OldNYJim

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!

My last couple of kits have come in those white plastic padded envelopes that Amazon uses. They're not really strong enough for the job, unsurprisingly…

The body doesn’t look THAT great either, what with those big panel gaps and misaligned hood. That said, the Willys pickup kit kinda has some similar issues and I have two of those in the queue here, and I’ll be picking up a couple of Henrys too I’m sure…

I think so! I’m more about the classics myself too, but it was an eye catcher anyway - and I liked this little air intake scoop thing that they’d made at least:

This is looking GREAT! Looking forward to seeing the body in color too! Seeing the body in primer, I can really appreciate all the neat custom touches…makes me wanna build another one of these!

Way cool! Thanks for the explanation Joe! It’s looking great!

Thanks everyone! Still messing with the interior - made floor mats (so that white carpet doesn’t get ruined immediately ?) and fitted the window cranks and seat: And got the body in clear ready for the next step - it occurred to me today that my mother in law is visiting for two weeks and I figure she might not enjoy enamel fumes…so it was now or later on that… The sparkles really pop in the sun, even before clear, but even better after! And a little vid to show off that pearl flake - more soon! IMG_8565.MOV

Cool build! Even after googling I’m not totally sure what a Volks-sled is - like a lead-sled, but a Bug?

Some cool stuff from the local Cars & Coffee this morning - some highlights below and more pics here. We had tornado warnings yesterday and a straight week of thunderstorms so not a HUGE turnout, but still some cool old stuff, and a bunch of modern tuner stuff with wheels that look like they rub the wheel arches ?

I love it! It’s cool to see someone going to all the extra effort on an oval racer build like this that ISN’T a NASCAR! Very cool!

I’m excited about the Henry J, but I’ll take a T-bird too! That box art is great!

Thanks everybody! Been plugging away at this one slowly, but not on anything interesting enough to justify an update ?. Last couple of weeks casual progress…sanding off the flat ol’ window cranks and door cranks and scratchbuilt new ones: They could probably use some more shaping and messing around but they’re a world better than the almost non-existent ones in the kit as it comes: Shot them with black lacquer and some Spazstix and they’re drying overnight awaiting installation: Meanwhile, shot the interior with Createx pure white and some minty green acrylic artists paint for a reverse-two-tone take on the standard white and green 57 interior: Then added a slightly off-white carpet with embossing powder: And then started adding some of the chrome trim with silver wire I picked up at Hobby Lobby: Im still putzing with that to get it perfect, and cleanly installed - I need some kind of wire-straightening tool to make it easier! I’ve been getting the ends stuck down on each piece and then feeding in a little drop of glue and working along the middles gradually…need to keep practicing at that… The rest of the interior and also the motor are going to be a nice pearl white, in keeping with the fairly simple color scheme but without having it look too boring…prepped those parts and got them in pure white ready for pearl coats tomorrow: And finally, the I’m not really focusing on the underside of this one too much - but the bits that will be visible are going to be another shade of minty green: Plenty still to do, but I’m havin’ fun doing it! More soon!