StevenGuthmiller

If the blue is a lacquer and the white is enamel, you should be able to remove the white with possibly some mineral spirits without damaging the lacquer. Chances are high that even if that works, you may at least have to clear coat to even the color. By the way, you have the same problem at the base of the B-pillar where the white bled under the tape. Steve

You can spray virtually anything over Duplicolor as it’s an acrylic lacquer. I assume Krylon is an enamel, which greatly limits what can safely be applied over it. Steve

Should be able to scrub it off with some Dawn liquid and hot water. Don’t know for sure about the formulation of the Tamiya polish, but it’s worth a try. If it doesn’t work, go to plan B and strip it. Steve

What polish were you using? Steve

I bought one sheet of the black chrome WAY back when I first started using BMF, and never had much luck with adhesion. I stopped buying the colored foils many years ago because they’re all just regular foil with a colored coating which will rub off relatively easily. Steve

I still have all of the photos that I keep on the hosting site on my hard drive. They're not going anywhere. My objective is not to insure that the photos that I post on forums such as this remain here forever. I view them as temporary. There's no guarantee that this board will remain in perpetuity either, so it's not high on my priority list that my photos will be able to be viewed here forever either. Steve

I’m still posting the vast majority of my photos through a hosting site. That way no storage space is used. Steve

Let me check. I’m pretty sure that some of the old Johan Hemi Mopar kits had racing or NASCAR options with a single 4bbl intake. Steve

I use that exact “primer sealer” all of the time in place of the sandable primer, or in conjunction with it. Steve

There are so many individual issues with different paints that it's becoming nearly impossible to figure out what's going on with many of them anymore. All that I can tell you is that if you're using automotive type acrylic lacquers, most of these problems go away. At least they have for me over the past couple of decades. Short of the fact that you need to be certain that your primer barrier is sufficient to guard against plastic damage from hot solvents, every other problem that I've ever had with other paints is pretty much a thing of the past. Using automotive lacquers, I've had to strip possibly 2 bodies in the past 10 years, and neither one of them were due to issues with the paint itself. Steve

It all boils down to how far down the rabbit hole you want to go. Do you plan on using these techniques on limited occasions, in specific areas? Or are you planning on using it liberally and often? For me, I'm not going to use weathering enough to justify spending a whole bunch of money on a lot of extra weathering specific materials. So my focus is on what can I do with what I already have on hand and use on a regular basis. I suppose you could call it being frugal. One of my biggest pet peeves is filling up my limited shop space with a whole bunch of extra stuff. I know from my own personal experience that most of those "extras" never get used. I tend to return to the tried and true "basics". But hey, that's just me. Steve

Scale finishes has a "50s Chevrolet Blue" base coat engine paint if that helps. Steve

Usually, if you take photos with your camera on it's side, you have to rotate the photo anyway, so you can basically just as easily take photos with the camera upright and crop them afterwards. Either way will work to "fill" the photo. Steve

I suppose to some degree, but as is my philosophy with a lot of things, overthinking is usually more likely to net unrealistic results than just going with the flow. The sort of things you mention, (oil stains, flung mud, etc.) are just kind of the cherry on the cake. the main body of the weathering, (the type of things I incorporated into this Pontiac model, such as random rust, road grime and general dirt and filth) are basically randomly thrown around, with a few exceptions. Too much planning and regimentation can look just as unrealistic as too little, and of course, what you’re weathering depends a lot on how to weather. Just my opinion, but for basic light chassis weathering, I don’t think that a huge amount of attention needs to be paid to logic for the overall affect. Any “directional” affects can certainly be added at the end of the process should you decide to add them, but they’re not necessarily required. Steve

I mixed my own colors from a few different basic colors of craft paint to emulate 3 basic layers of grunge that I was looking for. Oily brown: (just dark brown and black) Rust: (brown with a little red) Road grime: (this is purely subjective and can vary a lot by your particular region, but I just used a little light tan) I started by mixing the colors and then thinning them to a wash consistency. Then, beginning with the oily brown, I washed over the parts. While the paint was still wet, I lightly "rolled" over the parts with a Q-tip to create a mottled affect, and then after the wash had dried somewhat, I used lightly dampened Q-tips to "roll" over the parts again to remove some of the paint in some areas. The key is to remember that there is basically no right or wrong look. It's weathering and is supposed to look haphazard. After the oily brown, I continued in more of a dry brush fashion with the rust, (trying to focus more on areas where you might find light rust) and the road grime, (again, in areas most likely to exhibit it) By a dry brush fashion I mean by dipping the brush in the paint and then rolling the brush over a paper towel to wick away most of the paint leaving almost no paint on the brush, and then using a dabbing motion to "stipple" the paint onto the model. Then again, using dampened Q-tips to dab and roll on the surface to "mute" the sharpness of the stippled paint, (if that makes any sense. ) Finally, I did another "dry brush" application, (as described above with the rust and road grime) with the oily brown. I used these same techniques and materials on the engine, focusing more on the underside of the engine and leaving the top side a bit cleaner. Oddly enough, the craft paint does a pretty good job of mimicking texture as well when applied in layers. Steve

I agree. just give it another coat or two and polish it out. Of course, I don’t have any experience with Krylon paint, so there’s that. Steve

Well, I’m certainly no expert on weathering. I’ve never weathered a military model, model railroad or diorama. I’ve only done some basic weathering on a few chassis and engines using nothing more than acrylic craft paints, but I’ve been pleased with the results, and I didn’t have to go out and buy a couple hundred dollars worth of materials that I may or may not ever use again. I did this chassis with 3 colors of cheapo acrylic craft paint that I probably paid less than $5.00 for. Steve

I can agree with all of that, but I’ll confess that I don’t think that I have a finished model in my case, (probably never have, or never will) that didn’t have something about it that every time I look at it, I say to myself, “I wish I would have done that differently, or better”. I’m pretty sure that the quest for perfection is a futile one, but it’s one that I’ll never stop striving for. I guess it’s in my blood. ”Good enough” has begun to slowly disappear from my vocabulary. Steve

Of course. That’s why I said “it’s not always possible”. But there are avenues in most cases to get as close as possible to a scale texture without going over board. An overdone texture seems to be acceptable to some, but very obviously way outside of what most would consider “in scale”, even though it’s not in scale in actuality. Steve

Yes, that’s another common one. Steve

What I ultimately had in mind when I made the statement about overbearing "textures" was the seemingly accepted practice of using masking tape for vinyl tops. For some odd reason, as modelers, our eyes apparently see a texture such as that as acceptable in 1/25th scale, when in reality, as a rule, it's not even close to what a texture reduced by 25 times should be. Same can be said about metallic particles in paint that appear about the size of scale dimes on a painted surface, but for some strange reason, many people think that looks quite okay. I understand that it might not always be possible to get everything to scale on a model, but it escapes me how some of these things somehow manage to skate by as acceptable. Steve

Corn starch can also be used. I still think the “paint from a distance” technique looks just as good as anything else, and it has the added benefit of not requiring any special materials be purchased or any new techniques or equipment is needed. Pretty much exactly the same process I use for vinyl tops. Sometimes basic and simple can get you where you want to go without overthinking the subject. Just my opinion. Steve

Even if information is lost on a particular forum or group, I still have all of the project information available on my hard drive, and on a photo hosting site. Steve

We just need to keep in mind that everything we do as far as textures on 1/25th scale model cars needs to be 25 times finer than the 1:1 to look correctly in scale. That’s not always easy, and more often than not, it gets over done. Steve

You give me way too much credit! ”Wing it” is my middle name! 😉 Steve