Continuing work on the Datsun 240ZG.  April is here, and I think it's time I set aside the Datsun to work on the HBS Creatin' Contest and Watson Mill.  The Datsun takes a lot of time and a lot of work space.  I'm also getting close to assembling, which means a lot of body work prior to that...and that requires consistently good weather for spray painting.  Yesterday we had take-me-to-Oz winds, then whiteout snow, then sun.  Crazy.

But, I have a couple of things to share before I pull the curtain and put the car in the barn for safe-keeping.  I did start sanding and detailing the main body piece.  This is an excellent model, so there was very little to do in the way of prep work, just light sanding here and there.  I had spray painted the body with a quick pass of grey.  This paint layer helps highlight the imperfections and excess plastic from the molding process.  Cinder blocks from Mini Materials.

There's a vent detail in front of the windshield.  It didn't take the initial coating of primer spray very well, so I decided to detail it now.  Any subsequent spray-painting shouldn't interfere with the work.

I used a toothpick to drop in Testors flat black.

I wiped the excess with a paper towel.

This fills the vent and makes it look like an opening in the body.  I can touch up the effect after the final body color by using acrylic paint, which won't stain the enamel color the way the Testors paint would.  This is a good base to build on later.

Back in the engine compartment, I wanted the washer fluid tank to look like it contains actual fluid so I spent several hours painting it.  haaaaaaa!  The tank isn't glued in yet, but the holding bracket is.  I needed to know the angle of the tank to paint the fluid line at the appropriate slant.  Dirtying up the surface helps sell the idea.  :]