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Moving to the wheels, I had decided that I wanted to replace the moulded wheel nuts with turned metal hex wheel nuts. I also wanted to add a turned metal tyre air value. I feel that these additions enhance the realism of the model, and are worth the extra effort. Here I am removing the resin moulded wheel nuts with a PCB end mill drill bit.

The end mill drill bit removes the moulded item, giving you a nice quite flat(ish) area. The finish is better than using a normal drill bit. I thought this photograph showed the result of the two removed items quite nicely. A fair amount of effort, but so worth while in my opinion

Three wheels completed with one still to go. Shaping up nicely.

This picture shows the difference you can achieve by adding turned metal hex wheel nuts. This really does add to the detail of the wheels.

The wheel nuts are tiny little things… less than 1mm across. You have to be very careful holding them in your tweezers as they are so easily “pinged” out and lost forever on your bench or on the floor.

This photograph shows the realism you can get by adding a turned metal tyre air valve.

Components for the carbon ceramic disc brakes. The black highlights on the etch discs was achieved using Tamiya black panel line accent color. The highlights on the disc centre were achieved by painting the centre black and then lightly sanding over the high areas.

Came out rather well. The detail added by Alpha Model to their etch parts is really nice. Well it would be, wouldn’t it, Alpha Model being part of Hobby Design.

Rear disc brake assembly complete. The resin brake disc callipers provided by Alpha Model are lovely quality resin moulds. They were painted Brembo Yellow using Zero Paints mixed paint and then highlighted as needed with Tamiya enamels and Tamiya black panel line accent.

Similar treatment on the front disc brake assemblies. Everything is coming together nicely by this stage.

The wheels were painted flat black as per the reference photographs I was using. The Aston Martin logo centre caps were provided as decals in the Alpha Model kit. The final enhancement here was to add the tuned metal hex wheel nuts.

Think you will agree that adding the turned metal wheels nuts is really worthwhile.

Picture of the final front wheel result. I was real happy with this end result.

And here we have the final rear wheel result too.

The front spoiler of the Aston Martin is rather iconic… with that large mouth open grill. This is one of my reference photos.

Alpha Model provide a resin insert for the front spoiler for modellers that don’t want to work with etch. They also provide lovely etch pieces to represent the radiator and the large mouth open grill. I am using the etch of course.

I used the resin spoiler insert to give me an indication of the bend that I needed in the etch piece. Here it is ready for primer and black paint.

In this photograph, I have added carbon twill decal to the front spoiler as per my reference photographs. I have also applied 2K gloss clear.

And finally we have the completed front spoiler. I sprayed the etch radiator piece with flat black and then sanded over carefully to give an aluminium with dark accents finish. This gives a great finish for the front view… the black open grill finish is excellent, with the radiator displayed too.

With these three photographs, I’m trying to show my technique to apply carbon decal. This is the facing view of the rear spoiler. I used masking tape to give me the required shape and then cut around the template placed on the carbon fibre decal sheet.

Here we have the finished piece ready for 2K gloss clear once the decal is fully dried. I usually give it a couple of days before I apply 2K clear.

A close up picture of the carbon fibre decal, conformed very nicely to the rear spoiler piece.

These two brass etch pieces are required to detail the rear spoiler. Alpha Model provide a resin “mold” to help you bend the parts as needed. Once primed and painted, this is how the parts look.

Here we have the completed front and rear spoiler together. The two red reflectors on the rear spoiler are provided as clear acetate pieces that need to be painted on the inside with clear red paint. The exhaust ends are provided as resin pieces that need painted a metallic colour. I used Tamiya black panel line accent to give the used look in the exhaust tips.

I left the gloss 2K’d body shell and spoilers for two weeks to fully cure before carrying out my wet sand and polish process. Careful sanding removes any “orange peel effect” from the gloss finish. It also helps remove the overscale thickness of the 2K.

The carbon roof after wet sand and polish process.

And the rear spoiler.

The end of the built is now in sight. Here I have masked up and painted the window surrounds. I have also started to assemble the interior. The interior door panels have been glued, as has the dashboard. Next up I added the remainder of the interior.

I really like this view with the interior in. The light highlights the lime arm rest nicely.

All ready for the wheels to be put on.

The etch wipers are a bit of a fiddle to get them to work but take your time and follow the picture instructions. They are really fine, lovely and crisp once completed. It really does pay you to take your time with these. Also, make sure that you look at your reference photographs before making the wipers up. Do they wipe from the left or right, or indeed both ways as for the Vantage I built here.

The final work in progress photo… here, the windows and headlight covers are installed. The acetate windows take a bit of getting used to for modellers that usually build styrene kits. As with the wipers, take your time with these. I suggest using thin super glue. I use Bob Smith (BSI) Super-Gold foam safe as this is non fogging. HINT: Install the windscreen first. Glue down the left or right side and allow to fully set. Then have a cotton bud (or q-tip) ready to take through the side window space to flex the windscreen to shape, apply super glue to the other side of the windscreen and some top and bottom, and then go ahead and fix the rest of the windscreen. The side windows and rear window will be easier to install.

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