E St. Kruiser50

Hey Harry STIRING THE POT can be lotsa fun at times . I think building is about 95% "Perception". What seems to "Work" for one person doesn't always work for another. I don't think there is any one "Expert" at Alclading, painting or any other discipline here. We all share different idea's about what works for us, and I don't think there is any one "DIFINITIVE ANSWER" to your question, which I think is kinda cool. I have several ways of doing almost anything I do, and there are times one is better than another. I hope this confuses you more -

Hi Harry I dion't know if this is a definitive answer, but as I've said before ALSA CORP. has the same exact product called MIRRA CHROME, even though Alclad denies it, and they list there base as alcohol/acetone. All you have to do is "pop" the top and smell it to tell what it is. DEFINATELY NOT LACQUER !!! Also the MIRRA CHROME uses urethanes instead of lacquers, and it work fine. I have cross sprayed the products with each other and all is the same and works great. I'm no expert by any means, but I know what's worked for me equally sucessful. I've given seminars in all three western states, including at the NNL WEST for Steve Hinson in 2007, and I heard about good results later. To me, no one needs to be THE EXPERT, we just share different idea's and let you guy's decide what works . The bottom line to me is, there are several ways to get from point A to point B, so try a few different idea's from what you read here, and see what works for you. MY 2 cent's

Very light air pressure, and light coats, is one of the keys to sucess. Samples should always be shot first, and never assume you will do anything right the first time. As MR. OBSESSIVE always says, and I quote him - "PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE". None of us do anything right the first time. WHY DO WE ALL THINK WE'RE THAT GOOD ???? DON'T GIVE UP UNTIL YOU GET IT RIGHT - dave

During my career as a mechanical engineer, I hated the term's "If it ain't broke don't fix it" - or "That's the way it's alway's been done, and that's how we'll do it" I was alway's searching to find way's to do things faster , more efficiently, more cost effective, better, and some times different to be fun, mixed with the others mentioned here. Small things like a hinge design can be a lot of fun and challage me to look at area's of my building differently, and keep my building skills challanged and kind of "Edgy and "Fresh" at the same time". This is a double-acting hinge that pivot's in two places and allows a variety poses that can be unique and even function as sun block at an out-door car show . Here's the stretched chassis and stretched drive-line set in place. Here's the first pretty normal hood position. Here's an interesting position, where the hood is resting on the bumper pan. Here it is resting in front of the car for a more "Distracted Look" . And here we are getting some shade at a local cruise in

