1/20 Scale Model Car Kit AM03-0011 F1 2023 SF23 - Alpha (1/20)

Thursday, 02 October 2025
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I must say - one of my favourite parts of receiving the beautiful Alpha model kits is unboxing them and every time I do I’m blown away by the quality of the parts. and all they extras packed into the box, This beautiful model has decals like crazy. 4 big sheets of carbon fibre and 2 logo and extras sheets.

STEP1

THE WASHBAYWhen most resin kits are made the mold they are set in has a non stick mold release agent which can be devastating to your paint work. In order to remove this we need to give the resin a goodold bath. All the parts go into a bucket of warm water with the dishwashing soap that will remove grease, I let it soak for about 30 minutes and get nice and clean. After that each part is taken out scrubbed with an old toothbrush (please don’t use your spouses’) and then rinsed in clean water and set aside on a dish towel to dry off.

STEP 2

ADJUSTMENTS

1. The kit had closed slats obviously because the openings are so small. I decided that I’d like to try open them up. The resin is already extremely thin so this took a lot of careful time and gentle work. I started by scribing into the gaps with a Tamiya scriber to get a nice gap then used a hobby knife to carefully widen the gap. Once I was happy with the size of it I slid a piece of sandpaper in and pushed it up and down a few times to smooth it off then turned it over and did the other side. If you try this just keep in mind the resin is already very thin so always make sure you support the part. Much better.

STEP3

ADJUSTMENTS

Priming is a very important step on resin kits - especially on the extremely smooth resin

that Alpha models achieve. It will make the paint adhere to the kit better and also give an

even finish and even enhance the paint work.

You need to prep your model for paint and I use some very fine 3000 grit sanding sponge all over the surface of the parts to give the paint a better surface to stick onto. Very gently, don’t push down at all just give it a soft rub all over. I wanted the red to show off the brightness and red over a pink primer really pops nicely, so I used Mr. Surfacer 1500 Pink as my base layer. Now to the actual spraying. I like to do 3-4 mist coats and 1 wet coat of paint. I wait about 10 minutes in between each coat. Build the paint coverage up with these layer and don’t be concerned if in the first 2-3 layers you can still see the resin colour, it will disappear as you build it up. For the final layer, the wet coat you want to build a nice coat that looks shiny and wet, just be careful not to flood it and create paint runs. Building the primer up like this gives you layers of paint so that you can sand and polish out imperfections without burning through to the resin. Luckily the Mr Surfacer 1500 with Mr Levelling thinner goes down so well I didn’t have any imperfections for once. Once you are done put it into some foam into a plastic sealable container so dust cant get onto it and put it away for a few days to cure while you continue working on the other parts