Dave G.

Mr Hobby, is the line of paints. These are divided into Mr Hobby Aqueous, as mentioned above. And Mr Color. Mr Color being lacquers ( the stinky kind, though relatively speaking, on the mild side) and Mr Hobby Aqueous being alcohol based acrylics. Mr Color is cleaned up with solvents like lacquer thinner or acetone.. And Aqueous with water based products, water itself or Fantastik, Media airbrush cleaner, acrylic paint cleaners etc. That's in terms of paints, colors, clears. Then you have the primers, mainly Mr Surfacer. It's all very comparable to Tamiya products. Though they do have a Mr Hobby Metals line too.

My only true hobby shop 20 or so miles away, never had any Mr products at all. So I've always ordered online the leveling thinner. Course I don't always need it either. There is always a way, it's not the end of the world to not have it.

Last I knew Tamiya dropped their retarding lacquer thinner. You can buy their retarder I suppose, then make your own from the standard lacquer thinner. But, ya, if the retarder type is available, it should work great. Mr Leveling Thinner seems perfectly formulated is all I really know. And it does a good job leveling Tamiya lacquers and their acrylic line.

I haven't tossed the toothpaste out of my potential routine either. Never thought of it for primer but still use it to cut the final coat in my polishing process at times. Pretty often actually. It works great as the first step substance in polishing Createx 4050 UVLS clear. I'm thinking I've used it on 6mo cured Testors enamel paint too.

One category I've noticed it best to not sand the primer. Unlike in 1:1, where typically a clear sealer coat goes over scuffed primer before a hot color coat. In models we tend to put hot lacquers directly over the primer. I've seen in this case, even if sanded with say 1200 micro pads, sand scratch swelling in the color coat driven up from the primer below.. So for me, if to use hot lacquers ( rare for me), Id rather not scuff my primer final coat. So happens, if put down right, Mr Surfacer 1000 goes on baby but* smooth, but being 1000, has a slight tooth, probably microscopic. Never has adhesion problems at any rate. Another one that lays down that smooth is Stynylrez thinned a little with Createx 4021 reducer. Here I use acrylic or enamels over that unscuffed, except for dust specs. Speaking of dust specs, I don't sand those but rather use OOO steel wool, which is said to more scrape the surface than sand scratch the surface.. You can actually buff the primer coat up with OOOO steel wool, thus why I use OOO.. Just my .02 cents worth added to the thread..

You're putting out attracting scent for a lot of personal preferences. I can already see the replies in my head from various individuals. I'm going to give just one little piece of advice, that's to resist the urge to buy Chinese knock offs. Most need needle and tip polishing, and many have inferior rubber seals that solvent paints and thinners will eat alive. By the way, I wouldn't put the Neo made for Iwata in that classification. But it has limited tip selection, and they may be the tiny little screw in type ( I don't fully recall). Next, take a look at Don Wheeler's airbrush review site. Easily found in a general browser search. It's not exhaustive but it is pretty full of selections to consider.

50/50 ( so one part enamel to one part thinner) hardware store lacquer thinner here. Not the new green friendly stuff but the medium dry real thing. It really works the best, IMO.

Now see, I didn't know that 59 was a curbside. I'd like the kit just for the real estate to be painted. Because honestly, I've gotten to the stage where I enjoy paint and airbrushing more than building power trains. Not that I don't build full models, but I like a curb side sometimes. I learned something here today, that's always good.

I think you could live with the exhaust manifolds without too much surgery. The dual thermostat housing could be scratch built. Look online to see if you can get a decent photo of that, it's a chunky bit.. You would need to do some scratch built mods and putty on the oil pan. The hitch to me would be the pulley setup with dual belts, off the top of my head. You certainly could start with a far worse rendition of an FE though, not a bad start with the Mobius.

The differences on a truck FE are mostly internal. One thing that stands out externally is the oil pan. The truck pans I worked on anyway, were one depth over the entire length of the pan and full depth. I'm thinking 12 qts or so, maybe 10. Also looking to the external, exhaust manifolds are different from say a 390 car engine.The intake has a big Boss off the front with with dual thermostats and a heavy duty curved hose to the water pump. The 330-391 HD fe has a dual belt system as well. I'm sure all this can be found online someplace. Edit: The front balancer is different too, the HD truck engines were externally balanced. So it's a much heavier looking piece of cast.