Hey all Thought this would be fun to share. A lot of you out there have lived a similar life . In the era and location of the "BEACH BOYS", literally, is where I grew up. San Bernardino to L.A., everyone in the 50's and 60's were building street rods and customs. I mean they were everywhere, on every street, in every town, they were prolific. In high school, on the way home on the bus, I'd get off near my home, and walk over to Dodson's Auto Body and Customs, and watch them build some pretty outrageous customs. Bending the copper tubing to go around a '53 Buick headlight bucket, heating and spreading the lead with a wooden paddle, and shaping the lead with their "Cheese Gradder" style open files. They also built the Carson tops with all the cloth covering. Can't believe how cool it is to look back on something that at the time, you never realized what you were experiencing. It's really cool to look back over that long of a period of time at one particular part of the American culture, and realize how iconic and only American, was this almost fanatical phenomenon - THE CAR. We were all caught up in it, and were just doing what everyone did and loved it. Almost an addiction to speed, stye and creative expression. Looking back, the interest was everywhere. Land speed record cars, race cars, customs, street rods, high boys, low boys, and dragsters. Every fad imaginable happened back then, and during this last 60 years, including SUEDE PAINT JOBS of every color. An amazingly huge part of our culture was devoted to the American cars, and especially speed. Scottie Mufflers in San Berdoo was famous as a speed shop and for the cars they built and raced. I used to go there and buy speed parts for my Hemi powered '50 Merc. There were speed shops and manufacturer's everywhere, especially in L.A. And drag strips were everywhere. On the week ends it was Orange County, Irwindale, Lyons drag strip, and others. The first modified car I remember, that changed my whole life, was a 1949 Cadillac sedanette (Fastback), that was sitting on the ground. White with purple flames that ran the full length of the car, on the roof and trunk and everywhere, with huge whitewalls, almost no blackwall showing at all. It was "GORGEOUS".On the week ends we'd cruise E Street in Berdoo, or go to Palm springs or the Sunset Boulevard in L.A. On spring break we' go to Dana Point and pitch a tent and spend the week there crusin', chasin women , and checkin' out all the cars - WOW!! Newport beach, Laguna Beach on highway one. Bumper to bumper street rods, customs, race cars, including - STREET DRAGSTERS - THAT'S RIGHT. REAL LIVE DRAGSTERS SET UP FOR THE STREET - EXCEPT THE EXHAUST. They'd tow these things to the beach, un-trailer um, and drive um into traffic right down town with open zoomie exhaust. I remember them blocking off the traffic right in town and "Staging Up", side by side, and wheel standing and racing - it was insane and everyone cheered and loved it, and there were literally thousands of us down there for spring break watching. MODEL CARS; THEY WERE JUST COMING INTO THEIR OWN. Plastic model car kits were at the time, something really brand new and exciting for us kids. Crude wooden kits was all we had before that. As times changed the details grew. Spray paints at first were unheard of, so you brushed all your paints on. Engine wiring and cloth for interiors came from your mother's sewing box and left over sewing scraps. Body filler was plastic wood dough, dipped in acetone, so it would stick to the plastic. It took a lot of imagination and inginuity to make your models look real and stand out for contests. No after-market back then. Got to meet George Barris and Larry Watson, and a few other's back in the 50's. Every kid you knew was building model cars, and there were hobby shops everywhere. Man it was fun !! The magazine's back then were really cool and a huge source for idea's, as modifying cars like they were was relatively a new idea. The 50's was really the birth of car building, and model cars, as we know them today, and only looking back over all that time and all those experiences, can a person fully appreciate how much fun it has been to experience 60 years of model car building from it's beginning, and to be able to have enjoyed real cars, all this time. WHAT A RIDE

You're right Tito . Had some pretty rough spots in my earlier life, and I learned later on, that to enjoy the times when they were good, was to PURPOSELY have fun with friends, family, and the things you love to do. For me, life's too short not to - dave

WELL, WHO'DA THOUGHT THANKS "DUDE" Funny how "TWISTED MIND's" think alike I like your progress here. I'll keep watchin'and "Checkin' in" once in a while, to see how your doin'. Keep up the good work - dave SCALE AUTO - AUG. 2003 Here's your "Inspiration" .

NOW THAT'S FUNNY

Congratulations !!! It looks beautiful, and YOU SHOULD BE VERY PROUD OF YOURSELF !!! GREAT JOB ON A WONDERFUL KIT - dave

Whatever you do when trying something new is to "SHOOT SAMPLE'S FIRST" !!! BTW - FYI In the future, I wouldn't suggest using black primer for anything but a black paint job, and use light gray primer first when doing any alterations. Black hides the flaws that will show up in your final color. Light gray primer, on the other hand, shows all the flaws that you need to see before you paint. Also, I use a ton of Plasticote white primer T-237, which sands and feather's out beautifully after drying overnight, and goes on very thin for complete coverage. This stuff is just "KILLER". I always use a gray primer to start with and then if needed, and it usually is, I shoot 3 light to medium coat of the white primer, for a nearly glass finish, even before sanding. Here's one I did in urethane, but the same exact painting routine - Primer, sanded, a white base coat, scarlet red, and then the clear coat.

