Olle F

Well, join the club... The only build-offs I can participate in are those where you win if you finish last.

Yep, I know exactly what you're talking about, and the quick and dirty remedy is to prime the body on the inside. I will give you the same effect, and you can still get away a thin paint coat on the outside. Try it, you might like it.

I know from previous discussions that some of you find this a bit controversial, but here goes: IMO, primer should only be used when necessary, and in the case of enamel on styrene, it's usually not. A primer is supposed to give you a uniform color, fill scratches, protect the underlaying surface and promote adhesion, so if you don't need all that you don't need a primer either. Hobby enamels are made to be used directly on styrene, so they won't harm the plastic or cause ghosting or crazing like lacquers do. I usually thin it with lacquer thinner, which makes it dry quickly and also seems to help the adhesion. I only use primer after extensive bodywork, or when the difference in color between the plastic and the paint makes it necessary. In the few cases I use primer, I usually go for a flat enamel of the same color as the top coat. So in short: If your prep work is good and the color allows it, you can skip the primer. The advantages are that (of course) it's easier and quicker to do so, and that you won't clog up emblems and other details with an excessively heavy coat of primer and paint. My bottom line is that the thinner the paint coats are, the better the model will look.

Great, sounds exactly like what I'm looking for! I'll try to place an order shortly, just need to take inventory and see what else I need. I was thinking about using the emblems, but when I looked at the pictures in "Muscle Car Review" again I realized that it doesn't have any "Galaxie" or "Ford" emblems at all. This may or may not be correct but adds to the anonymous sleeper look I want, so I think that's the route I'm gonna take. The only emblems I will need are the fender eagles, which I can take from the T-Bolt. There is a PE set from Performance Detail Products, but I doubt that I'll be able to find one. Anyway, here's a somewhat crappy scan of the article in "Muscle Car Review":

Bob and Brian, Thanks for the link! Is the casting from Drag City Casting thin enough to open up the air intakes to make the scoop look more realistic?

Yeah, the first thing that came to mind was to use the T-Bolt scoop, but I'm lazy and I also want to keep the T-Bolt body intact for possible recycling in another project. I'm pretty sure that someone has made a hood for the '63, it's just a matter of finding it. I checked Model Car Garage yesterday too, and it sure seems like they don't have a PE set. I'm also hoping that you'll take the lead on the lightweight conversion and post many pictures as you go, 'cause I have still to figure out what to do right now.

Great! I was just waiting for someone to say that I needed an obsolete $250 collectible kit, so that's very good news! Do you know where to get a PE kit too? And while I'm at it: Does anyone make a resin teardrop hood for the Galaxie?

I'm thinking about building a '63 Galaxie factory lightweight, using an AMT Galaxie plus the engine and some other details from a Revell '64 Thunderbolt. The chassis in the Galaxie kit will need some serious work to look good, so my question is if there is any other kit that can be used as a donor for chassis and engine bay detail (firewall, inner fenders etc). I also need a PE emblem kit, but haven't found one yet. Any tips will be appreciated!

Funny how some movie cars are recognized right away, without anyone even mentioning which movie it was. I think the movie car actually had faded highlights around the trim, but doing that in 1:25 will probably take a lot of patience and a very steady hand... it's difficult enough to even BMF that SOB. B) BTW: I just couldn't resist picking up an AMT '58 at the LHS the other day. From what I have read here, it's the one I will be most happy with and I don't think I'll have a problem with its few shortcomings after having build a couple of them in the past.

I have used the same method, but with aluminum or copper wire. Haven't even thought about solder, but it sounds like it would be much easier to work with. Great tip!

Who would have thought of that! I need to try that, the only problem will be to explain to my wife how my fly got tore up...

I don't know what ping pong balls are made of nowadays so I don't know if this still works, but we used them to make smoke bombs when I was a kid. Cut them up in small pieces, put them in a matchbox and set them on fire. Then close the matchbox and watch it smoke. My creativity might have been a bit misguided back then, but it was a lot of fun to glue the matchbox to a rubber band powered airplane and make smoke trails, or even better: fill the basement with smoke.

Maybe they changed the formula to something "environmentally friendly" like they do with everything else... Still, I just read the label and it contains "good stuff" like naphta, xylene, toluene and acetone, so you would think that any of those would work as a thinner. I haven't tried acetone yet, but lacquer thinner wouldn't do a thing when I tried it, it was like mixing oil and water. Anyway, I would like to try Plasti Dip for some other ideas so experimenting with different solvents is definitely on the agenda. I'm sure that this material can be used for a lot of things, it's just a matter of finding out what those things would be.

That's good news. I just picked up a bottle of "Pledge with Future Shine", just assuming that it was the same thing.

Yep, the engine is built pretty much out of the box, with some added details.

