Skylines: primer and paint

I have become aware that building chassis and engines is a lot of fun for me, and therefore relatively quick and easy. Bodywork is a lot more frustrating, and leaving it to last means the kit never gets finished. So I thought I should try working at it from the other angle: get the bodywork out of the way first, then the chassis will be (should be...) a breeze to build up.

With that in mind, I got out my matching Skylines and started the prep.

The 1972 model has a 2-litre 6 making something like 160 horsepower, not much for a 2-litre today but significantly more than the benchmark 1 horsepower per cubic inch that the US pony car industry touted back in the day, and very impressive even today for anything without a turbo. (Two litres is 122 cubic inches, so scaling a 427 cubic inch, 427 horsepower Stingray means 122 hp from a 2-litre). The 1990 model, with the twin-turbo 2.6 litre making something like 500 horsepower, is set up as it ran at the Spa Francorchamps 24 hour race, although I will probably leave off the various decals and especially the little lights illuminating the race numbers. The objective is to document the evolution of fast street cars.

For the polymer engineers or injection moulding specialists out there, the 1972 model was molded in metallic grey. While the surface of the roof is perfectly smooth to the touch, you can see the flow marks where the pigment wasn't quite fully mixed with the polystyrene base. This picture offers interesting insight into how these models are molded.

Paint is three light coats of Tamiya's light gunmetal TS 42, which has a real metallic sparkle to it, over two light coats of light grey primer. I might get in a coat of clear tomorrow before a week-long business trip stops progress for the next while, meanwhile most of the engine bits have been painted.