hedotwo

Great work as usual Steve!

Might be worth a try. Thanks!

Just some minor stuff to take care of before painting begins. At least the worst of the body repair is over and it's in primer now. Lots of time spent getting the insert between the taillights and the two front grille/headlight assemblies to fit as flush as I felt comfortable with. You reach a point of diminishing returns with stuff like that. When is enough enough? ?

These are the repairs I like to do too, so a great tip! Thanks!

I actually have a couple of pretty good riffler sets in two different lengths that I find I use at least as much, or more, than conventional files. I'm not looking for plastic needle files (found easily and have little use IMO) but rather something flexible in roughly that shape that ideally would come in various grits.

Postman delivery today ?

So I made one from a q-tip shaft. Nice and flexible and it holds its' bend nicely. Trouble is the paper I used is pretty stiff and bulky so it didn't make a very tight circle. Plus, having a pointy tip would be nice. I may experiment more.

I've got a good selection of jewelers files and I find I use rifflers as often as not. For tight to get at convex's I use these two rifflers. Hard to see, but the one is like a half round and the other is a plain rat tail. They're not as coarse as they look in the pics. I'm thinking I may try attaching fine paper to a q-tip shaft. Hopefully it would then be flexible enough to get a bit of a bend to it when you apply a bit of pressure. Kind of into a riffler shape. You can even pre-bend them before using maybe, as they tend to hold their shape. If I'm successful I'll post a pic.

These are the hard plastic needle files I pictured above. You can get them (or similar) at Hobby Lobby too. Thanks

I already have quite the arsenal of files, large and small, in every shape. I couldn't live without my rifflers, and I use them alot in convex areas. I then hold a fine sponge sanding sheet into a tight U shape and go into the convex to try and clean up what the metal rifflers leave. Probably what I'll need to keep doing. I'm as much a hobby tool collector as I am a model builder ?

I figured that was probably the route I'd need to take but I'd really like to find something pliable like sponge as a core rather than wood. I'll experiment. Thanks

I searched and really only found one thread on round sanding sticks and it was from 5 years ago. I probably know the answer to my question but I'll ask anyway. It's free to ask right? Does anyone know of a better alternative to the hard, pointy sanding sticks shown in my attached pic? Ideally, something similar in shape but made from sponge material and coated all the way to the tip. Not like these hard ones, which I've yet to really find a use for. Not to mention they generally don't have much coating towards the tip. I love my Tamiya foam sanding sheets and use them almost exclusively but there are many times I need to clean up tight convex areas that conventional sheet/pads won't do. Guessing they aren't available ?

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Thanks Steve, this one will be worth the work I hope. Amazingly, I enjoy this type of work though. Patience is key ?

Began the resto of an AMT '63 Bonneville HT the other day. This was a pretty good deal pricewise but I knew it'd be some work to bring it back to life. Whoever used the glue to put this together must've held stock in Testor's by the amount he/she used. I removed most everything as best I could, including using my dremel to come in from behind on the taillight area to release the chrome strip. The last pic is where I'm at currently on the driver's side rear quarter. I have to be careful of the character line running down the side (I use tape as a reminder where it is) as this is where most of the heavy glue was used to attach the skirts. The top of the passenger front fender will be a challenge, probably having to gently use my ball grinder dremel attachment to take as much down as possible before sanding, scraping, filing. I was able to remove most of the whatever on the top of the driver's front fender and part of the passenger. The remainder is really tight. More progress pics will follow as I progress on the body. Rich

? .... if I did let one go it'd be the convertible. But no hurry to sell. Trade maybe.

I did Steve ?

You know, I don't use an acrylic/water based wash so maybe that was my problem. My go-to wash is Tamiya's panel marker and I may have tried using that. But I know in my case it didn't like buffing the times I've used it, but it's pretty BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH shiny without.

My experience too. It gives a great chrome look but does NOT like to be handled or washed. Probably the best chrome in a can, but make sure you're all done with everything else before using. Spax Stix in a rattle can is good for quickie chroming and is a bit more durable and doesn't mind light buffing.

I was finally able to get a couple of kits that have been on my wishlist for some time ?

Didn't mean to stir things up. 99% of the time I use google "site:" to search for stuff here and on the "other" forum. I'm well versed on how to search and have both searches on my bookmark bar. I wish I had a nickel for everytime I've searched via google for stuff I needed to know. I could buy my MPC '66 Bonny ? It's all good!

Will do.

I just went ahead and got one from Ebay just now. Hoping it isn't too bad. I'm not terribly interested in the underhood or underbody details as I can build curbside if needed. At least this will hold me til I stumble across an affordable MPC?

What I suspected. Thanks Steve.

Can anyone tell me if the Hasegawa '66 Bonneville is indeed 1/24? Says so on the box, but I'll believe it if someone that can compare to the MPC '66, or even the '65 AMT. I'd like to stay in 25 scale or really close. Thanks