atomicholiday

Screwdrivers? Bloody Mary??

Great topic!? This is an easy one. Monogram Corvette SS Hatchback. I can clearly remember building the whole thing in one evening. I had glue and silver paint all over my hands!?

That's pretty stunning. Not sure you could ask for better results than that.

Looking really good so far.? That paint job is sharp!

LOVE these old monogram kits! About a year ago I found an unpainted builit up too. It was put together with regular white glue. Basically fell apart in my hands and the glue flakes right off.

The black is Testors extreme lacquer. My bad. I’m new to lacquer and thought I’d read somewhere that it cured much faster than apparently it actually does. Lesson learned. I’ve actually used blue tape many times in the past and never had issues, except for one time that I left it on for about a week. But in this case, I don’t think the tape was the problem, because the Tamiya tape did it too. Just a case of uncured paint. I’m going to set it aside for about a week and then try wet sanding/reshooting the black. Worst case, it gets stripped. Not a huge deal, but it’s a shame. This was turning out to be my best paint job yet. Absolutely NO orange peel! Thanks for your input gentlemen. Trying a two-tone paint job is probably a little past my skill level, but as I see it, no guts no glory. You’ll never improve if you don’t push yourself to your limits. Not every attempt is a success, but sometimes it works out and you surprise yourself. And even the failures offer the benefit of a learning experience.

I’m really hoping there’s an easy fix here. Here’s the deal. Yesterday I shot the hood (trunk lid in this case) Testors extreme lacquer blazing black. Today I taped it off and shot the rest of the body Tamiya TS-26 pure white. I let the white cure for about three hours, then pulled the tape off. I pulled it slowly, and at angles away from the tape line. Two types of tape were used. Tamiya was used for all the separation lines and regular Scotch blue painters tape was used to cover the rest. Doesn’t seem to matter though. As you can see from the picture, the glue on both types of tape appear to have attacked the Testors paint. I’m guessing it should have cured longer before taping. It still feels very smooth, and it’s not glue residue. I tried washing it with dawn dish soap and it’s definitely in the finish. Since it’s smooth, do you think the lines will disappear if I just shoot gloss over the whole thing? Or maybe I should lightly wet sand it first? I’m open to suggestions, but I’d prefer not to strip and start over if possible. Sucks, because the black was flawless.?

That's my problem too. Picking a new project is never really my issue. Sticking with it? Now that's where the real trouble starts. I have four main projects going right now and it's taking all my willpower not to start another. That doesn't answer your question though. Usually I find inspiration in whatever my most recent purchase is. Nothing helps me forget the last one quite like the next one. That's not always the case, but it definitely happens a lot.

Nice! I like your photography with the Pontiac logo too. Makes it look like a brochure picture. Very cool.?

Regarding the hood. I have a Camaro hood that was giving me trouble. I used a hair dryer. What I did was to slightly over-bend it, past the point where you want it to be. Then, while it’s still warm from the hair dryer, put it in cold water to “shock” it. I don’t know the science behind it, but it seems to hold position better that way, vs letting it cool slowly. You may need to repeat the process a few times, but it should eventually stay. I’ve used this technique many times. Works good for warped chassis too. One word of warning. Keep the heat from the hair dryer moving. You don’t want to hold it in one place for too long. Full disclosure- the Camaro hood was laying perfectly for a few months. Then when I painted it, it warped slightly back. Not as much as originally thought. Might have been the solvents in the paint. It was automotive lacquer.

That engine looks terrific! My dad tells stories about one of these from back in the day too. He says street racing was big in Fort Wayne, and this was one of the cars he’d see around. Said it was black and had “South Bend Shaker” painted on it. I’ve heard this story from him so many times. I’d LOVE to see that car. Good luck with your build. Bet it will look terrific when completed!?

Looking great so far.

Awesome. Thanks much for the link. I’ll check it out and hopefully head off any issues before they arise.?

