Peugeot 306 Maxi & Evo2 - WIP

Washed. 

This is masking sheet of ZoomOn for windshield.
I need two but I only have one. But I have a cutting machine so I can duplication. 😉 

I scanned it and created vector data. 

I got a copy. 

I was about to throw away the remaining stickers after sticking them all on, when I heard a snapping sound from inside. I carefully unfolded the stickers... 

There is no other way than to carve it myself 🙁
I cut the Clear Pla-Plate into roughly similar sizes. 

The side glass is slightly curved to match the curve of the body.
So, I pressed and glued it to a cylinder of the right diameter and put it in the dish dryer overnight. 

It's bent just right. 

I trimmed the edges so they fit perfectly into the window frame. 

Next, I cut the pla-plate to create a rubber seal, and scrape and drilled holes where the side mirrors would be attached.
If there's trouble from the beginning like this, there are often troubles throughout the work, so it's very unsettling 🙁 

Removed the protruding parts. 

Scraped the panel lines deeply. 

The fender was too thick, so I scraped it down to make it thinner. 

I did the same thing on the front fender. 

All sanded. 

The extension lamp in Evo2 is made of two pieces, front and top, so I had to deal with the seam, but it was tricky because the seam location was not good for sanding.
And I don't know if the mold has already worn out, but unlike MAXI, Evo2's parting line is not clean overall and there is a gap. 

I was going to use magnets to make it removable, so I cut the runners at an angle so that the magnets were parallel to the bonnet and attached them firmly. 

On top of that, the magnet was firmly fixed with instant adhesive and wood glue. 

Then place it on the bonnet, align it, and tape it and... 

Just attach the magnet to the inside of the bonnet and fix it firmly, and you're done.
The results are attached in the comments. 

I painted the inside black to block out the light. (Right) 

If you don't block the light, you may find that areas that should be dark become brighter. If you look at the marked areas, you can see that the inside of the grill, which should not be bright at all, is brighter. 

I think this process is very important in car modeling. (Left) 

Anyway, I filled the inside with black 🙂 

One was a deep, saturated blue, so I mixed the colors. I wasn't sure, so I looked at the blue on the decal and mixed it little by little to match it. 

The real car is this color. 

I think it's a color that's used a lot in Peugeot's rally cars, so I made a lot of it. 

The interior panel was bent down so the marked part was floating in the air and I couldn't get it to fit. So I taped it in place and put it in the dishwasher for a day. 

I painted Gloss White without White Surfacer. 

I tried the new GGX paint from GSI, but it has slightly different characteristics from the existing lacquer paint.
They advertise that the new formula has good shielding and gloss, but it doesn't seem to fit my painting style. 

There is paint accumulated on the door and around it. 

This one is worse.
I can't believe I've been modeling for over 30 years and this is still happening. hahaha 

I painted it the way I've been working so far and this is what happened.
It seemed to have a lot of retarder and glue and gloss clear in it. It felt like I was spraying watery starch paste with an airbrush. 

I think you should probably paint it like you would paint with tin canned paint.
Instead of painting from one place to the side, I think it would be okay if you painted it lightly and repeatedly overlapping the entire area. 

I tried sand it for about an hour. but... 

I erased it with thinner.
To minimize damage to the plastic, I cleaned it with a large brush in a sweeping motion without soaking it. 

Re feelings, Re beginnings 🙁
This time, I painted base coat with a White Surfacer. 

I re-applied the GGX paint. This time, I applied it from a distance, overlapping it, like I did with canned paint. 

This time too, there was a bit of a problem, but I think it can be repaired with sandpaper. 

Same. 

This is the surface condition after drying, and the gloss is not much different from the existing paint. 

This is just painted on a plastic surface without a surfacer and dried. In this case too, there is not much difference in gloss compared to the existing paint.
Conclusion: I don't think there is any reason to risk the trouble with this paint. 

Anyway I sanded it.
But the paint on the marked area has peeled off. 

And I recoverd it with paint brush.
Since there will be a lot of decals anyway, and the steps of the decals will also need to be removed, this should be enough. 

The side of the blue car's wing is red, so I painted it red first. The fire extinguisher and tow hook were painted in IPP's Super Red, and the exterior parts were painted in GSI's Shine Red. 

The blue, red shapes on the white car are not included as decals, so they need to be painted. So I first taped the guides with line tape. 

I masked the rest of the parts and used Tamiya masking sol in the small gaps.
I only used the existing GSI brush type, but it was also convenient to use it by squeezing it into the gaps like this. 

Now I painted custom blue and red. 

The decal to be attached to the white car wing was not the right size.
When I looked closely at the decal instructions, the wing shape was different.
I should have made a new wing, but I was too lazy, so I decided to print the decal. 

I scanned the decal, converted it into a vector, and then reduced its size. 

But since it was still too big, I reduced the size a bit and printed it again. 

It seems to fit pretty well. 

I don't know if it's because of the decal fixer or the GGX paint properties, but when I briefly placed it on a rubber work surface, the paint stuck to the floor. 