Hey there "Fujimi Guy" For me on the painting with bright colors, like yellows and so forth, I use a white base color, as it really makes your top coat "POP" and really "DAZZLE". Give it a try on a sample piece, and I think you'll like the results. The other color of primers and base colors seem to mute or soften the the top coat color, which in some instances is exactly what you want. Hope this helps - dave

WOW!! This is going to be a great build to follow. I'm a color and contrast guy, and I love flame jobs, so this one really "trips my trigger" . Beautiful start - dave

BEAUTIFUL JOB YOU SHOULD BE VERY PROUD OF IT - dave

OK Harry We all know this is a real car and you just "FAKED IN" the background .

I totally agree with you Harry . Also there's a lot of tricks to every trade, and to me personally, I think jumping in without any "WORKING WITH A PRO EXPERIENCE", is a really bad choice . Everyone I know who has been sucessful at a business, including myself, had experience before they started. YOU'RE NOT TALKING A LEMON AIDE STAND HERE

Will You are right . If you go back and re-read my post, you'll see that I said, you could use your flat black, as long as you sprayed GLOSSY CLEAR OVER IT . Hope it works for you - dave

Hey Will Great question. There are differing opinions on this topic, so I'm not here to disagree with anyone else's, just share with you what I've had sucess with. I have four or five different chroming systems, including Alclad that I've used since it was introduced, and I still use it. I have posted on this topic before on several forums, including here, and the feed back has always been good. I have sprayed Alclad over enamels, lacquers and urethane's with equally good results. The only difference for me in choosing which to use was the lenth of time it took to get the "Equal Results". Enamels took the longest, because of drying time. Urethane's require the most work. Lacquer's for me are the fastest by a mile for the same result's. (1) As stated here in other post's, the base must be SMOOTH and GLOSSY, no matter the color you use. (2) I use a CLEAR lacquer over the black, so your black can be flat, as long as the clear is VERY SMOOTH and SHINY. In my experience, it gives more depth and brillance to the chrome. Other's here who have tried this suggestion have agreed. (3) I shoot in a warm inviornment. I don't use a food dehydrator. Cold and moisture have an instant effect on whatever comes out of an airbrush or can. YOU NEVER SEE A 'REAL TIME CAR PAINTER" shoot a $10,000 paint job in cold weather and then drive it into his warm paint booth . I have a walk in heated, lit, and ventilated spray booth. Not to brag about it, but to get the result's I want. I'm not knocking the use of dehydrator's, I'm just saying it's only part of the painting process. Paint has to be warm initially to lay down properly, hence warming a spray can if used as part of the painting process. People will say that spraying in the cold and using a dryer give's "Real Good Results", but REAL GOOD is only a relative term, remember though, I'M TALKING ABOUT OPTIMAL RESULT'S, most builder's don't have a spray booth available, so a dryer can work. (4) OVERDRYING THE BASE COLOR - Over drying the base doesn't allow the Alclad to "GET A BITE" into the base color, hence allowing it to rub off easily. I've found over the years that over drying and the mis-nomer of off-gassing kills a lot of other-wise great paint jobs and good intentions. Off-gassing is a term some model builder came up with that never painted real cars. I have painted real cars many times and know several "REAL TIME" car painter's. Every manual, and every can direction's is ALL about wet-in-wet painting - same with Alclad - DON'T LET IT DRY 'TILL YOU'RE COMPLETELY DONE. GUY'S NEVER READ THE DIRECTIONS, AND THEN TRY TO BE AN EXPERT . GO FIGURE. O.K. - HERE'S WHAT I DO; (1) Prep the base as smooth as possible with a good lacquer primer like Duplicolor or Plasticote - DEFINETLY NOT "KRYLON". Sorry - To me it's garbage - IMO. Never used Tmiya primer so can't comment, but I've heard some complaints here. (2) Shoot the black and clear lacquers 3 coats each, light, med, heavy, 15 minutes apart in 80 degree temp,. Never below 70 degree's. YES - You do shoot the clear 15 minutes after the black. Remember guy's - wet-in-wet. This is flash time not drying time - totally different. (3) WAIT AN HOUR - Shoot 2-3 light coats of Alclad - It will "BITE" into the clear. (4) Should be easily handleable in a couple hours, but never over-never handle Alcladed part's or kit chrome parts, as oily skin and handling have adverse effects on both. I use soft COTTON gloves during handling both, to keep everything fresh and shiney - not to look "PRISSY" . (4) LASTLY - The next day use a "VERY SOFT" make-up brush to "VERY CAREFULLY" remove the tiny particles of over-spray dust. This will give your part(s) a smoother look and finish. (5) ALWAYS DO SAMPLES FIRST to get a system your comfortable with- NEVER PRACTICE ON A FINISHED PART. WHEW - I didn't intend on writing a book. THIS IS LIKE SOMETHING THE "FLORIDA GUY" would write

