ctruss53

I have done the tint across the top on a couple of my builds as well. Use Tamiya clear blue, or clear green. I haven't attempted the clear brown you see on some lates 70's cars yet, but I'm sure that could be done with a couple drops of brow in some clear or something. I don't know for sure. This is a great topic though. I have been wanting to step up the realism of my builds and the glass is kind of like an uncharted territory. Many modelers do not mess with the glass.

You lost me at brushing on the clearcoat. haha

I use Mr Super Clear UV Cut almost exclusively, for clear coats. It is a lacquer from Mr Hobby. I spray it over lacquer paints and I have used it over several acrylics. Mission Models, Vallejo, Createx, and Tamiya acrylics, just to name a few. I also spray it over decals and BMF without issues.

I'd like to add a bit. I totally agree with everything Ace said. Bodies are mounted on chassis in many different ways depending on the type of vehicle and who makes it. Like Ace, I have physically made body mounts on real cars and trucks. In many regular civilian applications, body mounts are a tab on the side of the chassis like in Ace's last image. Then there is some sort of rubber bushing, and then a bolt through the whole thing. And sometimes the rubber bushing sits on the chassis rail and the bolt goes through the chassis. Body mounts for old cars and pickups, with a body on frame design are very simple. Don't overthink it.

This can't be right. I spray lacquer clear coat over acrylic paints all the time.

Well, paper routes now days pay about $0.30 - $0.50 per paper depending on the day. So you can make good money and afford $40 for a kit.

What?

This is why I picked the older 1995 Saab 2.3L turbo engine. The factory ECU only needs power, ground, a signal from a crank position sensor, and an O2 sensor, and thats about it. One box runs the whole thing.

No. SMS Hyperchrome can not be handled lots without damage. It stands up to being touched better than any other chrome paint I have used, but you still shouldn't touch it. It absorbs fingerprints just like any other chrome paint.

I'll add to this as well. Yes, in nearly all cases, do not apply lacquers over enamels. In some cases you can apply lacquers over enamels. A great example is I use Mr Super Clear UV Cut from Mr Hobby. I have not come across anything you can't spray that on top of. BUT, when I use Mr Super clear I always build it up in very light coats. So I could be getting away with it because of how I use it. If you are trying new paint combos, always test them on plastic spoons or a junk body or something. For every rule there are exceptions. But you won't know what the exceptions are unless you test them out.

I always glue together as much of the body as possible before paint. Like if the body can get put on with the bumpers on it, fender flares, and all that. The only exceptions to this rule. I paint the hood seperately, but at the same time, so I'm using the same batch of paint. I leave wings off and paint them seperately unless they are lips that are mounted directly to the car and they are the same color. And I leave the bumpers off only if they are a different color than the body. But to specifically answer your question, wheel arches or flares, and side skirts always get glued on first. It is too easy to mess up putting them on because there usually aren't any locating pins. So I glue them on first in case I need to fix any glue mishaps.

Tell me more about this C1 polishing powder.

I have used Rustoleum chrome spray paint, Alclad, Molotow, and Green Stuff World. SMS worked best for me. It is more resistant to absorbing fingerprints than any other chrome paint I have used, but it still absorbs fingerprints, and dulls if you touch it too much..

And if we coud clear coat it we wouldn't have to worry about it.

ALL chrome paints.

Why do we insist on clear coating chrome? Easy. Fingerprints stain and dull every single chrome paint out there. If you could clearcoat the chrome and not dull it you would have a finish that does not absorb fingerprints. And you would have a finish you could polish to a high gloss finish. Not all clearcoats yellow and dull with time. And if they do dull, you can polish them again. Not the case with those chrome paints.

This topic again?

This Sunday is the big show! Fine Scale Modeler will be there doing show coverage. And I'll have a vendor table with lots of kits, and some MCW and Splash paints. Buy all the things. ?

