Michael jones

Been working on this Revell Challenger for a while. Converting from a road car to a race car. Interior done. Guards flared. Exhaust system nearly ready for paint. Got the correct FJ5 paint for the body. Note: This build is being done to a budget of time and money, and does not completely reflect either the original pictures of the Sam Posey cars or the restored car which is quite different going by pictures. I have however taken some ideas from some of the trans am builds on this and other forums. Mike

All good guys, don't worry about it, I guess I meant to say its not mentioned about the distance between the lip and the bead, but is calculated on that picture yes. Please just disregard. Thanks

My point exactly

I believe this method may be wrong. Real car wheels are measured for diameter at the bead where the tyre sits. Not at the lip as shown in this drawing. That is why some model car wheels seem a little bigger than they should be, when actually they are probably correct. That would account for the approx. 1 inch difference people have been noticing.

Probably is a lacquer even though it may be listed as an enamel. I know a lot of nail enamel shows obvious signs of being lacquer. They just use the name enamel because is sounds more luxurious :)

Thanks very much for the info guys, Mike

Gidday, As the title says, what is a good way to remove raised tire lettering without causing damage to the tire? thanks Mike

Gidday, just looking at David Thibodeau's Sam Posey Trans Am Challenger, it seems like he attached the front and blended the guard before painting, but possibly attached the rear after chassis fitment. On my build I have actually cut the lights and grill from the front bodywork, because that area would be fairly hard to mask if glued in place. I can paint it black, add details and then glue it in place after. I think your idea is good to cut away some of the fenders on the chassis to make fitment easier. Thanks for the idea. Mike

Gidday, I was wondering if you had to attach the body to the chassis per the instructions without the front and rear light/grill/bumper assemblies, or whether you could attach them first so the seams could be smoothed and painted as one before assembly onto the chassis. See attached photos thanks very much Mike

The paint is gaianotes fluro yellow with 2k clear over top. Thanks

The exhaust tips are actually just the kit plastic ones, but do look pretty good. Thanks

Thanks for the nice comments.

Thanks, the engine came with the car strangely. Its a curbside kit, but with engine. I did add some engine bay parts though..

Fluro yellow paint (not showing properly in pics), 2k clear, carbon fibre roof decal, lowered, Pegasus wheels.

Finished a couple of months ago, cut out bonnet, nail polish paint, with 2k clear. Asuka wheels/tyres. Lowered etc

It looks beautiful Peteski. It looks like you have got the technique down for the clear coat. A little side story - my models sat in a show for 2 days recently and were covered in dust by the end anyway. Even the judges would not be able to tell if the tiny dust particles were part of the model or not . Worse on white or light coloured cars. Normally my cars sit in a cabinet where they are only seen by me or my family. I do agree there are times where you must sand a specific spot to fix dust etc. But if you have to do the whole car, you probably need to change your technique and allow the paint to flow more whether by retarding the paint or by spraying closer/moving slower/more paint.

To be honest the above paint finishes are not perfect and do have dust etc in the paint. However for the amount of effort involved and lack of any risky sanding, they strike a good balance. Especially with 2k clear, you generally can just follow the instructions and as long as you get it wet enough on the final coat, you will get this kind of finish consistently.

I don't bother with sanding. The most important thing is to apply the base coat/clear in the best way possible to reduce orange peel. With lacquer this would be done with Mr Levelling thinner and also applying very wet without runs (very hard to do well) after some mist coats to tack it up. The photos below are 2k clear with no sanding - which is probably the easiest to get this kind of finish. So I guess my answer would be concentrate more on getting a good finish from the airbrush rather than the finishing products.

Often the BMF is too wide on models around the windows and does need a black background that looks like rubber as posted above. I just wonder if there is some narrow metal strips that could be used to make the metal window seals which could be glued on top of some semi gloss black painted window surrounds. That would look more real I believe, but curves might be a problem. Especially seems true with 50's/60's European sports/ GT cars.

Are you removing the paint or the paint and the primer? If it is the paint and primer try Tamiya primer, its expensive but very good stuff.

Future doesn't work on molotow chrome. Turns it to silver. Use E7 paints chrome sealer for that.

Yep - see review here:

Hi guys, I tested the E7 paints shine chrome on a couple of parts. I think it came out looking like a good match for stainless steel. I also cleared the parts with their chrome sealer with no dulling evident. The photo of the chassis, shows the shine chrome on the left and aluminium foil on the right.

Gidday, I left the sealer overnight to dry before I touched it. Yes the spoon was airbrushed, and the spoon had been painted chrome a long time ago so unsure how long you have to wait till sealer application. Mike

Yep the chrome does not rub off with the sealer laid down :). To be honest it looks much better than in the photo.