Bainford

Interesting project. It's coming along very nicely. I love seeing these off-the-beaten-path subjects being built.

Very cool little model, Michael. Your weathering is top notch, very authentic.

Very cool stuff, Steve. Great style, and nice work on the grill conversion.

Cool custom. Love the mail-slot rear window, and really glad to see the six.

I dig it! Cool little camper.

Cool project. Lovely work so far, Charles. The chassis is super nice, and excellent work on the grill guard. That must have been a chore. Looking forward to watching this one come together.

A fine looking short-tracker. Classic look, great livery, and well built. Love it. ... and hear the whine of the straight-cut gears.

Wow! It's in incredible condition.

Welcome to the forum, Craig. The build is looking good. Lots of knowledge people here to help you with any issues you may be having. Enjoy.

Congrats! A very well deserved placement. I have somehow missed this build over the years, so just spent the last hour or so going through this entire build thread. Nice work, and I really appreciated your efforts to get the details right. The result is a very cool little model.

The polishing job looks great, David. Nice work. Are you able to use Micro Mesh pads? The finer ones (6000, 8000, 12,000) would work well on bare plastic. Perhaps not necessary on this project, but in case some plastics do not polish up as well as the Rolls. Maybe Micro Mesh pads (used wet) could be a first step, followed by your toothpaste regimen. Just a thought.

Yup, it's looking pretty good, and as Topher says, how far you wish to carry the finish depends entirely on what you wish to accomplish. At this stage of your development, I would just focus on getting a decent coat of paint laid down (which you appear to have), and getting it cleanly built. Full-on cutting & polishing the paint is a tedious exercise requiring experience to get it right. A lot of paint jobs can get ruined in the accumulation of those skills. Don't worry about that stuff for now. You can give the body a quick rub with the Mother's polish if you wish, but even then, I would paint a junk body or something and practice on that in order to assess how quickly the polish removes paint. If you do give it a rub, avoid edges and high spots on the body, as some polishes will remove paint from these areas faster than you may expect. The colour looks great. I think you are on to a good looking build here. Focus on getting it together cleanly and you will have a successful build for the shelf. Getting to that point will be satisfying, and success breeds confidence. Also, especially when starting out, it is way too easy in this hobby to get bogged down with a project, which creates frustration, and it ends up back in the box. It's double easy to do when many of your peers (the forum members) have been at this for more decades than they care to recall, and have spent much time over the years experimenting with alternate products, processes, and techniques. Keep it simple at first. Remember, every build is merely practice for the next one.

Very nice, Daniel. You are really wrestling this thing to the ground. It's good to see a 914 getting the attention it deserves. I am digging the colour, too. You can't get more early-70s than that.

The Oldsmobile is looking pretty cool.

Stunning model, Rich. Simply gorgeous. Congrats on bringing this long term project over the line. It was certainly worth it. I agree that the Jags were the finest looking of their breed. I gleaned some great PE tips above. Cheers.

Cool old models, Jim. Welcome to the forum.

Welcome to the forum, Eugen.

Welcome to the forum, Christian.

Stellar work, and very cool subject. I'm really digging the 455 4-speed. Were '73 GTOs normally available with a manual trans?

Nice work, Scott. That is one cool Celica. The colour is perfect.

Has anyone tried airbrushing this stuff?

Everything Luke said. Try applying your Tamiya paint in 3 or 4 very light coats. For a larger practice surface (to better replicate painting a car body) try painting plastic pop bottles.

Check Ray's Decals. He should have something there. edit: It's worth noting that he prints decal orders in batches, so shipping can sometimes take a while.

Rumour has it, he's still playing with his little model cars. I guess some people never grow up.

Cripes, David, that is a doctor's order one does not want ever want to hear. Very sorry to hear about your condition, and I hope things go smoothly for you from here on out. As for the build, I like it! Roll with the punches, work with what you have. Once one digs into it, there are probably a lot of non-toxic solutions for many of the procedures we take for granted. I am looking forward to seeing how this project progresses. Cheers.