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The set-up: My son and I are doing a Batman die-cast car he purchased somewhere. He is 8 and has had the car for two years. Our first.

The experience: I used to put together airplanes up until I went off to college. I even found my set of exacto knives (blades rusty). Got pretty good but WOW you guys are awesome in every sense of the word!

This is what I need to know and you can give short answers if you would like.

The glue: what are you using? We are using the orange and white Testers tube, like I used in the 80's-very early 80's.

Primer-everything? Does this avoid two coats?

Paint: Drying time? How long does it take? What is the deal with Gold? Do you need to shake it every few minutes? Paint on the tree/runner or off?

I will get Spure cutters-wow-and whoops!

About year ago I found a green 55 Buick-my dad's firts car that I was going to custom paint and give as a present. I got some Krylon and could not get the orange peal out! A book I have 'Build and detal model cars'-Terry Jesse shows an awesome shine with 1 COAT!! How is it shined? I used several high grits like 1200 and rubbing compounds all to no avail. He also said he waited 3 weeks. I did not. I plan to strip it down to bare metal and start again. Since then my dad found the exact same car and purchased it. I could not get a decent shine so I never told him about it.

Engines: can one get period engines. Dad had a 455 in his 1955. The one in the car looks like a funky ram-jet. I would love to get the right big block and put the wires and carb linkage on it.

Sorry this is so long, as always, thank you for your help!

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James, first off, welcome to the forum!

It's great to see that you are bringing your son into this great hobby of ours.

I will let the other members of this board answer your questions because there are some really great builders out there.

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James, I'll try to take a stab at this.........:wink:

Glue:

I have various types of glues.....everything from liquid glues (Ambroid Pro-Weld) to 5 min. epoxies. For general body work, I like to use the Ambroid as it welds the plastic without the constant eating into the plastic such as what tube glue can do. Also it dries fairly quickly so you won't have that mushy plastic feeling even after a day of sitting.

At times I'll use super glue but that's only for areas where some strength is needed and only for body prep work and I never use it on the body after it's all painted and polished. Epoxies I use for attaching body parts such as front and rear fascias and for windshield and rear backlites.

Primer:

As far as body panels-------yes, they should be primered. Not so much to cut down on coats, but to give the paint a better surface to adhere to. Also, with todays newer plastics and some of the hotter automotive paints, primering can prevent the crazing of the plastic that's caused by the solvents in the paints.

Another purpose of primer is to get rid of the plasticky look of transluscent plastic. Being a judge in the past at contests, I can tell you one of the biggest turnoffs is to see a really well built, and apparently well painted model, only to see light shining through the body work due to the body not being primered in the beginning. :(

Paint:

Ahhhh..........this can be tough due to where you live geographically, as far as humidity, temp, etc. Generally, lacquers dry right away, whereas acrylic enamels can take a number of hours to dry thoroughly. Basic enamels seem to never dry completely for me, so I stay away from them if possible. If you have an adjustable temp dehydrator, generally any paint allowed to dry for 8 hours at 105­­° should dry thoroughly then.

3 weeks doesn't sound unreasonable for paint to air dry on it's own however.

As far as gold or any metallic paint in general............since I do everything with an airbrush, I try to swill the airbrush jar every couple of minutes as this will keep the metallic flakes suspended and settling to the bottom of the jar.

This will ensure you get an even coat of color and metallic flakes when spraying.................I'm sure this technique should work for aerosols likewise.

Polishing:

You had the right idea when it came to polishing........but the grit of sandpaper was a weeeeee bit too harsh! :D

I use the polishing cloths which run from 3200-12,000 grit. These will take some practice and patience to get used to but the results are fantastic! It would be a good idea to practice on a junk body to get a feel for the polishing cloths. A good wax (I use Meguiars Car Cleaner Wax) will get you that glass like shine.

There's the operative term......Practice, Practice, Practice!!

As far as the 455 engines........some of the kit gurus here maybe can fill you in on which kits had those..............I can't think of any kit at the moment which would have had those engines.

Hope this all helps!

