Quote:Just a few comments regarding detailing this model. First, I want to thank the person that sent it to me, it has given me hours of enjoyment and kept me out of trouble while working on it. Maybe that was the intent.

Now, if someone was after a keepsake or a collectable, I would say to not do anything to it but put it on a shelf. It comes with a certificate showing only 300 were ever made. However, if you plan on putting it on your layout as I have done, it would look strange unless it was painted.

It is not an easy model to paint with all the details molded in. I painted as much of the interior as I could without really messing it up. There would be no need to do that except I made the exterior removable and wanted as much of the inside painted as could be. I put both parts in my ultrasonic cleaner for about two minutes, I should have left the heater off since it got a bit soft sitting in hot cleaning solution. I then sprayed it with white primer. I used acrylic paint, and it needed two coats with lots of touch up. Screw up, change your mind, removing paint is easy, just a bit of isopropyl alcohol brings it back to the primer coat.

I did like working on it and would recommend any of the Gold Rush models. As I said, it’s difficult to paint with all those details molded it, plus it is very heat sensitive. I used an 12V incandescent lamp for lighting and did some testing to be sure it didn’t put off too much heat and start melting the plastic. The other problem I had was with fine plastic strings around the window openings, kind of like spider webs. It seems like I was constantly scraping them off. even after painting. That might have been as a result of cleaning or the heat or the 3D molding process, don’t know for sure.

It was fun, I’d do it again, I just hope I did it justice.