Project Spitfire(Pic Heavy)

[JDeezie82]

Hey folks. Just thought I'd share my progress so far on my Wraith build. This has been a budget build so I'm adding things as I can afford them. I won't bore you guys too much with build pix but I just thought I'd share some of the ones I've taken since I started the build a few weeks ago.

Spec list:
Wraith Kit
Castle Sidewinder 3
HPI 20T motor (Was suppossed to be stock Wraith motor but I guess CKRC said, ah hell, just give him this one.)
CKRC Metal Gear servo
Spektrum DX3E (Already had it, just robbed a reciever from my Blitz for now. )

On to the pix.


Got the electronics in, tranny case and links done, and half the cage built.


Gave the wheel and shifters a little bling.


Interior was finished, just waiting to be trimmed.



Completed interior.


All built and waiting on the tire glue to dry. Not a big fan of having to glue the tires on. Also I got in a hurry and forgot to weight the front wheels. :/


Gave the light guards some bling too.


All done except for the body panels. Was still debating on how I wanted to paint them at this point.


Flexin' on my dirty Blazer.


Was trying to decide how I wanted the driver mounted here.

I met up with a buddy and we both took our new Wraiths out. Was taking it a little easy on mine since I still hadn't painted the body panels yet. Managed to get in a few good backflips though.

I wasn't liking the stock wheels all that much, mainly because they're not real bead locks, so I got to digging around and remembered I had a set of Tamiya 2.2 bead locks that I've had for a while that were a little beat up and just collecting dust. Thankfully I was able to get the tires off of the wheels without having to use any kind of chemicals. I gave the old Tamiya's rings a little elbow grease and some paint and I think they turned out great.

Liking these a lot better than the El Cheapo stockers.


All mounted up.(Well minus the back rings. Paint was still drying. )


Finally decided on a paint scheme and got the panels ready to paint last weekend.

Unfortunately, mother nature had other plans...

It didn't snow very long, only enough to accumulate a little over an inch.


After the snow let up I was able to get the first few coats on the hood. The camera had a hard time picking up the full effect of the marbled orange. It's a mix of the solid orange the bead rings were painted with, a flourescent Fireball orange, and backed with white.


While the first few coats were drying on the hood I managed to get the sides taped up.


Finished up the hood with a metallic silver stripe and got it trimmed out.


Finished up the sides too. They still need to be taken back off and have the edges smoothed a little but I really like how they turned out. Was just hard to get a really detailed pic of the marble effect in the low light inside.


Threw some stickers on and tried getting some better pix but it was still too dark inside even with the flash and all the lights on.


Ass shot.


Managed to get a little better shot of the marble, but the flourescent orange just wasn't liking the artificial lights I guess.


Managed to get out to one of my favorite local spots on Sunday. Now the paint was finally showing its potential. I like how it has a fading effect depending on how the light hits it.


Sexy beast.


Did a little wheeling but I was still taking it kinda easy since I've got a few things left to do before I call her done.


Doing some creepin'.


Yes, I drove to the top. No poser shots here kids.




This wasn't looking good....


...nope...


....I managed to come out with just a tiny scratch on the hood.


Tried it again....


...success!

Those are only a few of the pix I've taken so far. I'll be updating this thread as I add more stuff, hopefully soon, so keep checking back. Already have a growing list of upgrades for this thing. Stay tuned kids!

[kakachille]

things sick nice work

[jkustomz28]

how did you get the paint to marble like that looks killer good job man

[JDeezie82]

Originally Posted by jkustomz28

how did you get the paint to marble like that looks killer good job man

After a few failed attempts I found a method that worked best for me. First I sprayed a decent wet coat of the the darker orange, then I took a wringled up Walmart bag and stuck it to the paint, making sure to get into the small spots, then just pulled the bag away, hit it with a hair dryer to speed up drying time, and then sprayed about two lighter coats of the flourescent orange, let that dry for the most part, then backed the whole thing with white. I tried different paint combinations before settling on the mixed orange and white. Another one that looks really good is black first, then orange.

[Erbing]

Nice paint, Good job on the build!

[evan03]

drrrrrooooooooooooling

[dittohead]

Im totally digging the paint scheme! Nice work

[JDeezie82]

Thanks for the compliments fellas. It's really turning out better than I expected. Hoping to get a light kit for it soon, and get the driver put in too.

[durwank]

Nice paint job. Are the wheels from the Tamiya CR-01?

[JDeezie82]

Originally Posted by durwank

Nice paint job. Are the wheels from the Tamiya CR-01?

Thanks, and yep. I originally got them over 3 years ago when I turned my Wheely King into a crawler. They've just been sitting on the shelf for about two years. Mounted them up on my Honcho a couple times for fun, but mainly they haven't had much use til now.

[Kitty]

love the paint job...awesome....looking very good

[Jeepfixer1]

Killer paint, nice to see some new techniques out there!

[TheScaleAddict]

That really is an innovative technique! There are chemicals you can spray on to achieve a similar affect. Way to think outside of the box! Great job!

[MetalNut]

Yeah, this is an awesome paint job, very nice

[Sethmetal]

I really dig your paint!!!

Very inspiring!

[JDeezie82]

Again, thanks for the comments everyone! I'm hoping to add some scale items I can round up and hopefully get the driver in this weekend. Stay stunned kids. ;)

[evan03]

the method isnt new but may be new to rc, im assuming theres some paint background behind the scences going on here

[JDeezie82]

Originally Posted by evan03

the method isnt new but may be new to rc, im assuming theres some paint background behind the scences going on here

You're correct on the method not being new, but this was my first time attempting it. The method i used was a combination of a few different videos I'd seen on the Tube. Trust me, I went through several pieces of scrap lexan before i got it right and I was still a little unsure of how it would turn out.

[JDeezie82]

Just thought I'd add a couple HDR pix I took a while back and finally messed around with. The camera still doesn't do the marble paint justice in these, but I thought they turned out really well. Still have a lot of updates planned, just waiting to get some extra cash. Stay tuned kiddos.

[Cjclyde]

I think the fact that you didn't follow the lines of the cage on the doors adds as much as the painting technique. Awesome job!