Roadrunner

Totally awesome. What an excellent looking model.

Thanks a bunch. I feel that finishing it, warts and all, by the show here on October 29th, is very doable, and I'll be concentrating on it almost exclusively.

Today I looked through this entire article, and now I'm so glad that I did. I cannot clear coat this model, as I used the Novus 1,2,3 system. Novus #2 contains silicone, so additional paint is an absolute no-no. I also discovered that I'd sprayed at least three clear coats, so further polishing seemed very doable. Keeping this in mind, a little toothpaste, followed by some Mequiar's (which is drying up), yielded wonderful results, at least results that I can now live with. Before: After:

Thanks for the input(s), fellas. I'll go with more clear and polishing, as I don't recall using much clear before, and don't want to end up sanding the paint off. Gloss T/A stripes it will be.

What green did you use? It looks just wonderful. (Never mind, you already said what it was.)

One issue I face now, is the need to clear coat the body again. At the time, I thought I’d done a great job of polishing it out, but I really hadn’t done that great at all. The biggest issue with this is that the T/A stripes will now be glossy instead of semi-gloss, like they should be. Masking over the decal to spray semi-gloss is not something I’m willing to do at all. Thoughts?

Hood has a not so nice twist to it. I may just end up epoxying the hood in place, as it's going to be a curbside entry anyway.

After 9 years (hard to believe, really), it’s finally time to wrap this one up. Many of the detail parts I’d already prepped, have long since gone missing. I do have replacement kits though, so no worries there. First off is the hood. Transitioning smoothly from the hood to the intake, will be my biggest challenge here no doubt.

The blue is straight from the TS can (lacquer), and yes, it had no adverse effect on the Testors paint, thank goodness. While I have painted a lot of aircraft and armor kits, car models are sort of new to me, at least a more adult approach anyway. I built lots of car models when I was just a lad, but most of those really looked pretty horrible. Filtering the paint, at least to me, is a secondary issue. I'm mostly concerned with not messing up the clear blue, as the color density needs to be really consistent.

Here's what I have in mind for the sedan.. Tamiya clear blue over Testors diamond dust (spoon "A"). I really don't want to mess this up, so I'm thinking airbrushing the colors may be the way to go here.

I see videos a lot where the painter (on real cars), filters the paint, even though as frequently as not, they're using fresh paint, though I'm not sure why they do that. I'm also strongly considering the purchase of an Iwata detail gun, specifically for my model car finishes.

Good thoughts, and I appreciate it.

The idea of airbrushing vs using the rattle cans. One of the colors I'll be using is a clear color, and I know that consistency in coverage is paramount. Sorry I wasn't more clear about that.

Nice work. I like it a lot.

Beautiful!

I'm going to have to experiment, I guess. I want to lay down a nice paint job on a '32 Ford sedan, and I don't think spray bombs will work well enough, so I'm going to try airbrushing it on. Just the idea of this makes me nervous.

I'm wondering about that myself. That's why I'm interested in the appropriate size micron filter to use.

Excellent input. Thanks for the great ideas, fellas.

Thanks, Dusty, I appreciate the input.

My favorite (so far). My Revell '68 Dodge Charger.

Magnificent, as usual. Great job, Steve.

My current (and rather shameful) way of dealing with chrome, is to just avoid it whenever possible. Old roadsters, coupes and sedans usually seem devoid of excessive chrome, and newer Challengers, Chargers and such, are virtually chrome-less, so that's what I'll probably stick with. I'll never be the master that Steve is, I'm quite sure of that.

I've seen paint filters of various sizes available on Amazon. Does anyone here actually do that, and if so, any recommendation on filter size (in microns)? Thanks a bunch.

I like that color.

Nice! Makes me think it's time to finish my own.