Project 034 -- Scania R620 - Blue Shark

Martin Oostrom
Not wasting any time, huh?

Chris Greathouse
Setting up the project page to start tomorrow. I know I'm not a guru of perfect, but should still be a fun ride. and Blue Shark! Awesome theme.

Chris Greathouse
I'm confused about something, why do they use color moulds if you are just going to prime and color over it? It's extra confusing because the blue mould is sparkly metallic blue the same as in the box art. Do I just prime and color as usual?

Chris Greathouse
A bit of a hiccup... I thought the instructions came with a color scheme, but I was mistaken 🙁 .... There are number/letter pairs, and I thought the letter was a color, but it is the sprue sheet letter. Off to Youtube/Google to research. Not as nervous this time since I've been through the color process with the Freightliner.

Greg Baker
Wait... did we get to vote for this one?

Martin Oostrom
Welcome to the world according to Italeri. 🙁
I have the same problem on the man. There are 4 colours mentioned in the instructions, but not where to put them.

Chris Greathouse
In the front of the booklet, the colors mentioned are in a black circle, but only a handful of pieces have a black circled letter in the instructions, so I guess Italeri cares about certain pieces being "x" color, but the rest is up to the dreams of the modeller... Or in our case, not dreams, but frustration at no written color code. But I WILL NOT give up on Italeri. They have the dopest trucks... and they need to be on my shelf! 😄

Chris Greathouse
In other news... I have lost the sight of my left eye for a week. What happened you ask? Not a clue... went to bed fine but woke up and I couldn't open my eye, tried to wash it out, no good.... Off to urgent care. They put a drop of dye in my eye and used a black light to see anything... SOMEHOW, in my sleep I caused trauma to it because the black light showed a huge abrasion over the iris. The abrasion is about half the diameter of the iris. BUT there is good news, I get to wear an eye patch like a pirate all week 😄 😄 also eye drops 🙁

Chris Greathouse
I'm going to do the same thing that I did with the White Freightliner.... made a spreadsheet for the pieces in each step, so I can write down colors and keep track.

Tom ...
Damn, Christ. That's scary shit! Eye patch is cool though...

Peter Hardy
Gents, trucks don't roll off the assembly line in any specific colour. Most are built as ordered. So, ............ as they are a true custom build from the factory in most cases, get on the net and see what pleases thee. Chris, you are getting stressed over nothing. The chassis is gloss black and the body is a metallic blue. It won't matter what shade, just don't go way too dark or way too light. Trust me mate, just pick a metallic blue and go with it. Lots of clear coat, at least 3 of them. It'll look brilliant!

Chris Greathouse
Yeah I know, but there are parts that should be a steel color or this or that color along the chassis and I've seen some videos of the interior that I liked the color scheme of... I know that most will be blue or black... The Excel just keeps everything straight in my head. Also after everything is snipped and grouped together for prime, I won't know what's what. Also, not stressed 🙂 I was last time but pshhh... I got it. I am using Tamiya X-13 Metallic Blue and thanks for the tip of MOAR clear coats on this one 🙂 it already sounds more shiny.

Martin Oostrom
Arrrgh! Captain Blue Chris is on the prowl!

Chris Greathouse
hahaha arrrgh... my eye is feeling much better today, but I still got that patch life! I kind of want to go online and get a Jolly Roger eye patch, but I'm only wearing it for a few more days. [img1]

Nathan Dempsey
Dang Chris! Take care of those peepers! If not you'll have to build nothing but extremely huge scales of model kits. The truck looks fun.

Chris Greathouse
Thanks Nathan.

Chris Greathouse
Filled out all piece/color pairs and additional notes... Now I'm more confident to tackle this truck.

Bill Newcomer
I like the idea of a spreadsheet to plan the painting on big builds. It would probably help the build go faster and save on paint thinner. Could you share your format in a PM?

Chris Greathouse
It does help alot, I can grab all the same colors and paint them at once. It also helps because I can see the color/piece journey all on one page.

