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Hi folks,

after many many work on here finally today I primered the chassis and the top body cover.

What can I say? It has been very difficult.

The chassis:

Striker51_zpse4688c48.jpg

And the top body cover. This was the worse Tamiya part I ever restored in my life:

Striker52_zps80b8a2ee.jpg

As you can see there's no driver yet.

It will appear after the painting. I'll paint the body with white, then all the gunmetal parts and black parts. Making the job without the driver will help me with the masking.

Striker53_zps226eeaf6.jpg

Stormy weather, wind and increasing humidity, no more time to paint.

Stop for today, a storm is arriving.

Max

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great job max .......... lots and lots and lots ................. and lots of work and sore fingers though ;)

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Primed!

As you can see now top and lower part fit better.

Striker54_zpseb7f5755.jpg

Max

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Some people think 'Striker' and 'good-looking' do not belong in the same sentence, but that is one good-looking Striker restoration!

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Some people think 'Striker' and 'good-looking' do not belong in the same sentence, but that is one good-looking Striker restoration!

I hope you are right ;)

Here the body/chassis painted today. Probably you will not see many differences between this and the previous picts due the color white.

Striker55_zps8014bd53.jpg

Now some days to dry well the paint and then will start with gunmetal and black. Than will glue the driver on the body (Now it's just leaning over the body, primed) and will stick the decals.

Max

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While my Striker is taking shape another problem is on the table.

Observing other member's Strikers you can see how the front sticker peels off from the bonnet nose.

I would like to avoid this problem on mine and I'm thinking about a solution.

For the owners, sorry if I stole your pictures:

Striker56_zpsa5af73d6.jpg

Max

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What was Tamiya thinking? Asking a flat piece of plastic (the decal) to lay flat on a compound-curve surface like that is just wrong unless it is very flexible or can melt into place without distorting or shrinking. Tamiya decals are generally not that flexible and I don't know their melting temperature nor how they behave once melted.

One idea (potentially easy and good looking, although not technically correct): Color match the blue part of the decal (or just use a similar blue color if you don't care about the exact color), mask and paint the top nose section blue then cut the Pennzoil logo out of the decal (keeping the black border as much as possible without grabbing blue which might not match the paint) and apply.

Idea two (harder and no guarantee it will look good): If you really want to use the complete decal, it needs to be cut in strategic locations so it can lay flat on all surfaces rather than wrinkle at the corners. I guess you could try to measure where to cut and how long the cuts should be, but it is highly likely the white of the body will be seen at the corners unless the decal can overlap itself. The top and sides seem to be ok (flat top, flat sides, straight corners between them), so probably the front corners are where the cuts should be made. But the front part may still wrinkle due to the complex curve of the body surface going from the top to the front face.

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paint it on , and just stick the penzoil sponsor sticker onto the painted area max

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This was my first idea, cut away the yellow sponsor and paint the bonnet nose, but is really hard to find a color that perfectly match with the decals. Or too dark, or too light, or different kind of blue.

My second idea is cut only the sides of the sticker and apply only the top one after paint with blue the nose. So, only the sides will have a very little different color as you can see in the following pictures.

Striker57_zpscef74b6b.jpg

Really don't know what solution will use.

The best closest color I found is the Tamiya TS-44 Brilliant Blue. The TS-44 spraycan cap fits perfectly with the decals but I was really disappointed when I discovered that the real color is lighter than the cap.

Striker59_zps068e4ad3.jpg

Striker60_zps9ad2377b.jpg

The TS-41 Coral Blue is the closest color for the other sticker problem of the Striker: the helmet stripes.

Striker63_zps7e89b409.jpg

I made two experiments on an ABS sheet. The TS-44 has been backed with TS-26 Pure White (the Striker color) and with black.

Backed with black the Brilliant Blue matches better but the dominance of the color is different so today will do another experiment, I'll back it with red.

Yes, with red, because some red is inside the sticker blue.

Striker58_zps485341a2.jpg

As you can see the blue backed with black matches well but not perfectly. I hope with the red under the blue will go better.

Striker61_zpsb54f52e3.jpg

Striker62_zpsf0a8e222.jpg

Stay tuned.

