Part Two - chassis and interior

Welcome to Part 2 of the BMW Z8 Online Build! In this episode we will finish off the chassis and interior, just prior to the final assembly and detailing.

The chassis has already been painted body colour from the previous steps . All of the suspension parts get painted Krylon semi gloss black. The rear differential and was sprayed Model Master Buffing Aluminum and detailed with Tamiya semi-gloss black, while the exhaust was painted Model Master Buffing Stainless Steel and buffed. The wheel halves were sprayed Buffing Aluminum at the same time. The wheels were rubbed out, the BMW decal applied, and Metalizer Sealer lightly sprayed on. The wheel fronts were later detailed with the black fine point around, and chrome on, the lug nuts. The engine was carefully brush-painted the same aluminum. The front part of the chassis was carefully masked and painted Krylon semi-gloss black and all parts were assembled.

The majority of the interior parts have already been painted body colour. I also stripped the chrome kit finish from the shift handle and hand brake by putting them into a metal tea infuser (available in the gadget aisle of most supermarkets), and dunking them into my vat of Westly’s Bleech White (available at most auto supply stores) for a couple of days. Now all the parts except the door pulls were masked off in preparation for the coat of Krylon semi gloss black. The masking process was very time consuming, but if you hurry the process too much the results will not be as good. I started with a basic outline of regular masking tape, followed by Bare Metal Foil. The foil was burnished firmly into the grooves in the interior parts and then cut with a sharp blade. The windshield was masked also using the same technique as above because the window frame is moulded with the clear, and should be painted black. A cutout was added in the interior tub for the shift boot. Two light coats of the Krylon were applied and let dry for a day before removing the mask. Bare Metal Flat Aluminum was then used to detail the door handles, door lock and window controls, and the AC vents on the dash. The door pulls were already painted body colour, and were then brush painted with Model Master semi gloss black. All the gauge decals were applied, and a daub or Micro Crystal Clear was applied to each one. The remaining dash details were picked out with a mix of the fine point black marker, buffing aluminum, and chrome paint. The interior tub also had carpet flocking added by brush painting Tamiya semi-gloss black to the areas where the carpet would go, and then slowly pouring the black flocking material onto it before it dried. The shifter handle and hand brake were painted buffing aluminum, buffed and installed. The hand brake was detailed with semi-gloss black at the boot area. The pedals were painted Krylon semi gloss black and installed after scraping out a small bit of the flocking so that the glue could stick. All of the major components are now completed. In the next spine-tingling episode we will put it all together and add the details to complete the model.

Click here for part 3 - Final assembly and detailing