Lotus 102D Update

This update will focus on the application of the clear coat on the main body components.

I applied the clear coat last weekend straight from the can, using Testors Wet Look Clear. I waited about 5-10 mins between coats, and applied the final heavy gloss coat for my third coat. It came out very smooth and glossy and I left it to dry for about 2 days. After that I applied some touch-ups here and there, straightened out the black lines with some Tamiya gloss black acrylic paint, etc.

Now for the problems!

Unfortunately some of the decals bubbled up under the final coat of clear; The bottom right portion of the Frazer Nash logo on the right side of the monocoque behind the headrest, the R in the Tommy Hilfiger logo on the same side, and on the Number 12 on the nose. These were all less than 1 mm and are not very noticeable. I might be able to flatten and polish them out. Also, some of the black paint under both Tommy Hilfiger logos seeped through and was visible on the white portion of the decal. I cut a rectangle of white from the Tamiya decal sheet and just covered it up. You can't even tell it's been patched!

Another annoyance is the darker green decal on the rear cowling. It cracked in a few places during application, as you can see in the final pic. I attempted to cover up the cracks with some spare green decal but it looks kind of patchy. I am tempted to mask it off, respray using green paint, and apply more clear coat but I don't want to layer up too much paint so I may leave it as is.

Most of these problems are very minor and wouldn't be noticeable to most modelers, but I tend to be a perfectionist and focus too much on them. Overall I'm pretty happy with how this part of the build came out.

The next few updates will focus on final assembly.