gman Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 (edited) That is beautiful! (I have been waiting for that :D) Edited August 7, 2020 by gman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted August 8, 2020 Share Posted August 8, 2020 Looking good in color. That red is really RED! ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted August 8, 2020 Share Posted August 8, 2020 Beautiful shade of red, Jim! Your doing a great job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted August 9, 2020 Author Share Posted August 9, 2020 Thanks fellas! I was waiting for that too! Had a couple of little bits of dust and cat hair to nub out and shot another thin top coat today and hopefully we’ll be ready for some clear pretty soon. Exactly which clear I’ll use is still under debate. To help settle said debate I shot some parts with the Boyd’s High Gloss acrylic as a test today - I LOVE Testor’s high gloss enamel but I hadn’t tried the acrylic version before - looks pretty glossy right now, but we’ll see how it shrinks up...gave it a GOOD healthy coat to make sure I’ve got enough to polish if it needs it, so excuse the gloopiness: Meanwhile, detailed the battery box from the Revell 29 Ford kit a little... ...then carpeted the trunk and installed it: I’m trying out some self-adhesive felt sheet from Michael’s as an experiment on this one - I think I like it! Might not replace flocking or embossing powder for me, but I do like the look... Then I added some detail to the air suspension’s compressor: And installed that too - that trunk filled up pretty fast! ? Tomorrow I’ll add some detail to that fuel cell and get it in there for good... And finally, resin cast a little skull shifter and got that painted in matching red, ready for a black wash to bring out the detail a little more: More soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted August 11, 2020 Author Share Posted August 11, 2020 Welp, I solved my dilemma on which clearcoat to use on this thing...went with the Testors enamel clear that I usually like. The Testors Boyd acrylic clear that I’d tested on a spoon still seemed too soft to polish even after a couple of weeks of drying (and it’s HOT here lately too!), so back to ol’ faithful enamel...just slowly building up the coats here but it’s laying down pretty glossy and slick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanMuscleFan Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 Jim, glad to see that the good old Testor clear enamel saved the day, it would have been a shame to see a clear coat ruining this magnificent ultra shiny red!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Metallic Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 Let me start off by saying, your model is coming along nicely. Great, bright color. If memory serves, this was Testors first attempt at a full line of Acrylic paints, back in the late 90's. I believe they were well known for looooooong cure times. I don't think the line lasted for more than a few years, but I could be wrong. If you haven't already, maybe post something in the Tips section to see if anyone has any recollections/hints/tips on working with these? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted September 19, 2020 Author Share Posted September 19, 2020 (edited) Thank you both! @Mr. Metallic - good idea, I should post a thread on this stuff and see what I get back. Meanwhile, a tiny bit more progress on this...added those tiny little decals to the gauge cluster - was pleased to get those in place without losing one (or more). Looks like the speedo needs calibrating! ? Because I chopped the grille shell, I needed to make a new insert (or chop down the kit one, but this seemed more fun...). Cut a frame from some styrene sheet, which I’ll paint and cut a fine mesh to hide behind it. This might get replaced with something else if I don’t like it when it’s done, but we’ll see... And I was going to polish the body today but I spotted a little chip in the color coat on the passenger door and another little mark on one of the fenders...probably a little damage incurred from our cross-country move last month. No biggie, flattened the enamel clear down and touched the affected spots with a little more of the Boyd red to fix them. Not ideal, because I need to re-clear those couple of parts now and wait before polishing them again, but I’d rather do that than have an irritating little flaw that bugs me for the rest of all time... More soon! Edited September 19, 2020 by CabDriver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spottedlaurel Posted September 19, 2020 Share Posted September 19, 2020 Good to see more progress on it. Looks like it'll need refuelling soon as well. Can't imagine quarter of a tank will get this very far.