Opening

This photo will be replaced with a photo of my finished model

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The bottom of the chassis will be flat black with silver, tan and green in the areas shown in the inset of the instruction sheet. I primed the bottom of the chassis with Mission Model Gray primer MMS-003. I used Mission paint not realizing that Mission does not make a flat black. Shown in an upcoming photo I used Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black on the entire chassis bottom. So far, I have to say that the Mission primer works very nice and Tamyia paint seems to latch onto very well. The top of the chassis does not get painted because there is a sliding mechanism that gets installed which will make the wheels pivot 90° for when the DeLorean flies in the second film.

I included the drawing of the chassis bottom from the instruction sheet to show the color scheme, but mostly to show that there are molded, round holes for mounting on a display stand (not included with the kit). The holes are not through holes as shown in the image. I took dimensions of the spacing in case I make or find a stand:

Mounting points hole diameter (x4 locations) = 0.1268"/3.21mm
Center-to-Center, Front-to-Back = 2.187"/55.56mm
Center-to-Center, Side-to-Side = 2.081"/52.86mm

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The Back to the Future DeLorean includes a method to pivot the wheels so it can fly like it did in Back to the Future II. The mechanism shown here are some of the parts used to make the movement of the wheels possible. By moving what I call the Sliding Bar from back to front or front to back the mechanism allows the wheels to rotate 90° as shown in the picture below. If you watched my first video: Back to the Future I & III DeLorean Box Opening on YouTube or Back to the Future I & III DeLorean Box Opening on Rumble you'll see that I reference that the kit contains a small tube of grease. The grease is used to lubricate these sliding parts.

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The Slide Arm assembly is shown in this photo. These arms will slide in-and-out and the axle will pivot. These moving parts need to have a small amount of the supplied grease applied to the moving surfaces.

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The bottom side of the DeLorean chassis with the first coat of what is supposed to be silver according to the instruction sheet. I used Tamiya Flat Aluminum XF-16 and since I hand brushed this first coat I used Tamiya Acrylic Paint Retarder #87114-300. As can be seen, brush painting acrylic paint is not easy and tends to lift the base coat up, mixing it with the top coat. Even with the Retarder, the paint still dries a-bit too fast and as it's brushed over it picks up the bottom layer(s) of paint. I find it hard to get a smooth finish on the first coat. Add to that the chassis bottom has a lot of detail to paint around and not all of it is painted yet in this image.

I'll be letting this coat of Flat Aluminum dry for a least 24 hours and than I'll apply a 2nd coat to get rid of some of the flat black that is showing through. I'll also have a few places to touch up the flat black.

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The bottom of the chassis is basically painted. It took a coat of Tamiya XF-16 Flat Aluminum used directly from the bottle to get decent coverage. I did not use any Tamiya retarder for the final coat. The tan sections is painted with Tamiya XF-52 Flat Earth. It is two coats directly from the bottle. The green areas is a mix of two parts Tamiya XF-5 Flat Green to one part Tamiya XF-4 Yellow Green. I did the mix because with all the paint I have, I didn't have a shade of green that would stand out with the Flat Aluminum and the Flat Black.

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I did several test spoon with some Vallejo primers. The spoons where prepared by sanding the shine off of them and then I wiped them down with 91% IPA. The three spoons on the left are airbrushed with the following:

I basically used a 10:1 ratio for both primers:

• 30 drops of Vallejo 77.660 Surface Primer Gloss Black
  This surface primer is recommended for Vallejo Metal Color 77.712 Steel
• 3 drops of Vallejo 71.261 Airbrush Thinner
• 3 drops of Vallejo 71.262 Airbrush Flow Improver
• ≃3 drops of Vallejo 70.597 Retarder Medium

The three spoons on the right are airbrushed with the following primer so I can also test some other colors.

