Ddms

Most local hobby shops sell stuff called "de-bonder" that will soften and dissolve CA. It'll probably clean a brush with some effort, but it seems like a waste of time - and the residue could weaken the next batch. Regardless, there's no particular reason to apply CA with a brush. You can use just about anything, including a toothpick or a short length of wire.

The thin panel gaps were a tell. Honest, I didn't try to find it on the Internet until AFTER I voted. But when I did, I went to the McLaren website. What a great surprise. It's almost as cool and amazing as the F1 itself. http://www.mclarenautomotive.com/uk/ Go to the bottom of the screen and click on the menu tabs; if you click on the "Drawer Configure" you can assemble "your own" McLaren F1. It's kinda sorta like building a model. NOT TO BE MISSED!

Not in MY part of LA, which Jan and Dean (or one of those surfin' groups) made famous for little old lady drivers. I'm always amazed to see so many exotics when we go to the West Side and the beach, especially Malibu. All we see here in Pasadena are Porsches and Mercedes, and that's because we have a dealer - Rusnak - in town. But it's true that you don't see McLarens, even in downtown Malibu. I did see one once; it was Jay Leno's. He brought it to the annual "All Things British" show at Woodley Avenue Park. I doubt there are more than ten in the U.S.

I think Mark is onto something. Not sure, but it looks like you were holding the nozzle too far away and the paint was starting to dry before it reached the surface. And you kept spraying in hopes that it would flatten out! That's the usual reason for that thick, lumpy look. (It's not exactly orange peel, BTW. It's sort of beyond orange peel. ) If one part of the car came out alright, and the other didn't, there must be something different from Area A to Area B. Could be surface prep, or air temp, or how much you shook the can, or how warm the can was, or how close you held it, or...? Anyhow, I'd go with nozzle distance. Since the hood is a separate part, I'd just soak it for a couple days in Purple Cleaner and re-paint it.

Totally agree. It's actually pretty good thinner for brush painting, too. It seems to slow the drying. Alcohol actually makes the paint dry faster - not what you want for brush painting. Me, too. I haven't found anything better for washes. That's one thing you can't use the lacquer thinner for!

Tamiya spray paints, TS and AS series. They're sold at hobby shops. I heard that UK modelers have had trouble getting it because there's some sort of importing issue, but I'm not sure that's still true. Maybe a UK forum member can confirm it.

Moons, by all means.

I know it looks shakey, but it's very stable because of the clamp. The clay is pretty stiff, and I stick the clamp in deep. I'm able to move it around, and even over my head if I want to spray the bottom edges. I think it's more stable than stands that depend on gravity alone to hold the body.

Here's a stand I've improvised for painting car bodies. The base is an old can of some sort; it has a diameter of about 3 1/2". It can be full or empty - full is better because of the weight - but it must have a hard lid that stays in place. On the lid is a flattened lump of purple modeling clay, the kind kids use in school. (Green, red or yellow clay will work almost as well. ) It always stays pliable. Stuck into the clay is a long, self-closing clamp. It has a very firm grip and a wide base, so the clay can get a good grip on it. To steady the body, I propped up the rear of the body with a stick. The clamp grips a piece of folded double-sided carpet tape that is stuck to the underside of the cowl, in front of the windshield. Depending on the shape of the car body, it can be stuck anywhere. I've also used the same tape to stick a long cardboard paddle to the inside of a door, then gripped the paddle with a clamp - or two. The Porsche has a small body; for other cars, I might use more sticks (or even more clamps) under more places. It all depends, but regardless, it's quick and easy. I'll often pick up the whole setup so I can spray the lower edges of the body. That's why the clamp is essential; a car resting on sticks alone will fall off easily. For smaller parts, I'll use, yep, carpet tape to stick the part to a cardboard paddle (roughly 1 1/2" x 6") and hold it with one hand while I hold the brush or spray can in the other. Carpet tape is one of the most useful modeling tools I own. It can be cut to any shape, and the adhesive is just firm enough to get a good grip on styrene - too strong for decals and risky for painted parts, though. It doesn't leave a residue, unless you leave it attached for days. Then you need to use alcohol to get rid of the goo. Normally, I un-tape everything after a session. But sometimes I'll leave it and de-goo the plastic when I'm done.

What is that? There's something not-quite-right about it. It looks like somebody tried to make a Lotus Elite from a Porsche body shell. I'd love to see Tamiya or somebody do the original Lotus Elite. It's only one of the most beautiful cars ever made, and the shape is fairly simple, but nobody makes a kit of it. I realize that styrene is a pipedream, but why not resin? Y E S !!!! I was thinking more along the lines of "a decade or two" for that one.

What about hot-rod louvers? Nice to have some clean, sharp ones on resin strips of different lengths.

