Losing grip – Yay, yellow!

Done! Viper has shed his skin, blue has given way to yellow. I wished for something that stood out a bit more against the background, and, yes, I got what I wanted.

Of course, the light from a setting sun does help a bit. But whether in the spotlight or not,  yellow is en eye-catching color.

Why Viper? Because all my rigs have animal names, because we’ve got vipers around where I live, and because it I like the sound of it. The animal name thing started in 2017. I was looking for a kit to build, and had a lot of trouble deciding which one to get. Then we went trekking in Nepal and all of a sudden there was no doubt as to what to get: a Yeti. Since I like Margret Atwood, the name was a no brainer: Snowman. Next I got my Bomber, named it Panther and gave it a fitting color scheme. Then SCX10 III happened, and after some head scratching I settled for Viper, since it’s rolls nicely off the tongue, they live among the rocks and we have vipers around where I live. After a bit of googling, I found a font closely resembling the font used for the “Rubicon” graphic, and used that. Gotta love a vinyl cutter.

I also got a second chance to do the homage to ICUs (that’s Intensive Care Units), that I failed miserably at last year. ICU’s all over the world had a rough time during the covid pandemic, some still do, so I wanted to somehow incorporate them in the paint scheme. This time, rather than dominating the car, I did it as a decoration on the rear window. It’s visible from a distance in the picture above, close up below. Pun intended.

Also, again aided by a vinyl cutter, I decided to add my signature and a nod to my home country on the rear. Out of the way, but a nice little touch.

In the end, I’m actually really happy. I know it’s not anywhere near a mind blowing paint job, there’s a lot of painters out there who are better than I am, but I like it. It’s a well made body, it has striking colors, a cool livery, it says “Losing grip” on the side, it has a discrete homage to Sweden, is signed at the back, and it has two different wheel designs. Nice! Comments on the job? Suggestions for the next one? Send them to martin at bigsquidrc.com

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