Max

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I also need a couple of advices and helps from the TC members please:

1st: I need some extra sponsors for the Striker, better if yellows. Do you have some spare stickers from other cars to sell please?

2nd: I really don't like the numbers on the Striker. In your opinion where can I can find different black numbers for this car, with better design? The first choice is for the number 6 (or 9) from another Tamiya car or from 3th part decals. Can you help me about it?

Actually I own the numbers "2" from my Boomerang but maybe they are too big and not number 6...

Many thanks

Max

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max i think te backed with black will be un noticable once painted on and the yellow sponsor decal applied , great job , as for the sponsor decals theres great sheets on line for sale cheap mate ,

shaun

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Hi, Biggamehunter,

The difference between black or white backing is noticeable and I'm sorry you all can't see very well from the pictures.

At the end I made the experiment with red backing and here there's not noticeable difference with black backing.

So the choice was white or black because anyway for the correct hue there's no way. White or black made a difference in saturation.

At the end I gone with white for a simple reason. On both cases the hue is not perfectly balanced with the stickers but with the black there was less saturation. In other words it was the most beautiful blue with white behind because more saturated and bright. Difference for difference might as well have a more beautiful color, no?

So I just painted the nose of the car.

Max

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i think , either backing will be far far better than the crinkly decals max

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Yes, a different hue is far far far better than a peeling or crinkly stiker, I must totally agree with you.

Nose is done, I hope that with yellow Pennzoil over will not notice the difference in hue.

Anyway I'm happy of the result, the car is taking shape.

Striker64_zps16bb14ac.jpg

Striker66_zps2641f127.jpg

Striker65_zps366ffe96.jpg

Striker67_zpsb3f767ca.jpg

Striker68_zpse1442c31.jpg

Striker69_zpscf80d859.jpg

Stay tuned.

Max

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No news today.
I was planning to paint the cockpit of the car but today has been a very very stormy day with a little tornado, lot of rain and my home flooded (notice I'm at the first floor). The heavy thick raindrops, due the extreme wind, are passed under the window doors and I had all the floors full of water so no good day for painting today. Too much humidity I suppose.

TornadoTorino_zpsece71170.jpg

Tornado in Turin, this is the warm sunny Italy these days.

Mala tempora currunt.

Stay tuned and keep an umbrella with you.

Max

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Hi people,

finally today is a sunny day so I decided to finish all paintjob on this Striker so I painted the cockpit:

Striker70_zpsfbaf16a4.jpg

Then I finish with the driver surgery. The transplant has gone well so now the driver is back in his cockpit.

As you can see there's no more the protrusion near the right arm of "Shakey" Roop.

For the suit color I went to orange instead of red as boxart but I prefer some more warm colors on this car that has all cold colors like white, water green, blue, brilliant blue, ect ect.

Striker71_zps47626637.jpg

Transplant done. The patient is alive.

Striker72_zpsaea461d4.jpg

Waiting for the head.

Striker73_zps5968bd6f.jpg

Note the cockpit instruments: they are matt like all the cockpit parts. And note the steering wheel. Now it IS a steering wheel.

The job isn't finished yet, there are the stickers to apply but the nightmare paint job is finally done (except the driver helmet).

Max

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It looks fabulous! The little details in this restoration make it gorgeous.

I am also happy to hear that you weathered the tornado in Turin, and made it through safe and sound :)

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Max, I love the orange fire suit. It contrasts well with the blue gloves and yellow suspender straps yet stands out from the black and white major colors of the cockpit and body. Nice job with the wrinkle/fold coloring on the arms, too. It adds depth that would otherwise be missing.

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this is coming GREAT max. you rule at a nice finish, whatever you say to the contrary.

HELP HELP! does anyone know if the front arms of the striker and sonic fighter are the same? i know the shock mounts are different but the F parts for the SF are a mint and i already have the arms... so i can grab the tower for less if i can reuse the arms. anyone know?

THANKS

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HELP HELP! does anyone know if the front arms of the striker and sonic fighter are the same? i know the shock mounts are different but the F parts for the SF are a mint and i already have the arms... so i can grab the tower for less if i can reuse the arms. anyone know?

Front arms are the same - I believe only the dampers, front damper mounts, trim pieces, and upper body are different.

And looking forward to the next update!

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