StevenGuthmiller

Well, this conversation just reinforces the reasons why I use primer and clear in a spray can, and premixed, ready to spray lacquer colors. You all have me completely confused! Steve

Sure. There have to be alternatives for extenuating circumstances. If you don't mind going through more of a rectal examination every time you fly than it takes to just suck it up and get the correct identification. Steve

With red, you can use any color of primer you like. depending on the type of paint used, and the number of coats, the primer may affect the final color. Steve

Even with acrylic paint, you may find yourself having to clean up with lacquer thinner sometimes. I use very few acrylics, but when I do, it always seems to make a bigger mess of my airbrush than lacquer does. Steve

Using a good quality automotive lacquer primer, and/or “primer sealer” is a must with acrylic lacquer. Something that sprays on in thin enough coats that several coats can be applied without the possibility of hiding detail is beneficial. The more “barrier” that you can add, the better. I routinely use as many as 5 coats of Duplicolor “Sandable” primer, or Duplicolor “Primer Sealer” without any detriment to detail. I of course realize that that number of coats might be considered excessive to some, but I feel it’s always better to be safe than sorry. By the way, the red ‘62 Chrysler and the black ‘60 Merc pictured in my previous post were both sprayed with multiple coats of Duplicolor primer, color and clear lacquer, all shot directly from the soray can. You can absolutely achieve a top notch finish with a rattle can, although the availability of hundreds or thousands of airbrush colors from aftermarket sources are definitely a huge plus. Steve

I made the decision to use automotive type lacquers many years ago for a number of reasons, and as any color that you can imagine is available in pre-mixed, ready to airbrush jars through after market providers such as MCW and Scale Finishes, I can find no reason to use anything else. Lacquers such as this are easy to work with, spray beautifully, lay down super thin and smooth, dry and cure extremely quickly, and as they’re lacquers, there’s never any of the unnecessary drama of finding what clear will work over it, and what won’t. There are vast advantages over most enamels, such as a much reduced tendency for runs, sags, fish eyes, detail hide, pooling and draw away from ridges. Not to mention the often extremely long drying and curing times and finicky re-coat recommendations. If you’re main objective is something that you can slap on fast in one or two coats, enamel might be your choice, but if you want a truly high end, professional paint finish without a lot of rigmarole, lacquer is the only choice in my opinion. I use a multiple coat system consisting of a number of coats each of lacquer primer, color and clear, followed by cutting and polishing, and I’m very rarely disappointed, and almost never required to remove the paint to start over. Steve

All of that is understandable, but without a real ID or a passport, you’re not getting on a plane. That’s just the way it’s gonna be. Steve

You don’t need it if you have a passport. I have both, but you can travel anywhere as long as you have a passport. The real ID is virtually useless if you travel internationally. Only good in the US, and in my view, it’s just as easy to travel with a passport. Steve

Headlights on his mower. Steve

Yes, Mopar had some unusual hood spring configurations over the years. Many of the mid to late 60s Mopars had a slot of sorts as well with the “torsion” hood spring set up. Steve

This was the scene tonight at 9:30 from the neighbor behind me. 😖 IMG_3448.mov Steve

No, he doesn’t have a remote start. I’ve seen him come out to start it. it’s a beat up rusty old 90s Dodge with a loud muffler. I can understand letting it run for a while when it’s 10 below zero in the middle of winter, but right now, it’s in the 60s in the morning. No need for heat or air conditioning. Steve

What year is the paint from? the “Gunmetal” name has been used over and over again for probably dozens of colors. I only see “Gunmetal Gray” in the chip sheets for 1936, no gunmetal blue. Steve

“Aim High”. Steve

My neighbor probably has one of those. Maybe he'll let me borrow it. Steve

It’s not my skin that’s the issue. It’s my ears! 😁 Maybe this is why people begin to lose their hearing as they get older. Steve

Or there’s always the possibility of planting my whole back yard with marijuana. It’s legal in now in Minnesota, so I could not only tick off all of the neighbors, but I could eliminate having to mow the lawn and make some extra cash at the same time! 😉 Steve

