model. I recommend Testors Gloss Coat
for this.
2) Xacto knife and small screw drivers - self explanatory
3) Surgical Clamps - These are small needle nose clamps I use to hold onto small parts while painting and are available at fine hobby shops. But I got several pair at a local flea market for just a few dollars. If you know anyone that works with a doctor or at a local hospital you can usually get a pair from them as they are disposable after use. (Fig.A)
4) Technical Pen - As discussed in my previous article on "Inking"
5) Model Glue - I also differ from most in that I recommend using Testors Liquid Cement (Fig.15). We have all used the old tube type and had it dry up on us or spring a leak in the middle of the tube or leave those nasty threads that always seem to find their way to the clear plastic windshield. I have had this same container of model glue for over 5 years now. It ran out a few years ago and I went get another and found that they don't make it with the metal tube on the end any more because customers complained that it clogged easily and they would quickly lose the metal pin that came with it clean the tube with. Well, I found that the heat of a lighter reopens the tip quickly and easily, so I bought the new plastic tip type and poured the contents into the old container and am still to this day using it. I swear by this type and you can find this type still if you look for hobby shops with old stock. I have found some in the past for friends, so it is still out there. With the needle tip you can easily apply just the right amount exactly where you want it with out any mess. Another nice feature to this type of glue is that you can place the pieces together and hold them in place and then apply a little glue and it will run down into the joint and in a few seconds it will bond enough to hold itself together and you can set the piece aside and move on the next.
6) Decals - I didn't use any on this job, thought I would take a minute to disuse a little on the subject. Artin cars come with the dreaded stick on's. Many have posted to the news group that they received Artin cars with the decals on upside down and hanging off. I have been lucky all the cars I got from them where right side up, in fact most of the cars I received only had a few on the cars, as was the case with this car. So I left them alone, except for after I took the car a part reapplied the sticker on the windshield. But if I had placed decals I would have used water transfer decals, a good decal setting agent, and when good and dry sealed the body with a good coat of clear gloss. I will at some point in a future article go into decal tricks.
Links to Images: Figures 9 to 11 and Figures 12 to 14
Ok, on with the show! First off to disassemble the car. This car has several
small screws to remove the chassis from the body. after that, this like most I have seen has small plastic pins melted over to hold the cockpit and windshield
into the body. Carefully using an Xacto knife, I trimmed off the where the pins
had been melted (Fig.3) careful not to remove the pin as it will be useful in
gluing the cockpit back in. Also had to remember to remove the taps
that held the windshield to the cockpit. Also had ,in this case, to peel
away several spots of hot glue used to hold the mirrors in and the head
lights. once the car was apart (Fig.4) I set aside the cockpit, windshield,
Mirrors, and headlights. And went to work on the body.
I decided to paint the window frames silver since they were raised and
separated from the body by a nice groove. This made painting the raised
area of the frames easy. (Fig.6) I also took this as a good time to paint
the door handles silver as well. If I got any paint down in the groove it
wouldn't be any trouble to clean out later, using a small sewing needle
placed into the handle of my Xacto knife, I could scrape out any paint
that found it's way down into the groove. After paint had dried I scraped
out the groove surrounding the frames to remove any paint. I then took out
my trusty Technical Pen and added black ink to the pen. I then inked in
the window frames and body details (Fig.7) and (Fig.8). With the details
done to the body, after the ink was dry I applied a nice coat of Testors
Gloss Coat to seal the body and moved on to interior.
After carefully removing the melted plastic tabs that hold the driver
onto the interior plate. (Fig.9) I began by painting the dash board Blue-
Grey (Fig.10). The key I think to a good looking cockpit is to separate
the driver and interior parts as much as possible with color. Since more
then likely the dash would be Black and we want to separate it from the
rest of the interior I chose a dark Blue-Grey. For the seat backs I used
dark brown and painted the sides and seat belts light brown. Now for the
real fun, The Driver. Holding the driver with a pair of surgical clamps.
I painted in the drivers face with (Citadel Colour) Bronzed Flesh. This
a water base acrylic and does an awesome job! while the flesh paint dried,
I painted the drivers gloves light brown (Fig.11). Once the face was dry
I used (Citadel Colour) Flesh wash. This is a thin light brown ink, that
flows into the deep recesses of the drivers face giving a realistic look
to the face. While the flesh wash was drying I started with blue and
instead of painting the drivers suit (Lazy Me) I left it white and
painted some simple racing stripes and painted the cuff's blue as well,
to tie in the base of the gloves and the ends of the stripes on the
sleeves. By this time the face was dry and I could paint the helmet,
around the face (Fig.12). It is always a good idea to start at the low
points and work to the high points. Such as painting the face first. In
Painting the face first it doesn't matter if you get paint out side the
face area an on to the helmet as you can paint over it when you paint
the helmet. That's it, the driver is done (Fig.13). I then set the driver
back into the interior and glued the plastic pegs from underneath.
Finished interior (Fig.14). Any number of paint choices are available.
Of them all I have to recommend taking the time to track down Citadel's
Bronze Flesh and Flesh Wash. I have been modeling for a long time and
this is with out a doubt, the easiest and best looking way to go.
Once the interior was done it was a simple manner of painting the side
mirrors. First I painted the mirror section silver then the outside black.
When the mirrors were dry, I glued them back on the car. Once the mirrors
were in place I dropped the windshield and interior back into the body and
glued them in (Fig.15). Then when the glue was set I screwed the body
back onto the chassis and there you have it (Fig.16). A nice detail job,
Transforming one of the simplest cars made into a good looking racer.
Next I dropped in a twilight back ground and you can see the driver
sweat! (Fig.17). Finally a before and after shot of the car (Fig.18)
Hope this helps you get a little more enjoyment from our
favorite Hobby! Mad Max #49
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