58347: Lunchbox from Dirt-540 showroom, Lunchbox (AFTER)

Model: (Click to see more) 58347: Lunchbox
Status: New built
Date: 8-Jan-2012
Comments: 15

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THE IDEA

I really wanted to catch the era of this van so thought about it long and hard, I remembered those ‘station wagons’ and how some had wood-finish panelling around the body. Bingo! What about a metallic gold band around my VLB and the rest in a metallic burgundy.

SHELF QUEEN

This was originally to be a runner but having spent a small fortune on paints and many many hours trying to achieve the image in my mind, I simply couldn’t bear to scratch it. This is for my shelf only and so is a dry build, no grease no bearings, no electrics except for a standard motor can to fill the gap and a steering servo to stabilize the wheels.

THE PAINTING

The paint is deep and thick with a high gloss finish. To achieve this I gave it 7 layers of burgundy (over 4 cans in total), each layer keyed back after 30 minutes drying time. It took close to 4 hours masking the band around the body. Having tried masking before and paint always seeming to get through somewhere, I became adamant it wouldn’t happen on this project. I went over and over again and again checking and rechecking every little crook and cranny in the body work and the masking tape I had applied. Then I applied very thin layers of gold paint, leaving it for 10-15 minutes between each ghostly layer. I did this for about 2 and half hours (2 cans) until I was happy that the gold looked even all around the body. After carefully removing the masking and leaving truck to dry for a week, I keyed with wet and dry very gently until every bit of surface was smooth. Then was the tricky bit, spraying just the right amount of clear lacquer to get a gloss finish. Too little and it dried dull, too much and it would run. Each part of the body was sprayed with a spot light on it so I could see the lacquer going on and building up, once I could see it was thick enough (just before it was about to run) I’d stop. I did the same on all sides of the van (4 cans), the only problem sometimes was that some of the excess spray went onto the other sides that were already glossed, and it dulled that said area again so I’d have to re-do that side. There are a few small areas where it’s a little less glossy than others, but that was one of those times where you could think, “I’ll just touch that bit up” but end up making matters worse. I counted my blessings and decided the painting was done.

ADDITIONAL WORK

I used some 0.4mm detailing trim for the door and panel lines, made a custom number plate, painted other body details such as indicators, door handles etc. Fitted all the body parts, exhausts grill glass etc and polished it all up. Finally I sourced some chrome wheels which I think are the cherry on the cake.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Am happy with the paint job but I don’t think I’d want to go through it again, glossing was the hardest part and it could have easily ruined the whole paint job and I would have had to start all over again. All in all though I’m glad to finally reach the end of this project and appreciate that I have learnt a lot about painting.

Comments and questions welcome…

Cheers