If you switch to Tamiya lacquers, then you can use their milder clear lacquer. It won't hurt the color coat and shouldn't hurt the decals either ( I say shouldn't because I don't know what decals you have. And I say milder, in terms of milder than hardware store spray can clear).. Also, Future is no longer made. There are similar products but I have no idea how they do in terms of long term yellowing. FWIW, I have an old bottle of Pledge Floor care, who took over Future, and it has yellowed in the bottle, stored in a cabinet. It still works fine over colors, but I wouldn't put it over white. Sometimes I like to build a curb side 1/32 kit, and may choose that as the clear.

😊

Hmmm, I find myself wondering if the OP is going to use the dented can of paint or not ?

If you're gonna spray all that paint through the nozzle anyway, might as well just paint the model, if that was your original intent.

If there is no sign of weeping/leaking now after shipping and getting tossed around, Enjoy your free can of paint. It's not gonna blow up if that's what you're thinking.

Half my problem these days is just simply remembering to strain the paint. Just yesterday, I worked up a color, straining it. It was a small amount that just got dumped. Later in the day in a test shoot with the same formula, here comes a piece of booger, I forgot to strain, duh. But that was the Paasche H with #5 tip, that thing will pass sludge I think. That blop yesterday would have clogged my Ganzton right up with it's mini tips.. Anyway, you will never regret straining your paint.

That helps, there is a lot of grill valance and air dam area.

I thought of this as well. It looks too long for the body and too deep in the fender (in terms of height) well department, even if it got in there. But I'd have to see it for real. And I'm probably wrong. For me, if something's going to be tough fitting, I usually find it's from Revell, I don't know why people love Revell kits so.

I just strain my paint with paper paint filters, from the mixing cup to another mixing cup. From that cup directly to the airbrush. But if the Procon has those tiny screw in tips, a microscopic dried piece of a spec will screw up the pattern. My Ganzton has those, and that's mainly why I don't use it. I have other airbrushes where you can get a grip on the tips and are much easier to clean just in general. Sometimes even back flushing a few times and good till the next session. For cars, I also pretty much prefer single action. Anyway, if you have those tiny tips, take your time cleaning them. Sometimes I soaked those overnight in acetone or hardware lacquer thinner. It's a great spraying airbrush, though, when everything is right.

Well it's an interesting project at least !! I often think of the Monogram #9 Indy car from back around 1960. I built one of those back then, even have considered picking up an old kit off EBay ( I don't think it's ever been re-kitted).. That kit was my first kit that decals came out decent on. Course there weren't a lot of them. But to me, Indy cars, in my heart, have never been the same since.

I think the colors that remain are the same or similar. Testers has changed in some ways through the years, faster initial dryers, and to me anyway, a slightly thinner consistency in the bottle. Not to mention they aren't 10, 12 or 15 cents anymore ! Your red is probably as period correct as you will find.

Oh ya, airplane dope was around for models and also real aircraft which were fabric covered. Like the bi planes and Piper Cubs or Aeronca aiircraft. Rubber band free flight models were popular. As were control line glow engine powered models.

Testers enamels came out in 1929, fwiw. I personally started building models in 1958, I was 8. The first paints I used was Testor's, since in our area everyone sold that line. Pactra enamels showed up later around us, and had some great color options and great finish.

Today around here kids can't work till 16. I think it's at 14 they can get a paper location, like standing in front of a bakery or drug store selling what they can at certain hours of the day only. Gone are the routes in our degenerate society today. It's soccer mom and now Dad era. Families pay out big money to have their kids going nuts in league competitions, taken more seriously that God Himself. Where weekends and even many early week day evenings whole families eaten up with that BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH. Then those stupid computer games. Homework is an exercise in how best to operate in google, download, print, done. Now wit AI, it can all be done for you, more time for games. Sorry for the attitude, but it's something that irks me.

Good point, I forget we had resin here, was thinking styrene.