And for those of you who might have been wondering what I was up to: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.p...c=10305&hl=

I think the cable I used was some kind of antenna, as it had an insulated core that was shielded with the thin copper wire. You can more than likely find similar cable at Radio Shack for a few cents a foot. But as always: just keep your eyes open, you probably already have this material somewhere in the house. And yes, I did try to dip it but it beaded like crazy and I ended up shaking and brushing off the excess, and making a big mess in general. But I noticed that the Plasti Dip adhered much better to the bare copper after I wiped it clean with lacquer thinner (which really wasn't a big surprise, should have done that to begin with...) so it might work better if you clean it good or even etch it with acid, and then experiment with different solvents to thin the Plasti Dip. Airbrushing might be another option. Again, this is a method I just dreamed up, so there should be plenty of room for improvement.

The Impala has some wires across the firewall as well, I'm working on that part right now. I found it easier to make it in sections rather than making a full harness so it will be cut everywhere it's hidden, like on top of the inner fender as in the picture above. I'll post more pictures in my Impala thread as work progresses. And are you sure you used laquer thinner? That was the first thing I tried, but it wouldn't even mix with the Plasti Dip (which by the way is Plasti Dip brand, you might have used something else?). I used paint thinner, and it worked like a charm. I can't remember what they recommended for cleanup, but whatever is listed on the can should work. BTW: Air duct hoses was actually one thing that came to mind while I was doing this: Just take a piece of heavy copper or aluminum wire, cut and bend to shape, wrap it with a thin wire, apply Plasti Dip and presto: Instant air duct.

I have been tinkering with the idea of making a realistic looking wiring harness for my '65 Impala build, i.e. something that resembles a bundle of wires wrapped with tape. After thinking about it for a while, I decided to try and twist thin wires together and cover it with Plasti Dip. I started with a piece of scrap cable I found in a drawer. After peeling the insulation off, I found some really thin copper wire: After a few feeble attempts to twist a bundle of wires by hand, I came to the pretty obvious conclusion that it would be way easier to use a power drill: After running the power drill for a few seconds, I ended up with this: I made this using the same technique. I held the wires right at the split, and twisted the three ends separately: The I CA-glued the wires to some leftover sprue: Plasti Dip is kinda thick straight from the can, but I discovered that you can dilute it with regular paint thinner. After some trial and error, I decided that about 40% thinner would work, and started to brush it on. The first coat was pretty difficult to apply, as the Plasti Dip wouldn't adhere very well at all, and beaded up if I laid it on too heavily. I managed to apply a very thin first coat by some very careful brushing. As you can see in the picture, it didn't cover very well at all: The second and third coats were much easier to apply, as they adhered quite well to the previous coats. So after a total of three coats, it looked like this. And to the right in this picture, you can see one piece of the harness installed: I was pretty pleased with the appearance, as the uneven, twisted surface resembles the somewhat sloppily taped wiring harnesses you find in cars from this era. As an added bonus, the harness turned out to be very strong. You can bend it anyway you want without anything cracking or peeling, which would have been impossible if I had used regular paint. This method is something I came up with myself by trial and error so I'm sure that it can be improved, but I'm still pretty happy with it, especially considering that it was my first attempt.

I think it's better if they don't turn. Kit tires are never perfect, so I try to turn them in a way that shows as little of the imperfections as possible, then glue them on. Same thing goes for chromed wheels and hubcaps, you don't have to worry so much about the spot where the sprue was attached if you turn it out of sight and glue it solid. I used to try my best and make the wheels turn, but always had to turn them the "right way" when displaying them so I quit doing it. And as some of you have already mentioned, they won't roll away and get damaged either.

It's for a sinister modeling project. I think I'll post the results in a separate thread though, it turned out almost exactly as I intended and I think the detail guys will like it. Just need to fine hone the technique first.

Can't put any bolts in the intake manifold as I lost my 1:25 wrench... have to look in the vacuum cleaner bag. The show is the 8th so there is still some time, but I have some business trips coming up and might be out of pocket for a while... The story of my life. We'll see about the Swedish flag, I have actually been thinking about printing some decals to put on my models. I already tried that, and it's too thin and flimsy. The original piece is made of some kind of stiff plastic material so it can't have any wrinkles, and BMF just wouldn't work. The best material would probably be what old tooth paste tubes used to be made of, but they don't make them like that anymore. For now, I'll be using a styrene piece but I was thinking about that heavy lead foil you find on wine bottles. That's a good excuse to get a bottle of good wine, isn't it? On second thought, I think they still make glue tubes of the old style material... I might just buy a tube and cut it apart.

Me neither, and heat won't work for what I wanted to do. But the good news is that I actually found black Plasti Dip at Lowes today (our store usually carries red only), and it worked just about exactly as I had planned...

I guess you have already figured out that I'm not the quickest builder on this forum, but here's a picture just to prove that I'm actually doing something. I was hoping that I would be able to finish this build before the show in Cookeville, but I seriously doubt it...

I go to the basement, leave the family upstairs, and build my models while listening to the beautiful sound of silence.