Speed build: Honda Civic curb-side (Friday)

OK, so I am a little slow. Or rather I get going on a major new project (e.g. the 908) with great hopes, then other stuff comes along, and the project gradually fades to the back of the cabinet. I thought I would use the last weekend of the New Year's holiday to see if I can get something built, and finished, quickly. Putting all chances on my side, I selected Tamiya's curbside Civic racer, which has no engine detail to build. Furthermore, the rest of it is pretty simple: struts in front, a beam axle in back, just the dashboard requiring any real work. So here is the diary:

Friday morning:

• Open the box, read instructions over breakfast
• Make holes as needed in body, glue on mirrors and hood bulge, wash and apply primer
• In between grocery shopping excursions, apply two coats of white to body
• The goal is to get the paint on as early as possible, so it is as hard as possible by Sunday afternoon, so applications of glass, decals and detail work won't leave big thumb prints in the paint.
• There will be a fair bit of taping and either spraying or brushwork to put on all the black trim, but the red and gold are decals.
• Apply one coat of primer and two of white on the floorpan, which will take some added coats as it is molded in black
• Begin detail painting of suspension and interior bits.

The paint is clean with no orange peel or ripples -- this shows the advantage of a clean nozzle on the rattle can. (I've used only fresh cans of Tamiya paint here, none of the cans from the vault). There are a couple of minor runs, but these will likely be covered by decals, so no worries. One of the gas cap holes is a little rough but that should not be a problem to fix once the paint sets.

I'll have to stop here (Friday 3:00 pm) as I have guests coming over for dinner, and I've got to clean the place up a bit, not to mention vent the paint fumes. So I may get the odd chassis or interior bit painted, but that's about it for today. Stay tuned!