1996 R*thm@ns Williams Renault FW18 (1:20 Studio 27).

[Mr.Grumpy]

well, the one thing that stands out is, i usually paint tires to get an even tone and for better decal application, but these tires didn't like the paint. after the model was completed the tires started to "bleed", the rubber went funny and the paint just seem to never dry. i just left it.

there's a chance that your kit has different rubber, but i'm not sure i'd chance it, don't paint the tires!

[Mr.Grumpy]

...i also remember the suspension, rear wing, and barge boards to be quite tricky, but you seem to be dealing with all that stuff quite well.

this was the kit that drove me away from 1/20 and into 1/43 scale.

[kimi_8]

I can safely say i've never heard of tyres being painted!

[KB78]

Hi all,

Many thanks for the comments & advice, they are greatly appreciated.

The Barge Boards do look to be really! awkward, I haven't gotten that far yet. The FW17 featured a slot into which you could feed the suspension & then add a small plate afterwards effectively sealing in the Wishbone, this just has a hole, no slot, no plate. So I'm going to have to feed the wishbone through the Board, leave the Board loose/ hanging whilst I set up the suspension & then secure the Board in place afterwards. It's going to be tricky!

The Rear Wing looks to be the same (tricky) structure/ ethos as all the Studio 27 Kits I've built, a load of components that will be really awkward to assemble squarely. As for the Tyres? I've never attmepted to Paint any! So at least that's one problem I can eliminate by doing absolutely nothing at all!

It's definitely a far bigger project than I had anticipated. FW15C took alot! of tweaking & finessing but this FW18 is on another level compared to that. But I'm enjoying it greatly, it's nice to have to fabricate & significantly alter things, definitely a learning process, but when considering the price of these Kits I had hoped that they would be better engineered & far more accurate than they are proving to be. But like I said, I'm enjoying it

[Mr.Grumpy]

actually, remembering back, i didn’t paint the tires on this kit, it was a reaction from the paint on the wheels with the rubber on the tires. so things got a bit weird around the outsides of the wheels.

i’m not sure what it looks like now, all my built kits are packed away in boxes. :/

[KB78]

I hope this finds you all well, It's been a while since I updated this, but with good reason. As mentioned in my last post I had painted a gloss white coat & was awaiting some warm weather in order to move forward. This was soon completed but the Rothmans Blue Zero Paint reacted badly with the Halfords Gloss Appliance White. It's a combination I've used countless times before & never encountered any problems. This time however, for some reason a few days after Painting, the Blue started creeping, the white had a sort of stretched texture, a melted appearance & the previously crisp, sharp & clean Blue borders became really, really wavey & kept going, even cracking in some places.

It was immediately obvious that I couldn't save it. Frustrated, rather than carry on immediately, I put it away for a few months & forgot about it. I gradually moved onto a new project, a Brabham BT60B. This was going well until the same thing happened with that Paint as well, I applied lighter, thinner Coats & allowed much more time between them & thought that I had solved the melty Paint problem, but I soon discovered I hadn't done anything of the sort. So, the Brabham also went into hibernation alongside FW18. After a few Months I had taken the break I needed to rediscover my mojo & set about stripping the Paint, this also damaged the Putty I had used, so I was pretty much starting over on both FW18 & BT60B. Since then I've just kept chipping away, gradually returning to the point I was at in May. This time however it was Zero Paints all the way.

It's actually worked out for the best (Silver linings & all that). The Quality & accuracy of both FW18 & BT60B paint jobs are of a vastly higher quality the second time around & I'm FAR happier with both of them. BT60B will get it's own WIP Thread at some point because I've made a few modifications there too but until then, here are a few Pics of FW18.

[KB78]

I'm going to let FW18 sit for a while now, until the days get much shorter & Winter sets in, but I've gotten it to a place where I'm happy to just wait for a bit, go & enjoy the last of the Summer & come back "as & when". Until then, thanks for looking.

[Jeff]

Fantastic paint job, such a good-looking livery

[daveyman]

Fantastic. Super result!

[kimi_8]

oh my!