Bryn Crandell
I'm watching this one. Crazy how you somehow damaged your eye in your sleep. I would be walking around talking like a pirate all day. LOL

Chris Greathouse
Arrrg.... Welcome to the show matey.... arrrgg.... Started snipping out pieces, there's a lot!! I did a select all in Excel, and it counted 298 non-blank cells (It was 318, but I'm excluding the 20 "step #" )

Chris Greathouse
Snipped and sanded nubs through step 12 of 20 while watching TV and my parts bin is already ~70% full. On a typical car, the bin may only reach 40%-50%... So you know the truck is large and has a lot of pieces 😄

Chris Greathouse
My parts bin over flowith, had to grab a larger one, all pieces are off the sprues and nubbs sanded. Tomorrow I'll sand any/all exterior pieces for better primer/paint gripiness. I'm going to lightly sand after every layer of paint, hopefully she'll come out real smooth and shiny.

Chris Greathouse
No picture update, but I sanded and washed the exterior cab pieces and side-skirts etc... about 50-70 pieces I think.

Chris Greathouse
I've got 5 full glasses of pieces, don't worry I salted the rims. 😛 Using various methods I attached the pieces to skewers for primer, starting tomorrow.

Richmond
Chris - Are you removing the chrome from the chrome pieces and if yes which method do you use - brake fluid?

Chris Greathouse
The only chrome is the wheels on this kit, which looks great to me... everything else is chromed stickers (which looks daunting 😄 ). But if I were dechroming, I use Super Clean Grill Cleaner (the full potency version). Works a treat.

Tom ...
That's a lot of cocktail sticks! Good luck. Your compressor is going to get a workout

Chris Greathouse
Tell me about it! I think I'm going to start with the black pieces since most don't need gloss and can go right back in the parts bin 'til build time. I bet there's going to be so much moisture when I drain the compressor after my session.

Martin Oostrom
Just do the blue right after. Then you can swim afterwards 😉

Chris Greathouse
There is 69 metric crap-tons of black pieces for this truck. This is only about half of them, just got done priming. Lunch, then painting them black and moving to the next group of black pieces.

Daniel Klink
Looks like a piece of art.. Toothpick art 👍

Chris Greathouse
lol, thanks Daniel. That poor piece of styrofoam, getting so abused with this project. Got the first group painted black, no pic because it would look just the same as the primer pic 😛

Chris Greathouse
Picked out the rest of the black pieces set them aside for primer and paint tomorrow. Decided to take a break from the booth and built up the cab.

Bozzer
Just jumping on for the ride Chris. I like that blue! I dunno how good your oven cleaner method works, never tried it, but have you ever tried bleach for stripping chrome? Man it's relentless! I did my gas tanks with it, they were done in 10 mins. Just enough time to make a Tea!

Chris Greathouse
The blue is the mould color. X-13 metallic blue is what the blue will be... I find color moulding very weird since you prime and paint over the plastic color anyways. And welcome to the ride.

Chris Greathouse
I believe that bleach messes with the plastic itself if your not careful, not just stripping the chrome. But I have heard it's quick. Super Cleaner takes about 20-30 mins... but it doesn't smell. 😛

Bozzer
I have used all kinds of stuff to remove paint, but bleach is my goto for chrome. It's never reacted to the plastic, but as I always say, test before you commit to the model. Keep them pictures coming fella

Bill Newcomer
Westley's Bleach white (white wall tire cleaner) works great on removing Chrome. Castrol's Super Clean works great on removing paint with no harm to the plastic. A 5 quart ice cream bucket with snap on lid and handle works great for holding a gallon. Super clean can be reused MANY MANY times.

Chris Greathouse
All the black pieces are done... phew, about 140 in total. Next Color!

Nathan Dempsey
This is a monster of a kit Chris! Can't wait to see how this one comes out.

Chris Greathouse
Why do kits come in color moulds... arggg... Priming to white was a multiple pass over ordeal. The color moulds are dark grey, black, and blue... getting those to white took time today.

Bryn Crandell
Have you tried using a grey and then go to the white?

Chris Greathouse
That's a great idea, thank you. I will try it in the future. After several days of black and white, I am finally getting to color 😄 and did some secondary colors as well.

Chris Greathouse
Finally, I have all the pieces colored. I'm so stoked about the blue, and I didn't have any issues spraying, normally there's at least a few hiccups with the brush/paint. The only things that are left to do is the wrap around black mask, then clear. For clear I am using Vallejo's Gloss Varnish (26.650) instead of my usual goto, Future. After that a couple days of decals, and a finishing clear. (I also fixed that gap at the top of the spoiler.)