Because of the paint properties, the decals were sticky and difficult to position even before they were applied.
Even worse, the up and down orientation was wrong and when I turned it 180 degrees, the arms, legs, and tail were torn off...
I said I had a bad feeling about it when I first broke the window, but the little problems keep popping up. 

After many twists and turns, the decal work on the white car was completed. 

The blue car completed without any trouble. 

After drying in a food dryer for a day, I painted a UV Cut Clear. 

2nd coated. (Normal Clear) 

Rough sanded. The surface condition was so bad that I lightly sanded it.
Additional coatings are still needed. 

Clear coated again. 

Trouble happened.
The white decal cracked, maybe I think because my room was too dry. 

When I reflected it on the light, I saw a crack in the same location on the clear layer.
Continues to be trouble occurring. 

I was disappointed and started working on something else. 

I started painting the other parts. 

Masked. 

Painted 'Iron'.
The front brakes are marked to be painted in different colors for the left and right. 

When I tried to paint the tail lamp, the color number in the assembly manual (bottom right) and the color in the decal guide (bottom left) were painted differently. When I googled it, I found out that the decal guide was wrong. 

I painted Black and Clear Orange. 

Masked again. 

I painted Titanium Silver and Clear Red. 

Masked. 

Painted Balck. 

The muffler ends on the race car would have been thin stainless steel cylinders instead of thick chrome, but I was very hassle, so I decided to just paint the inside Musso Black (like Vantablack) and move on. 

Paint with brush. 

I painted it black and then wiped the convex side. 

Now that there's nothing more to do, I was back to working on the bodyshell. 

Anyway, the polishing is done. 

The Clear layer was successfully restored. 

However, there is no way to restore a cracked decal, so I will have to proceed as is. 

Anyway, I start sanding the next white car too... 

All the polishing is done. 

Painted panel line.
When erasing, I used the AK odorless thinner that I recently purchased instead of enamel thinner. Conclusion: Recommended! 

I also finished attaching the remaining decals. 

The blue car tires needed a blue square Michelin logo, so I cut up a leftover decal from a Ford GT and used that. Since there were only four, I used the original decal for the spare tire. 

I applied a coat of Vallejo matte varnish to reduce the gloss of the decal. 

Before and After. 

Ready to assemble. 

I started assembling it according to the instructions manual.
But I didn't know because there was no painting guide in the manual, but now that I look at it, it seems like I should have painted the engine part metallic. 

Attached interior parts. 

Assemble dashboard.
I would have had parts to attach it to the locations shown, but I've lost them, and I'm guessing they were both thrown away without being separated from the runner. 

Anyway attached. 

Now it's time to put the wheel in, but the marked part is blocked so I can't put it in. I was prepared to risk breaking it, so I pushed it in with a lot of force and the wheel went in.
For those of you building this kit, I recommend installing the wheels first and assembling them before attaching the roll cage. 

The front and rear reflectors and fuel tank cap must be attached from the inside. 

Because the paint was so thick, I had to cut, trim, and sand several places to insert the headlamp cover and emblem. 

The tail lamp cover also didn't fit well, so I trim it and attached it. Since the front and rear bumpers need to hold the under body, I used 5 different adhesives to strongly attach them. 

I smoothed out the gate marks on the plated extension lamp reflector and brushed on AK Super Chrome. 

The windshield also didn't fit well, so I had to trim the edges to fit it. In addition, because the curvature of the side glass is different from the body shell, I had to hold it with my hand until the adhesive hardened. (The front and rear windshields fit is very well) 

Attached rear hatch hook. attached to the white car is a separate 3D printed part. 

The front under cover was for the EVO version.
The finish line is now in sight. 

When I was attaching the wings, I found that the roof surface looked like this.
I thought it was because I kept touching it during assembly and it lost its shine. 

I looked closer and found similar marks on the side. So I guessed, "There must have been a crack in the clear layer again" 

This time, to attach the blue car wings, I used a toothpick to put on the cyanoacrylate to the hole.
But the adhesive spread out like in the picture before it even reached the hole.

I've been making models for a long time, but this was my first time experiencing this, so I was flustered and after investigating the cause, I found out that it was due to static electricity.
I was wearing furry clothes, my room was extremely dry, and I frequently brushed the body shell surface to remove dust. In short, the optimal conditions for static electricity to occur.
One thing I don't understand is that the brush I was dusting with was Tamiya's static eliminator brush.

What's even more suspicious is that the blue car had a magnet attached to its bonnet. 

I was really tired of the various trouble occurring again and again.
But I think imperfection is just “sad” and that giving up is “failure.
So I let it dry for a day to make sure the adhesive was completely crisp, then sanded it. 

The sides were masked to avoid damaging the window frame paint, and then sanded. 

And... Voila~
The gloss was perfectly restored. 😄 

And then I've finished it by attaching the remaining side mirrors, antenna, and fasteners. 

Thank you for watching and for your encouragement.