• 60 drops of Vallejo 70.615 Surface Primer USN L. Ghost Grey
• 6 drops of Vallejo 71.261 Airbrush Thinner
• 6 drops of Vallejo 71.262 Airbrush Flow Improver
• ≃6 drops of Vallejo 70.597 Retarder Medium

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I have been looking for an acrylic stainless steel paint. Alclad makes a stainless steel; however, my spray booth is not vented to the outside world and the fumes are just too much for my basement shop. Robert, at the Barbatos Rex YouTube Channel recommend I use Vallejo Metal Color 77-712 Steel. I tested the steel color on a Vallejo 77.660 Gloss Black Surface Primer, spoons on the right and on a Vallejo 70.615 USN L. Ghost Grey Surface Primer, spoons on the left. This photo shows the results. The spoon on the left is the steel color sprayed on the USN L. Ghost Grey looks; however, it's still a-bit too dark. The spoons on the right are the steel color on gloss black. These spoons are much too dark. I'm going to try the steel color on Vallejo 73.600 White Surface Primer and on Vallejo 70.601 Grey Surface Primer. I'll also try the Vallejo Metal Color 77.724 Silver on the four different primers.

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Starting to prime some of the other parts. The top photo of this double photo shows most of the interior tub parts primed. The bottom photo is some of the wheel and suspension parts primed.

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I'm searching for an acrylic metal paint for the stainless steel body of the DeLorean. In this photo I used four different primers:

1. Vallejo 77.600 Surface Primer White
2. Vallejo 70.601 Surface Primer Grey
3. Vallejo 70.615 USN L. Ghost Grey
4. Vallejo 77.660 Surface Primer Gloss Black

1. Vallejo 77.724 Metal Color Silver
2. Vallejo 77.712 Metal Color Steel

The fender in the center is from the Fanhome 1:8 DeLorean that I am also building. I'm using it for a color reference. None of these spoon are really a good match for stainless steel. I think of these spoons, 2A and 3A are probably the closest. If you have any thoughts or idea's of a good acrylic, water based paint that could match stainless steel please let me know by sending me an email at: skipsmessyworkbench@gmail.com

Since this photo was taken I've tried mixing the Vallejo 77.724 Silver and 77.712 Steel in several ratios. The ratio that seems to be somewhat close is 8:1; 8-parts Silver to 1-part Steel.

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While I'm experimenting with finding a water based acrylic paint to replicate stainless steel I thought I'd start some of the assembly.

This photo shows an example of how the slide arms are installed and where grease is applied to lubricate the slide bar.

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In this photo the slide arm hold-down cover has been installed and the left side slide arm link mechanism is installed. I accidentally broke the other slide arm link and the glue on the repair is drying. Grease also gets applied to the slide arms where they slide under the hold-down cover.

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This photo shows the front and rear slide arms and axles in the driving position and the flying position:

1. Front of the DeLorean with the axles in the driving position.
2. Front of the DeLorean with the axles in the flying position. When the weight of the wheels and tires are added to the axles, the axles will be pointing straight up & down. Right now they are at a slightly angled out.
3. Rear of the DeLorean with the axles in the driving position.
4. Rear of the DeLorean with the axles in the flying position. When the weight of the wheels and tires are added to the axles, the axles will be pointing straight up & down. Right now they are at a slightly angled out.

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The wheels are being back filled with Tamiya Black Panel Liner. They are not finished in this photo. The tires also need some trimming of rubber flash.

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A side view of the chassis with the wheels installed and in the driving position. The stance looks good.

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This photo is the top of the chassis with the wheels in the driving position. If you notice, the front tires are slightly cantered out. This is due to how loose the slide bar mechanisms are. I need to figure out how to make the mechanism a-bit stiffer.

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Here is the top of the chassis with the wheels and tires in the flying position.

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Here is the bottom of the chassis with the wheels and tires in the flying position. Like in the previous photo of the axles, when the chassis is flipped over to it's normal position, the wheels and tires become parallel with the chassis. They droop down a-bit here because the weight of them and the looseness of the slide arms and links is not strong enough to hold them in position. As I stated before, I need to figure out how to make the slide arms and mechanisms a-bit stiffer, but not so stiff that the slide arm cannot move them.

