Supra Restore and Custom

-A Scale-Master Project-

Supra Restore and Custom

Author:       Mark D. Jones aka Scale-Master
Vehicles Needed:     Tomica Supra casting

Special Tools:    Scale-Master Decal Sheet – See bottom of the page for details

Rating:       Beginner/Novice

This Tomica Supra was sent to me by a friend who had repainted it years ago. The tape holding the chassis on, lights in, and the doors closed, ripped the paint off part of the body.  

Here are the disassembled parts.

A few hours in the stripper and all the paint was gone.

I airbrushed a coat of Tamiya Metallic Blue over a thin coat spray can Krylon Gray primer. I let it dry for one day.

I masked off the top of the body with masking tape. I cut a thin strip to do the color break.

And then taped off the rest of the body.

I airbrushed a thin coat of Krylon Silver. (I sprayed some from the can into my airbrush cup.)

And took the tape off immediately. The silver covers well and the blue, being a soft acrylic, can be damaged if you leave the tape on too long.

I hand painted the window frames and rear deck/spoiler Testors Black.

Decals from my customizing sheet were applied to the sides and allowed to dry for about an hour.

Then they were cut at the door line with a sharp X-acto knife. The knife must be sharp or the decal may tear.

A little decal solvent (I used Mr. Mark Softer by Gunze Sangyo) was applied and let soften the decal, and then I used a Q-tip to blot and push the decal into the gap.

The tailight panel and third brake light were hand panted a light metallic gray. The light lenses were painted transparent red and yellow, and chrome silver for the back up lights.

The headlights were painted transparent blue for that plasma look.

I made custom decals for the gold colored sponsor graphics and applied them. The rest of the decals also came from my custom sheet.

The interior was accented with black, red and silver.

The doors were removed for clear coating so they wouldn’t get stuck shut.

I use hemostats and tweezers to hold parts for painting. The clear has been applied in this picture.

The interior door panels were hand painted flat red.

The rear view mirror and wiper were painted flat black. (The mirror was painted on the inside.) Then the mirror face was painted silver, again on the inside.

I reassembled it and put a spot of super glue where each rivet was. My friend who sent the casting to me had already set Hot Wheels wheels into the chassis at the appropriate ride height. All I had to do to them is paint the centers transparent gold.

I put a pair of photoetch hood latches on the front with a tiny bit of super glue applied with a toothpick to the parts, and painted the front intakes Testors Flat Black.

In the picture below you can see an Acura NSX next to the Supra. It was treated pretty much the same way. (Note from Joe–Maybe a whole race team as a future project?)

Mark D. Jones, Scale-Master