Lotus Pair.

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Thanks chaps.
I was thinking of all sorts of ways to make the mudguards, the obvious being plastic card, or maybe thin aluminium from a printing plate, bent to shape. But that would probably be tricky, given the relatively small area, especially bonding the 'guard to the mounts, which will be quite thin in diameter, whilst at the same time retaining an equal, continuous curve on each 'guard.
So I searched around for (preferably) plastic tube of a suitable diameter and relatively thin wall thickness, thinking I could cut the shapes, but didn't have any luck - unless I was prepared to place a minimum order for a case of twenty, two meter long tubes !!!
Eventually, I ended up buying a pack of 10 of these small containers, for a couple of Pounds including shipping, from a company that supplies equipment to Entomologists ( insect / bug / butterfly collectors ) !
I should be able to make the 'guards from one container, and will still have 9 left for storing small bits and pieces ( or bugs ! ), or for other modelling needs as required.

Anyway, after inspecting the red paint on the Gold Leaf car, I was happy enough with the finish, so the masking has been removed. There were only two very small "glitches" in the demarcation between the two colours, where I must have got the masking slightly wrong, but these will be covered by gold cheat lines anyway, so I'm not too concerned.
The nose cone has been masked, ready to spray the gold colour, and the unmasked area lightly sanded to thin and flat the remaining red paint overspray.
I might get this sprayed later tonight, but first I want to get a second coat of gloss black on the JPS car.
The pics below show how the model looks so far, with the main body parts just loosely dry-fit for the photos, and also shows the two above-mentioned small glitches in the paint demarcation, and the masked nose cone. The gold cheat line decals, and the Gold Leaf decal sheet are also shown, the cheat lines to be used on both models.

Back when there's more to show .....................


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Thanks very much chaps, it's appreciated, as always.

Just finished cleaning up after a fairly long session painting, although to be fair, a lot of the time was spent cleaning the airbrush between colours, and experimenting with the gold paint for the nose of the Gold Leaf car.
A second coat of gloss black has been sprayed on the JPS car, and it went on nicely, and looks to be drying with a nice, smooth, deep gloss finish, which will be enhanced by the clear gloss coat(s) later, once the decals and adhesive markings are applied.
After quite some time experimenting with various thinning ratios for the enamel gold paint, the nose of the Gold Leaf car eventually received a couple of coats. Although I've sprayed many and varied metallic colours over the years, as far as I remember, I've only ever brush-painted gold enamel before now, and I found it a bit strange.
Getting the thinning ratio right took some time - "normal" thinning, where the paint would flow just like any other colour, resulted in too "heavy" a mix, where the paint had to ask for permission, in writing, to leave the airbrush, whereas, if it was thinned more, it would flow and spray fine, but be too thin to adhere to the surface sufficiently to give a solid finish, even after "building up" the finish, and presented a translucent appearance.
By trial and error I eventually got a usable paint / thinner ratio ( the proportions of which I have no idea ! ), and managed to build-up a solid gold colour, which looks OK so far, although virtually matt, and it took almost a long to spray this very small area, as it did to spray the entire body area of the black car. But, given that it hardens without any surface blemishes, it should be fine once it receives a coat or two of clear gloss.

I don't want to risk moving the parts for photos, so I'll do that, and post pics, sometime tomorrow.
Thanks again for your interest.
 
The nose cone of the Gold Leaf car - a tiny bit of retouching is required on the right-hand side, easily done - and the JPS car as it looks so far, with the parts just dry-fitted for the photos. Excuse the finger marks from handling, these will be polished off before gloss clear coating.
Next step is to paint the interiors and engine bays of both cars - aluminium overall for the Gold Leaf car, and aluminium engine bay, with grey and "light black" cockpit for the jPS car - before commencing construction of the running gear ets.


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Thanks Andy.

Probably won't get much more done until tomorrow - had a painful night last night, so need some rest.
 
Apologies for the recent lack of up-dates - I've been too stiff and painful to do any modelling this last week or so.
However, I have got a bit more done yesterday and this morning, and I'm now almost ready to start some actual construction, at last !

Pic 1. Battery trays and retaining clamps have been added to both "moulded-in" batteries on the scuttles for both cars, using thin plastic strip and rod.
The pic shows the JPS car before adding the parts, and the Gold Leaf car with the parts in place. Both cars now have these fitted, and terminals and leads will be added once the batteries are painted, and home made manufacturers decals added.
Pic 2. The engine bays of both cars have been painted "aluminium", as has the floor of the Gold Leaf car, whilst the JPS car has a dark grey interior, which has been textured by stippling, to represent carpet on the floor.
Pic 3. A view of the stippled effect in the JPS car. Note that the gloss black exterior is showing a lot of handling marks, which will be polished off eventually.
Pic 4. Starting work on the seats. The joints have been filled with CA, which doesn't show up very well here, but will need a little "Milliput" around the upper edges. A fabric finish to the back rest and seat squab has been created by attaching self-adhesive velour "flock" paper, reinforced with CA where needed, and await cleaning. Once filled, sanded and fully set, and the headrests added, the remainder of each seat will be painted very dark grey, to represent leather. I had intended to use the "flock" paper ( or maybe flocking powder ) to create the floor carpets, but the angles, and access to the floor proved a little too tricky to achieve a decent fit, hence the stippling of the paint.

I hope to get some more done later today, and I'll post pics when there's more to show.


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