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Bill, ya beat me by eight minutes!!! :( I had a feeling it'd be you that got there first! :wink: 8)
:D:lol:

Thanks for the mention about Future Floor Wax...........It has saved me many a headache as far as this new plastic is concerned. I've even used it to barrier the plastic against Alclad which is some really hot stuff! :shock:

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Thank you Bill and Mark! I just got back from Hobby Lobby and they did not have clear flat enamal. They did have clear flat acrylic. I was going to have my son paint his seats in the Batmobile red and black and then with clear flat to give that leather or vinyl look. Also for some of the various parts inside to throw different sheens. I did not purchase the paint because in the back of my mind, I thought acrylic was water based and would run from the gloss red and black. Am I wrong here? :?:

We are having fun, and we did paint the drive shaft white, differential (front) red because we figured Batman probably used many of the same parts that NASCAR uses! I am also taking things slowly, so he does not get frustrated.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. It is much appreciated. One of the things I like about these forums is that you can go back and re-read answers, they sort of become timeless in a way!

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We are going along pretty well. Every part we touched seemed to be soft still. I know we have had high humidity here, but I was still suprised at how soft the paint was even after 24 hours, especially the silver. I am hoping to touch up after it is all done.

I will definately try the oil trick! You see, that is what is great about forums like this! Thanks again.

I would like to know how long it took to do that Ferrari engine I keep seeing.

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I just did some internet checking. My dad did NOT have a 455 in his buick. On the breather was written 465 ft.lbs-meaning of torque. The C.I.D. was at most 421. The previous owner was a doctor, who had a competition cam put in. The car would easily cruise at 120 while the gas lasted. The air cleaner on the Ertyl model is correct, needs to be flat black. The engine was green, and call a nailhead.

The internet is so cool

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I'm curious as to what you have in regards to that Buick. Is it a diecast or a kit and what scale is it? I don't recall any 1/25th or 1/24th scale 55 Buicks. Those nailheads all had that same look with the heads and valve covers. the valve covers sat level horizontally, instead of the normally angled set up.

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I would like to know how long it took to do that Ferrari engine I keep seeing.

James, the Ferrari engine you see in my signature came from Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland, run by Norm Veber. It's a multi media engine kit which is mostly resin but includes some photoetch, engine wiring, brass tubing, and HO scale bolts.

It took about 2 weeks to put together and comes with it own assembly booklet.

It belongs to this car I built here.........a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB

DCP_1443-vi.jpg

DCP_1440-vi.jpg

This was built during 1998-99 and it's among my favorites! :D

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How are guages done? This 1967 Batmobile has guages, a TV, etc. There are no raised marks on any of the guages. They have been painted with a gloss black.

When I did airplanes, I seem to remember putting on a blop of paint and sucking it off with toilet paper.

Please tell me ways to do this. Do I need to prep the gloss black?

As always thank you in advance

Jim

P.S. I showed my son how to use a toothpick and put a small blob of paint, then spread it out on the tiny bat wheel spinners. I did two, he did two. He did great.

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Lordairgtar:

I am so sorry...the model is NOT an ERTYL: I once found a die cast 1995 Dodge Ram by that company so I assumed....sorry. This 1955 Buick Century Coupe is done by Mira by Solido in 1/18 scale, Ref.8101. I found it at K-B toys marked down from 24.99 to 14.99. It was green but had the 4 round holes. One of the 55's had 3. My dad had three pictures of his car so I know the color scheme. I hope to get a custom license plate made for it.

I did not know it was 1:18 scale until I went back and found the box. Thank you for saying something!

While I have you here, how is a detail wash done, like on wheels or hubcaps with flat black? I hear it thrown about, but here are the only steps

I know:

1. Get a wheel or hubcap.

2. Get flat black.

3. Thin it.

4. Put it on in some amount.

What is next?

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While I have you here, how is a detail wash done, like on wheels or hubcaps with flat black? I hear it thrown about, but here are the only steps

I know:

1. Get a wheel or hubcap.

2. Get flat black.

3. Thin it.

4. Put it on in some amount.

What is next?

