more photos of final clay model

painted clay model

painting clay model

For the body I used automotive paint color: "GunMetal". I want the car to have same color as mafia thugs would have. So dark silver and black was highly considered, but when i came to the paint shop they have this color that looks greyish with green tint called Gunmetal and i thought this would be the perfect paint for my model! Black window & headlight is commonly used for automotive models so i just followed it. It does give nice contrast with the color of the body too. I used metallic red for tail light to lift up and makes the car looks more realistic from the back.

Masking the body to paint all windows & headlight was a long process as i had to use a lot of small tape cuts and newspaper cut to the shape. But it gives really good result and very neat paint job, no overspray at all. Same technique goes for painting tail light.

priming clay model2

One coat of primer grey is added after spraying the clay with primer filler. Sanding afterward is required to make the surface smooth and shiny. I used 600 grit sand paper after primer grey coat.

priming clay model1

Firstly i sanded the clay model with a special sand paper that is soft and thick like a sponge. It worked really well as i can sand in corners and rounded surfaces better without creating a flat surface. Spraying with primer filler is done to fill in fine scratches on the clay model. I used two coats of filler on this model then sanded it with 400 grit dry sand paper.

clay modelling updates3

This is the final design for my clay model. Side and rear remains largely faithful to the final concept rendering posted earlier. Front headlight graphics however changed into an L-shape wrapping around both front corners of the car. I added light catcher as continuation of the headlight to blend it in with the front panel surface.

clay modelling updates2

To make the grill I have used laser cutting. Waterfall grill design is chosen because of its orderness, straightness, and conservative image. It also brings classical element from Greek's pillar into the car design. 2D headlight shape has changed into 3d-shape wrapping around front, side and top corner of car. I want to maintain the boxiness feel of the front look so that it can have a more conservative feeling rather than trying to be stylishly aerodynamic.


As you can see I am starting to hack away the other side (RHS) of the car & also building two bulging wheelarches. Mirroring was not easy, I have used tools such as 30cm steel ruler, DIY massive triangular ruller, also an L-shaped ruller. I took points to mirror all lines on the body side. Front and back I also take points together with using my eyes heavily as well to get the symmetry right.

clay modelling updates

w11_final design photoshop rendering

sketch over clay photos

New design sketches

New theme board

I am going to change my SUV design because I did not feel my final concept is right for the celebrity that I chose. I might have rushed my design or did not give enough thoughts to the final form and the final surface resolution. An automotive designer whom visited our clay workshop last week came to my table and gave a hand on my model. After I explained my design concept and as we talked I realized that there are so many design "flaw" in my clay model. Starting with the overall proportion that gives him impression that he was looking at an Astra proportion! also the main feature line (criss-cross on body side) does not suit for car that need to look serious, robust, and tough. Criss-cross is being used in few recent production cars (Z4 is obvious example) so it is a modern styling cues for the time being but probably will easily go out of fashion in the next 2 or 3 yrs. So I decided to go back a few steps and re-design my SUV.

(my new theme board)

w9_sketching over clay photos

This process is used to refine the design details or to make some design adjustment by going back to 2D (paper). Later on when we feel confident enough with the design, we use the final refined sketch and translate that back to 3D form on the clay model.

adding feature line on body side... (2)

the white square is surface meeting between bonnet, body side and A-pillar. I find this area pretty hard to design or to make it blend nicely.

adding feature line on body side...

In these photos i am trying to add in my feature line which is a cris-cross at side.

adding wheel arch...

w8_continue modeling with slabs to a stage where it can be used as underlay photos

in class time. Choosing the right wheel for a clay model could be a hard task to do. normally clay model is build according to whatever wheel size you get, but i ended up adjusting the wheel to the 1:11* scale of my clay model.