In between other projects, I got this one in primer today. I don’t see any issues, so I’m calling it ready for paint. Also, I think I have a plan for it now. I have this old original red-line Hot Wheels that was given to me when I was a kid. Red-lines were a little before my time, but a friend of my mom’s, had a grocery bag full of originals, still in the packaging. She gave me three or four, which I immediately took out and played with. Hey I was just a kid. Give me a break!? So I think this will become sort of a nod to that old Hot Wheels. Not a full replica. I’m not going with front engine (although I hope one of you guys does just that sometime!). For those not familiar with this car, here’s a pic. Not mine. I swiped this image from google. Mine is buried under a pile of boxes here somewhere.

That’ is awesome weathering. Wow. Very cool.

What did you use for a wash? You might be able to clean it up with a cotton swab and something like isopropyl alcohol. But that depends on your wash. Don’t saturate the swab. Just get it damp. Be careful using this technique on the chrome. I’ve had issues there before. Don’t “scrub” it. Just wipe over it lightly a time or two. edit- meant to say isopropyl alcohol. Not denatured.

Steve, do shoot a gloss coat before applying washes? I've seen that done by the airplane and armor guys.

It's almost certainly just a different batch of plastic. I wouldn't sweat it. As said above, wash it like you normally would and go for it. Usually this would come through as a noticeably different colored streak. You know the lines you see in kits molded in different colors other than white? Particularly silver? It would look similar to that, with the streak being the different color.

I think that’s the next thing I’ll tackle before I do anything else. You’re not kidding about this kit being a pain either! Many molding issues. I think I counted about seven separate areas just on the body that needed addressed due to poor molding process. These weren’t related to the tool, just poor process settings on the press. I work in the plastic molding business and see this kind of stuff all the time. They clearly are just cranking them out as fast as possible with little regard to quality.

I agree with all that's been said above. The only thing I would add is another option for picking out details would be Tamiya panel line accent. Won't really do anything different than the washes mentioned above. Just another possibility. And it's super easy to use. Another possibility might be Mr. Weathering Color. This one I haven't tried yet. But results I've seen on YouTube look promising. I plan to give it a shot very soon.

I’ve been working on this kit for a few months now. It started life as practice for painting. As such, it’s been stripped three times now. I started with Rustolium (shot it too thick and had runs), switched to Dupli Color Perfect Match (first time using it and I got terrible orange peel), stripped and shot it again, only to burn through on the polishing stage. This has become a great tool for learning the trade. Each screw up has been my own fault and I think I’ve learned from my mistakes (boy I hope so…?). Originally I didn’t intend to do a wip on the Camaro, but I started thinking about what a journey it’s been already. Many of you have seen the stages of this in other threads I started. So now it’s time to get a little more serious about this kit and see what happens. Here’s where it stands today. I have a few versions of this kit, but I picked this one up most recently. They sell pretty cheap now and I couldn’t resist. Floor pan, suspension components, and wheels are painted. There is still some detail painting to do, but it’ll wait for now. I did some research, and it seems some of the Camaros had black floor pans and others had red oxide. Depends on where they were built. I’ll probably weather it very lightly, just to bring out some definition. Interior is painted and awaiting details. I actually just shot the engine Chevy engine orange just before I wrote this. It’s still wet here. And finally, the body…. Ah yes. I’ll keep the story short (too late!). I plan to build this as more of a stripped version, sort of basic Camaro. I’ll still be using the same engine, but just to be different from the crowd, this one won’t have stripes, and I’m leaving the rear spoiler off. The kit comes with indents for mounting the spoiler, that are filled here. Also, there is a sink mark on the roof above the dome light. That’s filled here too. Not difficult, but this step has had to be repeated every time I stripped the body and restarted. I think that’s it for now. Love it or hate it, let me know what you think. Thanks for following along!

What dremel bit are you guys using?

Great tips guys. I’ll have to give this a shot. Although I think I’ll try the file first. I tend to melt plastic every time I get within ten feet of a model if I’m holding a dremel.?

HL just raised the price of Testors spray paint too. I usually get Extreme Lacquer there for $5.99. Now it's $8.29. I was buying two cans of wet look clear, and one had the old price, but the other can had the new price. I left with one can.

Wow! Great craftsmanship. Looks perfect.