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Kol__

Vanessa's Bowling Ball

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Hi guys,

So the wife has shown very high tolerance to this hobby since it burst into my life again about 4 months ago (mainly because she has little to no idea of the amount of money I've sunk into it!:lol:) and even shown some moderate interest here and there.

For those of you who have seen the Simpson's episode where Homer buys Marge a bowling ball for HER birthday, essentially buying it for himself, it goes down very badly to say the least... well this build is a bit like that...:blink:

The wife has driven my Mad Bull a few times and is actually surprisingly good at it. As some of you may have seen I've restored and battered Grasshopper II for my son and am giving it to him for Christmas. So now I'm doing a similar thing for my wife. I am however under no illusions that she will be not be anywhere near as excited about receiving an RC gift as my son will be, but it will hopefully give us all the chance to pop out here and there and drive our cars together. So began, the Vanessa's Bowling Ball project...

I got an absolute bargain on this ready to run well used Lunchbox a couple of months back and decided to build it for my wife as a basher.

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As with my sons G2 build I am going with the recipients favourite colours. Largely based on her favourite pair of Nike Air Max 90's (an truly epic trainer from the 90's and probably my favourite of all time, fully wrapped in nostalgia if course), a grey/pink/white theme has driven the project to date.

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I picked up another body shell for not much over a tenner on eBay and decided I'd rather do that than have to sand/strip the existing black shell. I'm still using the window plastic and bumpers etc. from the back body just the body shell itself is new. I've gone with a TS-81 Royal Light Grey for the body (god I swear everything in this house would be grey if she had a chance!:lol:) which I primered and sprayed up over the weekend.

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And this this evening I started to cut out the MCI custom design stickers I spec'd up, whilst the top coat hardens off.

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I plan to apply the stickers and if I have time also paint the window surrounds in black. The apply a TS-13 clear coat over the top later this week (which I hope is enough time to avoid a reaction between the top coat and clear coat!) ahead of Christmas day and then job done. Although I might suggest she test drives it with the old black body, just until the clear coat fully cures and hardens.

To be clear... of course I have other 'normal' Christmas gifts for the wife (jeez I'm not stupid!:lol:)

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Always great to see custom work, great project!

Be careful with applying any clear coating on top of the stickers as their paint might dissolve. If you really want to coat over the stickers, best to test with a scrap sticker piece first.

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Great idea, and I love the colour scheme :)

I bought my wife a used M03 with an unpainted Mini bodyshell around a decade ago, she was thrilled when I gave it to her for her birthday.  Her 1:1 car was a classic Mini, so she painted it the same, then randomly gave it a white roof (which her car didn't have)  and covered it with pink flame stickers from a Baja King decal sheet (which her car didn't have) then complained that it didn't have a chrome grill like her car, because it was the Mini Cooper Racing bodyset with the moulded grill, not the Mini Cooper Rally bodyset that game with the separate chrome grill and bumpers.

As part of a "hobby exchange" she had dragged me along to her jive dancing classes, which I actually kinda enjoyed (it's not often your partner will actually ask you to go dancing with other ladies, so when she does, accept!) and so she was supposed to come racing with me at the local club, but she decided she didn't want to do that.

It spent the next 8 or 9 years in a box, before I took it apart last year and built it into an FF02 for racing.  I probably should put it back as an M03 before she notices.  It's not like she's ever actually driven it, looked at it, or even talked about it since it went back in the box, but technically it is hers, not mine.

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Why not just paint the pictures of the shoe on the side of the box?. 

Or if your artistry skills won't allow?

Stick on a picture of the shoe with watered down PVA glue.

As I did to my boys box.

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And cut "Vanessa's" name off the decals and replace it with your wife's name or she will never forgive you..

 

It's easier to get forgiveness than permission.

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It's not Vanessa's, ......

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His first lunchbox, and his 2nd.

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I think my boy was 6 when he chose the scheme on the big one, I helped him draw it, and the boys coloured them in.

Edit to add .......

Unless your wife's name is Vanessa?, Then ignore this post and carry on as you were...

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36 minutes ago, wolfdogstinkus said:

Unless your wife's name is Vanessa?, Then ignore this post and carry on as you were...

There's a bit of bowling ball going in this house, but at least her name actually is Vanessa.... 

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2 hours ago, BuggyDad said:

but at least her name actually is Vanessa.... 

Doh!!!. I did actually read that bit. 

 

I hadn't been awake Long. 😆

And various other excuses...

 

As you were ....

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Cheers guys

Holy **** @Mad Ax, a hobby exchange could be something I wasn't planning for and Zumba ain't exactly up my street!:wacko::lol:

Lol @wolfdogstinkus, man that would be hilarious if I just pritt-stick'd a photo of the shoe to the side of the shell! I can just see her face now, what the badword is this!?:lol: You've got a bit more content to play with on yours I see, looks great! The ones your son has done are totally awesome, I'm definitely going to adopt that approach when mine is a little bit older.

I was tempted to order some really custom graphics with my wife's name in place of Vanessa's and brunette hair instead of blonde, but it all started to add up and was just way too costly. So far I think I'm sitting at about £70 all in for this custom RTR build and don't want to go any higher.

