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What Did You Accomplish Today? (Model Car Work)


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Looks good Geoff. That should keep you busy for a week.

Today I scratchbuilt a second center console and added some Wizard of O's bezels on the dash of my Tempest. It's much easier to do the bezels before you glue the dash and steering wheel in.....that's why I did it afterwards! 

I also got some color on the body of my next build- a Ford Raptor. I had already deepened the lines around the fender flares and primed and sanded.

The color I first chose was Tamiya Mica Red over white primer, but it wasn't as dark as I wanted. So today I went back and sprayed a coat of Testors Bright Platinum and am now putting the first mist coat of Mica Red. The second pic is what it should look like with the final coats on.

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Went down to Reynolds Advanced Materials in Broadview and picked up some clear casting rubber Monday afternoon; then started gathering up mostly obscure taillight lenses to copy in clear red. Top row - Hubley '61 Ford, Premier English Ford. Bottom: Jo-Han '62 Chrysler, Lindberg Ford Granada, Aurora Alfa Romeo. I'll add Hubley Renault Dauphine taillights to those.

Below that, I got some assembly done on the Newport engines, made a quick cast of a Jo-Han firewall to get the correct details on the heater box and power brake setup, and ground off the incorrect details from the Revell firewalls (after adding a brace behind each).

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Then the other big job. This is how the tan car came, with warped/twisted torsion bars:

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So I cut off the ends of the stub axles and got the wheels off, then sawed through the glue on the torsion bar pockets and got the bars out. Cut the middle out of them and very very carefully drilled and reamed holes in the ends to fit a couple cut-down steel axles to get them down to the proper thickness, more or less. The file is just there to check alignment, and the lower crossmember was repaired and braced after engine removal broke it.

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Edited by ChrisBcritter
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The nightmare of chroming a '59 El Camino.  It's a beater project, so I didn't need ultra-shiny chrome.  I used BMF Matte Aluminum for easy stuff like the side trim and the strips around the bed.  But using BMF around the windshield frame, roof and rear/side roof pillars drove me crazy.  A silver Sharpie and Molotow didn't work much better.

Out of desperation, I finally did this:

1. Carefully brush-painted all the trim with Testors Glosscote and let it dry completely.

2. Brush-painted over the Glosscote with some very old Testors Silver.  So old it has a "35 cents" price on the label.  As this stuff gets older it gets thicker, which made it easier to control.  The Silver is enamel and Glosscote is lacquer, so the two paints didn't react with each other.

That worked and gave me some shine on the chrome, but not a bright "showroom" shine.  That's exactly the effect I wanted.  When all the weathering is done I'll put on a flat clear coat over everything, which should give the BMF and the painted trim about the same amount of shininess. 

 

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19 minutes ago, Mike999 said:

When all the weathering is done I'll put on a flat clear coat over everything, which should give the BMF and the painted trim about the same amount of shininess. 

 

Careful with that! Spraying a clear over brushed Testor Chrome Silver is a recipe for runs (of the silver). Don't ask me how I know this. :angry:

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43 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

Careful with that! Spraying a clear over brushed Testor Chrome Silver is a recipe for runs (of the silver). Don't ask me how I know this. :angry:

Thanks for the warning. OK, I won't be lazy and spray Dullcote from the can.  Maybe thru the airbrush, so it's very thin.  Or I could mix up a flat clear using Tamiya Clear acrylic and some of their Flat Base. 

Which can also be tricky.  I have to be really careful with that Flat Base. Too much and it turns everything white.  I usually mix the Clear and Flat Base, spray a piece of painted scrap plastic, then hit it with a hair dryer and see if it turns white.  Tamiya Flat Base is useful, but a little sure goes a long way. 

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Got the new Pace spray booth set up today. I have the old table / cart that held a tv in my model room forever. It was exactly the right size. I wanted the booth at standing height, so I made the box it’s sitting on, which also gives me two shelves. In the morning I will go to Home Depot for a vent kit. 

I did run the fan and it seems to be powerful. We will see. The Pace product is well made and sturdy. They shipped within a week. 

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I primed the body for the Amt ‘36 ford. I hate black plastic! It’s very hard to see any flaws until a coat of primer goes on. I don’t know why they made the roof a separate part on this kit? That said, I think this body is shaping up nicely. The sprue glue I mixed up worked well.

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Edited by NOBLNG
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Nice cleanup job on that 36!  I agree, it would be nice if the roof wasn’t a separate part, but you got it handled, it looks like!

I shot a bunch of pearls and candies today - getting a Deuce body ready for one of my reverse-masked flame jobs - love how the layering of the metallics, candies and pearls accumulated up on this one:

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Got all the (mostly) chrome head/parking/taillights attached to the base to pour a clear rubber mold later tonight, I hope. Full list:

  • '62 Chrysler 300 taillights
  • Premier English Ford taillights
  • '63 Nova wagon taillights
  • '65 El Camino original taillights
  • '66 Nova taillights
  • '55 Chevy Badman head and taillights
  • Aurora 1/32 Alfa Romeo taillights
  • Hubley '61 Ford taillights
  • Hubley Renault Dauphine head/tail/parking lights (the latter were molded to the body and had to be sawed off)
  • '64 Chevelle Malibu backup lights (also molded in; had to make a mold, cast a copy of the rear panel and cut out the masters) 
  • Lindberg 1/32 Ford Granada taillight (have one, need two)
  • '60 El Camino taillights (these were NOS, right off the tree - just try to find a builtup that still has them, or doesn't have the custom lenses glued on top of them!

I'm using clear rubber so I can get a thorough, fast cure with the clear UV resin. If this works, I have a few more to try (like Lee custom taillights for the '56 Chevy).

Edit 4:30 AM: Mixed, poured, into the pressure pot and we'll see what happens in 24 hours. Fingers and toes crossed.

 

 

Edited by ChrisBcritter
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Started working on the Revell Corvette Stingray. Managed to get the best clear coat I have ever achieved. The body sat for a week to let the clear coat harden. I thought that was enough time. Obviously not. Started polishing a couple of rough areas to find out I had managed to put three really nice and deep fingerprints on the body. No polishing that out, so I have the body sitting in brake fluid right now. 

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Edited by metalhead
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3 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Today I finished up one scratch made door panel for my '68 Coronet R/T.

Probably got a good 8-10 hours of solid bench time into this one.

Hopefully the other side will go quicker.

Less experimentation. ;)

 

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Steve

Go Home, just fantastic work..Hope you took a break, 8 hours straight is like going to work..Did you get any breaks?

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