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelbuilder Mark Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 Really impressed with what you have here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted September 22, 2020 Author Share Posted September 22, 2020 On 9/19/2020 at 2:45 AM, Spottedlaurel said: Good to see more progress on it. Looks like it'll need refuelling soon as well. Can't imagine quarter of a tank will get this very far.... You got me curious so I did the math, because apparently I have nothing better to do ? A stock Mustang with this engine would hit about 18 to the gallon driven sensibly and the fuel cell I’m using is meant to represent a 16 gallon tank. So, not taking into account weight differences you should have a range of maybe 280 miles, a quarter of which is 70...should be enough left in there to get to the gas station. Of course, this is based on a car being driven SENSIBLY...so yeah, that tank probably needs filling ? 7 hours ago, Modelbuilder Mark said: Really impressed with what you have here. Thank you sir! Back in the “waiting for paint to dry” holding pattern for this one...I really need a dehydrator... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelbuilder Mark Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 1 hour ago, CabDriver said: the “waiting for paint to dry” holding pattern for this one...I really need a dehydrator... There is a decent one on Amazon right now for $40. A lot of us also use candy thermometers to make sure they do not get too hot, but this one looks like it has a temp setting. https://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-Countertop-Dehydrator-Adjustable-RHFD-15001/dp/B018UR4XJI/ref=sr_1_21?dchild=1&keywords=dehydrator&qid=1600750506&sr=8-21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randyc Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 Wow. Loving the color. I have some boyd's red in enamel and in teh bottle it looks so dark. And the one time I remember using it, it came out darker than i wanted. Yours looks great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brudda Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 Beautiful!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOBLNG Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 Looking real nice! I love that red too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Thibodeau Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 Hi Jim! Superb built. Lotsa details and modifications, just as I like them. Bravo! For the sake of history: Boyd was enamored with a colour that had been developped by a Florida rod builder named Henry Dana. Once he closed shop and took a job with a major NASCAR team, mister Dana shared his "secret recipe" with Boyd. DANA red became BOYD's RED. The late Street Rod Builder magazine even ran an article explaining the exact recipe, in RM's paint codes, to recreate your own. I tried it, and it worked. CT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted October 10, 2020 Author Share Posted October 10, 2020 On 9/21/2020 at 11:58 PM, Modelbuilder Mark said: There is a decent one on Amazon right now for $40. A lot of us also use candy thermometers to make sure they do not get too hot, but this one looks like it has a temp setting. https://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-Countertop-Dehydrator-Adjustable-RHFD-15001/dp/B018UR4XJI/ref=sr_1_21?dchild=1&keywords=dehydrator&qid=1600750506&sr=8-21 I’ve been eyeballing this one...looks killer (albeit pricy...) Micro-Make Doctor DryBooth/Dehydrator https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KFLLBY4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_x.sGFbW6XCWF5 On 9/23/2020 at 2:45 PM, randyc said: Wow. Loving the color. I have some boyd's red in enamel and in teh bottle it looks so dark. And the one time I remember using it, it came out darker than i wanted. Yours looks great. When I ordered the paint I asked for “Boyd Red” and the guy was like “which one?!”. He had five or six bottles labelled simply “Boyd Red” all in different shades ?. On 9/23/2020 at 3:53 PM, Brudda said: Beautiful!!!! On 9/23/2020 at 9:06 PM, NOBLNG said: Looking real nice! I love that red too. Thank you!!! On 9/24/2020 at 8:03 AM, Claude Thibodeau said: Hi Jim! Superb built. Lotsa details and modifications, just as I like them. Bravo! For the sake of history: Boyd was enamored with a colour that had been developped by a Florida rod builder named Henry Dana. Once he closed shop and took a job with a major NASCAR team, mister Dana shared his "secret recipe" with Boyd. DANA red became BOYD's RED. The late Street Rod Builder magazine even ran an article explaining the exact recipe, in RM's paint codes, to recreate your own. I tried it, and it worked. CT Huh!! Fascinating! What a cool story! Thanks for sharing Claude - I’d never heard that before! Polishing day finally came around (again)... Looks nice, all shiny! Still a couple of little bits I wanna buff some more when the light’s good tomorrow, but I’m pretty pleased with how it looks: More soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 Looks like a million dollar shine right there! Cheers Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spottedlaurel Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 Looks good to me! I'd be at the point of thinking no more polishing, for fear of burning through...