Wheel Arch Molding Foiling Tutorial

[larman]

Thank you so much for this! The blue painters tape is a great idea and I will use it next time I foil!

[Erik Smith]

On ‎2‎/‎28‎/‎2020 at 3:13 PM, StevenGuthmiller said:

You may possibly have good luck with Molotow ink, but the question still remains on durability.

I have models that I built 30 years ago with BMF and they look exactly the same as the day they were finished.

I would be interested to see some done with Molotow 30 years from now to see how well they have held up.

Until then, I will use BMF for everything that is possible to use it on.

 

 

 

Steve

I agree. I have not seen one model with Molotow that comes close to the effect you have with BMF.

Everybody has different standards and I have seen many models built with painted trim - rarely, it looks good. Mostly it looks good enough. Sometimes, well...

Your trim, however, looks like metal trim on a real car.

[StevenGuthmiller]

3 hours ago, Erik Smith said:

I agree. I have not seen one model with Molotow that comes close to the effect you have with BMF.

Everybody has different standards and I have seen many models built with painted trim - rarely, it looks good. Mostly it looks good enough. Sometimes, well...

Your trim, however, looks like metal trim on a real car.

I appreciate that Eric.

I feel like the rare and unusual kits that I've been building over the past few years deserve the best, and I see no reason to start taking short cuts using untested substances, when a tried and true material like BMF exists.

 

 

 

Steve

 

[Roadrunner]

Awesome tutorial, Steve. Thanks for posting it. My traditional way of dealing with foiling, rather embarrassingly, has just been to avoid it altogether.

[ratherbefishin]

Another brilliant method!  Thank you.

Curt

[jdhog]

Why didn't I think of this.  Great idea and presentation.  Thank you.

[Metalmad]

Awesome technique ...... but I have one question ... how do you foil the window trim ? 

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, Metalmad said:

Awesome technique ...... but I have one question ... how do you foil the window trim ? 

Exactly the same technique as with the wheel arches.

Using blue painters tape as a guide.

Once you get used to this technique, you'll get perfectly straight edges every time, even if the trim edges are not very defined.

 

 

 

Steve

Edited May 19, 2020 by StevenGuthmiller

[Tommy124]

I have seen this only now... Great tutorial, many thanks, Steve! I wouldn't say that I have been struggling with BMF before, but this might take my work to a higher level. Especially, when it comes to difficult arches, curves etc.

[Super28]

Great job. Thanks for sharing

 

[BlackSheep214]

I don't use regular #11 blade when working with Bare Metal Foil. I use those extremely sharp Z-Series #11 blades (with the gold blades). You can find them at Walmart in the crafts section or any craft store - Michael's , Hobby Lobby, etc...

[peteski]

On 9/18/2020 at 5:19 PM, BlackSheep214 said:

I don't use regular #11 blade when working with Bare Metal Foil. I use those extremely sharp Z-Series #11 blades (with the gold blades). You can find them at Walmart in the crafts section or any craft store - Michael's , Hobby Lobby, etc...

Scalpels also work well. They are extremely sharp, and have very fine tip.

[Joe Heveran]

Steve,

Good tutorial. I have a old '58 Corvette build that I will try this technique on. I am just now learning BMF and this will come in handy.

Edited September 29, 2020 by Joe Heveran

[TransAmMike]

Steven, I just reviewed your thread here as I am beginning to do the wheel arches on the 71 Cutless I'm building.  I have done the side window and rear window trim using Tamiya narrow tape as It's pretty flexible. May have to do the thicker painters tape tho as there is no defined trim around the arches.

[peteski]

If you cut thin stripes of the Blue Painters tape, it will also be quite flexible.

[Ironman63]

Excellent tutorial Steve.  Thank you.  Your work is definitely top shelf!

[Darren B]

Brilliant idea and technique, awesome photos too. Thank you very much for sharing..... 

[c. jackson]

excellent work.. i will certainly update my technique.

[Dpate]

This is a fantastic method.  I'm surprised though that the tape doesn't pull up the BMF considering how crappy it's gotten and doesn't like to stay down.  

[peteski]

2 hours ago, Dpate said:

This is a fantastic method.  I'm surprised though that the tape doesn't pull up the BMF considering how crappy it's gotten and doesn't like to stay down.  

Since the BMF is scored all the way through at the edge of the tape, if anything, it would actually be beneficial for the tape to pull up the BMF that is under the tape.  The tape is over the BMF that is supposed to be puled up.

[Dpate]

2 hours ago, peteski said:

Since the BMF is scored all the way through at the edge of the tape, if anything, it would actually be beneficial for the tape to pull up the BMF that is under the tape.  The tape is over the BMF that is supposed to be puled up.

Gotcha.  I was just saying out of frustration of how it does around windows and such without wanting to stay down in the corners no matter how you burnish it.  I'll def be giving this tape method a try next go round with the BMF.  Last kit i was working on i had the windshield foiled looking pretty darn good - than put the windshield in glue and all and it pulls the BMF from the bottom of the windshield up from the front cause it didn't stick like it was suppose too.  Frustration frustration lol.

[StevenGuthmiller]

Well guys, this method was designed to work well with "good" BMF.

Luckily for me, I still have some of the good stuff.

I'm sure I'll find out how well, or how poorly it goes when I have to resort to using the "new and unimproved" stuff.

I figure that if I hold out long enough, the company will get enough complaints that they'll get the drift and go back to the original formula.

 

 

 

 

Steve

[peteski]

15 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

I figure that if I hold out long enough, the company will get enough complaints that they'll get the drift and go back to the original formula.

As I recall one of the recent BMF discussion thread here, the reason for the changed formula was that the foil supplier BMF uses was no longer providing the said foil. Reasons unknown, probably COVID related?  Maybe they went out of business? Whatever the reason might be, no amount of complaints will bring the original foil back.

[StevenGuthmiller]

Well, my curiosity got the better of me, so I thought that I would give the new foil that I got very recently a trial run.

In all honesty, it doesn't appear to me to be as bad as some of the reviews that I've been reading.

 

I cut a quick piece and threw it on a spare body, and this is my assessment.

It seems to be somewhat thicker, requiring a little more pressure to cut, but it seems to lift off of the backing pretty much identically as the original.

It seems to apply pretty much the same, and burnishes down just as well.

I cut this freehand, so the cut edges appear a little more ragged than they would normally be with the painters tape method that I usually employ, but the excess lifted off pretty much the same as the original stuff would as well.

It shined up just as good and appears that it lays down in an acceptable fashion also.

 

I then pulled the piece back off to check adhesion, and it appears that it passes in this regard as well.

I could detect no difference in how well it was sticking.

 

So, in conclusion, in my estimation, other than the difference in thickness, I can't see any reason to discontinue using it on my projects.

Time will tell if there are other hurdles to working with it on an entire project, but I'm encouraged after this initial test.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

Edited October 14, 2021 by StevenGuthmiller

[Dpate]

You think the BMF would do better especially around windshields and stuff if we scribed like we do panel lines doors etc?  The windshield A pillers and cowl be pretty shallow, and maybe with a little scribing not much to make it little less shallow.  The BMF should be able to "sit" in better and hold without lifting up after trimming so close.