Tamiya Stadium Blitzer Restoration (part 2)

Painting the Tamiya Stadium Blitzer body in box-art colors was not an easy thing to do.  When painting polycarbonate bodies, the darkest color is painted first, then the next lightest, and so on, until all colors are applied.  For the Stadium Blitzer, there are three colors:  black, silver, and white.  First, the windows were masked, then a secondary mask was applied to all areas that were not to be sprayed black.  This was practically the whole body.  The only black areas are the front grille, a thin sliver between the cab and roll bar, and the sections between the rear roll bars and rear window.  The black went on smoothly, but for some reason I forgot about silver being a darker color than white, so I mistakenly (but actually on purpose at the time) painted white second.   I was originally thinking that it would be OK to paint silver on top of white as a "backer" color.  But when it actually came time to paint the silver, I realized that I probably did not want silver on top of the white as it could possibly make the white look dull or "less white" than it was without any backing color.  So instead of spraying silver, I painted it by hand using a brush instead.  It did not come out as smooth as a spray application, but it looks fine nonetheless.

The decals took a long time to apply but the process was easy and free of stress because I used water with a small amount of dish washing soap in a bowl to help with the application.  Each decal was dipped into the solution and gently laid into position on the body.  The soapy water allowed me to slide the decal into the exact position I wanted before it stuck permanently.  Once in final position, press and push the water from under the decal starting in the center working to the outside edge.  Both fingers and a dull toothpick work great as a squeegee.  Works perfectly, every time.  A hair dryer was used on the curved surfaces to activate the glue in the decal and allow the decal to "set" in the shape needed to conform to the curved surface. Even after cooling down, the decal stays where you put it and never lifts.

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This was a very enjoyable restoration.  Even after discovering that Tamiya was going to re-release the Stadium Blitzer a few months after I finished the restoration it did not dampen the pleasure of having restored an original.