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Ed Sutton, owner of the Premium Hobbies model supply company in the UK, kindly sponsored the paint colour for this build and sent me the Splash Paints paint set. If you weren’t aware, Ed has provided a discount code for followers of my modelling page, Robin’s Scale Models. Just enter RSM10 at the till and you will get 10% off the purchase price, even on already discounted items.

I thought I would share a photo collage with some of the reference pictures I looked at on the web. It’s certainly a very striking colour and will look awesome in my display cabinet next to my other Alpha Model sportscars.

These are the contents of box. The quality is excellent. You have everything here to build a fantastic scale model.

The depth and thickness of the panel lines is just right, no enlarging with a scribing tool is required. The Alpha Model design team have also thought about the carbon fibre decal job that we need to do with the car. The areas on the body shell that need carbon fibre decal treatment are all separate pieces. I love the thought that’s obviously gone into this kit.

First thing to consider when using resin materials is health and safety. You should wear an appropriate mask when sanding, using a file or drilling resin parts as fine resin particles can be dangerous if breathed in.
Also, always wash all resin parts in soapy water or use an anti-silicone degreaser before priming and painting. I actually do both. This stage is needed to remove any resin release or production agents. You risk the primer or paint not laying down on the resin properly if you miss out this stage.
I soaked all resin parts in the UPol degreaser solution in my ultrasonic cleaner. Note that I opted to use a water based degreaser as I thought this would be kinder to the resin. Following this process, I washed all parts in reasonably hot soapy water.

Prior to starting the build I tested the colour on a white plastic spoon, priming white and then following up with the base coat green and the pearlescent green, and then a clearcoat. I found that I got a richer green in the end result using a light grey primer under the green coats.

As I will be creating a carbon fibre roof, prior to priming, I sprayed the roof using Mr Color GX-2 which is a fantastic gloss black to use on bare styrene or bare resin. It leaves a nice smooth glossy finish ideal for decaling on top of.

I then masked over the roof area. I used my new favourite masking tape from Orlee for this. The Orlee masking tape holds great and peels off so much better than Tamiya tape, with no paint coming away. Previously I would have used Tamiya masking tape and de-tacked it first. I didn’t de-tack the Orlee tape. Obviously you need to peel back carefully. If you would like to try Orlee masking tape, it is available directly from the Orlee website page you can see in the picture. Luigi has set up a 10% discount code for followers of my modelling page. Simply enter code rsmorlee10 at checkout time.

As my test spoon painting was done on a white spoon and the Alpha Model resin is a creamy yellowish colour, I first primed the bodywork and the door handles using Tamiya’s White Surface Primer diluted 40% primer to 60% Mr Hobby Self Levelling Thinner. Next up I sprayed Mr Finishing Surfacer Grey using the same dilution. Had I not used white first the grey base would likely have been darker.

Next I used the Splash Paints paint set provided to me by Ed Sutton from Premium Hobbies. I sprayed three light coats of the base green followed by three light coats of the pearlescent green, with around half an hour or so between coats.

Here is the end result after removing the Orlee masking tape from the roof, all ready for a 2K clearcoat once I have applied carbon fibre decal to the roof.

Alpha Model provide a carbon decal for the roof. Given the possible complexity of the two aerofoils towards the back of the roof, I chose however to use ScaleMotorsport carbon decal as I know exactly how it works. Here you can see (top right) the template I made using Orlee masking tape. I created a duplicate template in case of problems.

I cut the decal with an overlap so that there was no risk of an area not being decalled. This needed careful edge cutting with a sharp blade once I was happy that the decal was sitting properly. I had previously ensured that I’d scribed lines around the carbon roof to help with guiding the blade.

Carbon decal cut and masking tape removed, ready for some nice warm (quite hot actually) water.

And there we have it, the completed job after half an hour or so working the decal with decal softening solution and blasts of hot air from a hairdryer.

Macro lense out for this photo. The decal conformed beautifully to the roof and is all ready for a 2K clearcoat.

This picture was taken after the 2K clearcoat had been applied and left for around a week to fully cure. The Zero Paints Diamond Finish gloss clearcoat went down real nice but did need flattening back and polishing which was done next. Here you can see me dry fitting the resin body spoilers, side skirts and other fittings.

Flattening the 2K clearcoat removes all the high spots and orange peel in the air brushed clearcoat. The process is also called wet sanding. I tend to use 3M Trizact sponge and Micromesh fine abrasive cloth for this process, with copious amounts of water. This picture was taken after the flattening back process.

The flattening back process will give your paint finish a flat look with no gloss. I get my shine back using a three stage polishing process.

Wow, that Verde Mantis Pearlescent pops with its 2K finish flattened and polished. The paint for this project was kindly sponsored by Premium Hobbies in the UK.

Now I needed to get the window surrounds and wheel arches black. At the same time, I sprayed the interior parts of the bodyshell that will be seen. Applying masking tape to my beautifully polished bodywork was a horrible thought, but a necessary job. Here I put my trust in my favorite masking tape which is produced by Orlee. This tape adheres really well and equally, it pulls off leaving no adhesive marks. It’s also thinner than Tamiya masking tape so less potential for paint buildup.

After I had painted the required areas either semi-gloss black or gloss black according to my reference, I applied Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color to the door, bonnet and boot lines, and to the fuel filler cover. This makes these areas stand out as in the real car.

Here we have that beautiful carbon roof, complete with its 2K finish.

Alpha Model provide really nice resin wheels to represent the BMW Competition alloys. This model will depict the diamond cut finished alloy which is a first for me, so a new challenge. I’m also enhancing the wheels further by adding aftermarket turned metal hex wheel nuts and air valves. In the picture below you can see the before and after transformation. I’ll now show you how I did it.

Having the right tools for the job is key. I’ll explain more about the tools I used against each WIP picture.

On the right you can see the resin wheel once the resin moulded wheel nuts have been removed and the necessary holes have been drilled for the aftermarket wheel nuts. There is also a hole drilled (three o’clock in the photo) for the air valve.

Next I marked the hole centres and used my Hasegawa TryTool scriber to give me a centre point for the drill bit.

First drill out with a 0.4 mm PCB drill bit.

Then move to the appropriate drill size for the wheel nuts being used. I used a 0.5 mm drill bit in this instance.

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