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This photo shows some Metal Colors on different color primers:

1. Vallejo 77.724 Silver on Vallejo 77.660 Gloss Black Surface Primer
2. Vallejo 77.712 Steel on Vallejo 77.660 Gloss Black Surface Primer
3. Vallejo 77.724 Silver on Vallejo 77.600 White Surface Primer
4. Vallejo 77.712 Steel on Vallejo 77.600 White Surface Primer
5. Vallejo 77.724 Silver on Vallejo 70.615 USN L. Ghost Grey Surface Primer
6. Vallejo 77.701 Aluminum on Vallejo 70.615 USN L. Ghost Grey Surface Primer
7. Vallejo 77.712 Steel on Vallejo 70.615 USN L. Ghost Grey Surface Primer
8. Vallejo 77.724 Silver on Vallejo 70.611 Grey Primer
9. Vallejo 77.712 Steel on Vallejo 70.611 Grey Primer

The reason I only used the 77.701 Aluminum on one primer is because it was easy to see that, after spraying on the Ghost Grey Primer it would be way too bright and silvery.

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This photo shows four different Vallejo Metal Colors on a Vallejo 70.615 USN L. Ghost Grey Surface Primer as follows:

1. Vallejo 77.724 Silver
2. Vallejo 77.716 Semi Matt Aluminum
3. Vallejo 77.704 Pale Burnt Metal
4. Vallejo 77.706 White Aluminum

None of these colors alone on the Ghost Grey primer were good. They are all too bright and too silvery.

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After all the testing I looked hard at the 1:8 scale fender and noticed highlights of greens and yellows. So...I attempted to mix some colors. I had noticed that the Vallejo 77.704 Pale Burnt Medal was fairly close to the stainless steel color I was looking for, but just not quite there, so I mixed some Vallejo Model Air 71.135 IJA Chrome Yellow and some Vallejo Model Air 71.043 US Olive Drab with the Pale Burnt Metal in a ratio of 20:1:1 (spoon on the left) and 20:2:2 (spoon on the right. Thats a ratio of: 20-drops of the Pale Burnt Medal to 1-drop of the IJA Chrome Yellow and 1-drop of the US Olive Drab. That ratio was still a-bit too light then I tried 20-drops of Pale Burnt Metal with 2-drops of IJA Chrome Yellow and 2-drops of US Olive Drab. That ratio is very close to the stainless steel color I was looking for and even thought it's not perfect, it will work. The picture does not do justice to the actual color match.

The next picture is a close-up of these two spoons with the 1:8 DeLorean fender.

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This is a close-up of the two spoons shown in the previous photo. I think you can see that the 20:2:2 ratio color is fairly close to what the 1:8 scale DeLorean fender color is.

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I was experimenting with different colors for the interior. When I saw one of the actual Back to the Future DeLorean's while visiting LA back around the time the first film was released, I remember seeing that the interior was gray. While researching online I saw some that were gray and some that were black. I know there were several DeLorean's used for the film, so maybe they had different interior colors depending upon what camera angle would be used for the filming? I re-watched some of the film, since I hadn't watched it in a long time, and the interior, at least in the Pine Tree Mall scene was gray, so I'll be going with gray. I tested several different greys that I had on the shelf as shown and listed here:

1. Tamiya XF-66 Light Grey
2. Tamiya XF-53 Neutral Grey
3. Vallejo Model Air 71.044 Grey RLM02
   This doesn't look grey to me, it looks for like Olive
4. Vallejo Model Air 71.298 M495 Light Grey
5. Vallejo Model Color 70.991 Dark Sea Grey
   *** Possibly this one ***
6. Tamiya XF-80 Royal Light Grey
   *** Possible this one ***
7. Tamiya XV-18 Medium Blue

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This was a hodgepodge of attempts at getting a stainless steel look with different metal colors on different color primers. All of these failed.

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Now that I'm fairly confident I have the stainless steel color I'm looking for I can start to get serious about painting and building.

