atomicholiday

Saw this one out of the corner of my eye as it was driving by. Then I caught it in the parking lot of Starbucks. Sorry for the crappy pic. Best I could get because he was leaving. Mercedes 300sl gullwing .

Taking an extended weekend with the wife in Traverse City, MI. Also ran to Leland, an old historic fishing village. God I love the Great Lakes. I could see living here.

Thanks Steve. Good to know.? I have nightmares about trying to foil things like that Buick badge…?

So... back to the original question. Without throwing gas on the fire, what technique do you guys use? Color before or after clear? And if you do it before, what type of paint are you using. We're talking model cars here. So there's no wrong answer. Only various techniques.

That turned out great Steve. Really nice work!

Do you add color before or after clear coat? I was thinking of using acrylic, but that might not agree with the clear lacquer. By the way Steve, that looks great.?

Thanks guys. To my eyes it actually looks better with the naked eye. Many of the imperfections disappear without the magnification. I don’t see any reason this wouldn’t work. The one I’m working on now has the crossed flags on the front fenders. Could probably get the right look with some thinned paint dropped into the flags and then use the same technique to clean up any excess. Last two pics. Those double SS’s were a bit scary… But they’re better than I expected them to look. The other side didn’t come out as clean as I’d like. Paint was a little thicker on that side and buried the details a little. Lesson learned. Now I’m really excited to get some clear on this bad boy and get it polished up and under glass!?

This is nowhere near as good as many others can do on this forum, but since we’re on the subject and I just finished cleaning the paint off this one, here you go. This hasn’t been clear coated yet but that’s my next step. I don’t think it’s too terrible, especially considering it’s only the second time I’ve tried this technique. It’ll get easier with practice. I’m starting the body emblems next.

This could be worth trying. It could give you a better chance of getting more detail out of the script. My only thought is that it could be a lot of handling, with more risk of contamination of the paint job between coats. Still. I might give it a shot on a practice piece sometime just to see how it goes.

I’ve recently started using Steve’s method too. It does take a little practice, and it really helps to keep your primer and paint coats thin so you don’t bury the details before you ever get foil near the surface. But my two cents? It’s the easiest way to get good looking scripts. And I say that as someone who has pretty bad hand tremors.

Now THAT is going to be awesome.?

There is some crazy good talent on this forum. Amazing stuff gentleman!

That gold foil on the decals is really cool. These look really good, but still. We’re talking about decals from 1978. I don’t have immediate plans to build it, but when I do, I’ll definitely be looking for a way to save them.

Shot color on these two yesterday. I think I’m going to wet sand the gold one level and reshoot 1-2 more coats. It sprayed kinda weird. You could see metal flakes flying off in the sun. Almost like they were bouncing off the panels.? Both are Testors extreme lacquer. The blue is Deja Blue. The other is Inca Gold. I actually tried something different with the blue one this time. I shot three light coats, let it set up for a few days, then wet sanded it with 4000. Then yesterday I foiled the emblems and hit it with two wet coats. Picked that technique up from one of our esteemed colleagues.? Opinions, comments, and constructive criticism welcome as always. Thanks for looking!

Cool idea. I hadn't thought of that. Might have to check it out. Thanks Andy!

Excellent build Bruce. She’s beautiful. Are those the wheels that came with the kit? They look great.?

Sharp! Looks great in black.?

Looking forward to your updates. Your 1:1 is sweet! Love to go for a ride in that bad boy!

Picked these up yesterday at a flea market. The Mustang and Capri were bucket list kits of mine. I built the Mustang when I was a kid. Not a great kit, but still pretty cool.

I agree with you about Micheal’s. They don’t have much, but once in a while they’ll have 30-40% off coupons. Makes it worth checking out. Plus, you can use the coupons on anything in store. I stocked up on paint once.

Looking forward to seeing your updates. I’ll tag along for the ride too.

That’s a bummer. I’ve been there too many times myself. Going to stay with the same color?

That stance is sweet!!?

Great looking build. I love that color!

Beautiful job. She’s a looker!?