Snake45

We are on the same page, my friend.

For side markers, I wouldn't even use silicone. I'd just make a foil copy, and then put J-B Weld (or other epoxy), or yellow carpenter's glue, or superglue gel right into the backside of the foil. When it's cured, trim the foil back to the part and glue it on your model. I've done this kind of thing many times. I've only had the Permatex sort-of stick on me once, and I think that was an old tube that was going bad. Get some and experiment on things like the tops of chassis and the undersides of interior tubs until you're comfortable with it. The smoother the plastic is, the less chance the silicone will stick to it. (I've never tried it over primer so have no idea what it would do in that case.)

Very nice project! I too will be watching.

That came out great!

So far, I've never had anything stick to the Permatex Black silicone*, and I've never used mold release. It just peels right away. If I'm "casting" into a foil-copy mold for an emblem, I'm not worried about release, as the foil is the top "skin" of the part. *Except itself. A second layer of the stuff will bond to the first PERMANENTLY, as if it had been done as one piece to start with.

Very clean build! What kit is that?

Very nice! It could BE the box art model!

The microballoons isn't a bad idea, if I can find any locally. Thanks!

Yeah, I'll test it out on anything I want to do. I just went online and looked at the MSDSs for several different brands of non-acetone remover. This stuff is NOT all created equal! Some brands have MEK, which is the active ingredient in liquid cement! For others the main ingredient seems to be ethyl acetate. Evidently I lucked out with this Walmart stuff--it seems to be a non-MEK type.

That's a very clever and creative solution to the problem, and it sounds like it would work quite well in some cases. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us!

Either common household kitchen foil (especially if the part needs to be "chrome" anyway), or in other cases Permatex black silicone.

Now this is an idea! I'm going to have to check that stuff out.

I used to use a lot of that stuff for putty. It would work for this application, BUT I found for it to properly cure/dry, you have to use very thin layers. For what I want to do, it would take a month of applying and drying. Also, I've tried this before on a small part, and found that the cured part was VERY brittle.

If the damage isn't deep, it can be polished out with nail sticks or a plastic polish. If it's deeper than those things will handle, then it's unfixable.

I occasionally have to make a small mold (think emblems and things of that nature) out of either foil or common silicone sealer. Not wanting to mess with resin, I've had luck filling such small molds with J-B weld, common epoxy, and even carpenter's sandable wood glue (cures harder than common Elmer's, but requires several thin layers over several days). Now I'm interested in doing some larger parts (specifically, rocker panels for C2 Corvettes). Been wondering if something else might work better for these. How about hot glue? What about melting styrene sprue in something like a large spoon and pouring that in? Has anyone tried either of these materials to make small parts? And before someone says "Just use resin," let me reiterate that I'm looking for ALTERNATIVES to resin. I don't want to get into resin for various reasons if there's any way to avoid working with the stuff.

Now that is just straight-up cool. I've seen a lot of Camino-versions that just didn't "work" visually, but for some reason this one really does. Well done and model on!

One tip, George. How about putting all of them in one thread, or at least several in a thread, instead of a separate thread for each one? Leaves more space on the "front page" of the Workbench section for the rest of us styrene-butchers. As you start working on finishing each one (hint, hint!), you can start a separate thread on it. Merry Christmas, old friend!

What I was trying to say was, it's only plastic, and it's not especially rare or valuable plastic, so don't be afraid to experiment.

Well, it's already a '49 Merc, so it's not like anything you could do to it is gonna make it any uglier....

I FINALLY remembered to buy some of this stuff at Walmart yesterday. WOW, it works exactly as advertised! It takes the black stripe off that '65 pro street Mustang instantly and without harming the underlying paint! Then I tried it on the pimped-out lowrider graphics on a West Coast Choppers '57 Chev wagon and it works great on that, too! MANY, MANY thanks to both you and Madhorseman for the tip! I wonder what other modeling tasks this wonder drug would work for....

I've never deliberately destroyed a model. We had a fire in the basement around Christmastime of 1968 that destroyed most of my early ones, but this one (and a few others) were in a different part of the house at the time. I still have the instruction sheet and maybe what's left of the decal sheet from this one. I wish I still had the cool original box (and a bunch of other things, too).

Well NOW you've got me thinking.... (I assume you mean opening up the wheel openings?)

Very nice! I too enjoy pimping up these cheap diecasts a little and getting a model you can't get anywhere else.

I built this AMT 260 Cobra (from the original issue box) in late 1966 or possibly early 1967. It is one of my first—possibly my very first—spray can paint jobs (Pactra Lemon Yellow). First or not, it is my oldest surviving original paint job. I think this might be my oldest surviving model in its original build form (I have a few older, but they’ve been paint-stripped and are awaiting rebuild). Not much “restoration” was needed on this one, mainly just cleaning with dish soap & water and a soft brush. The left wind wing is missing, but I’ll make a much thinner, more accurate one sometime. The custom roof rear window is also missing. If it doesn’t turn up sooner or later, I’ll just pirate one out of a reissue of the kit (I have several on hand). [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Snake45/media/Model%20Cars/AMTCobraA02_zpsgjh23o9z.jpg.html][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Snake45/media/Model%20Cars/AMTCobraA03_zpsnqcz8hsh.jpg.html][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Snake45/media/Model%20Cars/AMTCobraA04_zps96zwgwzj.jpg.html][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Snake45/media/Model%20Cars/AMTCobraA05_zpscfwnukhw.jpg.html][/URL] For some reason I only have the race number on the right side. At this point I don’t remember if I ever put it on the left, or if it fell off, or if I scraped it off sometime over the decades. As this is still a very common kit today, I’ll never rebuild this one, as it’s a genuine relic of my youth. I have built another one, about 20 years ago, and hope to do another one or two before I kick it. It’s still a nice kit to this very day!

I've got a can of Krylon "Sparkle Green" that's almost a perfect match for 1972 Chevrolet and Pontiac Sprng/Julep Green, but it's got the "bass boat" flakes in it. I tried spraying Testor Dullcote over it, which brought the flakes down to a nice factory metallic appearance, but of course flat. Then I shot clear gloss over that and it brought the appearance right back to right from the can--MUCH too flaky/sparkly. Still, I want to use the stuff, so I'm going to do a common AMT/MPC '72 GTO in the stuff, Dullcote it, and then lay on a few spots of primer and whatnot and build the thing as a late '70s "high school hot rod," beater, or maybe an all-bidness "street rat." (I'm also gonna do a Manx dune buggy in the Sparkle Green--looks like a match made in heaven.)