Im keen to paint the window surrounds, indicators and lights this week ahead of clear coating, mainly as I would like the experience of doing so (this is only the 2nd body I've painted), but it will all come down to finding enough time to do it and the drying times involved as well. Anyone know the curing times of the little Tamiya 10ml paint pots? I.e. how long to leave it before applying clear coat? Cheers

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6 hours ago, Kol__ said:

Cheers guys

Lol @wolfdogstinkus, man that would be hilarious if I just pritt-stick'd a photo of the shoe to the side of the shell! I can just see her face now, what the badword is this!?:lol:

I thought it was genius, not seen it done before,

( there's good reason for that)

Of course, you can't just pritt stick it onto one side, that would be a poor attempt..

 

Ya gotta do both sides, and the roof as well...

Extra points if you can fit her favourite shoe in there, David Blaine style.

😆😆😄😄😁😁

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@wolfdogstinkus, having seriously considered your suggestion of adding a shoe pic to the side of the van:lol:... I decided to go in a different direction my friend...

Here she is all stickered up this evening...

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Next if I have time tomorrow I'll add the brush painted details such as window surrounds and rear lights, indicators etc. And then to clear coat it on Friday:)Cutting it a little close now time wise!!

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6 hours ago, Kol__ said:

@wolfdogstinkus, having seriously considered your suggestion of adding a shoe pic to the side of the van:lol:... I decided to go in a different direction my friend...

Here she is all stickered up this evening...

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Next if I have time tomorrow I'll add the brush painted details such as window surrounds and rear lights, indicators etc. And then to clear coat it on Friday:)Cutting it a little close now time wise!!

That is beautifully done! 

We're leaving the work to the recipient for ours. Although I suspect that might come back... 

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Cheers @BuggyDad, it sure ain't perfect but I'm happy with it. The design seems to have come together well I think. The stickers are the largest I've dealt with to date and the door shut lines etc. Were tricky to manage. I had a thin sculpting tool that turned out to be good for pushing the stickers into the shut lines when crossing them. Yes, I think I'll follow suit with you guys next time around and let the recipient have a play, well that will work for my son anyway, doubt very much that the wife's level of interest would stretch that far!:lol:

I'm giving this to the wife for Christmas @wolfdogstinkus, amongst other more normal gifts of course! I've seen a WR02 with a girl driver, was it yours @Willy iine?

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I was sticking with the theme,..

Buy your wife a WR-02 for her birthday,

You'll love it.  😁😁😁😁

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2 hours ago, wolfdogstinkus said:

I was sticking with the theme,..

Buy your wife a WR-02 for her birthday,

You'll love it.  😁😁😁😁

Ah I get you mate! Yeah great idea!!!:lol:

Her birthday is mid-Jan, so you never know, if she likes the Lunchbox perhaps I could swing a WR-02 into the mix!:blink: @Willy iine, where do I get a Wendy?

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Haha, Wild Wendy, eh!? Never heard of her before, sounds like she's a lady in demand then! Maybe it's all in the name, I wonder how wild Wendy is?:wub:

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So I made some time today to get some of the detail done on the body. I didn't go all out, due to both lack of time and lack of expertise.

I painted up the windscreen surround and just the vertical bar on the side windows. First time using Tamiya masking tape (3mm) and I found it to be very good.

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I painted the indicators and brake lights (modified sticker set meant the rear light stickers got messed up colour wise), but sort of cheated I suppose, by only painting the flat faces of them. I didn't do the rear light cluster surrounds or licence plate surround.

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Also painted the door handles and locks, but the aluminium colour doesn't stand out much against the grey of the body.

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Gloss clear coat tomorrow. Shame it will add a gloss finish to the black rubber finish painted on the windscreen surround, but it should improve the overall look of the shell. Hopefully there will be no reactions between the paints.

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There's something really nice about the matt grey but I think it'll look great gloss too. I like that the door handles don't stand out, shows that attention to detail that you'd only pick up looking at it for a while. Nice touch. 

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@Kol__ Nice job on the window trims and details!  Looks real good.  I love the gray with the white and pink.  Very nice.

As for Wendy, she did cost an arm and a leg..  I bought her 2nd hand on eBay in new condition as I was not around RC (taking hiatus) when Matt Hicks released her to the public back maybe 14-15years ago.

 

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Cheers @BuggyDad, yeah I am a big fan of matt finishes in general and matt grey in particular. The gloss is more of an extra protection really, gives another layer of paint to scratch through and keeps the stickers in place:)

Thanks @Willy iine, this being the second body shell I've ever done (the G2 for my boy was the first), I'm happy with the results and pushed myself a little with the details, but not so much that I ****ed it up!:lol:

I gave it two decent coats of clear coat today. I feel I'm starting to understand the way the spray paint lands and flashes over, how close to spray from and the side to side smooth movements partially layering over the previous pass etc. etc.

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And she is complete, body parts transferred over from the original shell. I've wiped the wheels over since taking these pics and boxed it up.

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Job done. Build complete:)

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Wow result is awesome. The combination between grey and pink is perfect, what a lovely present ! Good job !

One of the effective Lunch Box I have ever seen.

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