m408

Would be glad to. How do I do it? I mean other than typing it in each entry. Also, What is this stuff with me bieng an "advanced" member? Must be the number of logins. Can't be based on knowledge.

O.K. I'm convinced. On my sample, I only used one color. Thought that it was great for the clean line with no seepage. Have now tried it two tone and guess what? Lifted paint. Tried the glass/mirror option to reduce the chance of lift off. However the resultant lack of tackiness led to seepage. will go with the BMF or Tamiya.

Sorry about the misunderstanding. I guess I was overlly sensitive when my hours of painfully routing and dressing wires on my 1:1 was labled as silley and non realistic. I agree, looping plug wires all over the place is unnatural and no street rodder worth his salt would do it. Again, I appreciate all of the help you guys have given me and I hope that I haven't "P"ed to many people off.

Sorry, didn't mean to berate anyone. I appreciate all of the help that I have gotten here. My point was that of all of the street rods that I have seen, special detail was paid to little things. Like dressing wiring, not just plug wires, but everything. Even to the point of laying wires in bundles parrell to each other rather than twisted. This was a low cost way of making your car a little special. My goal in model car building is to replicate, as close as possible, the cars that I would see at local, not national, shows. In the future I'll keep any comments to myself.

Not so. When I built my 1:1 33 chevy, all of the wiring was dressed with nice arcs, including plug wires. Made national magazines twice and numerous local awards. "Real" doesn't have to mean sloppy.

Geez, I'm asking a lot of questions here. Forgive me, just trying to catch up after 30 years. How about using scotch "invisable" tape for masking? Very thin so not much paint build up on masked edges, easy to apply and can be burnised down easily to avoid seeping. Not much residue left after removal. I have tried it on some test parts and seems fine. Burnished the edges with a tooth pick. Am I missing something?

I read somewhere in one of the tips, that Tamiya paints require no priming. True? If so, what prep is recommended? Not true? If not, what is the recommended primer?

On my way to RS in the morning. Thanks.

Already tried the drill in the x-acto and it works great. Thanks a bunch. While I'm here, how complete a wiring job do you do?I built a 33" Chevy street rod and did the wiring my self. Got prety complicated. I mean with the alternator, battery, voltage regular, connections into the interior etc... could get kind of messy.

My next step in raising my skill level will be first attempt at engine wiring. Got a pin vise with tiny drills and scaled plug wires. Decided to practice on scrapes and now i'm stuck. Can't seem to get the drill bit started accuratly. Tried heating a pin up to use as a center punch. Still no luck. Also, what glue to use to secure wires?

Hey Peter, This may sound silly but...Why couldn't you use the same procedure for all add on chrome parts? ie... side trim, window molding, street rod door hinges, etc...

Thanks Gregg, I read a lot of good stuf about Tamiya paints. Does it hold true for the small bottles? All I have ever used is Testors and have no referance for comparison. I know absolutly nothing about using automotive primers or paints on plastic models. I know that they are less expensive, but have been afraid of melting the plastic. Are the primers compatable with both laquer and enamel? Again, I have been out of this for 40 years and have a lot of catching up to do. I too do the alligator clip thing in boxes. (also to hold small together while gluing.) Another thing that I do that may be old hat to you pros, but maybe not. For things like dash boards, fenders, hoods, etc...I'll take a small length of left over sprue, carve one end down to about 1/16" or 1/8", spot glue the small end to an underside or otherwise non visable of the part to be painted, then use the alligator clip thing. Makes for easy handling during painting and minimum of touch up.

I would like to try some rattle can metalics and don't know where to start. Any special preps? what about primers or under coats? As long as I am already here, I used to have major problems painting frames when I would have to later attach parts of a different color. Was a real pain scraping paint or trying to cut tiny pieces of masking tape. I found a single hole paper punch at big lots for $0.53. I use it on regular masking tape. Makes a 3/16 round piece which can easily trimed even smaller.

Latest dollar store finds. A set of fingernail highlight stuff. Could make great dash knobs and blue dot tail lights. Also, fingernail fixing soft tools. 4 different grits on small sized pads. Polishing in small spots?

Nope, freezer didn't work. Have had it in there for 4 hours. I'll let it stay overnight. No superglue debonding available at my LHS. I think that best play, I really want a convertable, is to get the coupe kit. dremal off the top section, do the same with my convertable, and match them up. Comments?

Put together over a month ago and went heavy with the glue where it wouldn't show. Kit is a Revel 40 ford convertable street rod and I can't find any new kits anywhere including Revel.

I earlier had posted a question about "in house" paint booths and have had lots of great feedback. Main concerns were from hazardous vapors, both igniting and breathing, so I'm exploring alternatives. How about just painting in the garage with doors open? I can controll dust, to a certian degree, with a fan. Temprature should not be much of a problem. Stays in the 70s most days. Painting is done with cans. Cant' afford air brushes and if I could, would take me years to figure them out. Not looking for show worthey models, just nice ones. Your thoughts?

I have a model whose body, with one coat of paint, was glued together using Testors tube glue No.3501. I would like to "unglue " it, strip the paint and start over. Possible? If so, how?

Mike, Try strobist.blogspot.com Instructions for building a lightbox from a cardboard box and white tissue paper.

Great ideas guys. I have a window available. I'll check out some booths on line, get the specs, and build my own. I'm thinking a lazy susan kind of turntable with addable fixtures for small parts, maybe alligator clips inserted in holes, as well as bodies.

Thanks for your inputs guys, and I appreciate your concerns for my safety. But, it's not an apartment, a townhouse. No commen air or heat systems. My closest source for exposed flame, pilot light, is three floors down, in the basement. Please accept this as a caviate to release all who respond from any responsibility for my wellfare. Just give me some ideas or specs. about an in house paint booth.

Nope. No dryer vents, no anything that goes through exterior walls that aren't allready there. O.K. so a light in a cardboard box isn't such a great idea. Maybe I'll make the box out of plywood. My budget doesn't allow for food dehydrators. Nor does it allow for sending parts out to be re-chromed, (see previous entry under "old dog".) I'm just an old school guy trying to take advantage of the new technologies. I do not intend to build "show" quality models, just some that are better than what I used to make.

Let me set the scene. I live in a townhouse complex which has restrictions about mechanical vents or such through the outside walls. I do my modeling in a spare bedroom/den. I would like to do my painting in the room as opposed to a cold garage. Does anyone have plans or ideas for an "in house" paint booth? Fumes are not a problem ( I live by my self ). Also, what about incorporating a light bulb in it to speed drying times? My first thought was a cardboard box with a small computer fan for exhaust with one of those face masks for a filter and a small lazy suzan thing to rotate parts as I paint.

Thanks to all of you for your help. The thing that I have the most of, is time. I will try all of your suggestions.

Thanks for the input. However, as I said, I'm not looking to build show quality cars, so the added expense of re-plating is out of my range. I know that gold leaf which can be just applied and burnished is available at resonable cost. Is such a thing available in chrome? If not, it should be. I'm sure that there are a bunch of modelers out there that would snap it up. As far as air brushing, for me, forget it. I'm just now learning how to use the rattle cans.