Now there's an idea. I nice little meth lab might be appropriate payback! Steve

Because he's an A-hole? But seriously, yes, he is a lawn freak, but I suppose that would be expected as he owns a lawn care business in the twin cities, but he's the boss, so any work he's doing is from home. He has free time up the wazoo and spends a good portion of his afternoons on the golf course. I see him milling around doing all sorts of things during the day when he's not golfing.......except mowing his lawn! An electric mower? That's hilarious!! He has a lot half the size of ours, so probably a half acre or less, and he has a push mower, 2 lawn tractors, and a zero turn mower. If it doesn't run on gasoline, this guy doesn't own it! Including his snow mobiles, side by side ATV, and even his mosquito sprayer, which he also likes to drag out a couple of times a year......at dusk!! This is the conundrum. Minnesota nice rules the day, so I'm not sure what the other neighbors think of the barking dog. In that same vane, who wants to be the one who calls the cops? The noise is aggravating, but is it to the point of creating bad relationships in the neighborhood? Probably not. I suppose you could say that I value quiet less than a war with a neighbor that I barely even know. This is the one that I'm probably going to act on at some point. I don't know for certain what the codes are for operating off road vehicles within city limits, but my guess is that this will likely go nowhere as well as this is a small farming community where they bend over backwards for anything that you may be able to argue has a remote farming purpose, and a place where teenagers freely run their parents golf carts, dirt bikes and ATVs all over town on the city streets all summer long without anyone batting an eyelash. I know some of them, and others not at all. The ones that I do know, I barely know. The only one I know fairly well is my neighbor directly across the street, Steve, who is also a lawn fanatic, but a conscientious one. Never had anything at all to complain about with him. Some may know my name, and I'm positive some don't, such as the people behind me with the ATVs. We can't even see each others houses through the woods. In all honesty, I can't imagine why they would have anything to "gripe" about me. I don't have a dog, or ATVs. I mow my lawn once a week on average during the day like a normal person. I don't leave loud vehicles running to "warm them up" for a half hour when it's 80 degrees outside. I don't have parties or play loud music. We're quiet people who keep to ourselves and have enough sense to realize that what we do can affect those around us. We moved eight years ago to the very edge of what we had assumed would be a quiet, sleepy little town, and for the most part, it's been okay. But as time goes by it's beginning to become apparent that it's not as sleepy or quiet as we had hoped. I think it was just the luck of the draw that we seem to have situated ourselves between several narcissists, who don't really give a rats behind what people around them think. As I sit here typing this, the roaring ATVs in the tree line have again commenced! Steve

Yeah, maybe I just need to pull my '69 Grand Prix out on the driveway at about 1:00 AM a few nights a week and rev the hell out of it for an hour or so. Maybe then they'd get the drift.........but I doubt it. Steve

Most people do use one form of wire or another for pinning, but I've been using just plain old styrene plastic rod for pinning. Not as strong as wire, no doubt, but it hasn't shown itself to weak in my experience. I prefer the plastic because it's something that I already have in the shop for all sorts of other reasons, and I like to use a MEK glue to bond the pins to the parts for a solid bond. So far it hasn't proven itself to be an issue. By the way Greg, it would be possible to use a plastic pin in the '55 Chevy hood badge. Drilling a shallow "divot" in the backside of the badge and then gluing a plastic pin into the divot with a plastic cement will fuse the parts as one and at least allow for easier location of the part. Steve

Obvious adhesion problem, but I don't use Tamiya paints or primers, so I couldn't give you any insight as to what the issue might be. I will say that I've been hearing of a lot more problems with Tamiya paint as of late, so take that for what you will. Maybe formula changes? I will also say that if the color coat is not "biting" into the primer, it's not doing what it should be doing as a "lacquer". Sanding the primer shouldn't be necessary if the paints are acting as they should. I use Duplicolor primer, followed by various automotive type lacquers. Sometimes I may sand the final primer coat should it need it, but I often do not, and I never have any sort of adhesion problems because the lacquers that I'm using have sufficient solvent strength to etch themselves into the primer giving a sufficient bond. That said, Rick is also correct that many masking tapes are far too aggressive and have a tendency to pull up paint when removed. Use a lighter tack tape to avoid this. Not only will Tamiya tape be less aggressive and less likely to cause issues, but it will give you a much cleaner edge for two toning when applied properly. Steve

That’s probably less likely to get me into trouble than what I was thinking! 😒 Steve

My kind of color! something other than the usual. Steve

At least you have some illegalities that you can report to law enforcement to possibly remedy the situations. The town cops are going to ignore me if I complain about barking dogs or idling pickups in the early morning. I don’t think I have much recourse aside from direct confrontation which will probably just make things worse. Steve