Remember the beat up Tomica (Prototype) Toyota MR2 I posted before? Well I started to work on it a while back, took me awhile but it is now finished!
Real time updates of the build were posted in my Facebook page and I decided that starting today, every time I finish a custom work, I'll post the details of the build here in the blog. So let's get started!
Real time updates of the build were posted in my Facebook page and I decided that starting today, every time I finish a custom work, I'll post the details of the build here in the blog. So let's get started!
As with all restoration/custom work, the car was taken apart, stripped of paint, cleaned and primed.
Here, you can see the Toyota MR2 (2nd car from the left) together with a few more Toyota castings that I started work on. Details of which will be posted once (if) I finish them.
Here, you can see the Toyota MR2 (2nd car from the left) together with a few more Toyota castings that I started work on. Details of which will be posted once (if) I finish them.
Once the primer dried and I was satisfied with the finish of the casting's surface, the first coat of paint was applied. Notice the clean lines and beautiful details of a vintage Japan made Tomica? I really love these old castings.
I decided to retain the classic 80's two tone look and chose a light silvery + dark silvery color combination. Here is a picture of the car fully masked and ready for another coat of painting. You may be wondering why I chose to mask a large area over masking a smaller area, well it's a general rule that when you are painting over a layer of paint, it should always be light color first followed by the darker color to avoid bleeding.
And here it is after removing the mask. I was really happy to have a very clean finish on this one, and I really loved the color combination.
And here it is after removing the mask. I was really happy to have a very clean finish on this one, and I really loved the color combination.
While waiting for the paint to dry, I started working on the clear parts of the car. There were a lot of deep scratches and chips on the clear plastic parts and restoring it to an okay condition was really hard.
Wet sanded the parts until it was evened out, let it dried, painted the details, washed it, let it dried and then dipped it into a liquid wax solution. There are still a few visible scratches but I was happy with how it turned out.
Wet sanded the parts until it was evened out, let it dried, painted the details, washed it, let it dried and then dipped it into a liquid wax solution. There are still a few visible scratches but I was happy with how it turned out.
The MR2 had a sad looking plastic muffler so I decided to make a new one made out of stainless steel. Making the exhaust system was a really really fun project, and I think I'll try to make one for every custom works that I'll be doing in the future. Another custom part that I made (and forgot to take pictures of the process) for the MR2 is a set of fog lights made of scrap clear plastic plates I had lying around.
Once the paint dried all that was left were to assemble it back, work on the details like panel lines, decals, and washes, find a fitting set of wheels and I'm done! I'm a big fan of the MR2 AW11 in all scales that is why building this one was a lot of fun, only sad thing is that it is really really hard to find castings of the AW11 and I'm really lucky to be able to find one.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the feature as much as I enjoyed building this one. See you around and keep on overhaulin!
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the feature as much as I enjoyed building this one. See you around and keep on overhaulin!