OldNYJim

I agree with this too - although for more ‘vintage’ looking chrome I like the look of Alclad still too. Different looks completely, I think - which makes them both useful!

The weathering on that engine looks GREAT, I really like how that came out

Interesting! Weird how Hobby Lobby doesn't discount everything across their whole chain at the same time - I wonder why that is? Would be logical for the store in PA to have the same deals as the store in CA, I would've thought...

I bake mine for 24 hours in my little dehydrator, but prior to having that option I gave any parts painted with Testors enamel (always cut 1/3rd with lacquer thinner) 3 weeks to fully cure and gas out before polishing them. I experimented with different techniques and different waiting times and that seemed to be the sweet spot - the paint is plenty hard enough by then that you can polish it out to a perfect gloss finish. We used to have really high humidity some days when we lived by the ocean in NY, so I'd wait for days when the humidity was 40% or lower - that seemed to help a bunch too. If you don't mind the wait times you can get a really nice glossy finish with a relatively shallow learning curve with their enamels, I've found.

If you’re airbrushing, Createx white sealer or Createx opaque white both work well for this job - they’re really high-pigment paints designed, I guess, for painting white stuff on black stuff easily. The grey-then-white primer thing works well too like others have suggested already

I don’t usually polish my frames when I’m doing hot rod builds - Testors enamel clear is glossy enough that I shoot that nice and wet, avoid getting dust in it and call it good. In the interests of pushing myself on this one though, I decided to go through my usual polishing process (only VERY carefully so I didn’t end up breaking it or snapping any of the doodads off). Came out ok (although my hard work would’ve shown up better if I hadn’t gone with a flake-y base color and just gone straight black instead ?) Still not quite done, but I like polishing in the daylight and I ran out of it. I’ll give it a second round with fresh eyes tomorrow...

I keep seeing that the Model Master paints are discounted in a bunch of different stores (down to a buck a jar, from what I can tell) but nothing in my local store just yet. Anyone else seen this happening by them?

Almost certainly that paint will come right off with some isopropyl alcohol without leaving a trace. I’d use a q-tip and just clean it up as required. A lot of people like a chisel tip Sharpie for doing those black bits on windows - the chisel shape makes it easy to follow the raised edge (if there is one) and you won’t get any bleed under the masks or tape ??

I mainly do it because people aren’t already talking about the EXACT thing I’m thinking about at the exact moment I think of it ?‍♂️

I ordered this kit today because of this thread ?. Wanna see what the big deal is (or isn’t - guess we’ll see...)

Love that color!! The wheels look great on it too!

Thank you Tim! I’d been looking forward to taking another look at this one! So many cool details and things to spot! Is the follow-up in progress now? Can’t wait to see what you’re working on next!

Very cool! I like how you did the motor mounts - cool idea!

Interesting! I just couldn't picture how big one of these would be - thank you for the response and photo!

Really enjoyed reading this Tim - I like your ‘Fotki-articles’! I never knew that the back of the driver’s seat should be metal - storing that away for future reference! I actually purchased another of these kits to build something inspired by the brown-primered T that you built that was in Scale Auto a few years back - looks like I need another one to build my take on this version too!

Amazon had these for $20 (still does, in fact) and I figured it would be a decent basis for a more detailed oval build I think it’s the same frame and running gear as the other MPC oval trackers?

Shot some graphics on my MPC Mail Box trike body and tank today. I’ll be shooting candy over the top of them to mostly hide them, but I wanted a cool little ‘something’ for people to spot if they looked a little closer...

My wife gave me one of these that she wasn’t using - it’s been a game changer! Use it all the time! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LFH2MGH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_4T2DG8PHW3GJC0K98FC2 That or an engineer’s square to keep everything straight teamed up with an X-acto works well for me

Doesn't look bad from here! Very nice!!

More slow progress on this one...got the frame, body and gas tank together, smoothed out and in primer ready for base color! The frame was worrying me somewhat - it’s hard to assemble it for painting without it being too fragile to handle without the engine in there to help hold it together...need to be gentle with it until I’m ready to drop the motor in. Had to do a little sanding to get the two-piece body smooth and hide the seam too, but it worked out ok I think... Because I’m putting some graphics under the candy paint on this one went with the lightest silver in my collection, Wicked Colors aluminum, so that I can lay some darker silvers over the top of it and have some decent contrast without needing to use black. Fingers crossed that works anyway... Shot all the pieces with some clear so I can lay out some more interesting stuff and do some airbrushing tomorrow, all being well! Not a super exciting update I know...but I didn’t make much progress this month ?. More soon!

Like the others above said - you’ve achieved the dusted-on clear finish that I’ll use if I want a satin finish to my paint. Store that technique away for future use, because it’s often useful! Heavier, wetter applications will give you the gloss finish you seek ??

I should really find a second use for it ??

Thanks buddy! Still need to tidy those up and get them polished up... Got some clear down this weekend! I sealed in the topcoat with Future so I could lay down a few decals and little details and then shot Testors enamel on the whole shebang: Let the parts set-up an hour or so then put them in the magic paint bake machine: And 24 hours later - shiny parts! They’ll need polishing and maybe one extra coat on the body depending on how initial sanding goes - those big flakes are a little lumpy naturally and the edge around the flames is a little pronounced - but no major disasters anyway! Meanwhile, spun up the lathe to make some pulleys to replace the kit parts: Need to clean them up (they were small enough that I nipped the ends off with wire cutters rather than part them off properly and risk them flying off into space) and then polish them up but that’s another little project accomplished: I’ll add some photo etch bolt detail to these and use some sign vinyl for a belt - way better than the kit part (hopefully...) More soon!

Yep, 30ml refill (or the contents of one of the pens) and spray it straight out of the airbrush with no thinning required Use 99% iso. alcohol for cleanup - not water or you’ll get a gummy mess. Lay it down a little wet and then don’t touch it for a couple of days MINIMUM unless you’re brave or like fingerprints in your chrome. If you want a realistic polished aluminum finish lightly clear-coat it with something water based, or if you don’t...don’t! ??

Amazon has them for $20, delivered right now (or there’s a damaged packaging version on this listing for $15 if you don’t mind taking a chance...) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002LAC25I/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_M3PBSQREGB4BS7NDTQNN?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1