Dave G.

Yes a test is the way to go and come to your own conclusion !!

Well without the clear Alclad can be rather fragile. I don't know that it's any less fragile than Molotow but Molotow is easy to touch up. And a good touch up for the kit chrome, I wouldn't say the same for alclad but anyone is free to correct me.

I think if I was going to do the chrome laden nose of a 50's car I would spray it. They say the Molotow chrome sprayed results are even better than from the pen. But then again I guess if you go to the trouble of getting Molotow into an airbrush then you might at that point consider the Alclad. Just depends which look you prefer, either can do a good job.... I haven't cleared my Molotow chrome so can't comment on that. I know it takes very little sealer on MM Metalizer to just cover it and any more and you might as well forget the metal look. You can wreck the look real easy clear coating, with Molotow I'd rather have to put on another coat than risk it personally. Best I can say.

Yes, mine are laying down and they get a periodic shake when not in use. Once I get past the chrome on a particular build it may be weeks before I do chrome again ( I'm an unbelievably slow build, my speedy build days were a very long time ago), so once a week or so I just shake them up. Hopefully this idea at least helps the cause.

Don't know if this is going to help but while my Molotows are idle I have them rolled up tight in a plastic sandwich bag. My thought is it will at least be an air restricted environment if not air tight.

I've just been leaving them around any old way and shake them up now and then. I just started with Molotow though ( been using Metalizer) and have to say the results were reasonably impressive. In some spots it was silvery till turned to a different light direction and then for some things you may want a chrome trim look, it was almost too chrome. Convenient for now. I'd try spraying it though, I haven't found the perfect chrome yet, sprayed. I'd like to build a 59 Galaxy if I ever find one and that whole lower section of the rear quarter is chrome as I recall. A perfect candidate to be sprayed. I generally used the buffing Metalizers in the past for something like that. So, well it's a dream right now cause I don't have the Galaxy yet but I have 2mm Molotow lol. Most of my painted chrome is windows and side molding etc, common stuff.

No I haven't tried that espo. Why do you think the coupe fenders might be better ? I've built several of each over the years but too, several were cut down into modified circle track cars. I just assumed the two fender sets were the same. My favorite in stock or street and strip car is the sedan by a fair margin over the coupe though. I like both the 39 and 40 versions of each but the 39 has a couple of elements that are incorrect ( the dash is wrong for a 39 but correct for the 40 and 39 wiper blades were mounted at the top of the windshield not along the cowl. And the 39 had a floor shift so the column shift is incorrect in the kit, though they do give you a chrome stick for the floor that needs paint). This last one I built as a 39, copying one I built as a kid in dark green and tan interior. I think if I built a coupe right now it would be the Revell/Monogram 40 standard built bone stock maybe in dark blue, although black might be appealing... By the way, the 40 hood fits the sedan body cowl better than the 39 hood does too. But it's incorrect out front in both profile for a 39 and to fit the 39 grill.

If I'm correct and this kit is the same as my 39/40 kit was then your next fit problem will be the 39 hood to cowl. Might as well check that now. I never got mine 100% there but it is acceptable for my needs. I did mine as part of a build off with another guy from the forum building the same kit as a 39 and his 39 hood was the same as mine. I'd like to eventually build another one too and refine a couple of points a bit further .

Here is a video or url, whichever loads: https://youtu.be/_d1VEx2pkVA

Then I wonder if the right side is in a pinch somehow and lifting the left side off. If the body is in contact with the running board though, then it's the fenders as the post above this one indicates.

I know you said the interior clears ok but did you try fitting the body to the fenders before the interior tub went in ? It really looks like the whole left side is sitting up off the fender assembly.

You don't want to listen to me on that topic because I'm nuts lol, and go after the offending spot with a charcoal grill lighter or candle. You might want to be more conservative and follow someone else's lead there, some folks like a hot water soak for instance.. I've never had much luck with a hair dryer, maybe someone else has. I've just been using an actual flame for 60 years but I can't say I never wrecked anything either. I wonder if you set those fenders on the frame if you can see where they are tweaked. Assuming it's them and not the body ( but it looks like the fenders from the photos).

