OldNYJim

Sounds like you have a good idea of what NOT to do next time - all part of the process! I do like those Micro mesh pads - the 'cushioniness' of them makes it easy to regulate the pressure you're applying to the surface. The cloths are better for the hard-to-get-to spots though...

I agree, that chassis looks great! How were you sanding it, out of interest? I’ve never messed with 2K clear, but I understood it was super tough and hard to sand…did you have a particularly coarse grit that you were using or something to level it out?

For a period correct early 50s lakes bed racer, for example, that’s probably not the right look. But, that said, I did this Deuce recently with blue/purple color shift paint over a metallic green flame job and I like the effect: Ditto the 57 - that’s solid GM teal but with pearl silver and gold to accentuate the body lines a little more. Much more subtle, but it shimmers between green, silver and gold as you move it around in the light. A very subtle color change but one that adds something to the car’s lines I think. This Model A has blue/purple color changing flames and candy orange with pink pearl over top to make it flip to a pink tone on the high spots: Are they correct, per what people were doing with these cars (and paints generally) in the 60s? Probably not, but I think you can achieve some cool looks with these type of paints! Depends on how wild of a build you’re going for, I think! Painting an otherwise-stock Model T Ford in that blue/green/gold chameleon paint isn’t going to look right to most people’s eyes though… Why anyone invented that paint that flips from purple to BROWN too, I’ll never know. Having something purple in the low spots and poop brown on the highlights doesn’t seem like a well thought out combination to me, but to each his own!

Sounds feasible ?

I'm curious about that too - would be a real parts-mine if it does include all that stuff!

Last thing I saw on this one (from anyone trustworthy, at least) was Tim Boyd's comment here: Mid Summer at best...I'm sure all the global stuff happening right now isn't helping them meet that target any though...

Picked up this book on Boyd Coddington ready to build the Testor’s Alumacoupe and Chezoom kits: Some GREAT reference pics and info…and a bunch of other cool build inspiration! Weird thing though: Amazon / the USPS said this was delivered over a week ago and it wasn’t… Amazon said they knew it hadn’t been delivered and that the USPS actually did still have it, then a couple of days later they said it was lost and refunded me automatically. Then, today, it arrived ?‍♂️ Am I meant to refund their refund somehow now?

Ordered these jumbo AMT slicks from a seller on eBay - I’ve got a few projects where I need larger-than-normal tires: Received these, which are the same regular size sportsman slicks that I have 50 of already (note the different ‘style’ numbers on the packaging): Hoping the seller actually has the kind I want (and bothers replying…)

I’m a little late discovering this thread, but I love what I see! Really inspirational building!

Thanks fellas! Just about wrapped this thing up today, bar some little touch-ups and tweaks… Foiled the body: Got the engine and chassis assembled (nothing much interesting about those, just followed the directions and build it how I’m meant to, for once ?? Kept the kit tires but swapped the wheels for some from the parts-box: And once the chrome bits were all on there I’d pretty much run out of stuff to do: I intentionally ‘cleaned up’ the engine bay by leaving out the heater, horns and battery to give somewhat of a custom look, but aside from changing the wheels, lowering it and making that shifter it’s basically box stock. Learned a lot for the next one I want to build - but this is a pretty fun little kit!

I’ve been really enjoying learning about and researching the street racing scene in New York in the 60s and 70s lately, and I’ve been wanting to build a gasser of some sort so here goes a fantasy ‘probably didn’t happen like this but I think it’s cool anyway’ project. Now, from the research I’ve done and the pics I’ve managed to find you’d be much more likely to find a full bodied sedan or a Vette or something running at these outlaw meets that would happen on Long Island, in various spots across Brooklyn or up in the Bronx, but I’d bet on there having been a decent share of little rods and barely (if at all) street legal gassers and the likes there too. I’ll be building the AMT 40 Willys kit; the one with the terrible-fitting flip front: I already started slicing up the hood so that I can fix that whole affair… …and that’s about as far as I got so far ? I haven’t built any of these AMT gasser kits before - posting this thread a little too prematurely to see if anyone has any good build tips before I get going here properly?

That’s a really cool build! Love it!

Agreed! It lost most of that graininess once I thinned it right down - definitely helped a lot Good ideas, tips and suggestions - thank you fellas! I still KINDA wanna go with something along the lines of this build… …I kinda like the simplicity of that monotone color scheme, but we’ll see. I also can’t resist messing with stuff ? Spent some time polishing out the body today…not totally done (ran out of daylight, and I prefer doing that in the daylight) but it’s starting to shine up some! Still not looking forward to the BMF stage, but it’ll be worth it….

