atomicholiday

This topic has been on my mind a lot lately. So much so that I decided to splurge and pick up some of the supplies and try it out for myself. Here’s what I used: It took a few weeks to get everything ready, (shipping delays on the UV light). So while I was waiting, I shot two spoons with different types of paint for the black base coat. One is Krylon color max, the other is Rustolium black lacquer. Just wanted to see if there was any difference in the final product. I think you could probably use whatever black paint you want. These spoons have been curing for about three weeks now. I didn’t really notice any difference at the end. Today I was finally ready for the test. I applied the Glass Finish Gel, and cured each piece under the UV light for 60 seconds. Next, I applied the chrome mirror nail powder. Simple. You just put a little on the sponge and wipe it across the topcoat. Didn’t seem to matter if you scrubbed it in or just wiped it. At this point, you’ll have extra powder on the surface, and it will look sparkly. Finally, I wiped the excess powder off with a paper towel, and buffed it a bit. Here’s a shot so you can see how much reflectivity it has. I’m not going to state my opinion on that. You be your own judge. Here are my observations. 1. The gel is pretty thick. So much so that it looks wavy to me. If you look closely at the picture above, you’ll see what I mean. This, in my opinion, is the biggest problem with the process. I think if you thinned it, maybe it would lay down flat and look a lot better. I think reflectivity would be better too. No idea what it should be thinned with though. Suggestions? 2. The powder goes everywhere. I’ve washed my hands and cleaned my work surface well, and I still see sparkles.? I know many of you will be asking the other big question, durability. Again, I won’t give you any opinion. I will say, I rubbed it fairly vigorously with my thumb, and also tried the tape test. I used blue 3m tape, and did NOT, de-tack it first. Just put a piece on half of the spoon, rubbed it down, and ripped it off as roughly as I could. The final picture above was taken after the tape test. All I can say in the end is, try it out for yourself. I’d like to see what more people think after using it.

Wow that’s sharp. Great work.?

Great looking Impala. I like your color choice.

We might be able to help each other out. I’m missing one or two pieces from the same kit. I’ll pm you when I get home.

Looks really good.?. Nice work. I just picked one of these up a few weeks ago. How did the build go?

That looks great! You’d never know from the pics it’s just clear coat. Very cool build.?

Back at the bench this morning while my wife is out. I narrowed down the rear axle to pull the rear tires into the fenders. Super easy mod to do, and it went exactly as I planned. As I mentioned in the last post, and all that’s needed is to shave a little material off the back side of the rims where the axle goes in, shave a little more off the rear suspension where it meets the rims, and cut the axle down a bit. I think I took about 1-1.5mm off roughly. Here’s a better shot of the offending area. And here’s the result. Once assembled the rims won’t be sitting on the tires.

That's IN for you. In the mid 90's I got a ticket for doing 31 in a 30. And the guy was a complete jerk the whole time he's giving me the ticket. I'm always polite to these guys. His attitude was completely out of line for the circumstance. You'd have thought I just ran a bus load of nuns off the road. Our state police aren't too bad, but county and city? Forget it.

Just got pulled over this evening by state police officer. That's not what pleased me. I have a 2013 Civic Si that's my "toy" car. It spends most of its life in my dad's barn and comes out on nice days occasionally. That's where it's been for a few weeks up until today. My plates all come due for renewal in mid-July, and I paid for them all early and got the tags with time to spare. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to put the new tag on the Si. Out of sight, out of mind. You see where this is going. Anyway, that's why he pulled me over. The pleasing part is that he was really cool about it, and sent me on my way without a ticket. Seemed like a pretty decent guy to talk to.

Interesting. I’ll have to stop by the Walmart that had them last time.

Motor looks great! Nice job.?

That would be a wild build. Looking forward to it.?

At least he didn't tell you to take off the mask when you were there. ?

Steve, do you let each color/layer of dirt dry before moving on to the next? Or do it all in one sitting?

Some really great finds on there! I know about the swap meets and antique stores. My best scores have almost all come from them. My wife and I go every chance we get. The most exciting part for me is that you never know what you’re going to find. It’s like being on a treasure hunt!?

First mock up. I think it looks a little goofy from the side, but I kinda dig the front and rear angles. It should serve the purpose this build was intended for anyway. I do want to narrow down the rear axle a little to tuck the tires in more. I want them either even with the fenders or just slightly outside. But this is a bit more than I want. I already trimmed the backside of the rim and it got me closer, so now I think I’ll shave a little more there or maybe trim the suspension where it meets the axle. I’ll need to cut a little off the metal axle too.

The rust effect looks very convincing. Looks awesome.?

That is just super clean. What a great looking caddy. Even in scale, it looks miles long!

That looks great. Nice clean build.?

Great workmanship. And those colors are perfect together. Really stands out.

That last set of pics really tells a story. Particularly the first two pictures of the undercarriage. You'd never know it was the same parts. Two things I find really interesting about this technique: a) with all the colors of craft paint available, and an infinite amount of mixing ratios, you're really only limited by your imagination. You could build hundreds of kits and each one could be unique. b) you've got maybe $6-$8 total in paint. It's just about the cheapest trick you can do in this hobby, and the effect is very dramatic. A lot of bang for the buck. Thanks again Steve. I'm sure a lot of folks are going to benefit from this. I have plans myself. Going to try it out on my current Camaro build.

As we know, different cars came with different color undercarriages, whether it's body color, primer, or rust inhibitors. Would you use the same four colors mentioned above for weathering? Seems logical since the color of dirt and grime is independent of the car. And I'm just talking about average everyday weathering. Not even getting into different environments. That would open a whole new can of worms.

Anybody ever tried oil paints? Just curious how those would work.

That’s really cool. ?

That looks great! Wheels look perfect for it.