StevenGuthmiller

Okay, so then you are talking about the “bass boat” look. That’s very easy to replicate. A metallic silver touch up paint from Duplicolor will act in exactly the same capacity, as will any number of metallic silvers from a variety of other manufacturers. Metallic silver paints with large metallic particles are by no means difficult to find. Steve

Exactly why I use ample clear coats. As many as 5 coats in lacquer. This ensures that there will be little possibility of "burn through". Steve

I suppose it all boils down to what you're looking for. If it's an "as close to scale as possible" affect that you're after, it's really hard to beat MCW paints. Hobbyists have been in pursuit of in scale looking metallic paints for many many years, and they're still not always easy to find. If you're looking for a heavily metallicized paint, much like what is depicted by the OP above, it's really not that hard. If you want something as close as possible to a truly in scale metallic paint, it's much more difficult. As with a 1:1 vehicle, unless it's some sort of custom with what is often referred to as "bass boat" metallic paint, you should not be able to pick out individual metallic particles in the paint even fairly close up. If you walk out to your garage, and view your 1:1 vehicle, see how close you have to get before you can make out the particles in the metallic paint. I estimated that depending on the paint, you don't begin to see these particles individually until you're at least as close as possibly 2 feet from the surface. That translates into your eyeball being less than an inch away from the models surface at 1/25th scale before the particles become apparent. I know, that makes correctly sized metallics a near impossibility in scale, but some of the paint producers do as well as can be expected. One of these is MCW. Not every color is spot on. Some appear to have more, and heavier metallic than others, but I like to use this example of how a 1/25th scale metallic paint "should" look whenever this subject comes up. Believe it or not, this 1958 Chevy Impala is painted in #932 "Cay Coral Poly" by MCW. It is a metallic paint, but it's nearly impossible to pick out the individual particles, no matter how close. But it still has that nice metallic sheen that would be evident when viewing a vehicle painted with metallic paint in 1/25th scale, if the paint were truly "in scale". Steve

That's fabulous!! Steve

There’s a started but complete Pyro “Ghost Rider” kit up for auction right now on eBay. Starting bid is a paltry $499.99. But the shipping is free! ? Steve

That's pretty much exactly the same approach that I employ, although the compounds I use are different, but that should hold little bearing on your problem. My suggestion would be to start with a finer grit if possible, and above all, wait until the paint is completely cured. Soft paint will be much more prone to fine scratches than a fully hardened paint. Also, the more paint and clear the better when it comes to polishing. Nothing worse than spending countless hours painting, clear coating and polishing only to burn through the paint with 10 minutes of work left to go! Steve

Well, I don’t know about all that, but my interpretation is that this can all be chalked up as just being a matter of differing philosophies. One philosophy is to work to obtain a perfect, or nearly flawless paint job through a very particular use of specific materials and, quite honestly, a high degree of skill. Absolutely nothing wrong with that philosophy whatsoever. But, as we all know, that skill can be years in the making. Nobody picks up a spray can or an air brush as a novice and instantly starts spraying flawless paint jobs, no matter how high the quality of the materials. The materials are secondary to know-how when it comes to success with painting models. Spraying a perfect paint job was a skill that I was personally never able to perfect with any consistency over my 50+ years of building, so I became a student of philosophy #2. Philosophy #2 states that you don’t need to possess some form of enhanced skill set or follow a rigid materials list. All you need is the desire and the willingness to put forth the effort of some extra elbow grease at the end of the paint process. I don’t worry too much about the brand of primer or what it’s particular properties are other than it’s ability to seal against the particular paint that I use. A few coats of primer, of whatever type is appropriate for your paint, with no sanding unless it becomes necessary due to debris or orange peel, basically the same approach for the color, and then however many coats of the clear that you prefer to be certain to protect the color from what I’m long windedly eluding to..... The polishing process. My point being that you don’t have to be a painting wizard with years of experience and a catalog of high end materials to get fabulous finishes. All that you need is the willingness to put in some time at the end to polish the paint to the degree of fabulousness that you desire. As is often the case, at least as I see it, when people begin describing their processes to someone who’s either new, or just not sure of the path that they want to follow, with a multitude of different products and instructions, ie, use this primer, thinned by so much with this thinner, sand between each coat, use this paint, sprayed at this pressure, mixed to this viscosity, etc, etc, etc, it just fuels nothing but confusion, especially to someone who’s not especially up on all of this stuff. Personally, when I read a painting description that starts to get into the weeds, my eyes just glaze over and I tune out, as certainly any hobbyist who’s a little green will also. In the end, the advice that I give anyone who’s struggling with paint is that there’s more than one way to skin a cat. You don’t “need” to concentrate on all of the latest products and techniques. It is absolutely possible to achieve a show quality paint job with nothing more than mediocre priming and painting results, with finish cutting and polishing at the end. Go to any group or forum and ask the question of what primer, paint or clear you should use, and invariably you will get 150 different enthusiastic answers. You can either try to weed through all of that information and pray that you might find a set of materials and techniques that lead you to the goal of a superior finish, or you can “take the easy way out” and resign yourself to the fact that some cutting and polishing at the end will lead you to the same, or even superior results without having to concern yourself with all of the minutiae of a thousand different suggestions. This is by no means a condemnation of you personally Bob, or your suggestions which are obviously designed to help, as are everyone else’s, but I just felt that in lieu of the OP’s question of whether or not the primer he asked about was compatible with plastic, it was my responsibility to answer the question directly. We can all bombard him with a thousand different suggestions, which in the end are nothing more than our personal opinions, or we can try to help him along the path he has chosen with information that will help guide him down that particular path. Believe me, I understand the reaction of the desire to “get people in the right mindset”. Problem is, “that mindset” might be the right one for some, but who are we to decide what’s “right” for everyone else. There’s a thousand different paths that can all diverge on a single ending point, and while some of them might seem as if they’re going the long way around, or in completely the wrong direction for some, for others, they might be the most direct route. Steve