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 Beautiful shine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Payne Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 Any chance of sharing your polishing techniques and materials? That's more than a million dollar shine- I would add a few more zero's!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted October 11, 2020 Author Share Posted October 11, 2020 Thanks everyone! It’s not perfect, but I’ll keep giving a little more attention until i get it as close as I can... 13 hours ago, Paul Payne said: Any chance of sharing your polishing techniques and materials? That's more than a million dollar shine- I would add a few more zero's!!! Haha, I like using my million dollar bill to check the reflection - if I can read the numbers and text in the reflection it’s getting closer ? I use a similar technique to Donn Yost (although probably not as well as he uses it...) In this case, I shot the base red, then gave it three coats of Testor’s enamel clear gloss, thinned 50/50 with lacquer thinner. First couple of coats are mist coats, then a wet coat to get it to gloss up. Then, because I don’t have a dehydrator, I let it sit for three weeks before polishing or messing with it any further. I’ve tried polishing out at two weeks before and it ALMOST works as well, but the paint is still JUST soft enough that I can’t get it as perfect and micro-scratch free as I’d like. The extra week seems to let it harden up enough that I can polish as thoroughly as I’d need to to get the best shine. Next step, buff the whole thing with a 2400 grit Micro mesh polishing cloth from their polishing set, used wet, until the clear completely smooth and free of lumps and bumps and dust and whatever else fell in it whilst it was drying. Get to a nice completely smooth (but dull) finish. Of all the steps, this is the most important - if there’s imperfections at this stage they won’t get any better by rushing to get to the next steps. Then, work through the rest of the Micro Mesh cloths (I forget the exact grits right now, but whatever comes in the set...I can check if you like) all the way up to 12000. Again, I use them wet so they don’t clog, and rinse the body off after every round of polishing and carefully dry it with a soft towel to make sure I’m not running grit or sanded-paint-dust or whatever else across the surface. At this point it’ll be PRETTY good - kind of nice and smooth and shiny but not AMAZING. Just a good factory-stock kind of sheen, but not “WOW” show-car shiny. Next up, I use some Scratch X to buff the whole paintjob again, using as soft of a cloth as I can find. I think of the cloth I’m using to polish at this stage as an even finer grit version of the wet n dry cloths - so it makes sense in my mind that the softer they are the better the finished result. Next up, I like some Novus 2 fine scratch remover - use a nice new square of whatever cloth you’ve got and polish in a circular motion and just keep buffing until it’s as nice as you can get it. I’ll usually come back to mine the next day with fresh eyes and look again and have a second go at anything I missed the first time. No point in rushing to have a build finished but with lumpy paint... Then, last step, I’ll use a little Turtle Wax just to bring the shine out some more and protect the finish - I’d like to mess with some different polishes actually and see which works out best for me, but I’ve still got two HUGE bottles of Turtle Wax on the shelf so I keep going back to those ??. And that’s about it! Nothing super complex or difficult - and I’m FAR from being as good of a painter as a lot of people on the site here, but I’m getting better and closer to where I want to be with this stuff! Hope that helps a little! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted October 11, 2020 Author Share Posted October 11, 2020 Oh, and the Million Dollar Bill test again - still needs a little more buffing but I can read the serial number in the reflection ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Payne Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 Thanks so much for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanMuscleFan Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 Your paint job is awesome Jim (as usual...) and that red is simply amazing! I have the exact same polishing technique as yours, the only difference in my case is the brand of wax I use and which probably doesn't make much of a difference I think... Excellent job sir, candy for the eyes!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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