christian-w Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 For sure, I take a look on your work. I'm a Honda driver since I learned to drive and I collected a lot of Honda model kit. I saw, that you got the Revell Civic Coupe. The advantage of that kit: you would be able to switch to the base of the Coupe with the cool engine. So you could open the hood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister 4x4 Posted January 14, 2015 Author Share Posted January 14, 2015 Yeah... I'm at the "just get it painted, put together, and done - not gonna worry about uber-detail since the plastic's thin and Honda engines aren't really all that awesome anyway when you own a '71 Mach 1" stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christian-w Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 funny I know such situations by my self. Sometimes there is a point to finish a model - don't mater about the costs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister 4x4 Posted January 19, 2015 Author Share Posted January 19, 2015 (edited) OK, had a nice mid-60s day, so I wet-sanded the primer and shot some color (OK, white's not really a color...). I pretty much finished up the interior while the white was drying - I'm not really thrilled with that, since I used the wrong gray (too light), and the seats aren't "exactly" the right colors. That's OK though, since it's RH drive, it's not technically correct anyway - once I tint the windows, probably won't see much of it anyway. I'm really liking how the Duplicolor Chrome worked out, though - I'm thinking I'm going to need to paint the spokes to make the wheels look more like mine. I guess sometime this week, I'll get the body wet-sanded and ready for clear next weekend. Then hit all the trim and buff it out after that - then, put it together for real. Edited February 17, 2018 by Mister 4x4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twokidsnosleep Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Looking good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christian-w Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 The wheels looking pretty good on the Honda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOYCARTEC Posted January 21, 2015 Share Posted January 21, 2015 (edited) It's coming along nicely. Like it! The wheels look real good. Edited January 21, 2015 by TOYCARTEC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister 4x4 Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 (edited) Well, took a sick day today and figured since it was 80-something outside, it would be nice to get some clear-coat onto the body. Knocked down some high-spots with 1000-grit, then sprayed some Testors Spray Lacquer Glosscote - after 3 light coats and a nice final coat, I kind figured it would've been a bit shinier, but that's nothing final wet-sanding and polishing won't solve. I'm still playing with the setting on my camera (auto flash vs. non-auto flash) and trying to clean-up in PaintShop Pro... sorry it's a bit washed out. I also forgot to post a pic of the interior finished up from a few weekends ago. I also learned today that Rustoleum Tail Light Tint (smoke) will not work on polystyrene "glass." I sacrificed the windshield from a Jeep CJ kit (since it's easy enough to just cut a replacement from a clear plastic bottle or something). Bummer - it kind of made it tough to see anything through the piece unless it was within a quarter-inch. That's not gonna work, and too bad because that can would've done a ton of kits. Oh well. Edited February 17, 2018 by Mister 4x4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
o-man Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Future floor wax with a few drops of black paint will make decent smoked taillights Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister 4x4 Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 Nice tip - but I'm looking to tint the windows. Same logic, I suppose? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mopar - D Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Nice work on your Civic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister 4x4 Posted March 6, 2015 Author Share Posted March 6, 2015 OK - two steps forward and five steps back. So, I clear-coated something like [geez] almost a month ago with Testors Spray Lacquer over Testors Flat White Spray Enamel and Testors Gray Primer Enamel. I let the enamel primer dry for a week, then the white enamel dry for 2 weeks, wet-sanded with 1000 grit, then sprayed the clear. It's been sitting all this time undisturbed and I finally had a chance to wet-sand and polish today. All I had was 1000 grit, so I knocked the high spots down and got a nice satin sheen. Then (and here's where I believe made my mistake) used some 3M Perfect-It II polishing compound and started on the hood. Well, all it did was soften up the lacquer clear coat and strip it off. The more I rubbed, the more it turned into a mushy sticky substance not unlike that adhesive that's left over after peeling a price tag off of something shiny - it's not touching the enamel though. I've spent the past 3 hours effectively stripping off the lacquer clear coat and by no small grace, haven't totally messed up the body with my rubbing and polishing. Since the clear coat is pretty much ruined anyway, I also grabbed some fairly dried out Eagle One Mag & Wheel polish, which made cleaning up the sticky mess the Perfect-It created... but it softens up the clear coat as well. Some questions: Can anybody recommend something I can use to quickly remove the rest of the lacquer clear coat without messing up the enamel? What kind of rattle can clear coat should I respray once I get this mess cleaned up? What should I use as a polishing compound after I wet-sand the clear coat - since I obviously have the wrong stuff? I admit that in addition to trying to be patient and let the paint cure that I'm kind of losing enthusiasm for this project because just like when I got my Mustang, the Honda's just not that cool to me anymore. But I need to get it finished so I can move on to something more interesting. Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelmikey Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 I'm not sure about the Perfect it taking off the clear, but I have striped Laquer with 99% isopropl alcohol, which I don't think will touch the enamal. The opposite seems true for castrol super clean, takes off enamal but not laquer. Maybe make up something to test? The 99% alcohol is the only thing I found to take off Duplicolor color match, which caused it to more or less peel off. Hope thats a help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthsideous Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 Enjoying your build. The colours for the interior look really good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister 4x4 Posted February 17, 2018 Author Share Posted February 17, 2018 (edited) OK - I was a bit discouraged when the clear lacquer went to BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH, so I wound up boxing up the car and putting it aside... for WAY too long. My bench piled up with other non-model-related stuff, and I didn't think twice about it until last weekend when my Facebook feed pulled up one of those 'Memories from 2 years ago' thingies, with that last pic of the kit. I felt horrible, knowing it's been 2 years (or more) since I'd worked on it. I decided to clean up the work space, swap the yellow CCFL bulb in the el-cheapo light on the right with a white LED bulb, and rubbed off the remaining clear lacquer with some Isopropyl Alcohol. Worked for the most part. I also had to re-glue the passenger front wheel hub, since it literally popped off as I took the kit out of the box to get started again. I also started scratch-building the JDM driving light bracket/trim panels on the 1:1, using one of those plastic bread-tie thingies my wife's been saving for me (Hey - why wreck a whole sheet of styrene for something so small?). I also ran a fine-point Sharpie down the roof seam trim to simulate the plastic pieces on the real car. Worked pretty well, I think. Oh yeah, I also got a new camera since then as well (still figuring out the settings). I gotta make dinner here in a few (promised her lasagna for V-Day, but we decided to defer to the weekend instead). But I figured I'd hit this thread for an update, and also fix the broken picture links (from Facebook - now linked to my website page for the build). Tomorrow, I'm planning on working on the black out trim, lights, and all-around just getting it done, hopefully, this weekend. Thanks for your patience and not throwing me away. Edited February 17, 2018 by Mister 4x4 fixed broken picture links Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 3 hours ago, Mister 4x4 said: Thanks for your patience and not throwing me away. We only do that to Fords. Pulling an unfinished project out can be a bit daunting when all the thing which need to be done come flooding back into your mind. Good to see you back at work on this one. Hopefully the lasagna turned out well, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister 4x4 Posted February 18, 2018 Author Share Posted February 18, 2018 16 hours ago, Casey said: We only do that to Fords. Pulling an unfinished project out can be a bit daunting when all the thing which need to be done come flooding back into your mind. Good to see you back at work on this one. Hopefully the lasagna turned out well, too. Uh-oh - I guess I'll be on sketchy ground for awhile then, since my 1:1 garage queen is a '71 Mach 1 (gotta few kits planned for it, actually - various stages of the restoration... should be fun). Lasagna turned out good - made way too much, had to freeze a whole pan for next month's Anniversary (she apparently, loves it when I make lasagna). OK - time to get crackin`! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister 4x4 Posted February 19, 2018 Author Share Posted February 19, 2018 Just finished up some paint work on the Civic. I was pleased to find that most of my paints hadn't dried out (lost a bottle of flat black, but still had another one). So, today I was able to get pretty much all of the black trim and weatherstripping done - I used a fine point Sharpie to outline it all, but had to fill it in with the flat black (Testors "0" fine tip brush) since the standard Sharpies didn't like writing on the flat white enamel. Turned out OK, I guess. Also, got the headlights, taillights, and the mirrors I'd forgotten to paint taken care of. I think the light's too bright or something - those edges look a LOT cleaner in person. Still gotta figure out what to do with those A-pillars - probably trim about a millimeter out and hope for the best. OK, so that edge didn't work out as well. The real car didn't have that trim piece, anyway - I guess I should've left it white. So tomorrow, hopefully, I'll get the JDM driving lights finished and slam it all together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89AKurt Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 3 hours ago, Mister 4x4 said: ... Still gotta figure out what to do with those A-pillars - probably trim about a millimeter out and hope for the best. ... Oh man, I saw that before you mentioned it, was wondering. That would have driven me nuts soon as it happened. If I may suggest, yes trim just enough out, then superglue back together with a strip of metal behind it, at least 4 mm long. When I cut the windshield down on my Miata, that worked, I used aluminum. Many of us know about putting aside projects. I have a VW Bus that I started last century, and was not happy with the raked windshield a-pillars (and some other things), it's been haunting me lately, but I have a hundred other projects that I want to start. BTW: I had a '77 Civic CVCC, recently got the Hasagawa kit. That was traded in for an '87 Civic Si; started the Tamiya kit last century, completed last year. Current driver is a 2016 Civic Coupe EX-T, Honda sent a tiny model but it's not the same color, and that sort of bugs me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister 4x4 Posted February 19, 2018 Author Share Posted February 19, 2018 Thanks for the tip! Sounds like a plan. I know what'cha mean about starting a kit sometime in the last century... I have a Monogram Jeep CJ-7 kit I started building as a tribute to my 1:1, and it's still not done. But, it's up next once the Civic's finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister 4x4 Posted February 20, 2018 Author Share Posted February 20, 2018 Finally got one done! Stick a fork in it (well, at least for today, anyway). I still need to fix the A-pillars - I hit 'em really quick with the Dremel, and the cut-off wheel was too thick, so I need to glue the A-pillars down and stuff some blobs of body putty in to bridge the gaps... later. I'm SO done with this kit. The decals absolutely suck - they disintegrated as I was pulling them from the backing. Doesn't matter though, the only ones I really needed were the emblems anyway (the glass edge black-outs fell apart, along with the wipers. My scratch-built JDM driving lights kinda suck as well, but to be honest, so did the real ones. Oh well, too late now, I guess (LOL). Also need to score some Future for the 'future' kits (see what I did there? Sorry for that.). So, here we are: Still to do: license plates (when I feel like wasting a decal sheet in the laser printer) and fix the A-pillars. Next up: my 1980 Jeep CJ-7 (a Monogram 3-n-1 kit with Super Swampers and rims swiped from a Aoshima Toyota 4x4 kit) - I started it back in the last century shortly after I bought the Jeep. Gotta undo a bunch of stuff from back then, so that should be fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funkychiken Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Still a great little car, even after your building woes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 Not too shabby at all! I like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister 4x4 Posted February 21, 2018 Author Share Posted February 21, 2018 Thanks guys - I'll come back to the A-pillars once I've have a little more skill development with the body putty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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