Nathan Dempsey
Like that metallic blue color. Pops!

Chris Greathouse
Tamiya X-13 Metallic Blue.... Man, I sprayed a beautiful set of blue pieces. I hope I don't fork up assembly and get these pieces damaged.

Martin Oostrom
True blue, sharkey I love you!

Tom ...
The quiet before the storm.... (decal-wise)

Chris Greathouse
lol, thanks guys... I shouldn't have opened my mouth, I forgot when working with tamiya and masking that it needs several more hours (then Vallejo) to dry, else I get that nasty residue. I'm leaving on the Tamiya wrap-around mask, I'll use it to remask the black, then I'll sand at the residue til it's not sticky and it's flat, then I'll re-shoot the metallic blue on the top... Thankfully it's the only area that has the residue. I probably let the brush spray paint a bit too think and that's why it wasn't dry... Also thankfully/unfortunately it's not my first time fixing this particular boo-boo, so I'm not worried.

Bob Hall
I found the that GOO GONE works wonders and doesn't hurt the paint.

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Chris Greathouse
My hero! I think I have a bottle of that under the sink... *fingers crossed*

Chris Greathouse
So, I was able to salvage the residue issue with sanding and repainting (and ordered Goo GONE via Amazon, didn't have any). I also got on the first coat of clear on the exterior pieces using Vallejo's gloss varnish. I Think I like it better than future, although alot more expensive and I have to cut it with thinner using that resource as well... I really like how thin future is... straight from the bottle, no cutting. The decals and stickers are really making me panic, they look so daunting. I don't like this feeling. Maybe some liquid courage will help...

Nathan Dempsey
Wow those decals are awesome! Love the chrome too!

Bob Hall
Holy Crap ! You and Tom are going to go to decal Rehab ! That's a lot of sticky !

Tom ...
Just looking at Chris's has made me relapse... going to have to check in again... mommy, is that you?..

Chris Greathouse
Its those two huge sharks that are making me whimper, covers almost half the side of the cabin with one decal. Yikes! And the chrome stickers are no moving, or adjusting, or removing and trying again. Yeah Tom... I'll catch you in rehab with literal sticker shock 😄 😛...

Richmond
Chris - could you have painted the chrome instead - i.e using Xtreme Metals.

Chris Greathouse
I'm dashing away... and so it begins...

Chris Greathouse
On some of it I'm sure, but look at the shapes of the stickers and the crap-ton of masking you'd have to do... I'll Snap some pics at some of the more interesting shapes/placements... it would require rehab of a whole other kind 😛 😄

Tom ...
Man they look sharp! Nicely done! (#21)

Chris Greathouse
I've been back and forth in my head on what to do with this mask. I thought that I'd skip the chrome stickers on these parts because they look cheesy and I think I'm in love with this blue 😛 So I was going to keep the mask naked... The true truck has a silver mask... now I think I'm going back to silver... wheeeee....

Chris Greathouse
I just used Super Clean to strip the mask... Bonus, it just stripped the blue, but the primer is still fully intact, I'm Going to use Tamiya X-32 Titanium Silver 😄

Chris Greathouse
HOLY CRAP! One sharky done! so many stringy/narrow ends that fold on themselves and very large decal in general.

Nathan Dempsey
That huge decal came out nice!

Tom ...
Nice! Nailed it!

Chris Greathouse
Thanks guys! onto the front, then other side, back and sideskirts.

Daniel Klink
Very nice work Chris 👍

Richmond
Great stuff

Chris Greathouse
Some more pieces for the right side. I'm taking a quick break to respray the mask and have a couple shots of liquid courage.... Sharky two is still staring me down!

Tom ...
Man it's looking sweet! You must be doing a lot of Euro Truck'n!!

Bob Hall
I'd Still pull it over ! LOL !

Tom ...
There's such a thing as "driving with too much bling", Robert? I see how it is down in Texas.

Chris Greathouse
He'd only pull me over just to get pictures of the awesomeness inside and out 😛

Bob Hall
I'd escort it to the boarder !

