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Chassis nearly done. Adding a Futaba style switch to the chassis mount ended up being too much of a hassle, so I mounted the switch on the ESC, with switch facing down, so the power can still be switched with the body on.


Next step is the driver, I have the paint for both Peterson and Depailler, leaning Peterson like the boxart.


This D bag is here to remind me not to ruin the paint job, and become the D bag.


The directions call for a Tamiya LF1100-6.6V LiFePO4 racing battery.


Those racing packs are $90, if you can find them, and while I really like the safety of LiFe, the performance seems to be a bit weak still, if I'm to believe the early reviews. The issue here is the battery compartment in this P34 model, between the fiberglass decks, is about 24mm, a standard LiPo/NiMh is 25mm.

I bought a cheap pair of 5200 LiPo that had 24mm thickness, to see if I can fit those, will report back.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CVBQW5T


This model was a lot of fun to build, really like the quality and look of it so far, hoping to do the paint work correctly. Driver is up next.

Talk about a tight fit, there's no possible way the dimensions could be even 1mm bigger in width or depth, it would not fit.




That completes the chassis, painting the driver is next.

Got everything for the boxart Peterson driver.


This will be the first driver figure I've ever painted.


Going to glue the head together first, and then sand the seam line smooth with putty, before painting.

Not looking forward to the eyes .

The seam on the helmet is really pronounced.




Waiting for this to dry.


Hoping to sand the seam perfectly flush with the rest of the helmet.

The putty is still tacky after a couple of hours, I may have used too much, will wait until it is completely dry before sanding.

Got the XF-1 flat black on the top steering wheel half, the radiators, and body base.


When the flat black is dry, I'll paint Peterson's jacket XF-8 flat blue.

I'm enjoying the painting process more than I thought I would. As a kid, painting the body/driver was the part I either skipped entirely, or rushed through as fast as possible in order to get out there and drive it.

The XF-8 flat blue came out nice, I added the Tamiya Paint Retarder in order to get rid of any brush strokes, and have the paint level itself a bit (thanks to Barbados Rex on YT for that tip).


The Tamiya putty, and 2000 grit dry sandpaper got that seam off the helmet.




Need to figure out the rest of the paint scheme now that it's dry.


The seat belts I want to paint either X-18 semi-gloss black, or X-7 pure red. When the driver is in the model you can really only see his head, the body is nearly hidden. His gloves I want to paint white like the boxart, instead of flat blue like the manual lists.

Will do the inside of the helmet flat black now that the face is dry, then mask the face and paint the helmet TS-15 Blue.


Going to paint the gloves white, and then go back over the flat blue on the jacket.

Got this $12 paint can attachment sprayer.


Allows me to keep track of where the nozzle is pointed at all times, feels much more controlled and accurate, also no paint on the trigger finger is nice.


Allowed me to spray the tiny side mirrors, and to get at all of the angles without drips. Love this sprayer, won't do it any other way now.


Painted the top half TS-26 Pure White, but the sanding I did with 2000 grit prior, made it rough in spots.


Have the Tamiya Compound Polish ordered in all three grits, got the cloth too, going to try to get a mirror shine on this paint job. This body should be easier to learn on, than the ones to come.

Looking good!
If you're concerned about rubbing through the paint during the polishing process, you can clear-coat with lacquer since TS is lacquer based.
Apply 5-10 coats of clear, wait 10 days then a light wet-sand with 2000 grit to remove dust or orange peel then polish. It will shine and reflect like lexan.

Thanks for that! I do have the TS-80 flat clear spray, but I need to do some study on how to best use it. I'm not afraid to polish through my top coat, I'd just paint it again after stripping it, but I'd like to learn all of the tricks behind making them look as real as possible.

The sun is just now trying to peek out, waiting for it to warm up a bit. Got the helmet interior painted, and masked and ready for the spray TS-15. Hoping to get this right the first try.

Ran out of TS-15 blue in the middle of this project. It was all the helmet coats I had to do to, after I knocked the wet paint head over a few days ago.


Going to put another coat on the body when the TS-15 gets here this Saturday, and then use the Tamiya Compound to get all of the orange peel off of it.


Tried chrome pen instead of X-11 aluminum, needs another coat.

Was a nice day for painting. I need to get better at it.


Ran out of TS-15 blue again. It was my fault for trying to paint in the wind with the first can, and knocking the head over. Think I'll try TS-80 flat clear on this model, it won't get driven much. Driver is ready for decals, will do that later today. The third and final TS-15 blue can will be here on Sunday, and then I can finish this.

Tried my hardest on this one, this is the first driver I've done. Left the eyes flesh colored, can't see them without magnification anyways.





This was also the first time that I used warm water and a small bit of soap on the surfaces, to allow the decals to be moved around and in to position. That may be one of the greatest tips I have learned in a long time, made this so much easier to complete, and again made me think of how much time I've wasted in the past.

Going to sand the right hand side, and give it another coat before putting the driver in.

Was able to get the upper body smoothed out and painted. I learned a lot on this model, really glad to know how to recover from mistakes, and this one was one mistake after another, in prep, and paint.











Hoping to to finish this one on Sunday, when the TS-15 gets here. Won't do TS-80 clear on this one if I can get the blue to smooth out on the lower body.

Looking good. Super Swede turned out very nice!

1911Colt wrote: ↑Fri Apr 19, 2024 8:07 am Looking good. Super Swede turned out very nice!

Thanks @1911Colt! Just got the final can of TS-15 today, going to try to get the bottom half painted tomorrow.