What is shown here is the Back to the Future III kit. Everything is off the sprues, cleaned and sanded. The body panel lines were made deeper and the body was given a light sanding with a 1000 grit sanding stick just enough to take the shine off of the plastic. I will now fill this plastic tub with warm water and Dawn dish washing soap to give everything a good cleaning. Then all the parts except the body will primed in Vallejo 70.615 USN Light Ghost Grey. The body will be primed with Vallejo 77.660 Gloss Black Surface Primer.

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Both kits are read for washing. Back to the Future III on the right and Back to the Future I on the left.

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The body's for Back to the Future I & III DeLorean has a coat of Vallejo 77.660 Gloss Black Surface Primer. I used it with the following ratios:

1. Vallejo 77.660 Gloss Black Surface Primer - 100 drops
2. Vallejo 71.261 Airbrush Thinner - 8 drops
3. Vallejo 71.262 Airbrush Flow Improver - 10 drops
4. Vallejo 70.597 Retarder Medium - 8 drops

With the ratios shown the paint worked well out of the airbrush; however, the surface is showing a lot of orange peel and a not so smooth surface. The paint is not fully dry in this photo, so I'll see if it levels out, but I doubt that it will. I will attempt wet sanding the bodies to smooth them out, but I really think I'll be putting them in an IPA bath to strip all the paint. If I strip all the paint I plan to use 70.615 USN Light Grey Surface Primer first, than apply apply the 77.660 Gloss Black Surface Primer.

As I see many time:

I HATE PAINTING"

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All the remaining parts now have a coat of the Vallejo 70.615 USN Light Grey Surface Primer.

There is going to be a lot of detailed brush painting

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The two bodies of the DeLorean for the Back to the Future I and III. Which body looks more like stainless steel? Please let me know your opinion by sending me an email at: skipsmessyworkbench@gmail.com

Both bodies are primed with Vallejo Surface Primer 77:660 Gloss Black

The body on the right was painted with a mixture of:

• 10-parts
  Vallejo Metal Color 77.704 Pale Burnt Metal
• 1-part
  Vallejo Model Air 71.135 IJA Chrome Yellow
• 1-part
  Vallejo Model Air 71.043 US Olive Drab

The body on the left is sprayed with:

• Vallejo Metal Color 77.716 Semi Matt Aluminum

The paint job on the body on the right has some big flaws in it. I'm not sure why this happened? If you zoom in on the body on the right you can see the flaws on part of the hood and roof. I'm wondering if it's because I'm mixing Metal Color with Model Air? Maybe the two do not play well together? I've sent the question to Vallejo support.

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This is a close up of the roof of the body (the one on the right in the previous photo) that was sprayed with a mix of Vallejo Metal Color and Vallejo Model Air. Note the puck marks. I noticed that these marks only occurred when I used a mix of the two different types of paints. I sent a message to Vallejo support because I was wondering if maybe the Metal Color and Model Air did not chemically play well together and I was right. Here is the message I received from Vallejo:

Dear Sir,
The main problem is the fact that we can mix references from the same range, but if we try to use other ranges of paint, for reasons of chemical compatibility, the mixtures are unstable and the results are usually not as expected.

Only if we mix the references in the airbrush cup (Model Air + Metal Color) and use it immediately on the model, the results may be correct, but if we wait even a few minutes, the chemical compositions begin to disintegrate and do not work correctly.

Hope this explanation can help you! 😉

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I've started the ton of detail painting of the interior and there are a lot of decals that get applied to the interior parts. The decals are small, so...I scanned the decal sheet and if I screw up one of the small decals I can always print another set on slide paper. This photo is much larger than the actual decal sheet. The actual sheet is about:
3.5" (88.9mm) W x 1.6" (40.64mm) H.