That's basically the way I do it. I use acrylic paint with the appropriate thinner, which makes it easy to wipe it off if I happen to goof up. Works great on chrome and enamels anyway. I use a small, shallow plastic container or dish of whatever kind I have at hand (I prefer tops from Planters cashews containers, 'cause then I have to eat cashews now and then), put a drop or two of black paint in it plus a fairly good amount of thinner, then I use the brush to mix small amounts of paint into the thinner and dab it on with a small paint brush.

I usually thin the paint quite a bit, this will make the wash flow much better. You might have to let it dry and apply some more to build up the black as needed, but on the other hand you won't have much excess to worry about. And if you put too much on there, you can just wipe the brush dry and use it to wick up the excess while it's still wet. In some cases you might also have to wiggle the parts around while the wash is drying (for example on hub caps), to keep it from running to the low spots on the parts. Any paint that ends up in the wrong place can be wiped off easily, if the wash is thin enough it will only leave a slight haze on the high spots. On chrome, it can even be polished off with a dry cloth.

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It would be cool if one of YOU did an engine build up pictorial and used those photo etched parts for a model you are going to be doing. It would be neat to see the steps you go through to put the wires, hoses and linkages all together. What do you paint? What do you not paint? Do you have to scrape off paint/chrome when making a joint, or do you just glue it? I have been scraping off the chrome and paint and it is quite tedious.

Thank you in advance. You guys are great. Please, don't go out of your way to do this just for me. If you happen to being doing it, this thread will be here.

Jim

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Jim, just keep an eye on the "On the Workbench section". I myself have a long thread going on the Chrysler Turbine Car...............but I can't always touch on every little nuance when something is under construction.

Sometimes pics either don't turn out right or I just simply forget to take a pic of a particular detail I'm building............You'll pick up a lot of hints though by just following a lot of the builds there.

Keep buildin'! :lol:

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I love learning! I feel like one of my students. I hope I am not wearing you guys out. Do you buy your things from one place or do you get them all over? I am a shade-tree mechanic and have many hand tools. I look forward to new projects so I can purchase new tools (BTW if you want a power miter saw, build a swingset, then tell your wife you must have it! Worked for me.). I would like to buy some hobby tools, but as a Teacher am fantastically CHEAP, ahh...errr...THRIFTY.

I have never seen a pin vise for sale. Spure cutters look just like diagonal fingernail cutters. I am hoping there are more CHE ahh THRIFTY gentlemen out there who have a great soure for stuff. I need to know where to get a model polishing kit too. The cutting mat was a great idea as well.

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I do hate cheap tools. I have had a buffalo socket wrench break, and I just threw away a set of 12" adjustable end pliers, type pliers I found on the road. When you squeeze them, they clikcked out of the tracks. My original craftsman set is going on 23 years, has grown, and have never let me down.

Mark: Thank you for telling me about Testors Sprue cutters.

My son and I tried the flat black wash on one of his old Hummers. It was fun and easy. We did the wheels and the front window vents. It did not work with the gloss white o the logo on the rear-bumper. I had tooth-pick that.

The Batmobile is done, it turned out pretty good. Most important we had fun and learned some new things.

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Bill Geary:

I looked at all 11 pages or your Chysler Turbine build. I would like to give you a compliment, but I do not know where to start. I even liked the filter in your paint booth.

I told my wife and kids, that one of the worlds' premier model artists is taking time out of his day to talk to me! (a ham-handed beginner)

Thank you so much.

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Bill Geary:

I looked at all 11 pages or your Chysler Turbine build. I would like to give you a compliment, but I do not know where to start. I even liked the filter in your paint booth.

I told my wife and kids, that one of the worlds' premier model artists is taking time out of his day to talk to me! (a ham-handed beginner)

Thank you so much.

Thanks so much for the compliment! :D

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Do you guys paint any parts while on the tree? It seems the parts we did paint had to be re-touched.

Here is another question. I see my wife has nail polish drier. Can that me used to accelerate the drying time of paint? I guess I should test it on a tree to find out.

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What is your best source of information? Books or magazines? I was outbid on Ebay on a book by .25 which was frustrating.

I found that Terry Jessee's Build and Detail Model Cars Like a Pro is going for $81.00-used on Amazon. New it is going for $95!!! It cost our library 22.95!! What is going on here?

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