First Car Ever (Ford Fiesta) Airfix

[APC227]

Good evening!

Now after 9 years of building just military models, mostly tanks, i've decided to go into a completely different direction this time - cars
Even though i have nothing to do with the car community, i still admire them for them for their unbelievable clean finishes. I always had kind of a big interest into building car models, but i never managed myself to get me one kit. Until now xD

I admit that i have absolutely no idea how to build a car xD I will go right into it completely blind. I thought a starter set would be fitting for me here, so i got myself the Airfix starter set.

I ain't gonna make a detailed building report like i do with my other models because this is just a "let's test".











Welp, and that's pretty much it! I can go right into coloring. It was actually really easy and short to build, i'm quite surprised. But i gotta say, even though i'm a car noob, the details are pretty easy and weak. That may explain the fast progress. But it's a starter set, i don't judge it.

APC227

[Twokidsnosleep]

Keep on going, you are doing fine
Because it is a rally car, you could even use some of your tank weathering skills to dirty her up!

[Homerlovesbeer]

Cool....another car build.....keep going!

[Rallychef]

this is a great little kit, I have just completed a pair of these cars (the build is on here somewhere). Fairly straight forward, however the decals take a lot of time and patients, we will watch with interest, as Scott says it would be great to see some of you armour boys using your weathering skills on these kits.

Ian D

[Twokidsnosleep]

I have this pinned in Pinterest and can't remember if it was here or on my car site that the author posted it
Just a wicked cool way to finish off to a WRC build, one of the best I have seen....sorry not to name the maker specifically, not sure it is the one on the display or not!?!?

ahhh found it, Paul Turley did one with a Subaru
http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topi ... -2002-dio/
Sorry to intrude on your thread APC, just a little inspiration

[Homerlovesbeer]

That.....looks......AWESOME!

[APC227]

Oh man, sorry for not updating my post! Whenever i start a new project reallife comes in and says nope.
Thank you all for your input and your advise! I had the same thoughts like you, but since this is my very first car i want to focus more on building and how to handle these kits itself. Which means that i will finish off this model just like the showcase cars with much bling-bling and no weathering. Hope you don't mind ^^

I indeed made some progress. I've started with a grey primer followed by the colors the set offers and attaching the decals. After that i finished everything with multiple coats of Alclad II.









I have to admit that i made a terrible job with the interior xD I'm excusing myself with "nobody's gonna see that later anyway". But next time i will pay more attention to it, in this kit the details weren't that good so i decided to rush through it and pay more attention to the "hull".

One thing however didn't go as planned. I really wanted this super shiny finish on the hull just like the cars in the showcase, but even after about 5 medium coats of Alclad clear kote it is still...kinda mat. It's still shiny, but it doesn't really reflect like it should be. Like a mirror, hope you know what i mean xD
Also, after 4 days the clear kote isn't really dry yet. Many parts are dry, but there are a lot of spots where it is still sticky and it ain't go away. What's wrong?

APC227

[Twokidsnosleep]

Let that clear coat sit longer, it sounds like it is still setting up...thicker is more protective but slower to harden. Longer you wait the better.
After a week or so it should be hard enough to polish, just like you would a real car, to a shine.
Have a peek on youtube, lots of videos on polishing model car paint

I like the decal work a lot, you did just fine here

[Smiffy]

Great looking build so far, really liking all the decal work

[APC227]

Thanks you both!

Polishing...now that sure was the magic word. Thank you!

[Twokidsnosleep]

No worries, just be careful light touch and non abrasive polish and test an inconspicuous area first
Ask me how I know how easy it is to polish through your clear, decals and paint...VERY!!!!

[Rallychef]

looking good so far, don't worry too much about a 'shiny' finish on this one, the actual car had quite a matt finish



this was a great colour scheme but was only used for the one event

regards Ian D

[APC227]

Sorry for the late update.

Awesome shot of the original! It's a shame they used it only for once, i think it looks really badass.
Now i think my car looks way too shiny after looking at the pic xD Oh well, but i let it like that.

Well guess what im done Somehow the clear kote still isn't really dry, i cannot explain what's going on. I left the car for an entire week day and night on my balcony, but it is still sticky on many areas. Also i noticed that the clear kote left kind of a structure on my model, which makes the surface not flat. Now it looks like tank steel or something....christ now i'm officially done with any kind of kotes. I thought the Alclad was finally the perfect one, but nooo.

Anyway, before i attached the hull on the undercarriage, i had some problems with the rollover cage. It was somehow in the way with the glasses, which forced me to cut the cage on the top to make everything fit. Besides that i also had serious problems with attaching the glasses itself. After hours i still couldn't find the spot where the glasses had to "snap in". I gave up after almost 2 hours of trying and cutting, so i have decided to glue them on "flying".

Hopefully it doesn't look that bad, so here are the pics















That completes my first car build!
I have to say even after all the trouble on the final steps, it was tons of fun building this car. It was not just "trying something else", i really enjoyed the entire build. I enjoyed it so much that i actually bought another car while i was building this one, a Mercedes from Revell xD

For now however i will get back to my tanks until i found a solution with the kotes. I do actually plan a rebuild of this Fiesta with mud and damage

I want to thank everyone for reading and helping me through the build! Cheers!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Fantastic work , really top notch

[Homerlovesbeer]

Yep beautiful so far. From what I've read and seen automotive finishes are best achieved by using Zero paints or Gravity Colours paints as their pigmints and gloss coats better represent the scale.

Your Fiesta still looks damn amazing in my books! I'd love to see you really use your armour skills and weather the next build to pieces hehe

[APC227]

Many thanks guys!