Ford GT40 - 1968 Le Mans Winner

Started by Brian Mennenoh · 129 · 1 year ago · custom, Ford, Fujimi, LEDs, Photo Etch, sports car
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    George Williams said 1 year ago:

    Hi @brithebuilder, this shade of blue seems to have many variations, you could try Tamiya AS-5, like the Germans painted the undersides of their aircraft, I think Mr Hobby do this shade as well. Hope this helps, looking forward to seeing how you work out the lighting.

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    Brian Mennenoh said 1 year ago:

    @fiveten - Thanks Spiros, it definitely needs to be closer to the 'correct' color.

    @garybrantley - Thanks Gary, I do have that .pdf. I actually considered having a custom spray paint mixed. There's a shop close to me, but I really thought it would be easy to find something close.

    @beauslx - Thanks Robert, I think this is going to be the way I go. Instead of buying more cans of spray paint, I'm going to bust out the airbrush and mix a custom color... I think.

    @chinesegeorge - The shade of blue definitely depends on the lighting the car was in at the time. So many pics look so completely different. There are also recommendations to use AS-26 Light Ghost Grey... It's close...

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    George R Blair Jr said 1 year ago:

    This is looking really cool, Brian (@brithebuilder). I have used paint mixes for Tamiya from the Modelersite and they seem to be pretty good. Unless you can find some pre-made colors from a site that specializes in car models, then I think mixing your own is the way to go.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 year ago:

    Even though the paint result is very good, Brian @brithebuilder, I do fully understand you want to get a closer match.

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    Brian Mennenoh said 1 year ago:

    OK, this is it. About 3 parts XF-23 light blue to 1 part X-4 blue and a bunch of Vallejo airbrush thinner. Airbrushed at about 18 psi... continuous coats basically working around the model from different angles. The paint handle for mini fig painting is glue tacked to the inside and makes it really nice to manipulate the model. There's also a stand it's magnetized to so it's stable when you set it down. I picked it up on etsy. BotzenhardtMinis. Nick is a good guy, past student of mine.

    3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Brian Mennenoh said 1 year ago:

    I also think this means my airbrush needs to become a far more normal part of my workflow. The finish is absolutely smooth, there's not even the smallest amount of orange peel visible.
    My color is definitely a darker grey as I'm comparing it to the box art. I'm really happy with this color though so it's what it's going to be. I'm going to hit it with a couple gloss coats so I can start masking for the orange..

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    Brian Mennenoh said 1 year ago:

    First coat of Vallejo Gloss Varnish through the airbrush. I think one more should do as a base for the decals. I'm going to use the decals, then mask so I can repaint the orange. The decals don't extend across the entire grill so some orange needs to be painted, matching the decal would be a pain and painting the dark blue stripe would be even harder.

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

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    Robert Paschall said 1 year ago:

    Looking much better Brian. The pin strip blue would be real tough, as far as I know there is no definitive color mix. Only that it's a very dark blue,nearly black color. You'll be having fun while mixing! @brithebuilder

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year ago:

    This shade is excellent, my friend @brithebuilder! Great gloss as well!

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    Brian Mennenoh said 1 year ago:

    Decal and a heavy coat of Vallejo satin through the airbrush. The decals were way more satin than gloss so I thought this would help unify the surface before painting the orange. The blue/black stripe, actually black in the decal, is going to be kept from the decal and only the orange will be painted over so that I can wrap the paint around the grill.

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

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    Brian Mennenoh said 1 year ago:

    Unmasked!
    I don't think it could have turned out better. Not perfect but it's really good.

    4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    George Williams said 1 year ago:

    Excellent result, @brithebuilder, I’ve been looking at Meng’s colour callouts, they recommend a mix of blue and white, but no ratios given, so I think you’ve got it right.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year ago:

    Fantastic result, my friend @brithebuilder!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 year ago:

    Those are the perfect colors, Brian @brithebuilder
    It turned out beautifully indeed.

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    Gabor Kapuy said 1 year ago:

    @brithebuilder

    Hi, it looks absolutely perfect color to me. I just came across to this topic and surely late, but did you consider Mr Paint colors? They have both blue and orange for Ford and also Porsche?

    Obviously you don’t need them since the colors you mixed looks perfect.