my go at Tamiya's R-33 Skyline

JD, I've had the same thing happen to me and I used an automotive rubbing compound with a damp cloth. Rubbed the snot out of it after the paint dried well and brought out a lot of shine.

Dupli-color is the brand i use a lot on my builds, never goes wrong.

The last wet coat on and the clear coat. I'll try to get pictures up tomorrow morning. In the mean time, the front suspension is on and the front received a noticeable drop. I'm going to see about the rear tires tonight, whether I can place them accurately without the body or not. Otherwise, it's on to the interior!

and here's the drop:




hopefully I can finish this up this weekend as LOTS of goodies are arriving for my next build.

Thanks coyote! There's some serious orange peel that needs to be polished but otherwise, I'm happy with it for my first car.

Looks good! Did you bring out the paint just by using clear coat? Good color and wheels.

I used Model Masters Ultra Gloss Lacquer clear coat following my final wet coat. That's what brought out the color in the paint.

I'm also unsure of what color I'm going to do the interior in. I've been bouncing between following the directed colors or going custom. I think I'm going to keep this one pretty straight forward. I have plans for a very long, very detailed build coming up.

Thanks Deecee! The next immediate build is most likely going to be my Tamiya DBS, with a full PE detail up set from Hobby Design, Scale Motorsports Twill Weave CF, and rims from HD as well, all to represent the "Carbon Black" edition. After that, I have an R-34 VSPEC II build that will utilize the RB26 out of an R-32 kit I have. That build will have a box full of goodies and mods. Look for it soon!

As for the R-33, I've done the window trim on the sides and painted the lower half of the front bumper and headlights flat black. Next is the window trim around the front and back windows, the panel lines, and then the decals. I've decided to go with the kit directed gray interior and used MM Engine Gray. Once that's dry the second color for the seats will be applied and then the carpet and rear deck will be flocked with charcoal gray. Otherwise, the suspension needs a wash of Windsor and Newton burnt umber and this build is d. o. n. e.

Interior flocked in charcoal grey.

Panel lines done.

Looking very nice some great detail

Thank you guys for the support! Here's some more progress...

mounted the tub to the chassis...


rear lights installed. I used a red sharpie for the brake lights and an orange sharpie for the turn signals. I have to say, I was really happy with the results. I think the brake lights look damn near real...


sorry for the dust. I went over everything with a tack cloth after finishing up  the pictures...This is the reason why I'm not a fan of workbench photos.
Also, i painted the third brake light. I debated on whether I liked it and I'm still not set on it whether it's supposed to be there or not. 


Anyway, I also painted the amber signals on the sides Testor's orange. It's not perfect yet, I'm going to go back and tape around the signals so I can paint confidently, not worrying about 
painting the body of the car. 


I used a very thin Model Masters Red and Chrome Silver to paint the front emblem. I will have to put some sort of magnification device on the x-mas list...

And now I notice that dog hair next to the emblem. 

Here's the suspension as well...


as always, comments, critiques, and criticisms welcome! 
 

ModelMasters flat black, a very very thin mixture. It was a step above black colored thinnner. Prior to painting, I deepened the lines with a dental tool and the backside of a dull #11 blade. After painting and the clear coat, I again softly went through the panel lines with one of my dental tools to allow the paint to flow better through the line.