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62 Pontiac Catalina Mild Custom Finished


Alyn

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thanks again for the great encouragement. Just got back last night from the KKOA LeadSled Spectacular in Salina, Kansas, so I don't have an update. I'm working on final fitment of the body to chassis. The windshield glass is a major battle in the effort to keep the front end of the car low. I could of swore it fit before ...

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  • 2 weeks later...

I appreciate your input and comments, guys, thanks!

The Bonneville is getting down to the final fitting of parts and paint. I can't get over how parts fit so well when you're first starting and then towards the end of the build, all kinds of little problems pop up. Between the top chop and final fitment, the window glass is getting quite a work over. The bumper is a pain, and despite all the work I did to the suspension, the whole car just doesn't sit as nice as it first did.

Here's a mockup with the body sprayed with the silver base coat. This car looks so good in silver that I almost wish I'd picked this color. She could be just a clear coat away from a pretty nice paint job. The roof may end up staying this color. All the front end parts are just mocked up. I have some rubber snubbers that will bring the hood up to where it belongs, but they're in place yet. The bumper will get tweaked to bring the sides into alignment. I also need to deal with the area above the headlghts. It may just need some flat black paint, or more. That remains to be seen.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello again.

Time to give my recently completed paint booth a workout. After letting the silver set for a few days, I finally got up the nerve to shoot some color. This is my first airbrush paint job and the first time using fingernail polish.

Before shooting the body color, I lightly wet sanded the top with 1000 grit to knock off some minor specs. I wanted to shoot some clear on the color coat soon after painting, so I wanted the top to be ready as well. The top was then masked off as the decision was made to leave it in silver metallic.

Here's the finished results after several coats of silver metallic, about 8 coats of color and 3 more of Tamiya clear. The plan is to wet sand after a few days of drying and then possibly shooting more clear.

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The sanding marks were visible on the silver prior to shooting the clear, but I thought they would disappear once the clear was laid down. Guess not. Now the top will need to be sanded again with 600 to 1000 grit and shot in silver again. Next time I won't wet sand the silver, just follow up directly with clear.

The colors by the way, are Model Masters AMC Sterliing Silver Metallic, Sally Hansen "Hard to Get", and Tamiya TS-13 clear.

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Alyn ol buddy why didn't you give me a shout about any paint questions, thats what I do every day, you didn't hurt it any, like you said, just dust some more silver on it and some more clear and it will be fine, Ill bet that is gonna look even better out in the sun! I love the colors! looks awesome for your first airbrush job!!

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Alyn ol buddy why didn't you give me a shout about any paint questions, thats what I do every day, you didn't hurt it any, like you said, just dust some more silver on it and some more clear and it will be fine, Ill bet that is gonna look even better out in the sun! I love the colors! looks awesome for your first airbrush job!!

Thanks, Bill. I thought I had this one handled; just a slight miscalculation :)

I'll take a rain check on picking your brain though. Got a feeling there's a lot in there :)

I know guys say this all the time, but the picture really doesn't do it justice. The Color is slightly lighter and the different angles on the Pontiac really bring out the highlights.

Great color Alyn, I love using nail polishes just because of colors like this! Now shoot some more silver on this baby!

Thanks, Mike. This won't be my last time using nail polish. I've seen some of your paint jobs and know you walk the walk. I'll get the silver on ok. It's the foil that scares me :wacko:
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This is lookin very nice. I gotta say that I'd have stayed with the silver. I'm gonna have to pick some of that up. Are you gonna leave the roof solid color or maybe a lace panel? To me it seems to be screaming for some graphics.

Thanks, Joe. Under the lights of my work area, both colors were looking awful nice. Another fellow KC Slammer and big time advocate for shooting nail polish, Steve Barnes was really putting the pressure on me to airbrush some highlights on some of the edges, and I did think about doing some subtle panel work, but in the end, I stuck with the original theme of this build; a basic, mild custom.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I masked off the body and shot the roof in silver again, followed by 4 or so coats of clear. I have a roll of 3" wide masking paper; similar to the wide rolls of masking paper used in body & paint shops. Generally, I tape around edges, and then cover the broader areas with the masking paper. Most of the paper eventually gets covered with tape. You'd think that paper designed for masking would protect whats under it. That's what I would think.

Once the tape and paper was removed, it was obvious that the solvents from the paint had made it's way through the paper and made a mess of the trunk. Chalk up a few days to repaint the trunk. Two redo's. I hope the saying that bad things happen in three's is not true...

Slusher's post about what to do when you screw up a project was really hitting home. :wacko:

Time to get away from paint jobs for a while. I decided to finish up a couple of details for the engine compartment. The radiator cap started as a slice off one of my extrusions, cut off and then sanded smooth with 600 grit

what's an extrusion? http://www.modelcars...topic=51231&hl=

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A .022" hole was drilled in the center of the cap and then it was shot with Model Masters silver plate. I painted a tiny plastic rivet with Testors flat read enamel and then glued it into the center hole of the cap to simulate a pressure release button.

I used the kit provided radiator hose. The engine end has a pipe molded in the end with a couple of 90 degree bends. I trimmed it back to match up with my scratch built manifold. Then I cut a thin slice (about .030") of styrene tubing and slipped it on the end of the hose assembly as a flange. This was followed up with paint and foil to finish it off.

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One more detail checked off the list was the steering wheel. Nothing custom here, just some masking, paint and assembly of a pretty cool looking 60's style wheel.

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final update pic of the night; the engine compartment with the final details added

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Edited by Alyn
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thank you, gentlemen

Bill, I sanded down the trunk and repainted it. Now that the steering wheel is also in color, I am done with the painting unless I goof it up while working on the chrome trim. To me, that's the make or break part of this build.

later

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Beautiful work on that steering wheel buddy, I love the old Pontiacs just because of the old clear steering wheels! The engine bay is just beautiful, the amount of detail you crammed in there is unreal! Take your time on the foil work, if it gets too frustrating set it aside for a day or two and come back fresh and ready to go, you can do the foil if you can detail an engine like that!

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Thanks for the moral support, Mike.

And, thanks to tropical storm Isaac, we received some much needed rain here in the Midwest; 5 inches so far according to my rain gauge. For a rainy day project, I decided to add a little more detail to the engine compartment. The Pontiac kit comes with a master brake cylinder, but no booster for power brakes. Here's a little tutorial on how you can make one;

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=63255

Now, back to pondering the BMF

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