Interlude. Starsky & Hutch!

OK, retro-power today! Oldschool by the book ;)

My mate got this 1/43 Ford Gran Torino...

 

Well, not exactly this one. I stole the pic from the internet

 ...and challenged me to give him back the Starsky & Hutch car:

 

 Well, at the moment of writing this I'm googling pics of the car and only now I'm realizing the same company also produces the very same car with the exact colours. Oh, my. The product already existed. And I've gone the whole process all along. OK, that's right. I'll tell you what. Instead of typing the first words that are coming to mind (which may in fact not be suitable for all audiences), I'm just letting myself relax and tell you all about these few hours I've put into this project.

I tried to remove all the pieces, but almost cracked the windscreen, so I gave up. I could took both side mirrors and windows apart, but that was all. I covered glasses and delicate pieces with masking tape and then primed. As the car was going to be red, I chose white priming.

 

I brushed the area of the stripe in white so it looked properly opaque

 

Then it's all about having steady hand and drawing the pattern with a pencil. No coffee abuse is allowed three hours prior to this stage :D

 

Then to the brushes!

 

Painting big flat surfaces is always tricky. You have to thin the paint to the extreme, use long, delicate brushstrokes and have patience to apply layer after layer.

 

Then another layer. Yet another one

I know where this is going. Look at the calendar...

It's actually Santa's car!

I had some doubts about the varnish. I needed a gloss look and I thought of a spray, but I was strongly recommended otherwise, due to the possibility of bubbles appearing or the varnish getting coarse or whitening when dry. I went to old reliable Vallejo brush varnish. But whoa! Another hell of a work. Once again you have to thin the varnish and take care of the brushstrokes. I was on the edge of ruining the whole work a couple of times!

 

Shiny!

 

So this is it, Zebra Three ready to patrol all along Bay City!

I'm confused. It says 'Ford Torino. Black', but now should say 'Striped Tomato'

I think this has been the oldschoolest project I've faced so far ;). Far from perfect, of course, cannot be compared to the official (already existing) car, but I'm satisfied so far.

Now for new projects!