Hi Tom Good to hear back from you. KEEPING THE BODY FROM SNAPPING: I always build support into area's that are "Flimsy"When cutting the doors open especially, I attach appropriate removeable braces, cut out the door's, build plenty of strength into the jams to make the body ridged, and then remove the braces, when I feel confident it will work. That's what I did on the "Retro-Vette". As far as color, we all have different preferences, so I'd just use your imagination, and try picturing it in the one's you like. Remember, you can always repaint it. Hope this helps - dave

HAPPY EASTER ALL

Hey Tom I checked out your web-site. Actually, I think you're doin' exactly as I would do on your Stude. It's a really cool start and everything looks like it's coming together very nicely. Got colors picked out yet?? Only advise I could give is to stay focused on what you want to accomplish, and be determined to make it happen. "GIVING UP IS THE WORSE THING WE COULD DO TO OURSELVES." Is yours shortened?? I had someone here challange me to build one like you're doin, so I bought everything I needed. I'll watch how you do your's and I'll get to learn from you .

SOME PEOPLE JUST LOOK AT THE PITCHURE'S

I love all these different responses . To me there are the "Regular Cheaters", and then there are the "Obnoxiously Blatant Cheaters" No body lines at all, on either one - basically "Jelly Bean" cars . You decide on these two

Back in 1959, my dad bought a 1957 Pontiac Star Chief, two door hardtop. I learned to drive in that car. It was amazingly fast and beautiful. Fast forward to 1972, and there I am in San Bernardino, Calif. looking in the L.A. classifieds for a '57 Pontiac. I found one the first day of looking, but it said "SAFARI WAGON". Never heard of it. I called the number and the owner said it looked like a Nomad, only different. So the wife and I drove to Pomona. WOW - IT WAS COOL LOOKING . I asked my wife what she thought, and she liked it. It would need some work and parts scrounging, but that was fun, so I gave him $500 and drove it home. 3 1/2 years later and it was done. Back then there were Nomads in wrecking yards to get parts from . Over the last few years, I have collected some magazine adds of Pontiacs, from sellers on eBay. Pretty reasonable prices for the originals. I am posting one of the exact body style and color of my dads and one of a cool looking Safari. When I have something like this I want to build, it usually takes me awhile to collect all the parts. About four years ago, I decided to use Danbury Mint die-casts to make the model. I've done body work on customizing some of my 1 to 1 cars I owned, so I figured it couldn't be too much different, and I'd already done a few die-cast customs that I had been commisioned for from collectors here in the area. As you can see in the pic's, all the pieces are there, and many bagged, just like when I did my real cars. Some things never change . Kinda brings back good memories of dis-mantling my real cars and starting from scratch, like I did on the Safari. This is just a head's-up on what's coming in the future. When I get serious and a little closer, I'll start a new thread. The model I'll build will be the color of my dads two tone Star Chief - creme and burgandy. This is what my dads car looked like. A Safari add This is the car I owned and resto-rodded Here's all the parts it'll take.

VERY, VERY NICE . I love the colors - BEAUTIFUL !!! What brand and colors did you use? Nice pic's too - looks like a real car. Keep up the great work - dave