showrods

A few things: 1. You said: "all kits were painted outside in the garage on nice warm days". It's going to be warmer in the garage than it is outside. This could be problem #1 - it was probably too warm. 2. As LennyB mentioned it could well have been too humid too. Tamiya paints tend to lay down excellently unless there are mitigating circumstances. 3. Were you using an airbrush or spraying from the can? 4. Your post would seem to infer that the bodies were all perfect at the time that they were put away and that the problems occurred while they were in storage. Is this correct? 5. I would not bring freshly Tamiya painted bodies inside to off gas. They can smell strongly for many hours afterwards. I'd leave them outside in a well ventilated area for 24 hours.

Which version are you looking for?

Almost looks as if you could start it up. Great job!

Nice clean build. What colour and brand is that on the lower hull?

I haven't built this particular kit but I have built other Auroras and figure kits using both Vallejo and Tamiya - sometimes both on the same model. If you've never used Vallejo before, I STRONGLY recommend that you go to YouTube and watch as many "How to use Vallejo paints" videos as you can - same goes for Tamiya. Vallejo paints are broken down into "Air" and "Color" lines. "Air" is for airbrush use and "Color" is for brushing. You'll likely be doing both on the "Snake Scene" as it's more commonly known. I'm a big believer in using proprietary products. In other words, thin Vallejo paints with Vallejo thinners and Tamiya paints with Tamiya thinner. You can paint over Tamiya primer with Vallejo paints but I would not do the reverse. Vallejo is a water based paint while Tamiya is not. Have at it and keep us posted!

Dave you and I have had some back and forth on this over on the Showrods site. I've copied and pasted below a post that I made there a couple of years ago. Bottom line is it seems to be flip flopping back and forth as to who's got what. So the questions still remain. Who DOES have what and what is its status???? Way back on March 13, 2010, someone named "Pete" started a thread here on the Stage Ghost. He stated that he was from Atlantis Model Company and that they had all of the "tools" for the kit with the exception of the chrome tree and the instructions. He asked whether someone could send him the tree and instructions so that Atlantis could do a "special run" of the Stage Ghost. A few on the thread pointed out that the chrome tree was shared by several kits in the Pyro line - including The Serpent. Some back and forth for a few years on this thread and it seemed that the consensus was that the chrome mold did in fact exist. Flash forward to 2017 and The Serpent is re-issued. Flash forward to 2021 and: still no Stage Ghost; "Pete" is listed as "Deleted Member" with 0 posts. Did he delete his own account or was he "deleted"? Was/is he a legit employee at Atlantis or was he just someone trying to obtain chrome parts and instructions? Given all of this: does anyone have any intel on the re-issuing of the Stage Ghost? Are we any closer to seeing it today than we were 11 years ago? (if we really were close 11 years ago). Can anyone confirm with 100% certainty that the molds really do exist?

OK - what is the LATEST on the Stage Ghost's whereabouts? Is it with Round2? Is it with Atlantis? Are the molds split between the two? Or is it "whereabouts unknown"?

There should be no need to apologize nor should you be chastised for anything. I've seen people post weird or strange stuff upon someone's passing. The person that should be chastised is the one who posted it. In fact, it may well be a criminal offence...

Are you double/triple washing it?

I tried this method (with Sunlight instead of Dawn lol) and I'm very pleased with the results. Curiously, it did not allow me as much time as I thought despite the application of a fairly liberal amount of the solution. I had to get them in place quite quickly. That said, I highly recommend this method but pay attention as sharp corners lifted for a time and had to be burnished down several time. Everything settled down in the end. Thanks Gary for this suggestion and thanks to all who responded.

I started thinking about this exact problem yesterday so the timing of your post was perfect. Thanks!

Or the sticker either hopefully LOL. Thanks for this tip.

I think that I'll start with this. There's plenty of border beyond the stickers that I can use to test this method. As well, the underside of the base is thankfully fully chromed so it should be a good testing ground. Thanks.

I'm not sure though what water does to the adhesive properties of the decal. For regular paint surfaces, I've heard of people using a mixture of water and dish soap. I've also heard of people using Windex. This one scares me as I worry about what effect it would have on the chrome. The problem I have is that I've never heard of anyone using anything on a chrome surface...

Is there anyone with knowledge on how to apply STICKERS to models? There's lots of info on decals but precious little on stickers. The stickers I'll be applying will be on chrome. I'll need a foolproof method that allows me time to position the stickers as opposed to an all or nothing scenario of peeling, sticking and hoping that I got lucky re placement. Of course, this method can't result in the chrome being dulled or marred in any way. Thanks in advance. Peter