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

Friday, 26 September 2025
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This beautiful kit is all about the decals and60% of your time on this build will be doingputting them on. Fortunately the Alphamodel decals are incredible quality, they areso hard to break - you really have to try if youwant to mess them up, not that you wouldwant to do that.

To apply the decals I used plain water - I didn’t need decal solutions and went over the paint because the finishe was nice and smooth. In areas were there were details under the decal then I used some decal solution (Tamiaya MarkFit Strong), but didn’t put it everywhere. It really starts getting exciting and coming together when you start with the sponsor decals - Now it starts to look the part - remember to keep checking references so you don’t make some mistakes like I did.

STEP5

DETAILING

This kit has fantastic details, from the tiny DRS and wing levers to probably every aerodynamic flare and part that was on the real car, to the wireing on the side of the car that holds up the floor. This is yet another place that Alpha Model really flexed and showed off. When applying these, look for good reference photos for placement and have patience, this is where all your hard wotk can get messed up quickly. Use CA glue on one side and a accelerant on another so the parts stick quickly

STEP6

WEATHERING

Wait what? Say that again? Weathering. Not something you often hear about with car builds, but I wanted my SF-23 to stand out, because its going to be the same livery as everone else who builds it, I decided to make a post race version of the car, weathered and looking like it had a good race. I looked at a lot of references and honestly found that they really didn’t get that dirty and weathered. However, everyone knows that the tyres degrade and pick up rubble, there are rubber and oil spots on the car from the tack and a bit of dust on the floor plate. So that was my objective, for the tyres I kept the rubber that came off from sanding seams out of tyres, all the bits that came off were kept and glued onto the tyres. I used a product called modge podge matt - which is a kind of white glue that dries matt. I put it on the tyre in palaces randomly and then sprinkled on the rubber. I then used tamiya rubber black paint, put a little on a firm paintbrush and used a toothpick to filck it onto the car under the air ducts behind the front wheels and on the nose. Check references to see where it picks up. Finally a light brown/sand coloured chalk pastel can be ground up and brushed lightly onto the floor board and in some other areas I saw on the references. There you go - nicely weathered and looking the part. parts stick quickly