Back to Duplicolor primer. The top for this '64 Bonneville is nothing more than straight Duplicolor "sandable black" primer. I shot it from a distance to add a little "grain", but if shot as normal, it dries very smooth, as do all of the Duplicolor primers. Body was primed with Duplicolor "primer sealer". No primer sanding, but the clear coats were cut and polished. Steve

I use Duplicolor primers all of the time. As a matter of fact, that’s pretty much all that I use. Never been impressed with Tamiya, and I can’t see spending a bunch of money on primer, so even though Duplicolor is really no longer cheap either, it’s what I’ve become used to, and it’s designed to be used with automotive lacquers, which is my paint of choice, so I see no reason to change. Granted, they can be a little hotter than hobby primers, depending on the plastic, but as long as you know that going in and adjust for it, it’s not a problem. I, like “JollySipper” recommend a different Duplicolor primer, but not quite the same one. I prefer Duplicolor “Primer Sealer”, but I use plenty of the sandable primers as well. As a matter of fact, their black sandable primer is pretty much all I use for anything I’m painting flat black. Steve

Very nice!! Steve

The hubcaps are the original stock caps from the kit. Steve

Aside from the obligatory warpage and heat swaged interior and glass that are the standard giveaways for a promo, as Phillip stated, "sound" and "feel" is a good indication of whether or not you have a promo, or a kit. If you flick the body with a finger nail and get a sort of dull thud, versus a sharp click, it's likely acetate, and therefore a promo. The acetate promo bodies are generally heavier and have an almost "oily" feel in comparison to a styrene body, and acetate is generally more flexible, with a kind of rubbery feel, versus styrene which is stiffer and more brittle. My opinion is that it is indeed a kit, just from the look of the photos. The interiors are very shallow and devoid of detail in these early kits, but they can still build into a pretty impressive model with some love and attention. Steve

Sorry that I didn’t respond to your question in the other thread. I was out of town all weekend attending a grandson’s baptism, so I wasn’t paying any attention to model stuff. Steve

Unfortunately, the Moebius ‘55 and ‘56, as well as the AMT ‘57, all have Hemi engines. The Hemi was no longer available in ‘59, so another Mopar big block will have to fill the Bill. While the wheel base looks about right from the Möbius kits, the frame looks a little different, and the ‘57 looks to be a little more accurate for a ‘59. Steve

I'm investigating the possibility that at least the upper dash pad might be a good starting point. The width of the instrument panel section, and the defroster vent portion look to be close. Imperial. Desoto. Steve

I'm not certain what trim level the red Desoto depicts, but it appears as if the Chrysler 300's door panels are pretty close to the '59 Fireflite's. '57 Chrysler 300. '59 Desoto Fireflite. Steve

I would absolutely consider an Adventurer, but unfortunately, as is the usual case, nobody makes PE scripts for cars like this, so it seems like a better game plan to stick with the Fireflite. Steve

My plan is to shave the handles from the '57 Chrysler's doors and use them. Steve

Time to move on to another project. This time I'm probably going to just get myself into trouble, but after a number of mid to late 60s builds, I wanted to get back to the 50s and try to do something a little nuts. I'm starting with this X-El 1959 Desoto Fireflite 4 door hard top, and converting it into a full detail convertible. I'll be utilizing as much of the AMT 1957 Chrysler 300 kit for the guts as I can, but the real test is going to be putting together an interior. The promo has no interior, so one will basically need to be scratch built from the ground up. I'll hopefully be able to modify some of the interior parts from the 300, and with any luck, I'll be able to find at least a starting point for the dash board. In any case, the first task was to fill the unwanted door seams, and begin the transformation from a 4 door to a 2 door. I began this work many years ago, but decided to start over again. Rather than fill the panel lines with filler, (I hate putty) I filled them by gluing pieces of thinly stretch sprue into the gaps and then sanding and going over it with a very thin glaze of putty. Shot a guide coat of primer over the mods to see how it's going. Looks okay so far, although a little more light work might be required. Steve

By your definition, a “model kit” is a scratch made item. It is made from raw materials, and with tools. This describes basically every man made item since the beginning of human kind. Steve

Who has an aversion to using 3-D printed parts? I don’t remember hearing anybody saying that throughout this whole discussion. The topic was whether or not we felt that 3-D printing was scratch building or not. Not how we felt about the technology in general. I think you’re right. The thread has probably run it’s course, but in my opinion, it’s because a lot of people want to make the topic about something that it was never intended to be about. It started out as a pretty simple opinion, “yes or no” question and then, as is often the case, quickly morphed into all sorts of contortions that have little to do with the original question. Steve

Way too far into the weeds for me too. Steve

Just plain old Duplicolor "Universal Black" has always done well for me. Steve

Yeah, I don't know what "scale effect" means. A black car is a black car, and a dark gray one is a dark gray one, no matter what scale it is. Sure, there may be different blacks with a little bit different tints or what have you, but that's just a matter of personal taste. I understand the sentiment with varying finishes when you're talking about interiors or chassis and such, but as far as gloss black on bodies go, if you're trying to replicate black with something other than black, well, then it's not black. Steve

That one was a PITA! Steve