I posted this back in March 2007....
The bodies painted by Jairus Watson and Joe "Noose" Neumeister are quite simply stunning and awe-inspiring to mere mortals like myself. Not wanting to detract from their posts, I thought it appropriate to start a new one.
I wanted to enter the Thingie proxy which Edo, Swiss, and Markus have worked so hard to organise and being pressed for time and burdened with some health issues, I thought it best to call on my friend Frans Marais in South Africa to help out by painting the body.
Frans does incredible work and did the graphics on the 1/32nd scale "crocodile" Audi R8 which I entered in the 2001 Marconi Proxy Race which Philippe organised. The body was painted to represent the "Crocodile Dundee" liveried car, winner of the final round of the 2000 ALMS race in Adelaide, Australia, driven by Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello.
Frans' artistic talent is outstanding, even the "fish" air-scoops being drawn from the inside of the tight confines of the 1/32nd scale body. The Scottish and Italian flags were neatly painted alongside McNish and Capello's names - as is the row of Michelin men on the side of the cockpit!
When the Thingie body arrived, a Shinoda Bullet re-pop by Electric Dreams, I was bowled over! So I asked Frans how he did it - aside, of course, from painstaking attention to detail, patience, and endless hours.
This is what he wrote:-
"Not being a slot racer nor even a racing fan, when you asked me to paint a "Thingie" body for you, I obviously had no idea what you were talking about! But what I hadn't realised was that I was going to be allowed to have so much fun!
"When I received the body, I decided that this canvas needed something eye-catching and sexy. I decided to use Witchblade (by artist Frank Cho), a character who is incredibly appealing due to her goddess-like qualities. I sourced the image from the Internet and chose this design because it reminded me of the Birth of Venus, painted by Botticelli."
"I always start with a line drawing of the artwork. The image was transferred to adhesive film, applied to the outside of the car body, and the outlines hand-painted using a sable or pig's hair 6-0 paintbrush."
"The next step was deciding on the colour scheme. Because the original colours in the Witchblade artwork are quite dark and very rich, I decided to lighten the overall effect for better visibility. I started by painting the seashell on the nose of the body."
"Because it required very fine line work I carefully hand-painted in the lines, starting with red and then applying purple and pink. To add some depth to the colours, I back-scratched lightly through the paint, before adding a final darker purple on the borders. After masking the rest of the body with Windsor & Newton latex, I used my Aztec airbrush to apply the gradient. I used Tamiya PS paints throughout, due to their suitability for plastic car bodies.
"Next I tackled the fabric under the seashell."
"I find fabric extremely difficult to get just right, especially when painting it in reverse. I followed the same process as for the seashell, applying the outline of the fabric by hand, in a slightly darker tone than that of the bulk of the fabric, airbrushed in the highlights and then the background colour."
"I then moved on to Witchblades body, starting with her armour. I painted all the highlights first and then worked towards adding the darker shades. The rubies and emeralds were all given a highlight to give it a three-dimensional feel, and the mechanical areas were painted in silver. After all the fine detail was hand-painted, I added the background, also by hand, in racing green.
"Witchblade's hair was next, again with the highlights applied first and by hand and then darker shades added towards the end by airbrush.
"Having decided to leave her skin tones for last, I masked her body, the fabric, and shell, and painted the purple/blue lighting effect by hand using Faspearl Razberry metallic paint by Parma. Once the freehand pattern was completed, I used Tamiya PS Black for the background, which also doubled as a backing colour for the Faspearl Razberry.
"Then came the final touches - the goddesses body. I always use an Aztek airbrush; this unique airbrush can comfortably handle a wide variety of paints including enamels, acrylics, and oils."
"Here I started with the light shades, spraying the highlights first and then adding the contrast and darker shades later. As we all know, there is no flesh-coloured paint in any range on the market. This is where trial and error enters the game. I mixed Tamiya PS colours red, yellow, and white together and then experimented with a variety of shades until I got the correct skin tone for her body. Once I achieved the correct colour mix I applied it by airbrush using the fine nozzle. And then all that remained was to apply the final backing colour, Tamiya Silver."
The finished product:-
Witchblade never did get built and the body lay in a box in a cupboard for the past 6-years or so.
Fast forward to 2013.
After being inspired by Steve O'Keefe's magnificent Bullet chassis, I just had to get Witchblade built!
Not having time myself, an e-mail to my buddy Dennis Samson, a real master craftsman with brass and wire, resulted in this:-
It doesn't get much better than this!
!!!!!! That is simply just awesome paintwork ! Plus mighty fine chassis crafting by Dennis 
