MatthewThompson Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Hello everybody, My name is Matthew Thompson, I am 15 years old and I have had three model car kits sitting in my basement for the last two years that I would love to put together. I have recently built the level one kit (1969 Camaro Z/28 SS) because it was very easy and only took one day, but I would really like to start on the couple of level two kits I have. The first of the two kits is the Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR, and the second is the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. I have a perfect spot in my basement for working on the kits (I just need to clean it off), but what I was really wondering was what tools and materials I should get together before I begin this project. At the moment, the materials I have include two Testors liquid cement cartridges (1 Fl. Oz. each) and the Testors Special Value Paint Set that includes 9 bottles of paint (gloss yellow, gold, gloss red, gloss blue, gloss green, silver, gloss black, gloss white and thinner). For tools all I have is the four paint brushes that were included in the paint set. This doesn't seem like enough to me because in all of the model making videos I have watched, they have many tools laid out in front of them and they use all of them in the making of the car. Am I correct in that I need more tools and materials? If I am, what should I purchase before starting this project? Thank you in advance and have a nice day. Thanks again, Matthew Thompson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris White Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Hey Matt welcome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High octane Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Welcome tot he forum Matthew as it is a good place to be. BTW, I was lucky enough to visit Boston last October and it was great. You WILL need an Xacto knife with a # 11 blade, toothpicks for applying the glue, 6" long tweezers with hook nose, sanding sticks, if you want to wire engines, you will need a pin-vise and a set of drill bits. You may want to buy some better paint brushes, but they are expensive $5-7 each and they'll last you a long time and won't shed on you model/parts when you're painting. Also a pair of sprue-cutters is good to have as you will use them often as well. I hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slammedi'am Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MatthewThompson Posted December 31, 2013 Author Share Posted December 31, 2013 Thank you everybody for the warm welcome and thank you High octane for the awesome recommendations for equipment. I will buy all of the items you states, except the items for wiring engines. I would love to wire engines, but I think I will try that AFTER I figure out the basics of building models. I have this great idea for a birthday present for my dad that I want to be able to accomplish by then (November 27th), and I want to make the model as good as possible. What I was going to do was get a model kit of my dad's first car, the 1963 Volkswagen Beetle. I would build it and try to make it look similar to his. When he first bought the car, the paint job was extremely rusty so he hand painted it school bus yellow, but the interior was kind of shabby and the bottom of the car was kind of rusted. Im hoping to become a good enough builder by then to put this car together with the same paint job, and be able to add "rust" to it and make it look like it was used a lot. I know that if you sand the wheels then it makes them look "dirty", but applying the other elements of age on to the car I will hopefully learn how to from experience. Thank you guys very much and have great day. Thanks again, Matthew Thompson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PappyD340 Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 WELCOME to the forum Matthew, lots of very knowledgeable folks on this forum, so if you have questions there will be someone on here that will have an answer, just ask, glad to have you and Happy New Year!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxer Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Welcome, Matt, from the other end of the state! It sounds like you started right with a simple kit. You improve as you build more and just learn something new every time. You should just acquire tools as you go and need something for a specific use. High octane gave some good recommendations. Some sandpaper is a good start to remove mold lines on the body ... around 300 grit for rough removal and 400 to 600 to smooth things out is a good start. I would say get some spray paint to paint the body. You don't have to use the expensive hobby paints, though they are scaled to work well on scale models. I use a lot of Krylon paints I get at Michaels or stores such as Walmart. Most are safe on plastic but you should always test new paint on some sprue the parts come on. You should try the paint on something than the body to see how it goes on .. distance and speed as you move it across the part affects how well it goes on. There are many threads here about all aspects of modeling so use Google to search. For instance, to find out about spray paint, type "site:modelcarsmag.com spray paint" into Google. Will be looking forward to how your building comes along. Never be afraid to post anything here ... we have all levels of builders here who will always help with anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tqfastfish Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Welcome matt!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Welcome to the forum.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.