Nail Polish Painting Challenge: Just Another Pop Culture Reference Mystery Box

by Ali Kidder-Mostrom

What inspires you? My team “Just Another Pop Culture Reference” is just what it sounds like. But, let’s be honest there is just SO MUCH to choose from when it comes to the world of pop culture. Sometimes, it helps to have a bit of guidance, some self-imposed limitations, to help inspire creative design.

When I first saw the Mystery Build video posted by the everimpressive Gaslands builder JH Miniatures, I knew that I just had to follow suit. It took nearly a year to get going, but here it is!

Challenge: Paint with nail polish -- Die Rolls= Theme: Comics & Color: Red

The goal is to create one car per month, each with a random paint color and pop culture theme selected by roll of the dice. Also, there will be a unique challenge for each car (basically the reason I turned to the box) just to keep things interesting. This could be a technique to use or race to prep for or well, the sky’s the limit!

Build/Design Notes:

Nail polish is a cheap and easy paint option, but there seems to be a dearth of YouTube videos on how to do it well. After success on a previous build using nail polish to convert a normal enamel paint job to a more traditional car metal flake appearance, I thought this is something I could show folks how to do.

Of all the cars to pick (I didn’t pack the box, so I have no idea what is in it), I pulled a car that is already red! But I have a specific painting challenge so (after drilling it apart) into the dip it went and out it came, ready for a new red paint job.

There are a number of red comic book characters, but something about this car – its electric design, perhaps – made me think Shazam! The enamel base coat is Testors Gloss Red. To get the gold accents, I just painted over the chrome insert with Testors Gold Metallic.

After waiting a few days for the enamel to fully dry, I brought out my red nail polish options. For this build, I broke what I’d consider a cardinal rule of nail polish (car) painting: cheaper is better. Higher quality polishes dry faster, so I had to be extra careful to get it right the first time. I’d say the rule of thumb is: work in about the area of a thumbnail, make sure it looks good before moving to the next nail’s worth.

All the paints and polishes used in this build.

Of the available options, I picked Ali’s Big Break, by OPI, which provided a metal flake lacquer coat, just slightly darker than the enamel it covered.

In order to stick with comics and not film, I was careful to avoid images from the 2019 movie when researching my design. Comic book characters change over time and the biggest distinction here was his chest lightning bolt. I decided on the New 52 era costume and kept the Shazam! #9 cover saved as a reference.

The inspiration for the car came from this issue of Shazam!

To get the black depth/electric blue-looking lightning bolt, I started with a basic black waterslide decal.

down on nail polish, the white (cape-inspired) accents were also painted using OPI polish.

This is where I have the chance to screw things up – detail painting. Here I broke another rule: don’t use your good brushes on nail polish (it just doesn’t clean up well and you could ruin your brush). A great thing about nail polish bottles is they come with a brush included – use it whenever possible. However, to paint over the tiny decal, I also needed a tiny brush. Acetone at the ready. I used a cheap glitter coat and, after it dried, finished the detail with gold edging. To double (triple?)

Waterslide decals adhere to ridges and grooves on the body better with a little Micro Set to make them more pliable.

The wheels are fine, so they are staying on. That said, to make her competitive, I need to add weight and reduce friction before screwing the car together.

Before epoxying in weight, I sanded the wheels and applied graphite. I like to do these when the wheels are on the base, but before putting the car together, to avoid damaging my paint job.

I’m sending the car to MnM Racing’s Ladder Wars, which has a 50g maximum. That’s great, because this car is a real light weight and adding weight isn’t cheap. I pulled enough to get me just under 50, but when all is said and done ended up at 47.5g to avoid moving the center of gravity too far forward. All I had to do was remove a little of the interior’s underside and the tungsten cubes fit in perfectly.

In a final dose of nail polish, I added a clear lacquer coat. This car could see many races between now and December, so I’d like to avoid any of my paint flaking off.

Once everything’s dried, I just screwed it all together. One post was spinning too much, so I added a dab of super glue (this is a horrible idea, do as I say not as I do) and off to the races she goes!

Shazam! is ready for racing

https://www.redlinederby.com/topic/re-stock-ing-the-shelves-charity-race/4437