Brendan

Here's a link to my pictures of Saturday's race at Laguna Seca. Hope you enjoy. http://public.fotki.com/30howden/laguna-seca-2007/

When I worked at a hobby shop, we would get returns like this all the time. When we talked to the manufacturer, they gave two reasons why this could occur. The product was either at the beginning or the end of the roll for manufacturing and did not get cut off. They remove the first yard and the last yard of the roll. The other reason that was given was that in the shipping process it went from hot to cold and hot to cold which they said would affect the glue which holds the BMF to the backing paper. I think that they were just giving excuses. I think they had manufacturing problems sometimes.

Christian, I don't know anything about the Testors Air Compressor, but in my opinion, I would not buy one. For about the same price, you can get any nailgun air compressor...anywhere between $100-150. And you can get them with a 2 to 5 gallon tank attached to the compressor. They usually have a moisture trap and a regulator with it. When I'm doing work at night and I need to be quiet, I fill my tank up beforehand and do any airbrushing that I need to do. In the long run, these types of air compressors are usually less expensive and don't have a tendency to burn up. Hope this helps.

I don't know of any Ferrari being supercharged off hand. But there are quite a few that were turbo charged. The F40 is a turboed V8. I know Fiat did supercharge some of their motors, and so did Alfa Romeo. I don't think it would really matter. You can just say it's an aftermarket part that was added to the car.

Bob, Very nice comparison of the chromes. I have not run into the problem with Future dulling or blemishing the finish of the Alclad. I do what you do is that I do two light coats and do a light buffing. And then wait several days before I shoot the Future over the top. So far, I've been lucky but it's nice to know that it can do that. Probably the next time I shoot Alclad, it will happen to me.

For clearing Alclad, I always use Future Floor Finish. It doesn't dull the finish at all. You need to remember that Alclad is an alcohol based paint. A lot of people think it's a lacquer base but it's not. I have run into the same problem with shooting clear over Alclad. But if you put Future over the top of the Alclad, you can shoot the automotive clear over the top and it won't harm it. Just make sure that it is completely dry! Bob is right, though, for doing window trim. Sometimes it's easier to use bare metal foil. You won't run into as many problems shooting clear over the top of that.

Awesome looking Audi. Can't wait to see more pictures. I would love to see what you did to the engine bay.

Jairus, Very nicely done. Decals look like they went down nicely. That was the area I had problems with when I did that kit. How much carving out did you have to do to get the slot car chassis to fit? If I knew it was going to be a slot car, I would have said to charge more. (from another thread)

Using a brown paper bag is an old woodworkers tool. It's an easy way to get a high buff without having to use expensive sandpaper. It's meant for finishing the wood after it's been stained or sealed.

Here is a link to my Ferrari 575 GT1. http://public.fotki.com/30howden/

Andy, Very nice, clean work. You can see some of the pearl in the paint. Very nice choice for that car. How did you like the Zero Paint? I've always wanted to try them out.

Ismael, Awesome pictures. Wanted to let you know that Bad Boy Vettes is going to have their livery on the cars at Laguna Seca. I am going to be at the races so let me know how many pictures you want. I won't have the same access that you did, though. Go to badboyvettes.com to see the livery.

Nice! Love the flame job! Awesome work as usual!

VW Bug, The stuff I use for stripping paint is called Scalecoat II Wash Away. It's non-toxic and can be reused several times. I'm up to 30+ times on one bottle. It doesn't harm plastic or resin. You just let the model soak in it for about 15 minutes and the paint just peels right off. It works on automotive lacquer, acrylics, and enamals with no problems. For the crack in the plastic, after I've stripped the paint, I would put a drop of super glue in between the crack and fit it together. Sand smooth and put on primer. If it still shows up a little bit, use some polyester putty. It looks like what happened with the paint is when you sanded the primer, the primer still had some small scratches in it. So then when you shot the Tamiya paint over the primer, the primer lifted up from the solvents in the paint. When I prime, I sand and then put another coat of primer over the top. Then I use my lightest grit sandpaper and do a light wet sanding. Then I wash and let it dry. I do two dust coats of the Tamiya spray and then one wet coat. It's always better to build up paint slowly. Hope this helps.

Testors (Model Masters) make a Flat Clear Lacquer Finish #2015. They also make a Semi-Gloss Clear Lacquer Finish #2016. Testors also has in their spray paints Semi-Gloss Clear and Dull Coat which is flat, but there are many sources for the flat clears. I use Testors cause it's easy to get. If you can't find any and if you have an airbrush, another way is to use Future Floor Finish and mix in talcum powder which will also create a semi-gloss to a flat. Hope this explains it.

Cody The easiest way for turning chrome parts to a matte finish is to use Testors Semi-gloss or Flat Clear and do light coats to the desired look. As for painting two-tone interiors, I both hand brush or I tape it up and air brush it. There is no right way to do it. It's whatever you have available. Taping it up and airbrushing will give a better finish.

I have built this model, which took about a week to do. (25-35 hours) If I am building a kit for someone, I usually charge him anywhere between $100 to $300 depending on the amount of detail. But if it's just doing cleaning/painting/decaling the body, it's usually about $100. But if I have to order paint etc., I add that cost to the amount. I consider myself as being on the less expensive side of charging for building a kit.

I don't know the difference between the two photoetches, but I think the Dexter PE has more for the '07 car and the Studio27 is more for the '06 car...but I'm not a hundred per cent sure. As for the Champion, I doubt you can get the decals separate. If you're able to, they'd be rather pricey. I believe Renaissance might have produced some for a GT2 Porsche that you might be able to convert over.

JT Your best bet would be to go through stradasports.com or mshobbies.com. There is another company with a photoetch for the R10 called Dexter. It sells for about $15. The Scale Motorsports is not a detail kit. It is a full resin kit of the R10. It was in collaboration with LeMans Miniatures. SM did the photoetch and the decals for the kit and some other little things. I have this kit finished and it's in the Gallery section if you'd like to take a look at it...under Brendan. Studio27 has well done photoetch so usually there's not a whole lot of fit problems with it. Sometimes though modifications must be done to the kit. Both companies are good so either one is a good choice...or both. As for the Champion Audi, the only decals that I know of are from LeMans Miniatures in their 2 kits that they did. Both were LeMans cars. I don't know of any ALMS versions available. I, too, will also be heading to the races in October at Leguna Seca. If you want to meet, let me know. Hope this helps.

Take a look at www.mulsannescorner.com. They have a lot of shots of the R10 and also a lot of other prototypes. I use it quite a bit for references. Hope this helps.

It sounds like that the other coats you had on prior were still off gassing and the off gassing is being trapped by the last coat of paint which causes the little bubbles. The best way is to strip down and start over again. When I paint, I usually wait 5 to 10 minutes between coats. Starting from back end of the model to the front...by the time I get to the front, I start on the back again. Hope this helps.

I have used both primers quite a bit. I have never had to put sealer down. Both primers are build up primers. Spray light coats. It will build up quickly. Also make sure you stir the contents thoroughly before use as they both have a tendency to settle in the jars and dry rather quickly. I usually use a larger needle in my airbrush; number 3 or 5. Hope this helps.

Paint and decal work is phenomenal. Beautiful job!! Your next project needs to be a Corvette GTP by Quik Skins (#QS08)

Nice job. The paint looks great as well as the scheme.

Jay Very nice build. I'm not too much into that type of racing, but I could get into it with seeing this type of work. Detail work looks great. Adds a sense of realism to the car.