MP4 cab

Pretty much all interior parts of the kit are ready for paint. Italeri clearly focused here on the main parts to be good, everything else is done with costs for tooling in mind. I have mixed feelings about it, because I may expect more from a kit that is supposed to sell for 60+ EUR. 

Here we see the cost cutting in all its beauty. The cab roof has no lights and the overhead cabinet is kept as simple as possible. The rear panel has the lower bed in the up position. There are plenty of ejection marks too. 

The upper bed has no bottom side. I took a plastic sheet to cover it up. It might not be visible in the final build, but it takes the fun of creating a real thing away. The dashboard is however nicely done. No complaints there! 

The first layers of color are applied. The ivory color I painted twice. First time it appeared to yellowish and I decided to repaint with some more white color mixed in. 

A lot of masking, and still I have some overspray on the ivory section... some extra work to fix it. 

Interior of the cab is pretty much completed. 

I decided to glue the cab together and paint it first, before the interior will be installed. It will be tricky to get the interior in. I did some dry fitting and it seems possible. 

 

Sink marks are your friends with this kit... 

This section was the main motivation to paint the cab first. That area requires some sanding even if the the parts are fitting well. It is quite visible on the final model. 

Primer is on and it looks pretty good 

Ready for the base coat! 

Well, I was very certain, that I like the decals of this kit and that I will build it exactly like that. However, now having it in front of me, I am not happy with it. I waited now a week or so to see if I would start to like it... but no, it does not work for me. So, I will remove the paint and start over with the cabine. 

Like I wrote almost 2 years ago, I didn't like the look of the original decals... I decided to go for a "DB Schenker" livery instead and print my own decals. 

Somehow the project got sidelined for a long time. That happens to me more often then it can be any good for the half-finished project... I hope I still have all parts around to finish it in the coming days. 

The sealing parts of the cab are painted black and I did some dry fitting of the mirrors. Now the interior has to go in, which will not be an easy task.