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1. Picture A shows the two engine covers, the back walls that replaces the back window and will contain the flux capacitor. The two interior tubs, minus the dashboard and center console. Two flux capacitors. Two electronic boxes and parts of something that resembles tanks or tubes that will be painted light green and get mounted on the engine cover right side. Click to enlarge picture A in a new window or tab
2. Picture B shows two strips of electronics with two gauges that gets mounted on the ceiling, two time circuits and displays for setting when and where and two clear covers with a handle that will get mounted on the center console. Click to enlarge picture B in a new window or tab
3. Picture C show the two dashboard. Each dashboard is in two pieces. The top image with the pedals is the bottom half and the bottom image is the top half. The picture shows some of the detailing and decals that get placed on the dashboard. Click to enlarge picture C in a new window or tab
4. Picture D is similar to picture C except that the top half of the dash is positioned so the instrument cluster can be seen. Click to enlarge picture D in a new window or tab

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The engine shroud has a lot of detail to paint. Here I have some of the features masked off. Even though I'll be brush painting, the mask will help protect the area's that do not get painted. I'm only showing one of the shrouds in this picture; however, I did both of them. After painting, the round cylindrical objects on the left and right need to be masked. The three cylindrical objects on the left will be painted red and the two cylindrical objects on the right will be painted yellow.

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These are the axles for the DeLorean from Back to the Future III. The chassis points are flat black and the axles and axle supports are steel.

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1. This picture shows the instrument cluster decal installed in the top half of one of the dashboard. Click to enlarge picture A in a new window or tab
2. This picture is very similar to picture A and shows the instrument cluster decal installed in the top half of one of the dashboard. Click to enlarge picture B in a new window or tab
3. This picture is the lower half of the dashboards with the instrument gauge decals applied. Click to enlarge picture C in a new window or tab
4. In this picture the dashboards have been glued and are clamped awaiting the glue to set up. The interior tubs are shown, waiting to have the dashboards installed. Click to enlarge picture D in a new window or tab

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While some of the detail paint was drying I applied a coat of Vallejo 77.660 Gloss Black (Metal Primer) to the body I had to strip. This will get it ready for the finish coat.

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When the Gloss black Primer dried, I masked the front parts that will get painted gray.

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When the Gloss black Primer dried, I masked the rear parts that will get painted gray.

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After masking the front and back parts that will get gray, I applied a coat of Vallejo Metal Color 77.716 Semi Matt Aluminum.

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While the body was drying I used a black sharpe to outline the divider on the side windows and installed the instruments to the roof section. (It looks like the sharpe was done messily, but messiness is caused by my poor lighting and the reflections in the clear plastic).

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The dash board are now ready to install in the interior tubs. The item that has to be added is the alarm clock that is mounted above the time circuits.

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The dashboards are installed in the interior tubs. The only item left is the alarm clock that gets mounted above the time circuits.

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closeup of an interior after the small alarm clock has been installed.

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1. The front of the body is masked, along with the rest of the body so that the gray vinyl nose can be painted. Click to enlarge picture A in a new window or tab
2. The back of the body is masked, along with the rest of the body so that the gray vinyl rear can be painted. Click to enlarge picture B in a new window or tab
3. The masking of the body has been removed. The front nose has been painted gray. The little bit of spray that creped under the tape will not matter because the bumpers get painted flat black. Click to enlarge picture C in a new window or tab
4. The masking of the body has been removed. The rear section has been painted gray. The little bit of spray that creped under the tape will not matter because the bumpers get painted flat black. Click to enlarge picture D in a new window or tab

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The electrical boxes that get mounted to the front fenders need some detail painting. This picture shows the masking of the items that will be painted silver. I'll be using Vallejo Metal Color 77.724 Silver.

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The electrical boxes that get mounted on the front fenders have been detailed with the Vallejo Metal Color 77.724 Silver and Tamyia XF-1 Flat Black.

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The exhaust ports are painted Vallejo Metal Color 77.712 Steel and fully assembled. I painted all the pieces first, than assembled the ports. They are ready to be installed.

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The panel that is behind the interior seats and contains the flux capacitor, a bar graph and some other electrical boxes and gauges is ready for installation.

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The molded in parts of the engine the shroud are detailed. There are a lot more parts that get mounted to this shroud after it is installed in the body.

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I'm starting to mask some of the detail on one of the bodies. This photo shows one side of the body. The other side has the same masking. It took about 2-hours of masking to get to this point. I still have the front, back, vents and around the windshield to mask.

