Ducati Superleggera V4
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2023 Model Build #1 - 1/12 Ducati Superleggera V4
This is a pretty new kit from Tamiya (#14140). I enjoyed the previous kit - Kawasaki Ninja H2, so I was keen to try another one and this came out at just the right time.
As expected from Tamiya, it went together with minimal difficulty. Given the decals had the main body colour on them I decided to stick with the exact Tamiya paints. This meant my first time using their acrylic lacquer paints. They went on really well. I also used SMS for some bits as well as the final gloss coat. I'm finding lacquers tend to be easier to get a decent shine on them.
I had the most difficulty with the decals. I lost one of the exhaust decals, so that meant my first attempt at creating my own. It worked out better than expected, but next time I'll ensure to make them a bit lighter as there's a noticeable difference in brightness between the kit one and mine. Still, it was a good excuse to try something new. I'm glad I scanned them first for just this situation. The other decal pain was on the main fairings. There's over 10 decals that make up each fairing. I had lots of difficulty getting the alignment correct. I also managed to damage a few and have to patch up some of the carbon fibre decals. Thankfully the kit had some generic carbon decals for such a situation. In the end I'm a bit disappointed with how the decals came out, but they're better than I was expecting after hitting all the issues.
I used the SMS Hyperchrome pen for some of the bolts. I'm not totally sold on them at the moment as they seemed to dull or possibly bleed in to the paint a bit. The next day they definitely weren't as bright as when first applied.
The lessons:
- Lacquers tend to give the best (shiniest) finish
The firsts:
- Creating my own decals
The good:
- The fit
- The final paint job is one of my best
The bad:
- Aligning decals when multiple ones are used on a surface is really painful!
- The general finish of the main fairings
This one took me 2 months to complete and overall I'm really happy with it. My stash is growing so I'm not sure what I'll work on next. Possibly a tank so I don't have to try for the perfectly shiny finish again.