Chris Greathouse
Really not your flavor, huh? lol! New mask color. Now I'm really not going to use the cheesy chrome stickers for the mask 🙂

Chris Greathouse
I'm king of the mother fu*king sharks!!!! God I'm pumped.... Friggin' sweet!! Now the back and the sideskirt

Bob Hall
And it's not even Shark Week ! oh yeah !

Chris Greathouse
All the decals are done. No errors 🙂 Now I'm deciding if I want to spray a coat of clear before bed and be ready to build in the morning. Or call it a day and chill in front of the TV and do it tomorrow and wait the few hours for it to dry then build.... although I could probably get to step 6 or 7 without needing any exterior pieces so the waiting would be null because it'll probably take a few hours to build that far anyways. ok I gotta plan. TV now spray later! and building!!!

Chris Greathouse
Exterior pieces are clear coated again. All the other pieces are done. So... 3... 2... 1... BUILD!

Chris Greathouse
It's a chassis 😄

Nathan Dempsey
It's taking shape. Makes me want to finish my lone truck kit.

Martin Oostrom
Great progress Chris. Watch out for those teeth!

Chris Greathouse
Thanks guys! Got the engine installed to the chassis, the wheels done, and most of the suspension is finished.

Bob Hall
I just noticed that decal sheet on the box art and I have to say, You must have went into some kind of Jedi Zen like trans to apply all those ! God I thought the pin stripes on the Camaro was tedious. I BOW to you and Tom's Patience and perseverance. Hooah !

Chris Greathouse
I snapped a pic of the decals and chrome stickers in #19. Pretty epic... I had every decal swimming in a lake of Micro Set so that I could position them without worrying of dry out. I used a big brush with the Micro Set so I could really get on alot, and stay wet.

Bob Hall
Yes ! I see it now, EPIC, good choice of words,! and getting them all on was Le---- Wait for it ------------------- gendary !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chris Greathouse
Damn straight. 😄

Bozzer
She's looking awesome Chris. Congratulations on the decals bro!

Chris Greathouse
Well... sh#t. My phone, which I use for the pictures, decided to die on me. "Your phones data partition is corrupt, please perform a factory reset." It was fine when I went to bed... grrr

Bob Hall
Must Be an Apple ! A possessed Piece of crap like Mine ! One day, It's going to end up in the Desert, with a bullet in it ! UGH !

Chris Greathouse
Nope mines an old Samsung SIII (2012 release date). Works... worked great, had it for 6 years so far. I hardly use it for anything but my alarm clock, taking pictures, music, texts and calls. Newer apps don't work on it, but I'm cool with that.

Chris Greathouse
Cabin fever!

Nathan Dempsey
Oh yeah!!
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Tom ...
Back in my day we'd sleep where we sat, if we got to sleep at all! Continentals!

Bob Hall
Yeah ! You Guy's DON"T want to know the stuff I've found in the sleepers of Semi Trucks !

Chris Greathouse
What should I be using to glue painted pieces to painted pieces? When should I be using Tamiya Extra Thin? I was told in the beginning that extra thin was good for everything. But I'm finding that REALLY isn't so. I forked up assembly by using the extra thin, things weren't really sticking together and kept coming apart... the dashboard and one of the chairs popped off once I sealed the cabin area, looks back inside 🙁 What adhesive should I use on finished pieces? I was so pumped through painting... then this messiness 🙁 Truck still looks good, but I don't know how to assemble without streaks or pieces coming apart and me trying to mush them together to fit.

Chris Greathouse
What are the 1) Funniest? 2) Weirdest? and 3) Most shocking/WTF? things that you've seen in a sleeper?

Chris Greathouse
What's the best way to take off such a small amount of area at the contact points?

Greg Baker
I'll second that comment. It's somewhat difficult I've found, to scrap off some paint after all the pain and agony you went through to get it on in the first place, but glueing two painted pieces together is a recipe for more frustration. They don't stick, and then they slide around and much up the rest of your carefully done paint job. A little scrape with an x-acto knife in a strategic (usually hidden from view) location will be a godsend.

I should also mention that the Tamiya quick set cement is also very good but needs to be the right tool for the right job. It sets so quickly that it sometimes loses adhesion before you get the pieces together. However, for pieces stuck together that you need held right away - beautiful!

