ctruss53

I use LA's Totally Awesome to remove acrylic paints. It works great on acrylic paints and chrome plating.

This is great information! I have been just sticking a section of paperclip in there, and then storing it seperately. Losing it, and then having to cut up more paperclips. haha

I might be late to the game, and this might have been mentioned already.... I finally had to strip chrome the other day. I looked on Youtube and found a guy I follow uses this stuff called LA's Totally Awesome. LA's Totally Awesome is sold in a gallon jug at Lowes or Home Depot and it's only about $9 for the gallon. It smells a lot like Castrol Super Clean or Purple Power, but it is yellow. I soaked some chrome parts in this stuff and in 5 minutes the chrome was gone. Rinsed the parts off with water and they were ready to prep and paint. It worked great!

Nice little build. I have been scared to try builds this small. Kudos for doing a great job on it.

Super cool!

What a cool rally car. I love building rally cars, but I have been scared to try any kits from Heller and Italeri. I have had very bad experiences from Italeri, so I tend to stick to Tamiya, Fujimi, and Hasegawa. With your review, I might give this one a try.

Super cool build!

That is a cool livery!

Great build!

I'm glad I found this thread. I have just started building this kit. New in box, Johan 1935 Mercedes 500K. But I am building it as a hot rod. I am cutting the fenders off, putting 50's era mag wheels on it, and leaving the hood off. So I have been searching for engine photos so I can detail the engine up right.

This looks like just the right material for spark plug boots. One question though. Is there a best way to get the insulation off the paperclip? I know there is the xacto cut around the clip method, but has anyone found a better or easier way. Yes, I am lazy. haha

I love the detail. What did you use for the spark plug wire boots?

I use a round pointy thing like you refer to in your original post. I got it from USA Gundam Store. I really like it.

I use Tamiya spray paints and Mr Hobby spray can clear. These two products are so good that I will use them instead of my airbrush if I don't need a custom color. For candy apple red I would use Tamiya metallic gold spray, and then spray transparent red over that. I think Tamiya might also sell a metallic red. You could mist that on over a gold basecoat as well. I would test it out on some spoons. And then the Mr Hobby clear. Get the Super Clear Gloss UV Cut. It is amazing.

I didn't even think about the plates. The decal set didn't include them. But I have enough JDM kits I could have borrowed something. These safari rally cars didn't usually get muddy, so I went with dusty. haha

I built the 1992 Kenya Rally winning Toyota Celica from Tamiya. The kit is box stock except I added photoetched seat belts and LeMans Decals. This was my first attempt at making a dirty model. I used Vallejo paints to add the weathering. Dusting on Tan, African Dust, and Engine Smoke with an airbrush. I masked off where the wipers can reach, and I smudged the side windows clean as if someone quickly wiped them off. Enjoy.

I look forward to this show every year.

Thanks everyone. I brought it in to a meeting of my local model club and everyone thought it was a paper model kit. haha

Tehn I made an anime base to display it on. Set the car on a piece of foamboard. Traced the shadow my workbench light left on the foamboard. and colored it in with a sharpie. Then took a sharpie and a grey marker and colored in some anime road. Ended up with this.

On this build I decided to try something I saw on YouTube. You take a 3D model kit and paint it up like it is 2D anime. It is also known as CEL shading. So I took this 1986 Sprinter Trueno kit from Aoshima and tried it out. The various shades of purply blue on the windows was airbrushed on. Then I primered the car with Tamiya white primer. I then painted the hood with Mr Hobby black primer. All the other various shades of grey was hand painted on with a brush. Then I used a Gundam panel line marker to paint the panel lines and draw all those black lines on the model. Tehn I used a white gel pen to draw the highlights on the hood. And finally I sprayed the whole thing with a matte clearcoat. I hope you enjoy.

Hi, I have several Honda Civic touring cars I would like to build and detail. They are all curbside kits though. More specifically I need the EG Civic, 5th generation, 1991-1995 version. I know of several places that sell the engines for these kits, but I can't find anyone that makes a whole engine bay kit. Do any of you know of someone that makes this?

Thank you everyone. I am attempting another lowrider now. I'm going to build the 1947 Chevy from Galaxy. And for the first time I am going to customize the frame and suspension in order to get it sitting really low. And then I'll try to apply another wild paint scheme.

I recently finished up the AMT 1961 Impala kit. I built it as my first attempt at a lowrider. The paint job is Splash paints, black base, sparkle silver base, and then 7 different kandy colors. I went to Detail Junkees for the photo etched badges, and Lowrider Parts for the resin wire wheels, tires, and tailpipes. Oh, and this is my first post. Hi !