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1. The entire right side of the body is masked with the exception of areas that will be airbrushed flat black. Click to enlarge picture A in a new window or tab
2. The entire left side of the body is masked with the exception of the areas that will be airbrushed flat black. I made a huge foo-pa on this side. I did not mask the left rear quarter panel. I didn't notice it until after I spayed the flat black. I'll have to mask the aluminum area and airbrush the aluminum panel. I hope it will look the same with a flat black base? Click to enlarge picture B in a new window or tab
3. Front of the car is masked. There will be some brush painting of the grill and the bumper, which is not yet attached. Click to enlarge picture C in a new window or tab
4. Back of the car is masked. There will be some brush painting of the area around the license plate which is recessed and needs to be flat black. Click to enlarge picture D in a new window or tab

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The exposed area's of the masked body was airbrushed with Tamyia XF-1 Flat Black and left to dry. To enlarge the pictures, click the appropriate links that follow:

1. Click to enlarge picture A in a new window or tab
2. Click to enlarge picture B in a new window or tab
3. Click to enlarge picture C in a new window or tab
4. Click to enlarge picture D in a new window or tab

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The engine shroud is installed in the body. There is still a lot of work to be on the shroud; piping, mounting plate for the fuel port and the fuel port itself. Use the following links to view larger version of the pictures.

1. Click to enlarge picture A in a new window or tab
2. Click to enlarge picture B in a new window or tab
3. Click to enlarge picture C in a new window or tab

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The chassis and interior tub are inserted into the body. Also, the plutonium mounting plate is installed. Click each/or any of the following links to enlarge a photo:

1. Click to enlarge picture A in a new window or tab
2. Click to enlarge picture B in a new window or tab
3. Click to enlarge picture C in a new window or tab
4. Click to enlarge picture D in a new window or tab

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Finished model front right.

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Finished model from the right front.

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Finished model right side with electrical hook rod. I did not glue the electrical hook rod onto the shroud so it can be removed. With the electrical hook rod in place, the model will not fit in the display case.

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Finished model from the front.

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Finished model left side.

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Finished model left rear.

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Finished model rear. The decals in this kit are very nice; however, they are so very thin and I tore the upper left corner of the license plate. I guess I could say that it was damaged on its return trip from the future.

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Finished model right rear.

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Top view of the finished engine shroud from the back.

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Top view of the finished engine shroud from the right.

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Top view of the finished engine shroud from the left.

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Finished Back to the Future DeLorean from the first film

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The DeLorean from Back to the Future III is finished! Following are some photos of the finished DeLorean. The two DeLorean's were built in tandem. The difference should be obvious. The DeLorean from Back to the Future III has:

• A raised stance
• Larger tires with white walls (50's style)
• The 1950's version of an integrated circuit built
  with vacuum tubes and strapped to the hood
• Mr Fusion is installed

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The DeLorean from Back to the Future III is finished! Following are some photos of the finished DeLorean. The two DeLorean's were built in tandem. The difference should be obvious. The DeLorean from Back to the Future III has:

• A raised stance
• Larger tires with white walls (50's style)
• The 1950's version of an integrated circuit built
  with vacuum tubes and strapped to the hood
• Mr Fusion is installed

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Mr. Fusion is installed.

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Mr. Fusion is installed.

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Top view of Mr. Fusion.

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The 1950's vacuum tube version of an integrated circuit strapped to the hood.

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The 1950's vacuum tube version of an integrated circuit strapped to the hood.

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Both DeLoreans, side-by-side.

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Back to the Future I and II DeLorean in flight mode.

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Back to the Future I and II DeLorean in flight mode.

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Back to the Future I and II DeLorean in flight mode.

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Back to the Future I and II DeLorean in flight mode.

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Both DeLorean's. The Back to the Future I, on the left has the electrical pole installed to catch the wire Dr. Brown strung down from the clock tower.

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Both DeLorean's with the clock tower in the background.

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Both DeLorean's with the clock tower in the background along with Marty and Doc Brown posing with the clock.