Well folks, it’s halfway through the year today - are y’all half way through your to-do lists? Me either ? Here’s my list: Model A Highboy with a ridiculous paint job: An oval car: Another 34 truck: A VW: And something for a show (DSCV17, in this case): Started the trike too, but it’s been on the back burner for a few weeks. Got a lot to do to close out the list for 21!

I agree, it’s not quite a perfect mirror finish like you’d hope. And if you have to shoot a black base like you would for Alclad and then add lacquer thinners to make it even more like Alclad then I guess I may as well use, well, Alclad ? As you rightly mention though, it’s nice to have different sheens and colors for these metal finishes - I mix between Alclad and Spazstix a lot because to my eye they have their own looks somewhat. I’m hoping that after a couple of days I’ll be able to buff these parts with a q-tip like I like to do with Spazstix and they’ll really start to pop…I’ll report back if it works (or, indeed, if it doesn’t…)

Thank you everyone! Still plugging away at this one. Shot the dash, engine and other assorted white bits with a gorgeous pearl gold overlay, which stubbornly refuses to appear on camera ? Ill have to take an outdoor shot to capture it I think… Spun up a shift ‘knob’ on my lathe - don’t know why I imagined it should look like this but this is exactly what I imagined it would be ? Picked up these new Vallejo paints - I really wanted to try their chrome and this seemed as good of a project as any to test it on. Right out of the bottle, not as chrome-y as I would’ve liked… But with some lacquer thinnner it really improved! And this evening’s project was getting a start on the polishing: I’m of the opinion that that first round of sanding is the MOST important by far, and this thing has a lot of little nooks and crannies and bumps and lumps to work around…about three hours in on the 2400 grit stage so far, just taking it real nice and slow and getting a perfect flat base before working through the other colors. After that, I’m wondering if I want a silver, white or mint green insert on the fin there, or keep it body colored like I had originally planned. Any thoughts anyone? More soon!

Ok, my acrylic chrome came today - I actually picked up a set with some other colors I wanted to try, but you can buy it on it’s own too… I’m working on a 57 Chevy build so I prepped a bunch of parts to experiment on - mostly with gloss black enamel just like I would for Alclad / Spazstix…except for the big front and rear bumpers that I prepped with gloss black lacquer. Reason for that being, if the results were horrible at least I can wash off the Vallejo fairly easily, recoat with gloss enamel clear and then I’ve got a surface ready for one of the other chromes. First experiment, misted on over black enamel, straight out of the bottle: Not bad - kind of has that polished metal look but not what I would call chrome. I let it try for an hour or so in the dehydrator to see if it got any shiner, but nope. Next experiment, a couple of drops of Createx airbrush thinner to let it mist and atomize out of the airbrush a little better, shot over black enamel again: Shinier! It laid down smoother, atomized better coming out of the airbrush and is definitely a better result than shooting it unthinned. Next experiment, this time thinned with a couple of drops of Sunnyside lacquer thinner: Way better! Actually got something approaching chrome this time. It has a little bit of a haze to it, which is something I tend to get with Spazstix too (although not Alclad)…which, if it’s like Spazstix I should be able to buff out to a really nice reflective chrome finish. I’ll let the parts dry for a couple of days and see if a polish-job improves them further. Overall, I’m not blown away by this stuff so far, but I don’t dislike it either - it’s better than I thought it would be! Not necessarily any better or worse than Spazstix / Alclad - just different!

Ordered this set to try - about $30 for the 4 colors…I needed some aluminum shades and I’m excited to try their chrome out and see if it compares to the ‘usual’ chromes we all like

The Scale Riders podcast is a good one too: https://scaleriders.podomatic.com/

People in the UK don’t have iPhones or use social media?!

What a great find! I was wondering how to make a base just like this recently...I ended up shooting airbrush gray over a little piece of wood add adding crackle medium to have it start to break up a little: That shingle is WAY more convincing though! GREAT tip, thank you!

Me either, you're right - I've always got on well with Alclad, Spazstix and Molotow - I don't recall ever trying the AK stuff though. Guess we'll see how Vallejo's offering compares!

I watched a couple of YouTube videos where aircraft modellers praised this stuff, and I needed some metal finishes anyway so I ordered a set of four different metal finishes that included the chrome. They didn’t come yet, but I’m just reviving this thread in case anyone else has tried this stuff and has any tips in the meantime. I’m thinking of laying it down just like I would lay down Alclad and see how it works out… Will report back in a few days either way!

I’d be interested to see examples of this stuff in action too!