StevenGuthmiller

I agree. Every show that I have attended to this point has been relatively free of morons. Steve

That's funny Rob! I suppose anything could happen at a show, including someone who might just decide that they want to break something. But there's really no way to guard against all possibilities. I just have faith that most of the people present at a show are either modelers, or have spent enough time around models to be smart enough to keep their grubby little fingers to themselves. Steve

I use exactly the same technique described above for those block letters. My first question would be, what type of BMF are you using? If you're using the "Ultra Bright", dump it and get the "original", or "New Improved". The Ultra Bright is too thick to work with on these small areas, and the adhesive is often very insufficient. All that I can say other than that is that I apply the foil to those letters as I would any other badge or script. I put a piece over the letter that's a little too large, burnish it down extremely well, cut as close to the letter as possible and then burnish again with a soft cloth. I've never had much of an issue with doing them this way. It only becomes an adhesion issue for me with very tiny details such as door and trunk locks. Steve

Clearance would probably be difficult with a folding hinge, either with the firewall or the engine. Often times there is not a lot of extra room under the hood with the engine and items like the master cylinder installed I have begun to rethink the mounting idea for the hinges onto the hood, but that might have to wait until the next project. Instead of pins and slots, I think I might try a couple of brackets on the hood raised up with enough clearance under them to accept slipping in a thin plate attached to the hinge. That might make the mounting system a little stronger with less danger of something breaking. I'll get back to you on that one. Steve

It's a major win just to find one of these with an interior! Not many of the original kits around anymore, and the X-EL re-pops didn't come with interiors. Modelhaus used to produce replacement interiors for the X-EL kits, but we all know the ending to that story. Steve

There are advantages and disadvantages to every technique. A lot of the success or failure of this technique rides on your painting regimen. My paint jobs consist of multiple primer and color coats making applying the foil early in the process, as you do Snake, completely impractical. Burying the foil under that much paint would make removing it difficult regardless of the method. If you are getting by with a coat or 2 of primer and paint, there will be no problem applying the foil whenever you prefer and removing the paint with whatever method you desire. With the foil adhesion question, my method calls for applying the foil to the second to last color coat, not to the primer, and the covering detail issue is also directly related to your particular painting procedure, greatly depending on the type of paint used and how much of it per coat. I routinely apply as many as 5 primer coats, followed by up to 3 or 4 color coats before applying the foil, with no hide issues, even with the finest scripts. Some disadvantages to the method Snake uses include the possibility of a very fine line of primer being exposed around the perimeter of the script when the paint is removed. I've had this happen and it can be even more obvious with a white primer. Also, if you are using a sanding or polishing method for removing the paint from the foil, it is entirely possible to polish through the foil back down to the primer or plastic. (had this happen as well) Sorry Snake. Not trying to be antagonistic, but as long as we're talking pros and cons, I thought it beneficial to hear both sides ............... Steve

I guess it all depends on how you look at it. Steve

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the concern Mark, and I understand your point, but part of the beauty of this is the fact that if someone were to try to close the hood, it should just break loose the magnets resulting in no damage. A much better outcome than if the hinges were glued to the firewall and hood. Besides, I have not yet attended a show where someone has had the cohones to pick up or tip over someone else's model without permission! That's a little like sitting on a Hell's Angels member's Harley!! Steve

I agree 100%. If you had color sanded this Bonneville, you would have wished that you hadn't. Steve

It's my opinion that the true "annual era" began dying out in the very late 60s. Prior to that, starting in the very early 60s, nearly every major make of car was represented in one form or another every year in a consecutive fashion. My meaning is for instance, in 1962, whether you wanted to build a Ford, Mercury, Lincoln, Dodge, Plymouth, Chrysler, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Oldsmobile or Cadillac, they were all represented. Even a good number of the compacts. To me, this is the biggest feature of an "annual", meaning that a particular make was changed to represent the real car on an annual basis for an extended period of time. Granted, cars like the Chevrolet Impala continued it's "annual run" until well into the 70s, but by the time 1967 and 1968 rolled around, entire makes began dropping off of the radar, like Buick, Mercury and Plymouth. It's my opinion that some of the cars pictured above, although offered in the same year as the real car, are not truly an "annual" due to the lack of real annual continuity. The production of most "new" kits became way to sporadic to really be considered annuals. Just my opinion. Steve

