Adam O'Brien's version of MiniArt's 1/35th scale 170V Cabrio is complete. He takes us from completion of construction to priming, painting and weathering to the finished kit you see here (with figures still to come). See how he made it so nicely in Pt II of his review...
Construction Review: “Repairing on the Road” Type 170V CabrioFrom MiniArt
1/35th scale
Kit No# 35295
6 marking types are included in the box.
Parts of this story:
Today: Pt II: Paint & Weathering
The main sub-assemblies of the model were first given an overall primer coat of Mr Hobby’s Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black. This has been my go-to primer for many years as it sprays beautifully, self-levels and dries to a nice, no grain, sheen finish. 
Once dry, I lightly sprayed from the top-down, a misted coat of Mr Finishing Surfacer White – as pre-shading to the curves of the bodywork.Rather than paint all parts individually, I opted to completely assemble the engine and chassis as a single sub-assembly. This was done to speed up the build process, and make painting easier. Most of this detail would be lost under the car anyway, also, the engine itself will only be partly seen under the half-opened hood. I therefore sprayed the silver components of the engine freehand, with no masking as the subsequent pin-washes would blur the sharp line between colours anyway.
To emphasize the curves of the bodywork, I painted the body panels with a graduation of colour, from dark to light grey.
These colour coats were very light, thinned coats of the Gaianotes paint as illustrated – almost like filters.
The final highlight colour was airbrushed on a little thicker to allow the lighter shade to have some coverage.
At this point, I applied some fine (restrained) chipping on the bodywork, only around the areas I thought would be most prone to wear, such as the running-boards, fender extremities and around the door handles. For the basic chipping I used Vallejo Burnt Umber, applied with a small piece of foam. Once I was happy with the general look of the chipping, it was further refined with sepia extra oil paint from Old Holland. Generally, I thin my oils with the VMS Oil Expert Medium only. This medium both thins the paint and gives it a matt finish.
The folded top cover was given an enamel green filter at this stage to provide a slightly different tone to the bodywork. I also worked some highlighting and shadows into this part to give it a more realistic, fabric look.
Once the basic painting was applied to the leather parts, I further refined them with a couple of colours from the Oilbrusher range. Here I used Dark Brown for the deepest recesses in the leather, then Buff for the extreme highlights. I like using Oilbrushers for the final touches to any paint detailing job as they are very convenient, and dry quickly to a matt finish.
Back on the engine and chassis, I applied a dark pinwash using Old Holland’s Sepia Extra – a bit heavier than my usual pin wash, just to blend the silver to the grey more effectively. I also misted a light coat of Gaianotes German Grey (#221) over most of the chassis rails etc. Here I also hand-painted the engine’s fan belt in Vallejo black.
The kit decals are excellent and responded well to Mr. Mark Softer from GSI Creos. Once on, but not quite set, I chipped and slightly damaged the markings with a scalpel blade – just so they would not look pristine on a weathered body. The decals were then over-sprayed with a highly-thinned, very dark brown mixture from Tamiya acrylics.
On such a small model (see the final photo next to a Tamiya Liquid Cement bottle) – it can be easy to overdo the chipping/weathering, so generally, I only work on very small areas at a time. I like to take a lot of quick progress photos on the phone and study them enlarged on my computer screen – this normally shows where I have gone too far, and where touch-up or blending is required.
The next three photos show the bodywork and interior in progress, just before the final assembly.
A series of final shots of the finished Staff Car.
Next up – Final Part Three – A Vignette With Figures
Adam O'Brien
Thanks to MiniArt Models for sending this kit to Adam to build and review. You can see more about this kit and the others on their website...
New MiniArt Kits Available January 2022
Rather than paint all parts individually, I opted to completely assemble the engine and chassis as a single sub-assembly. This was done to speed up the build process, and make painting easier. Most of this detail would be lost under the car anyway, also, the engine itself will only be partly seen under the half-opened hood. I therefore sprayed the silver components of the engine freehand, with no masking as the subsequent pin-washes would blur the sharp line between colours anyway.
