StevenGuthmiller

Thanks guys! The wheels aren't permanent yet, but I couldn't wait to see how it was going to look up on all fours. Kind of a dust monster at the moment, but that'll be taken care of later. Steve

Finished up the wheels and tires today. Steve

Thank you Bob! Exactly the look I was going for. Steve

You're a man after my own heart Peter! Steve

In my opinion, part of the problem might be that some of us feel like we need to pump out builds as quickly as possible, which when you consider it, means that you're spending a lot more on the hobby. I've been building about one model a year for some time, so expense is absolutely minimal. I know that one per year is a little extreme for many, but I'm still spending time in my shop enjoying the hobby just the same. Slow down, add a little more detail, (without spending gobs of cash on aftermarket stuff) enjoy the ride. Even if you build one every few months, your paint bill drops dramatically from feeling as if you need to finish one every other week. And your quality will very likely improve exponentially. If you build 4 models a year, and use MCW paints, you'll only spend $30.00 on paint for the year. Some guys spend more than that on green fees every weekend playing golf! Steve

Correct. If you can't afford this hobby, it might be a good idea to look for something else to occupy your time. Good luck finding a cheaper hobby. Steve

Kind of like the proverbial $200.00 worth of after market parts.........and then leaving the seam in the radiator. Steve

Managed to get into the shop for a few minutes today to pretty much finish up the bottom of the chassis. Steve

I've never tried Stynylrez primer before, but after a quick look on eBay, and the prices there, I believe I'll stick with my Duplicolor. I'm not cheap when it comes to paint, but at around 7 or 8 bucks for 2 oz. that's a little too rich for me for primer. I could pretty easily burn through a 2 oz. bottle, if not more, on one project. I'd be spending all of my spare time on line ordering primer! Steve

I have to agree. In the time that I spend on Facebook in various modeling groups, it's pretty much an hourly event to see posts of people trying to figure out why their paint jobs went south. Invariably, it's almost a certainty that the paint culprit was one of these "bargain brand" paints. I can't tell you that I've ever seen someone having paint issues when using good paint. Steve

Perfect! In a nutshell, as has been stated often, Rustoleum paint is designed to be used on your lawn furniture, not a 1/25th scale model car body, so it only makes sense that it's going to be an inferior product for that purpose. That said, with some mitigation, (ie, decanting and airbrushing, or my preferred method, buying the small cans of brushable paint and thinning to your taste) Rustoleum paint is nothing more than enamel paint, pretty much exactly as what comes in the small Testors bottles. It's the formulation of the paint for a spray can, and the delivery system of these "home improvement" paints that is the problem. Still, it's enamel, and I personally would never use it for bodies when there are so many better options. Steve

If you really want a 'good" automotive lacquer paint, there's really no such thing as "cheap". The best ones are going to come from some of the fore mentioned providers such as MCW, Splash, and one that I don''t think I've seen mentioned yet, Scale Finishes. MCW is my go-to, and although it's probably one of the least economical, in my opinion, it's one of the best for various reasons. My philosophy is that price is unimportant when it comes to paint for bodies. It's results that count. I will usually order at least a half dozen or more bottles at a time to mitigate the shipping costs. Steve

It makes sense because paint providers such as MCW, (or Scale Finishes. I don't remember which) has recently recommended no longer using Tamiya primer under their paints. Steve

My biggest issue with Rustoleum paint is just the inconsistency and the awful spray cans. I’ve found that it’s usually too thick to spray nicely, and the spray cans are nothing but trouble. They would almost inevitably plug up on me after one use, which probably has something to do with the thick paint as well. I don’t really care much what people use, but it’s undeniable that there are WAY better paints available to us than Rustoleum. Especially if you graduate away from rattle cans to an airbrush. Opens up a whole new world. Steve

I agree. I will confess that I do use Rustoleum paint for other aspects of my projects, but there are so many much better paints available for bodies that I wouldn’t consider using hardware store paints for that. I mostly use the Rustoleum paint that you can buy in the small cans and thin it for airbrush for basic chassis work because I’m used to enamels, and the stuff in the cans is pretty much identical to what you get in the small Testors bottles at a much more economical price. Besides, when you’re doing stuff like this to your chassis, there’s really no need for high end paint. ? Steve

Exactly. Go cheap on other parts of the build. I use MCW and Scale Finishes lacquers for bodies, and you couldn’t pay me to go back to using some of these “bargain” paints. Steve

Thanks guys! I came up with this solution because I wanted to make it a simple operation to just slip it into place at the time of final assembly. I didn't want to have to start routing wires once everything was all painted and detailed. Stay tuned. I think you'll be pleased with the finished result. Steve

A mock-up of the chassis, exhaust, and rear suspension parts finished so far. Steve

And, the chassis plate and frame with some dirt. Steve

It's just Alclad steel, followed by a misting of red oxide primer shot from about 2 feet away. Designed to make them look rusty. They look a little strange at the moment, but the effect will change entirely once the exhaust and other chassis parts are weathered. Steve

Got most of the painting and detail painting finished up on my '64 Bonneville's chassis, and a few other parts. Ready for some weathering. Steve

I always thought that 30 AWG was too large for plug wires as well, but it's what's readily available to most modelers. I use 30 for things like vacuum hoses and battery cables. 32 or 34 appears to be about right for plug wires, but of course it's a little harder to find. I found this 36 AWG wire on ebay a while back. It came from China, so shipping took a while, but it works very nicely for fine wiring detail, although it's size makes it a bit of a trick to handle. Comes in a lot of different colors. The first photo shows it next to a piece of 30 AWG, the second, a little bit of firewall wiring. Steve

This subject has been batted around a lot, and I believe that for Mopars, the consensus is what Bill Geary suggested. Gray primer with a little body color around the edges. Another aspect to consider is the chassis components. By this I mean the frame rails, cross members, etc. These are the areas where you usually see the most "mistakes". I'm no expert on this subject, but from what I've been able to learn, apparently these cars, being of uni-body construction, had the entire frame in place at the time of body painting, minus the suspension components of course. A common mistake, (I've made it myself) is to paint the rear or front frame rails black. My understanding is that they would all be primed and over sprayed just as the rest of the floor pan was. The only parts that would have been painted other colors would have been the suspension components added later, such as the front K-frame, torsion bars, exhaust, fuel tank, rear springs and axle, etc. Another detail that I became aware of while researching my '68 Dodge Coronet project, (which I used the Revell '68 Charger chassis for) is that at least some of these cars had limited undercoating applied to certain areas of the chassis pan. Mainly a smattering inside of the front and rear fender wells. Of course you can avoid all of this by just painting the entire chassis with a thick, lumpy satin black to simulate the undercoating installed by a lot of dealers. ( Not certain if the factory offered full undercoating or not. I never researched that). Anyway, I think I got pretty close to the correct look for my Coronet, although my understanding is that there may have been variations based on where the car was built. This is the exact chassis that you'll be dealing with, with a few added "Hemi" mods, including front and rear torque boxes, and front K-frame "skid plate". And of course, it's been lightly weathered. Oh, and by the way, Mopars of this era always had all of the sheet metal engine compartment components painted in body color as well. Steve

By the way Bill, I came across this photo on the forum today from a recent show, and it's a classic example of what I mean by the "hard candy look". Steve

That's never a good sign. Steve