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'34 Ford Coupe Custom Paint Experiment Successful!


John Goschke

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Weekend before last I took apart this snap-kit built and painted Tamiya Red Metallic a couple years ago to try doing scallops ala the late '50s-early '60s, something I've wanted to do for years! Picked up some pointers from Bill Stillwagon on "another forum" that supplied the inspiration to give it a shot.

Scallops are done in Tamiya Gold Leaf with their clear over top.

Wheels and tires from the Ala Kart and steering wheel and shift lever from the ex-Little Deuce kit backdate it 1961 or thereabouts.

Hope you like it!

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'Course you can't have a Rod without a Custom!

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Sweet looking '34 Ford coupe. The color of the scallops really go well with the body color. What masking material did you use for painting the scallops?

carrucha

The original inspiration for this came from tips posted by Bill Stillwagon on the Spotlight Hobbies forum when he debuted his beautiful '50 Chevy pickup custom...

His original post is long gone but here's the description of the process I used based on his techniques. Hope this helps...

The car was already painted the base red metallic.

I taped out the design of the scallops freehand using my favorite black graphic masking tape (Bill used another type and you may have a favorite of your own), cut in thin (1/32" wide) strips, about 8-10" long.

Starting at the tip of scallop, I layed the tape on, pulling it straight and working it around the turns as I went. For instance, the first design I layed out was the one on the body side. Starting above the rear wheel arch, I taped out the outside edge of the scallop,below the body molding, forward to the radiator, then down the front edge of the hood, and along the bottom edge and rocker panel, terminating at that sharp corner at the front edge of the rear wheel arch. Then I used another short strip of tape for the stripe that ends in the middle of the hood side. Then I taped out the inside edge of the scallop, creating the taper and curves as I went.

Each design was layed out in that same basic manner, checking symmetry by eye, and occasionally with dividers.

After the whole pattern was layed out I used some regular masking tape to cover the areas that would remain red. On a fresh base color, low tack masking tape is probably advisable, rather than regular. The whole taping and masking process took about 7 to 8 hours!

Bill recommends shooting some clear over the design first to prevent color bleeding under the tape, and I do too, but being out of clear, and being lazy and 20 miles from the LHS, I didn't, and my luck held! Yours may not!

I did follows Bill's advice and shot about two to three light coats of the gold. The idea is to build an opaque, but thin, coat of color. I didn't build it quite enough, and though I checked and reshot a couple thin spots, I also missed a couple. These became more obvious when the clear went on.

I carefully pulled off the tape as soon as possible (less than a half hour) after painting to avoid chipping dry edges. The little bit of edge buildup there was, I was able to rub off with my finger the next day. The more typical treatment Bill recommended was to lightly sand the edge buildup. I just didn't think sanding, even with 12000, was a good idea on the uncoated gold, but I'm sure it'd be OK on other colors.

After that the process was pretty straight forward, several coats of Tamiya Clear (after finally going to the LHS!), then wet-polish out with grits from 3600 to 12000, then a buff out with Novus plastic polish.

While there is a VERY slighly perceptible edge to the scallops on the surface of the clear, it's acceptable to me for this project. Any more clear, and the car would take on too much of that "dipped in syrup" look!

Give it a try! If I can do it, you can too!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Wow John!

Your post proved 2 things...less is a lot more (subtle scallops expertly executed...damned gorgeous!) and some of the dopey little snapper kits out there are a beautiful model just waiting to happen.

Your paint work screams (however quietly) traditional custom!

I have some modelhaus steelies set aside just for this kit...they belong together!

Nice work!

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