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ddaenen1

The Avante 2K1 gets his well deserved treatment

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I may have mentioned i own an Avante 2001 which was in quite good condition when i got it but the shell was painted in an ugly blue colour, the window was painted it was missing the driver and some parts and it lacked the original wheels. Not too mentioned that the decals had been cut out very poorly and applied at the same level.

I had a plan to restore it in its original shape but after i managed to find original hi caps for it together with the front sway bar that was missing and upgraded the Sport Tuned to a DynaTech 01R i was confronted with reality that 2K1 parts are much harder to find then any other vintage Tamiya model i know of so up until now, i had never made it to find a new body and the original wheels nor the black light weight version nor the driver figure or decals which slowly lead to the fact that i didn't pay too much attention to it anymore.

Heres when i received it:

IMG-20130422-00500.jpg

Here the car after i managed to find the original hi caps and swap bar:

IMG-20130729-00636.jpg

and eventually the Dynatech 01R

IMG-20130729-00637.jpg

But then all changed :) :) :) !

I found the black light weights on fleabay after a tip here on TC (not on yet as i am awaiting hybrid tires i ordered last week) and Tamiya rereleased the body set which i received last week from RCMart.

So end of last week i started cutting the body:

2K1_1.jpg

masking done

IMG-20140106-00233.jpg

and today i layed down the first layers of PS16. We will see the result tomorrow :)

To be continued.

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that shade of blue made me think it was a QD at first.

I had a 2001 briefly but I didn't really like the look of it compared to the original avante, also the paint job and decals look like they had been applied by a child.

now I regret selling it since the re-re body got issued. :( I even have a body on order in case another chassis comes my way.

they do look good when they are done right, shame mines was a munter :rolleyes:

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that shade of blue made me think it was a QD at first.

I had a 2001 briefly but I didn't really like the look of it compared to the original avante, also the paint job and decals look like they had been applied by a child.

now I regret selling it since the re-re body got issued. :( I even have a body on order in case another chassis comes my way.

they do look good when they are done right, shame mines was a munter :rolleyes:

Indeed, the body colour ressembles the QD but it is truly an original one - came also with the manual. I agree, i have been very close to selling it again after the disappointment of not find the parts i needed to completely restore it but after looking at some 2K1 pics of box art models, i decided to keep it as it does run great though. I actually suspect that the previous owner also started restoring it but gave up after a hopeless hunt for the remaining parts as gearbox and all was in excellent shape.

I am positive it will look great in its original colours together with the black light weight wheels and hybrid spike tires.

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And here is the body in PS16, no backing! I'm happy with it in its current state and will not add any other layers.Also the masking was a better success then with the 1988 Avante body which by the way reminds me to share that removing the overspray on the cockpit window with the Tamiya stuff was successful.

2K1_4.jpg

Tempted to start with the decals right now but decided to take it easy. Still have to cut and paint the rear wing. Paint for Balmy Baldwin also arrived. I am intending to follow all the advice i got here on TC when doing Paranoid Perry for the 1988 Avante. That is:

- Sand and apply primer

- Use flat red for the clothing

I will post the steps as done last time :)

Still haven't decided how to mount Baldwin. The way intended by drilling holes in the upper deck or glueing styreen and use the original 2K1 fixing methose to the body. Need to think this over...

Also the Hybrid spikes arrived. Pics will be posted once i have the body ready :rolleyes:

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yeah that's much better.

I have always backed ps16 but with the avante you cant thanks to the wing. it still looks lovely and deep.

the 2001 I had was all washed out you could see through the paint in places unlike yours.

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Still haven't decided how to mount Baldwin. The way intended by drilling holes in the upper deck or glueing styreen and use the original 2K1 fixing methose to the body. Need to think this over...

Gluing styrene to a re-re figure sounds better than drilling a vintage chassis plate. At least to me.

As for the driver figure, it's it's tricky on the 2001. Only because the large matte-black area at the front receives no decals to cover brush strokes... yet it's prominently displayed front & center of the windshield. When I did mine, I used Tamiya TS-whatever flat black. In a small cup I mixed some with a lot of extra water till it was air-brush thin (like milk). Then you can brush it on in thin wet coats and the primer will hold it in place pretty well. Because it's very thin, it should dry without brush strokes. Don't worry if you can see through it cause you're gonna do 3 or 4 coats to build thickness. This gets paint even smooth and rubbery looking. Almost like airbrush, but with less texture.

Same technique for the puddle of tar the driver sits in as well as the red suit.

The helmet is also difficult to fill & sand the seam between the two halves. If done correctly, a nice coat of gloss white over primer will look great. But then you have to paint the black around the bottom of the helmet. Same as before.

The belts buckles and orange marks on the steering wheel will be done last with thick paint. Brush strokes will be okay on these parts, but they require a lot of patience to work the paint to make edges look good. Sometimes a tooth pick is best for applying paint to raised surfaces.

Body looks fanstastic BTW. Thick un-backed PS16 is just one of the nicest color IMO. Don't pile it up too much on the wing though if it's a runner, cause it takes a beating.

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Started painting the driver today after a coat of Tamiya fine primer last night.

