Ed's Speed Racer Mach 5

[Ed Sunder]

I'm a bit late to the party, which means I'll need to hurry. Fortunately, this is a pretty simple kit. The Polar Lights kit of the Mach 5 from the cartoon Speed Racer (there was also a movie, but this is from the cartoon) seems to be a decent little kit that my family bought me for my birthday. I have never actually completed a car model before (I'm primarily an aircraft/spacecraft guy) so we'll see how this goes.

Here's the box:


And here's what's in the box:


I'll probably wind up painting the thing instead of using the decals.

Should be fun!

Oh - one question for car guys - do you normally prime over the chrome parts and repaint with something like Alclad? The built-in chrome finish looks cheap to me. I think a metalizer would look a lot better. Thoughts?

 

[Gern]

I've heard lots of folks strip the chrome using concentrated bleach, then paint with Alclad (and whatever primer that needs).

 

[Mickc1440]

Welcome to the GB Ed, look forward to seeing this come together.

 

[Ian M]

I'm a bit late to the party, which means I'll need to hurry. Fortunately, this is a pretty simple kit. The Polar Lights kit of the Mach 5 from the cartoon Speed Racer (there was also a movie, but this is from the cartoon) seems to be a decent little kit that my family bought me for my birthday. I have never actually completed a car model before (I'm primarily an aircraft/spacecraft guy) so we'll see how this goes.

Here's the box:
View attachment 478704

And here's what's in the box:
View attachment 478705

I'll probably wind up painting the thing instead of using the decals.

Should be fun!

Oh - one question for car guys - do you normally prime over the chrome parts and repaint with something like Alclad? The built-in chrome finish looks cheap to me. I think a metalizer would look a lot better. Thoughts?

A bath in household bleach (or oven cleaner) for a few hours should take the chrome off. then its a High gloss black base. then very light coat Alclad.

 

[Jim R]

I've not heard of the cartoon but the boxart looks good. That bonnet decal does look a bit awkward. I agree that the kit's chrome doesn't look realistic so stripping and painting will be better.

 

[Jakko]

I'm a bit late to the party, which means I'll need to hurry.

Not really, this will run until the end of May so you’ve got almost two months (said someone who’ll easily take that time on a simple kit … ).

Never heard of the cartoon, but then, they’re not my thing — shouldn’t stop me enjoying your building this kit, though

 

[Ed Sunder]

Thanks for the advice on the chrome. I'll try that soon.

The cartoon was originally in Japan (called "Mach Go Go Go") but I watched it as a child here in the US and loved it. It was filled with over the top villains like Snake Oiler and Ace Duecey and heroes like Speed Racer and his missing brother Rex Racer (who was actually the mysterious Racer X!). It was great fun and his super car, the Mach 5 is what I'll be building.

 

[Ed Sunder]

So I took the advice on the chrome parts and bleach did the trick. Here are some parts soaking:


After soaking, I was dumping out the bleach and it turns out that I also accidentally poured out 3 of the wheel spinners. So I mimicked the design and 3D printed some to replace those parts. Here you can see the wheels and the 3D parts:


I wound up actually using all 3D parts since I actually thought they looked cleaner than the original and this way they all match. I primed the wheels with gloss black Alclad primer and then painted them with polished aluminum and they look great. I finally misted a coat of polychromatic chrome over the top of that and it added a really neat effect. For a cartoon car, I can go my own way a bit on some of these things.

I also created a small plastic jig on my lathe to sand down the tires. Here you can see that process starting:


And then I assembled the cockpit and started painting it (all of the details will be painted on this car. The decals are more like stickers so I won't be using them):



I'm pretty happy with how it's going. I've got some more work to do on that. I've realized that the dash is a brighter red than the dull red (it almost looks brown in the pictures) that's on there now. So I've got some work to do there. I wound up watching a couple episodes of the cartoon and making color notations on everything I saw. Anyway, it's coming along....

And I know this was not super popular in the UK so a lot of you aren't familiar with it, but here's a sample:

 

[Jim R]

Good call to strip the chrome Ed, it never looks quite right. I am sure yours will be much better. 3D printing it playing a bigger and bigger part in the hobby. Cockpit looks great.

 

[Ed Sunder]

Here's a shot of the wheels - the mottling is actually the holochromatic look, which is quite nice in person.


And some more progress - I've got the engine bay done and have done some additional work on the bottom and the cockpit:


In looking at these photos, I've realized that there's some flash on the bottom that I missed - I'll need to clean that up.

I'm still figuring out how to paint the whole thing. I was going to paint the body and then install everything, but you can see front of the bottom section should seamlessly connect to the top part of the kit. And before I can connect that, I need to put everything else in except the windshield. I guess I'll need to do a lot of masking, which is fine. I was just hoping to do all of these parts separately...

 

[Mini Me]

Hi Ed, I can actually see the varigation in colors.....those wheels must be a real eye popper in person!