peteski

That is really weird! Never seen anything like it in my 40 years of modeling. Do you have any of the decal setting solutions (like Walthers Solvaset or any other brands)? If you do, see if you can apply some at the edge of the decal and see if it will wick under the decal film.

Can you take a pair of very sharp tweezers, or a single edge razor blade and see if you can lift the clear film (maybe right over top of Fred's head)? Will the film lift easily, or is it stuck to the paint?

Kenneth, looking at the photo I'm wondering if you recall if the clear film areas were already milky as you were sliding the decal onto the car body from the backing paper? Or were those areas clear transparent, then turned milky white as it was drying? What brand were those decals? I don't think this is silvering because the paint on your model looks fairly glossy (which should prevent silvering. Silvering looks more like what's on the photo of the decal on the hood of Jantrix's model.

This is the first time I have seen Tamiya primer in a bottle. From what you guys are saying, that stuff is similar to Gunze (Creos) Mr. SURFACER (1000, 1500), right? Sort of thin liquid putty which can be used to fill small imperfections.

As I understand Mark's 3D printed (grown) parts were just masters for making RTV molds. The final badges were resin cast in those molds (so I guess more can easily be cast). Cool!

Looks great! Looking at that photo with the car sitting on the "ground" with doors, trunk, and hood opened, and no wheels reminds me of driving on that "famous" beltway in New York City back in the '80s seeing stripped cars sitting on the ground just like that. But none were Ferraris.

Thanks for the explanation Noel.

I have in the past chipped paint on A-pillar of a model and I carefully re-glued it using tiny bit of CA glue (but epoxy wold work too). Nobody but me knows where that spot is. Maybe you can find the chipped paint and re-glue it? Most of the repair will be covered by the bezel anyway.

Hmm . . . Looking at that photo, the left wiper looks good (and it has a curved blade following the windshield's curvature). It is the right wiper that looks awkward, but I think if you were to either bend, or cut of and re position and re-glue the blade so it looks more like the one on 1:1 car, that would make big difference.

That was a nice wagon! My BelAir has a similar color combo (I used Boyd's Pacific Blue and White). I was honored when El (BMF owner) proposed to use my model in his advertising. It is Gunze Sangyo 1:32 scale model. Here is a better photo. Actually this is a good segway to the subject of more realistic wipers. This model had no wipers at all, so I made my own. I'm a bit of a hoarder and I save lots of throw-away stuff. When I use LEDs in my projects (the old fashion 3mm and 5mm LEDs with leads), I save the cutoff leads. They have square cross section, which varies between 0.015" and 0.021". Perfect for making wipers. Here, I bent the end of one lead 90 degrees to create a wiper shaft, then blobbed some solder onto that end. Then using a file I shaped it to look like the thicker end of the wiper arm. Solder is soft and easy to file. Then I figured out the arm's length and I bent it again on the other end to attach the wiper blade. Again, using the square LED lead I made a wiper blade and soldered it to the arm. Then I airbrushed it silver and brush painted the rubber part of the blade. This one was really basic, but it looks quite realistic. I made a bit more complex wipers for my 1:24 Peterbilt wrecker. Again using the same materials, but this time the wiper blade is made of 3 pieces. You can clearly see that in this photo (and again, this looks so much better than the clunky plastic kit wipers, or too-thin photoetched wipers).

Just to clarify, ABS (or Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene ) is a type of styrene, so as others have mentioned, most solvent based glues which dissolve Polystyrene (styrene) will also bond ABS. Non-solvent adhesives such as my favorite CA or Super Glue will also bond both of those materials. JUst make sure that the glued areas are clean and grease-free. Still, if this will be a butt-joined on a high stress component (frame) I recommend strengthening the joint by either adding sheet styrene plates at the joint areas, or maybe pinning the joint with brass rods.

Beautiful! If you don't mind me saying it, I'm not too crazy about the kit's windshield wipers (well at least the right side one visible in this photo). It looks odd, and not very realistic the way the blade is positioned on the arm. Here is a photo from your initial post on this thread. There is a huge difference in appearance of the 1:1 scale wiper and the kit's wiper. If I was building this model I would either use photoetched wipers, or scratchbuild ones that look better than the kit's. You have made so many improvements to this kit (and scratchbuild lots of parts) - what's couple more of very visible parts? And on an unrelated note, I can't help but smile to see one of my models in the background on your workbench (the blue/white '57 Chevy).

Wow! That's a name I haven't heard for many years! I used to see articles written by him in Finescale Modeler and probably also in Scale Auto. I'm glad he is still around, building models. One tip I picked up from him was to cast parts from acrylic dental powder and hardener liquid (dentists used to use it for making temporary crowns or such). The same stuff is now available from beauty shops (for use on artificial fingernails).

That was quick! Very nice!

Sure looks like German Mustard Yellow to me. BTW, I still have some Pactra paints: bottle and a spray can.

If you are planning on using an airbrush for just "other parts", how are you going to paint the model's body? Usually the main reason for getting an airbrush is to obtain a smooth coat of paint on the model's body.

While I have not worked with that adhesive, your memory seems correct. Quoting the Corian article I pointed to earlier: Seamless appearance: In the fabrication process, joints can be made nearly invisible by joining the relevant pieces with Corian's own color-matched two-part acrylic adhesive. The pieces are clamped tightly together in order to express any excess adhesive. After the adhesive dries, the area is sanded and polished to create a near-seamless joint. This seamless appearance is a signature characteristic of the material.

That type of finish is very delicate. Usually used for painting model aircraft for natural metal look. Not so much for automotive models (rubbing metal powder onto an engine block or heads is not really very workable).

Well Greg, whatever you take on, as long as it is similar to the vacuum-metalizing process that the model industry uses currently would be welcome by modelers. It would be nice to attend that conference, but I live in the Boston area.

Very cool! You have some serious skills and resources most of us can only dream of. Couple of questions: How much would the OEM replacement badge cost? I'm wondering if your painted resin-cast badge will be as durable as the original factory-made badge?

That explains its fluid shape. So this is a new Amphicar?

Hard wear coating!? That doesn't sound like something I would like to use for models. I know plastic car parts are electroplated with real chrome. I believe first a layer of conductive lacquer is sprayed, then thin layer of copper is electroplated. Next is a layer of shiny chromium. That stuff is very durable (since it is a fairly thick metal coating over plastic). Trumpeter used similar process on some of their kits, and everybody hated it, because it was extremely difficult to scrape off from the gluing surfaces, and impossible to strip. As I see it, the standard vacuum-metalizing aluminum (in very thin layer) over plastic is still the best "chrome" for models. Looks great, and it is easy to scrape and strip.

My models are build *NEVER* to be disassembled!

That is hilarious! Now I know! Where did you find that ad? It can't be too old because it asks for a ZIP code. Maybe PM me on this. I wonder if Sfan was an abbreviation of the name Stefan? Just like Wm means William. Ok everybody, sorry for this OT diversion. This really belongs in the OT forum, in the thread we have there on this subject. Back to the topic at hand.

I have been wondering what is the origin of your user name Joe.