Is it me or is the flat red a difficult colour to paint. This is after the first layer. I guess it will need a 2nd one tomorrow.

2K1_6.JPG

I also did an atempt to paint the helmet with a brush but failed miserably and rinsed the paint of under the tap straight after. Fortunately all paint went off easily. I'll redo it but with a spraycan white

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Yes the flat red will require multiple coats. Especially if you thin them out. Don't worry it will be worth it.

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Yes the flat red will require multiple coats. Especially if you thin them out. Don't worry it will be worth it.

OK, thx. I'll give it a second coat tonight. Also, picture added to the post :)

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very nice. BTW: You don't have to worry about making nice edges when you lay your 1st color down. I would have painted right over those belts with the red.

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Red is a cursed color because it doesn't cover but doesn't want to be covered by other colors.

To avoid these problems there's a new Tamiya product, the Fine Pink Primer made just for red.

Anyway with 3 layers yoy should solve the problem.

I suggest to use a clear flat after all, it helps to make your paint work better and uniform.

Great job on the body!

Max

Started painting the driver today after a coat of Tamiya fine primer last night.

Is it me or is the flat red a difficult colour to paint. This is after the first layer. I guess it will need a 2nd one tomorrow.

2K1_6.JPG

I also did an atempt to paint the helmet with a brush but failed miserably and rinsed the paint of under the tap straight after. Fortunately all paint went off easily. I'll redo it but with a spraycan white

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TBH of late i want to try fully airbrush one of these, using latex mask, painting the whole tub first, mask it off then latex around the driver edges, and blow on the paint, should work pretty nice if you have an airbrush that is. Belts and buckles are the easy part, its getting a neat covering on large brushed areas that annoys me, I'm too used to airbrushing everything these days, and using a hand brush to do fine detail.

lee

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Well, i got alot further on Balmy Baldwin. Eventually the flat red got 3 layers until i was satisfied with surface quality and am quite happy with the overall result except for the medium gloss black between the drivers arms. As you rightfully stated Ralphee, it is very hard to get a smooth coverage with a brush. For the front medium gloss black part i masked the whole driver and sprayed that area which got a really smooth painting surface.

IMG-20140112-00237.jpg

I still need to paint the helmet but because of my first mishap, i decided to spray paint the helmet in high-gloss white but i didn't have that spray can in my stash so i need to go get one. Furthermore the orange highlights on the dash panel and the apply the decals. I am thinking of what i can do to improve the surface between the arms but i guess that would mean remove the current paint layer which could get me in alot of other issues. Need to think about that one.

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I wouldn't get too hung up about the black Dominique - after the matt clear goes on it will be less obvious; once installed under the cockpit even less so.

When i get round to painting one of these it think i'm going the airbrush and liquid mask route - very time consuming but might be easier to cut the maskinglines with a scalpel than try to hand brush paint

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I wouldn't get too hung up about the black Dominique - after the matt clear goes on it will be less obvious; once installed under the cockpit even less so.

When i get round to painting one of these it think i'm going the airbrush and liquid mask route - very time consuming but might be easier to cut the maskinglines with a scalpel than try to hand brush paint

So you also think i should put matt clear on the whole driver once the orange details are on? Would one be doing that before or after the decals have been applied?

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The matt clear will dull down the paint, especially on the body which ultimately is supposed to be a racing suit which would have minimal sheen in real life, only to be applied after all other painting of non glossy areas is completed.

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Doing a far better job if your driver than I did on my 2011 avante. Not sure how to get rid of the existing layers to try again.

Like this build :)

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Doing a far better job if your driver than I did on my 2011 avante. Not sure how to get rid of the existing layers to try again.

Like this build :)

Since the driver is ABS, You can get the paint off with soaking it in dot4 breaking fluid. There are also other ways which are suggested here on the forum.

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Well, i finally made it to finish the rear spoiler. Painted it yesterday and assembled it today. In the mean time i also got my hybrid tires in and mounted them together with the black light weights and this is what you get:

2K1_8.jpeg

2K1_7.jpeg

2K1_9.jpeg

I am very happy with the result and combination. Now i need to finish Balmy Baldwin once i have my paint in, find a good way to assemble him into the car and last but not least, get the decals done and then my 2K1 is as good as new :D

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Woah! That looks amazing in just plain blue. Nice one!

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Woah! That looks amazing in just plain blue. Nice one!

I think so too. I actually hesitated for a moment if i should put the decals on or not but all in all, i do want to it to become boxart. So the first ones are on in the mean time!

IMG-20140118-00241.jpg

I will take my time to put the decals on. Afterall, i have been waiting for ages to get my hands on them and I did notice from pictures i googled that particulary the "Avante" logos seem very tricky to put on properly.

More later...

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Lovely, and better not backing the blue paint, didn't back my 2011 as its not meant to be backed anyhow, this is going to look awesome, now get the Dynastorm painted already lol.

lee

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Lovely, and better not backing the blue paint, didn't back my 2011 as its not meant to be backed anyhow, this is going to look awesome, now get the Dynastorm painted already lol.

lee

Hah, actually, it is possible that i will not be painting the ***** DS body. I am currently awaiting payment details to obtain an original shell and decals!

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