Wild Willy M38 driver boxart

[AshRC 104]

Does anyone know the boxart colours for painting the Wild Willy M38 driver? Not the face, but the body and helmet?

It looks to me like white overalls with dark brown (or black?) gloves and boots, red harnesses and silver buckles. The helmet is red, white and blue ... but I can't make out if there's a thin black line underneath the red, or how dark the blue is supposed to be.

Also, any tips for masking up the helmet would be greatly appreciated ...

[KEV THE REV 2236]

Speak to Rob member IBIFTKH , he is the WW painting master

[bRIBEGuy 1210]

The manual isn't much help... it says, "Paint driver figure as you like"... ha ha ha. 

[bRIBEGuy 1210]

Color codes listed on the back of the manual for painting:

[Willy iine 12550]

Yeah, it’s difficult to get the color as you also need to fill the shade and highlights to make it look right.   

I just mixed genetic Testors enamels as I always do and painted mine.. 

[AshRC 104]

@Willy iine That's immaculate

Although, you've put a black line under the blue too. Back to the drawing board for me 

[Willy iine 12550]

2 hours ago, AshRC said:

@Willy iine That's immaculate

Although, you've put a black line under the blue too. Back to the drawing board for me 

Thanks.  I think this is how it's supposed to look?  I'm not sure entirely but painted mine like so..  there are other Willy examples in my profile page "About Me" section if interested.

The suit is matte in real life.. not sure why it looks so shiny in the picture.  

[AshRC 104]

This was my plan for the helmet

1. mask up the face
2. paint whole helmet white
3. mask up top 3/4 
4. paint lower 1/4 blue
5. mask up bottom 3/4
6. paint top 1/4 red

It was all going to plan, but I'm having trouble with step 5. Any suggestions on how to leave the 'red' section unmasked? I've been trying to just keep a consistent distance from the top of the blue, but it's not going well.

Trial and error, or is there a better way of doing it?

[Willy iine 12550]

@AshRC For the blue I just brush painted it after masking.

Have you looked at Tamiya's masking tape for curves?  It comes in various widths and you can mask the line very cleanly without having gaps as you might using standard paper masking tape.  Also, I use this thin but strong packing paper (like butcher paper) to make masking where I don't want adhesive touching the fresh paint.  

Not that the clouding from masking tape is not fixable.  I use micro mesh sticks with water and it comes right out to a clean glossy finish.

I know many folks like to spray/air brush everything, but I tend to use brush to paint smaller sections.  If you get the viscosity right, by using high quality soft bristled paint brushes (Tamiya sells them) there will be basically zero to very minimal brush strokes left in the paint.   Hope some of this helps..

Edited April 30, 2022 by Willy iine
Finally had some time to elaborate..

[JeffSpicoli 1353]

On 4/21/2022 at 10:45 AM, AshRC said:

Does anyone know the boxart colours for painting the Wild Willy M38 driver? Not the face, but the body and helmet?

It looks to me like white overalls with dark brown (or black?) gloves and boots, red harnesses and silver buckles. The helmet is red, white and blue ... but I can't make out if there's a thin black line underneath the red, or how dark the blue is supposed to be.

Also, any tips for masking up the helmet would be greatly appreciated ...

I use silly putty to mask small areas like on drivers body parts or faces.   Use the Tamiya brand masking tape where you can.  It's quality stuff.   Also consider using fine tip Sharpie paint makers to dot eyes or do fine detail.  There's a few tips and tricks that I've picked up.  You can get the fine tip paint Sharpies at pretty much any big art supply store.  They come in handy for tire painting logos too.

For texture and shading, you can mix up a "wash" in a small container, take a dropper or let your faucet get to a drip point where you can count the drops, mix 10-20 drops of water with 1-2 drops of paint.  Then you use a brush to let this "wash" run down or get into the crevices of the suit, this will create shadow like effects.   Choose your color of wash accordingly.    For a gray suit you might mix up a black wash.   Brown suit, maybe a gray wash.   I use this in my model railroad painting on bricks and the like.  It's just practice and experimenting.

 

Here's a decent video, but yes I realize this guy doing the painting is very skilled but you can pick up things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=568plpaEsCM

[AshRC 104]

Spent far too long doing this over the weekend. The silver lines were to cover up my terrible masking but I’m happy with the result.