Are you prepared to do the MPC and Johan annuals as well Scott? You've got a lot of typing to do! Steve

Great save Rich!! Steve

That's the point of this method. It doesn't have to be perfect, just as close as you can. The paint will cover the remainder. This is exactly to the point. Just don't put a big piece of foil over the whole script and leave it. Trim as close as you can and the paint will cover the areas immediately around and within the script. As you can tell from the '60 Mercury script I posted above, there is no way that the foil could be trimmed perfectly around it either, but after painting, there is no way of telling. Steve

You are correct as far as I know. There may have been a few early kits made of a plastic other than acetate, but the general practice of using styrene, and the birth of the "annual model car kit" started in 1958 to my knowledge. Steve

Here is a quick primer for how I do it. Prepare the body as you normally would and begin the painting process. When you are just about ready to spray on your final color coat, foil the fine scripts that you are focusing on. Cover the script with foil, burnish it down tightly and trim as close to the script as possible. Then go ahead and spray on your final color coat. Once the final coat is at least dry enough to handle, using a small conical swab, like those made by Tamiya, dip it in lacquer thinner and lightly wipe it over the surface of the script being careful not to get thinner on the surrounding body panel. Let the thinner soak in for 30 seconds or so and the dip a sharpened tooth pick into lacquer thinner and use it to carefully scrape away the paint from the portions of the chrome script that you want exposed. One the script is exposed, lightly wipe it down with a soft cotton cloth. Once you have completed the scripts you can leave them as is or you can now go ahead and add any clear coats over the body that you care to. Hope this helps. Steve

This topic has been talked about numerous times on the forum, but the basic answer is what has been come to be known as the "foil under paint" technique and is basically the practice of foiling the script before the paint is applied and then cleaning the paint from the surface of the script after the paint has dried. There are numerous ways of accomplishing this. I apply the foil to the script before the final color coat and then clean the paint from the script with a tooth pick dipped in small amount of lacquer thinner. That's the short version anyway. Steve

My good friend Bob Spedding printed up a bunch of '68 442 air cleaner decals for me for my last project. He addressed this issue by printing them on clear decal paper allowing the chrome to show through. There is enough of a contrast created by the clear film to make it look pretty close to accurate. Steve

Just so folks know, the application of the magnets to the hinges might be a unique idea, but micro magnets for modeling applications are definitely not. People have been using them for quite some time for things like holding doors closed. This is not a technique that I can take credit for. Steve

But if I recall correctly, Tulio didn't use clear coats over his paint jobs. Steve

Thank you Wayne! I try not to. Steve

There are a couple on ebay as we speak. One is complete and unbuilt with a "buy it now" price of $25.00. Steve

I'm not too certain that I would make any modifications to the Coronet body in favor of the GTX body proportions without first doing a great deal of research. The AMT Roadrunner/GTX bodies are notorious for having numerous problems with proportions. Be careful. Steve

Probably a good indication of why they have not been re-issued. If the originals can't draw enough interest to begin to rise in value, there's no reason to believe that there is enough to justify a new run. I did a quick ebay search and there are dozens of all of these kits available at low prices. If anyone really wants them, they are more than easy to find. Steve

I picked these up on ebay. 100 magnets for $6.43. There are many shapes and sizes to choose from. Steve

If you go to the "Tips, Tricks and Tutorials" section. there is a thread called "Wheel Arch Molding Foiling Tutorial". It shows my method for foiling not only wheel arches, but all of the body trim, utilizing blue painters tape as a guide. Steve