Bill Newcomer
Best way to glue painted pieces is to remove the paint. Then use good 'ol Testers red tube. I have models built 25 years ago that are still 100% intact in spite of a few moves, kids, and cats. On many parts that show like bumpers, after the testors has set, I fill the gaps with window maker glue. Ii wicks in to the gaps, holds the piece across its entire length and makes the gap disappear. Which improves the realism of the model.

Chris Greathouse
Is it normal/usual to do that at all the contact points? Seems like alot of work.

Chris Greathouse
Well, I have Tamiya Extra thin, so I'll pick up the white cap stuff, and a tube of red, and starting with the next model, I'll start scraping. Here's another question... How do you keep the Tamiya extra thin solution clean? Every time I dab a spot, color gets sucked up into the brush and turns the bottle colors, leaving me with a mucky glue.

Tom ...
Hmmm, I use CA glue but scraping and using cement would be the most robust method. However, I'm guessing that if a model suffers blunt force trauma then failures will be at the glue joints and so should be simpler to repair. I wonder...

Chris Greathouse
Done! I wish I could get inside and fix the dash and chair, but it's not a distracting error, especially when there's so much to look at outside... This truck is dope 🙂

Richmond
Very nice

Nathan Dempsey
Awesome!

Michał Karczewski
Beautiful paint job.

Thomas K.
looks good! nice work! 👍

Spanjaard
excellent

Tom ...
I think you found your new calling. Looks awesome! Great job indeed. Now you just need to start weathering the models 🙂

Spanjaard
not this one😉

Daniel Klink
Fantastic result Chris👍 cool colours

Bob Hall
Great Job !

Chris Greathouse
Woah, Thanks all you guys! You guys are always cheering me on, I appreciate that 🙂

Chris Greathouse
For the record, this is the 34th build since starting the hobby.

Greg Baker
Holy... Moley. Wow.

Chris Greathouse
That's what she said!

Bill Newcomer
Very sharp rig Chris. Congrats on the quick build. BTW I have ordered a bunch of alligator clips to put on some bamboo skewers for painting. I like your "painted forest" method. I am so tired of blowing dust into my paint jobs from laying pieces on cardboard.

Chris Greathouse
oh, well I'm glad to inspire. 🙂 It makes the pieces easier to handle during the whole spray-booth and dry-off process.

Bill Newcomer
I can definitely see that. Do you glue waste sprue stubs on the bottom of parts for the clip to hold onto and not affect the surfaces to be sprayed? What do you poke the sticks into to dry?

Bob Hall
I saw a fellow that used one of those cat scratchers you can get at Wal Mart.

Bob Hall
6. Löwe | Album by HerrK (1:35)

I started using his method.

Bob Hall
Now all you need Chris, is to find one of those Auto Transport trailers for your Rigs !

Chris Greathouse
ok, I gotta say first off, the skewers and the clips were separate purchases for me... what came with my alligator clips were double flat ended sticks, so I bought 500 skewers cheap on Amazon. I use little balls of UHU-tac putty on the ends of skewers (no clips) and then press them into pieces in areas on the pieces that won't be seen in the finished model. You could also use glue, or whatever else adhesive you think you could use. I like UHU-tac because I don't have to wait for it to dry like glue. Then I use the alligator clips again anywhere that they can be applied that won't be seen. I also use toothpicks where I snip off the end to make a flat spot for the UHU-tac... that's usually for teeny tiny pieces. And I just buy a small square of styrofoam from the local hobby shop for a few bucks. Some people buy those floral foam blocks.

Chris Greathouse
I will get a transport trailer at some point, along with other types too... But first I need a fleet of trucks 😛

Bob Hall
Your well on your way of getting them !

Chris Greathouse
😄 I know! Ain't it cool?! 😄

Michael Hickey
Another nice Rig, and it didn't seem to take you too long either, well done.👍👍👍

Martin Oostrom
It's just bluetiful! Great job Chris, keep 'm coming 👍

Bozzer
Great job Chris! Now I'm home again, I hope to get back to the bench. Just grabbing some much needed R&R, before tackling my builds. Hate working away from home, but it pays for my glue and paint. What's next bro?

Chris Greathouse
The Mobile Gaming Center... The Project and album have been started... come join! If the Blue Shark is big and awesome, this is small and awesome. Project 035 -- Mobile Catering #1, Game Vender | Album by chrisagreat (1:24)