Bainford

Beautiful build of the ferocious 917-30, Rich. The paint, finishing, decals look fantastic. You have captured the essence of the beast nicely. Very well done.

Good looking Lancia. Nice work on the decals. Well done.

You are a man of vision, Alan. It's fun watching this come together.

Normally, I would agree. I sometimes do this with other items when the buy-in cost of quality is too much to bear at one time. But, with low-quality small drill bits, the cutting quality is what suffers, creating bores that are oversized, crooked, off-centre, bell-mouthed, and sloppy, and requiring many more turns of the pin vise to make the hole. When doing small, precision drilling, the quality of the work will suffer, as will the enjoyment of the task. Also, some cheap drill bits are much less breakable than quality bits, some having the molecular integrity of a over-cooked noodle. I have even bent them without breaking.

There are some things it never pays to scrimp on, and small drill bits is one of them. This will include many drill bits sold to hobbyists as a set. A properly ground drill bit requires precision manufacture, necessary for a bit that will cut well and evenly from both cutting lips and bore a straight, clean hole. I buy machine shop quality bits in packages of 10 or 12 from jobber shops that sell tools for industrial use. Places such as Acklands-Grainger or McMaster-Carr, or many other similar shops sell them. Most recognised name brands are good for model use, Dormer and Greenlee come to mind, but there are many. The difference in cutting performance between a proper bit and cheap hobby junk is night & day, and there is nothing more frustrating then doing some precision micro-drilling on a small, delicate piece with a cheap bit. They cost much more, but for anyone doing scratchbuilding, they are worth it. If you are only using them for pinning, then you could get away with buying only one or two sizes that correspond with the size pins you like to use.

Good looking Europa. The red works well. The decals look well done. Did you have any problems getting them on? I have this kit on the bench right now, and have recently applied the decals. It was quite a chore getting them on straight and tidy. Thankfully, I found them to be very high quality decals.

Interesting project. I'm interested in seeing this come together.

Interesting. I have used my Badger 200 since 1981, and it has always been a faithful workhorse of which I am quite proud, but I have had no luck with the Fine .25 tip/needle. It was the only airbrush I had ever used until two years ago when I finally bought the gravity feed airbrush I had wanted for years, and which I absolutely adore. As to OP's question, For the last twenty years I always clean enamel and lacquer with lacquer thinner, and acrylics with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I have never had any problems with seal or finish deterioration. In fact, the head/tip and the transfer tube (joins the bottle lid to the airbrush) are always stored in a jar of lacquer thinner. They have been there for may years with no detrimental effect on the finish or the base metal. In most cases, if your seals or airbrush finish is negatively effected by hobby standard solvents, the problem is likely the airbrush rather then the thinners/cleaners. A quality airbrush will be equipped with solvent resistant seals. As for Chinese knock-offs of a highly precision instrument, well, "you pays your money, you takes your chances".

Great looking Jag, Rich. The colour works well with those sexy lines. The Jag collection is very cool, too. I really need to pick up a coupe and roadster. I'm feeling inspired.

Yes, I agree fully. I am frequently amused by this as well. On a couple of builds I have shot black simply because it was the easy way out. Any great paint job is all about the pre-prep and the post-polish. If you can lay down a coat of paint, and yet are dissatisfied with your black paint jobs, the problem is most likely in the prep and/or the polishing, not the paint or the application of it. When all of your prep work is done and you are ready for paint, inspect the body carefully with magnification. Be highly critical, and take the time to fix the seemingly insignificant defects you find (Gunze Mr Surfacer, applied locally with a detail brush, is great for this). Block sand all panel gaps/joints with 1000 or 1500 grit paper, used wet). Small defects and undulations in the base plastic or the primer which are not readily visible to the naked eye, will easily be exposed under a coat of black paint. There are many different ideas on how to deal with polishing. For me, I cut the paint with micromesh pads. If the paint is very nice I will start with 6000 grit, if a little orange peel I will start with 4000 grit, and if heavier orange peel or junk in the paint I will start with 3200 or 3600 grit but only areas where it is needed (always use the pads wet). You also want to knock down any paint that has 'stood up' at panel gaps edges (especially the doors) or other panel edges, which may require localised use of the coarser grits. It's good to start with the finest grit you can get away with to avoid getting too many heavy scratches that are difficult to rub out with the succeeding finer grits, yet you don't want to start with too fine a grit if there are imperfections to be removed, or you will just end up with very shiny orange peel. The coarser grits knock down the high spots more efficiently. A thin strip of masking tape on panel creases helps to prevent an errant swipe with a course grit from cutting through to primer (and generally ruin your day). Once the entire body has been cut and flattened, some people will go straight to the cream polishes, but I usually continue with micromesh pads 8000 and 12,000 grit, then rub it out with Tamiya Fine and Finish polish, and finish it off with Tamiya wax (the wax provides a beautiful, lustrous finish well beyond that of just polish and buffing, especially on black). If you plan to clear (and with all of the pinstripe decals on a Blackbird T/A, you probably will), I apply the decals after the paint has been cut and given a rub with an 8000 grit pad. Once the clear has been applied, I carry on with the steps above. That's my method, YMMV.

Good looking pair of trucks. I like what you've done with both of them. Despite its issues (and there are many) I like the Revell '56. Probably because the one I built as a kid (the old issue in metallic blue with funny car slicks) was one of the coolest models on my shelf at the time. I have another '56 Ford F-100 project coming up soon, a stock build, which I expect to challenge me. I built the wonderful AMT '53 when I was 15, and it is one of my rare survivor from those times.

Good looking Jag, Mario. Looks great in yellow. Nicely done.

That engine is, um, interesting. I've been curious about these big Mustang kits. Cool to see a WIP on one.

Thanks, Bill. Never heard of that guy before. Just checked out his stuff, some interesting pieces there.

These are the dental files I was referring to (exacto blade for scale)

Another vote for isopropyl alcohol, 91% or higher. It’s all I’ve ever used on Tamiya acrylics.

Very nice conversion, Mario. You did a great job replicating the old truck. Nice work on the weathering, and great memories too, I'm sure. Well done.,

Very impressive. Nice work on the 3D bits, especially as you are climbing the learning curve.

Stunning build, Rich. An impressive model of an incredible car. Hats off to such a fine build.

Very cool 7. Very nicely built, and in the right colours, too. Those wheels look great. What kit did they come from (Gunze Elan?)?

Cool T. I dig the stripped down nature of this little racer. Nicely done. I've been intrigued by these ICM Model T kits, especially the Speedster. They seem to be well done.

Your perseverance paid off, Dan. That's a fine looking Mustang.

Excellent tip, Greg. I've got a couple in the tool box, and never thought to use them as model files. They're not that expensive, I may pick up a clean, fresh set just for the model bench. Another, similar tool, though a bit finer (not near as robust or strong as the tip cleaners), is the files used by dentists for root canals. Dentists use them once, then chuck 'em. I get my dentist to save a few for me. I'll snap a pic of some when I get home.

True, if the bottles had 10 ml of paint in them. Every one I've opened seemed to have a lot of empty space in the bottle, so I measured the quantity in three different bottles. All had slightly under 8 mls of paint in them.