I finally finished this kit. Now I know why I like to stick to the kit and just add detail. I am not great at modifying models. Having sadi that, this is not the greatest job I have done on a kit. But I like how it turned out. The paint in from Mission Models, It is an RAL color with Mr Super Clear on top. Wheels are Splash Paints BBS Gold, over black primer to darken them up a bit. The wheels and tires are from the newish Revell 29 Model A. And all chrome you see is SMS Hyerchrome Cold Tone.

You have some crazy ideas. And I mean that in the best possible way.

I'm an ex-VW guy so I can totally follow you on those builds. I had a big turbo 2003 GTI. It had so much power I could go 60 on the highway, drop it down to 3rd gear, punch it and spin the front tires. haha I also built an all motor mk1 Rabbit that could run high 11's in the quarter mile. I built a 2.0 ABA (mk3) engine so it had 12:1 compression. I had to use a diesel starter to have enough cranking power to turn the engine over. haha I have also owned a couple old Bugs, a mk2 GTI, a mk3 Jetta VR6, and a mk6 Tiguan with the 2.0TSI and a 6 speed.

I didn't do any searches, just a quick peek and didn't see this topic covered recently. Do you have 1:1 scale proct car(s)? If so, what do you have. I am currently building a 1930 Chevy Coupe from the ground up. My project started when I saw a pile of body panels laying under a tree. I looked for the property owner, and asked him what he was doing with the pile of sheet metal. I asked him if I could look through it, and he said yes. I found most of a 1930 Chevy Coupe in the pile. I found the cowl, the body sides, a pair of doors, and the rear panel that surrounds the rear window. I asked him what it would take to go home with the parts, and $300 later I had most of a 1930 Chevy Coupe body. Then I was going to scratch build the chassis. But I found a 1930 Ford Model A chassis on Craigslist and it was already all boxed in and ready to use. Bonus, it was only $200. I couldn't buy raw materials to build a chassis for less than that. PLUS Model A chassis and suspension parts are super easy to find. Then I bought a complete transverse leaf spring, and drop axle front suspension kit from Speedway. And I also picked up a disc brake conversion for it. The disc brake parts come from a GM car, I forgot the body code, F Body, or G Body, one of them. 1980's Monte Carlo disc brake parts. The rear axle is a Ford 8.8" with posi from an early 90's Ford Explorer. And I bought a trailing arm and panhard bar suspension kit from Speedway. It came with coil-over shocks. And then for power I am going with something strange. I have a late model turbocharged performance background. So I got my hands on a 1995 Saab 2.3L turbo 4 cylinder engine. 225hp, 230ftlbs, in a small package. Fuel injected, dead reliable, and bulletproof. And to make it work in a rear wheel drive application, I bought an adaptor kit from a company in Poland which allows me to use a 6 speed manual transmission from a BMW M3. Currently I have gotten to the point where I have a rolling chassis. The front and rear suspension are all figured out and welded up to the chassis. Wheels and tires are on it. But I still have to figure out steering, front shocks, and all the plumbing. The body is all put back together into one assembly. I need to find or make a trunk. I need to get some door hinges. And I need to make body mounts and an interior. And the engine and transmission are put together. I need to figure out engine mounts. I have a long way to go. Here are some pics.

Chris Runge is a semi-local guy. I say semi-local because he is here in Minnesota, but he is kind of out in the sticks. Not near the Twins Cities metropolitain area. His whole process is seriously amazing. And his skills are top notch. I haven't had a chance to sign up, but he occasionally hosts metal working workshops.

This is the real problem. AMT, and Revell are not keeping up in the quality department. I don't consider $40 to be a lot of money for a kit. Especially when those prices are the cheapest out there for new kits. Tamiya and all the other Asian kit companies charge more. And if you look at the prices of the fancier kits like Belkits, Alpha Model, or especially Model Factory Hiro, you will happily pay only $40 for a kit. But the quality is amazing.

$40 is not expensive. Not in todays money. $40 today is like a $10 kit when I was a kid in the early 1980's. Honestly, if you think about it, $40 for a kit is cheap because of all the lawyering that has to be done in order to sell a kit now days. That is why kit companies repop old kits. To keep the cost at only $40. If they have to engineer all new tooling AND do all the lawyering to license the thing, kits would cost a lot more.