Just a side note: If you appreciate Carlos’ vehicles, you’ll be interested in an interview article I did with him for the upcoming March/April edition of ZTRACK MAGAZINE. Interesting to see what got him interested in producing vehicles for us.
Jim, Thanks for your sharing your experience with me on the Carlos vehicles! Great idea on the sticky notes and hole punch for tire coverage!! My youngest son pretty much informed me that my train plans are no good without Optimus Prime present… So I went ahead and painted my first z-scale vehicle to resemble the Transformer… What I did was the following: 1) Primed the vehicle with white Tamils fine primer. 2) Once dry, I started the first (of many) masking tape jobs using Tamiya 6mm and 18mm tape. 3) I spray painted the cab red using Vallejo Model Air. 4) I re-masked and spray painted the white line as well as the metal parts using Vallejo paints. 5) The tires and the chassis I hand painted using a black Milwaukee Inkzall fine point pen. 6) Optimus would not be Optimus if I would not cover the back tires. I cut two covers using 0.5 mm polystyrene which I glued in place. 7) Once done, more masking and spray painted these pieces blue. 8) Using a silver Sharpie permanent marker i colored the smoke stacks as well as the roof horns. I include several pictures below and think it came out pretty well if I say so myself. Next up will the the trailer but which I had painted but ruined leaving my finger prints on the wet spray painted sides. Once done I will share the results. Have a good Presidents Day Weekend, -Tiest Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Very nice. Fine point India ink markers are perfect for detailing. I see you have the windows masked off. K4 and CMR make z scale decals in a variety of useful things such as license plates, safety stripes, etc...I'm not sure what Optimum Prime is. It sounds like a credit card. LOL It looks fantastic. Jim
Tiest, You really tranformed that rig! Nice paint job (including light blue windows) and the mod. Scott
Thanks Scott! …And I am going to repeat this paint job as my oldest one wants one for his collection. Fun to do and great opportunity to fine tune my learnings. -Tiest Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Jim, For your pleasure, the Transformers was a cartoon tv series which started in the 80s. The main characters, Transformers are robots that transform to cars and other vehicles. Optimus Prime is lead robot which can transform into a truck and semi. I included a picture of his robot form below, his vehicle form is what the Carlos Pinto paint job. My oldest son indicates he also wants one so I can apply your learnings. Keep you posted on progress. Any suggestions for weathering these vehicles? Thanks, -Tiest Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Hi, Tiest. Thanks for the low down on what an Optimum Prime is. I suspected something like that. It is coming along fine. Nice masking work, too. I do not weather these little beauties, too much. In fact, I do not use dullcote on them. I did on the first batch I did but was not satisfied with the results. I like the new car look. Jim
All, I just finished my the Transformers - both Optimus Prime and Bumblebee - based on the excellent Carlos Pinto vehicles. See the results here of my painting efforts. Big thanks to [mention]bostonjim [/mention] for his advise as I leveraged many of his suggestions provided in this thread. Next I will complete the Southern Farmhouse from Basher and put together a small diorama as I continue planning my rail road. Have a great weekend! -Tiest Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
[mention]bostonjim [/mention], Thank you for such awesome compliment! Got much to learn but got some incredible teachers/coaches here! Truly enjoying the z scale and this dedicated community. Thanks ALL out there for making this virtual community so great! Happy Weekend! -Tiest Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