[Willy iine 12550]

Good job, @AshRC     I like that you made the iris large.  Most people paint it too small.  

When I paint Willy and his brother Billy, I feel like I'm injecting them with a part of my soul as it takes time and energy to paint them.  
 

I'm sure a doll maker would just paint him up in like 5-6 min, but I'm no doll maker!  

[AshRC 104]

I know exactly what you mean, I spent hours concentrating on each tiny brush stroke.

I just don't have the skill to make the faces look as realistic as I'd like, or the eyes as detailed. How you leave such a thin black line around the iris is beyond me.

That said, I might buy another Willy sometime and have a go at camo 

[Willy iine 12550]

58 minutes ago, AshRC said:

I know exactly what you mean, I spent hours concentrating on each tiny brush stroke.

I just don't have the skill to make the faces look as realistic as I'd like, or the eyes as detailed. How you leave such a thin black line around the iris is beyond me.

That said, I might buy another Willy sometime and have a go at camo 

It’s just layered.  I paint the color iris over the black you painted.   Followed by a black dot for the pupil and 2 white dots in diagonal for reflection.  

I also painted the eyebrows and some eyeliner along the outer edges of the eyes for some added character if you want to try that too.. 

[NWarty 1236]

I tended to go a bit more "Anime styled" and Cartoony on mine since it's early 80's Japanese. The upper eyelid dark area flows into the pupil with the light source being the upper right hand corner of the eye. The bottom and corner of the eyeball can be a bit more outlined (don't give it the eyeliner treatment though, just subtle enough).

 

[KEV THE REV 2236]

1 hour ago, NWarty said:

I tended to go a bit more "Anime styled" and Cartoony on mine since it's early 80's Japanese. The upper eyelid dark area flows into the pupil with the light source being the upper right hand corner of the eye. The bottom and corner of the eyeball can be a bit more outlined (don't give it the eyeliner treatment though, just subtle enough).

 

Outstanding work , love this , the roof is epic and driver and Jeep detailing is superb !! - BTW -can you spare a cigarette ?

[Willy iine 12550]

@NWarty I’ve yet to make that side mirror!    I was hoping to make one by now and show it to you, but my path changed course due to exposure to moffman’s awesome buggy collection photo’s.. 

So you can blame @moffman  

However, I do still remember your tip of using a button and one day I will make one! 

What’s fascinating is how different Willy can look by the creator’s preferences even though same face.  

[AshRC 104]

Wait … are they goggles?!

[Willy iine 12550]

2 hours ago, AshRC said:

Wait … are they goggles?!

You mean the screen that goes on the opening of the helmet?   Yes, the kit does come with a small polycarbonate piece.   

But I never use it.  

[KEV THE REV 2236]

2 hours ago, AshRC said:

Wait … are they goggles?!

Yep . I used some on Sideways Willy

[NWarty 1236]

3 hours ago, Willy iine said:

@NWarty I’ve yet to make that side mirror!    I was hoping to make one by now and show it to you, but my path changed course due to exposure to moffman’s awesome buggy collection photo’s.. 

What’s fascinating is how different Willy can look by the creator’s preferences even though same face.  

Do it! The wire frame is just a coat hangar bent to shape, with a small bracket bent into a U-shape at the base.

 

Here's a better look at my Willy

 

[NWarty 1236]

2 hours ago, AshRC said:

Wait … are they goggles?!

Mine are 1/6 "Sand/Dust/Wind" goggles from Ebay.

[Willy iine 12550]

@NWarty I like those arm/shoulder patches you made too.  Very original.  

[JeffSpicoli 1353]

On 5/2/2022 at 4:15 PM, AshRC said:

Spent far too long doing this over the weekend. The silver lines were to cover up my terrible masking but I’m happy with the result.

Ha, that's good, better than I could do.  When I get to the figure on mine I'll be looking for an expert to paint him

[JeffSpicoli 1353]

10 minutes ago, NWarty said:

Do it! The wire frame is just a coat hangar bent to shape, with a small bracket bent into a U-shape at the base.

 

Here's a better look at my Willy

 

By far the best Willy driver I've seen.  Amazing work.