I really like the idea of the BMF method. It seems like it would look great on the finished model. But I have some questions: It sounds like you're attaching a rectangle of BMF over the lettering before you prime. Is that right? Or do you put the BMF on top of the primer? Do Tamiya spray lacquers and automotive urethanes (that's what I use) stick well to BMF? What about the edge of the BMF piece? Doesn't it show up as an edge around the area of the lettering after the color coat? Or is the BMF so thin that it doesn't show? Or (Just one more!), if there is a risk of the BMF edge showing up, do you putty over it and sand before priming? Sorry for all the questions, but...

Lacquer thinner cleans just about everything. I'm lazy, so I just run lacquer thinner through my Paasche H model before and after every use. Post-use, I fill the cup with lacquer thinner and scrub with a brush to remove any residue. As I spray the LC, I adjust the nozzle in and out. After several uses, I take it apart and give it a good cleaning. Canned air can be helpful but I don't think it's absolutely necessary. To my knowledge, I've never had a problem because of left-over paint in the innards of the brush. By the way, a really useful accessory for an airbrush is a foot switch. Saves time and hassle, at least the way I've got mine set up. You can probably get one at Harbor Freight or Home d'Pot.

I got mine at my LHS, Burbank House of Hobbies, http://www.houseofhobbies.com. They take orders online.

Yes, it works great. For the best sparkle and good adhesion, I suggest putting it over Alclad black undercoat rather than another gloss black, but I haven't tried the new Spaz Stix black undercoat.

I've been spraying the old Spaz Stix over Alclad black undercoat. Used that way, I think it's more sparkly than Alclad II.

Looks great, Mark! Trying to paint color over black is hopeless. White, silver or gold under-paint is essential to make the final coat pop. That applies to just about anything that's being painted, whether it's under the hood or not.

Well, since I've gotten this far with the styrene louvers, I'm going to finish them up. They'll have the shape of real louvers, or pretty close, so they ought to look good. But I'm not counting my chickens yet; there may be potholes that I don't expect. (Mixed metaphor, I know.) If they come out okay, I'll start another thread and post photos. Somebody mentioned rivets. There's a company called "Tichy Trains" http://www.tichytraingroup.com/ that makes individual styrene rivets and bolts. They're really cheap - $2.50 for 200 pieces! They have fairly long shafts, so you can insert them in drilled holes one by one. Tedious, but they look great.

I'm going ahead with the 3-D styrene "hot rod" louvers. You're right, they are labor intensive. Getting all of them straight and uniform is not easy. You just can't measure and cut; each louver has to be cut, trimmed and filed individually, by eye, so I have to wear an Opti-Visor plus close-up reading glasses. From all the cutting and filing, there are a lot of scars on the base. I'm just about ready to putty the biggest nicks. Then I'll prime the sheet and clean up any problems that are still visible. Exacting work! Since making louvers one-by-one involves so much fine work, I've decided to try my hand at resin-casting a batch. If they look clean and realistic, I'll "go public" and make resin louver sets available to other modelers.

After applying the final coat (usually clear), I wet-sand with 1500 or 2000 grit in order to remove all paint texture. When the surface is perfectly flat and free of all texture and orange peel, I polish, first with a coarse compound (Tamiya Coarse) and then with Tamiya Fine. Because their edges stick up from the surface, it seems like that would put the transfer-type louvers "at risk." Will they stand up to that kind of treatment?

The car looks great! Good job.

Which lacquer paints? What do you mean by "unimpressed"? Was there a problem? What happened?

In what? How did they come out?

They look pretty good, but it's hard to tell what they'll look like when you polish the surface. It will be interesting to see the finished product. I'm building a Monogram '40 Ford convertible, and I'm planning to louver the hood. I was thinking of gluing evenly spaced sections of quarter-round styrene strip to styrene pieces, flattening the tops and angling the sides of the louvers, and then setting the rectangles into the hood. I'll be using styrene strip to space the quarter-round sections. But I'm worried about filling the seams, which would need to be, yep, seamless. Glue and putty could also cause problems if stuff gets between the louvers. It's a job that will take very careful work, I think. I'm also concerned about clearcoating, and how I'll sand and polish it without burning though the top edges of the louvers. So I'm open to a better solution to the louver problem. Please let us know how the Archer decals come out after you've sanded and polished the clear coat. Thanks!

It produces an amazing finish. The manufacturers say not to thin it, but that's a 1:1 durability issue. For models, it needs to be thinned or your model will look like it's been dipped in Karo Syrup. Don't use ordinary lacquer thinner; it can cause curdling. Use BASF R-A UR40 or one of the other medium temp reducers. Auto paint suppliers carry reducers. They probably can't be shipped. Model or not, I still use the hardener. I would worry that the finish might stay tacky. And it sure can't hurt. A pro respirator for paint is no big deal. Most paint suppliers, including Home D'poo, sell them for about $40. Cheap, considering the risks of not using one. Some people, including me, think that urethane clearcoats are too glossy for many cars, especially older ones. The other downside is that they are pure hell to strip. Two-part urethane is the toughest stuff on the planet. If you screw up, it's easier to buy a new kit and start over.