1/24 Tamiya Porsche 911 Carrera

Modeling Descriptions and Photos
After discovering enormous interest in "painting" from the general public of this hobby, I thought it would be a good idea for me to write this unusual diary primarily focusing on common paint finishing techniques. I hope many of you would find this fun if not helpful. Let's get started!

Porsche 911 Carrera
Instead of building my usual F1 subject, I chose Tamiya's 911 Carrera kit as my work item. The kit is simple to build and will look great when finished, it is definitely a perfect subject for this.

Body Preparation
First, we need to examine the various body parts. I found some molding lines, I removed them by sanding them with 400# and 800# sand papers.

Cleaning Parts
Before starting the painting process of the car, let's clean all the body parts including this exterior shell. I usually use soap water and wash the parts couple of times. See how clean the body is?

Prime It!
I use Tamiya's primer that comes in a spray can. It's easy to spray, it dries thin and quick. I prime this at once in the following order: sides, rear, roof, and the hood.

Body Preparation
Again, I examine the body and look for something like this. And this is also a good time for you to check your putty work if you have done any. I simply sand them down using fine sand paper.

Body Preparation
I found more places where I need to correct them. At this point, you can re-prime the car again, but I decided not to do so because I am going to apply a black base coat which can pretty much hide the primer and will not be affected by its color.

Cleaning Parts
As you can see, we repeat many steps. Don't worry, it is normal. We need to wash the body again, there are probably a good load of sand particles stuck around the surface.

Let's Paint!
I gave two thin layers of black coat. I warmed up the paint and body to help paint adhesion. The key is not to stop or change the hand movement speed as you spray. Make several passes at moderate speed in one direction. I usually paint the sides first and the rest of the body.

I applied acrylic paint for the base coat because I prefer acrylics over other type of paints. You can apply lacquer -> enamel -> acrylics in order, but do not reverse this. A nasty chemical reaction can happen if you do!

Sagging Front
Unfortunately, I found a sagging paint in the front edge of the hood and a bubble. When I was drying the kit, the body was tilted to lean front, paint was actually collected at the tip of the front hood. And I had some dust particle sat on the fender. So what do I do? I sand them down. I will have to apply another coat of black. [I am actually doing this intentionally so I can write it in the dairy. Or am I...?] This is the most basic repair technique and most effective!

Make sure you remove all the sagging paint and also polish the same area with a fine sand paper or polishing cloth to remove any scratch marks.

Let's Paint!
After sanding the troubled area multiple times with fine sand papers (I used 400#, 800#, and polishing cloth 2400# in order), I painted the surface. I didn't need to prime the body again, I just gave another two thin base coats. The front looks good now with no sagging paint!

Let's Paint!
I let the paint dry for a day. Let's examine the base coat now. This is pretty good. No sagging, no orange peel, and I have a gloss finish with only two thin layers of coat. For the painting technique, see my [Helpful Modeling Guide] section. The sides are good and received my "OK"!

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