Oops, I think it says to remove that cross support between the rear fenders. Pretty sure I removed it and had no trouble with the fit. Edit: Well, it's not in the instructions, it may have been embossed on the piece itself unless I'm thinking of another kit lol !

I think the 39/40 gasser kit built stock shares the same body/fender parts. I just built one as a 39 back in Sept and it went together well. To me from the photos, it appears your fender assembly is warped. Mine fit well enough that I just literally tacked the assemblies together with a few well placed drops of glue in case I want to pop it apart at a later date for what ever reason. When I was a kid I cann't tell you how many of these sedan kits I built, always a fan lol ! But I remember one or two not quite as bad as yours but similar. I just glued it and weighted it till dry, as well as I can recall. As long as the seam lines mated I was happy, then sliced any openings for the bumper brackets as needed. They always turned out acceptable to me. A couple I turned into stock cars though, so those got all cut up and cut down anyway, very cool looking I might add, because you expect to see coupes done up as stock cars.. Just sayin. Yours might be warped enough you may need to get a little heat involved.

On your acrylic comment, you would get along with Tamiya acrylic thinned with lacquer thinner, it pretty much acts like solvent paints but cleans up like acrylics. It's really a hybrid of some kind, more like lacquer or enamel than water based acrylic. Along the way sometime grab a bottle and give it a try, you will see what I mean for yourself. However for N scale you're on the right track, you will need lacquer thinner if you find it needs to be thinner after decanting. And on decanting, give the paint a few minutes to out gas propellant before spraying.

You can hook your existing compressor to a portable tank for about $50 and get air storage of anything from a couple gallons to 10 or even 15. Or not hook it up and use it as is. You could run full pressure right through the tank and mount your regulator at the spray booth fwiw. Just sayin, if you want a tank add a tank.

At the same site they show the H as well for E53 or 55. Just fwiw. You just have to search Paasche siphon is all.

If all you want is a nicer finish on small parts you can just spray them all with spray cans while still on the parts trees. Then touch up with a brush when you pull them off the trees if needed. Or you can just thin your brush paints about 15-20% and continue to brush them. The little bit of thinner will help leveling and flow out, you would be hard pressed to know they weren't sprayed.

Well Don Yost who builds and paints models both commercially and for contests, has won more contests than most of us would ever even enter uses both the Paasche H and the Paasche starter brush which is the H design made from cheaper materials. He has a bigger shop for larger volumes of painting and probably a larger compressor than most of us since he uses the large needle ( the medium is sufficient for our needs) but those are the brushes he uses exclusively to get his award winning finishes from. Follow the master painter, you could do worse and you don't need anything different. That starter set is all of $25 if you over pay for it. But you will need a compressor sooner than later. And the H would be a lifetime investment. I own an H set I use quite a bit. My longest term brush ( 45 years so far) and most used because it naturally fits my hand is the Badger 200. And I have a double action brush I rarely use for car models.

Just me ( barring getting that frame out of there, it might pop out easier than you think depending what glue and how much was used) but I'd spray the floor pans with MM Metallizer aluminum plate buffing, then brush the frame with Stynylrez black primer, and finally spray a single pass of Metalizer clear on it all. That will give you a satin finish. The remaining chassis parts can be sprayed with Stynylrez and also clear coated.

If you didn't go nuts with glue maybe you can still pop the chassis back out of there.

Stynylrez, it's pretty near all I use anymore. Try it, you won't regret it.

Oh very true Force, won't deny that.

Ya the 28 spline axles were the weak link in the 9", at least with slicks. I raced a 67 big block Mustang with slicks and it didn't take long to first twist the splines slightly, then snap the axle. I upgraded the the posi section from detroit locker with 28 splines to the posi with 31 splines and that ended that particular problem.

Course depends which 9" you want to represent but generally speaking the 49 and 50 rear ends are close enough in modelling them. I'm building an AMT 49 now and using the stock rear axle for a street and strip type car. The most notably different 9" is one where the carrier is a nodular iron unit used with 427 Mustangs and such. Besides the nearly indestructible material it also had double webs in the front of the housing with a visible N at the top. Several differences internally that wouldn't matter in a styrene model of course.