Bainford

How decent are the Gunze Sangyo 1/24 scale F1 kits. I have been interested in a couple of these kits, but I have no idea if they are worth the coin. I am expecting a somewhat simplified kit, but it needs to be fairly accurate with good tires/wheels. EDIT: Also, are they actually 1/24 scale, not 1/28 passed off as 1/24. I have fallen for that one twice before.

What did you use to try to remove the lacquer undercoat? That can be some stubborn stuff. Strippers that remove lacquer should take it off eventually. Isopropyl alcohol of at least 91% should work, as should brake fluid, and probably some of the bespoke hobby strippers such as Testors ELO (though I have no experience with this stuff myself). Some people have had good luck with Castrol Super Clean, but in many cases I found it wouldn't remove all of the undercoat. Some people seem happy with just removing the plating, which supports paint adhesion, but when stripping chrome, I want the detail-hiding lacquer undercoat off as well. It is the most common reason I strip chrome.

Super impressive Francis, as always. I love what you have done with the underside of the hood. There are many things to enjoy about what you do, but the incredible cleanliness of your work always gets my attention. I am always amazed at just how tidy everything is. Cheers.

Nice looking Nova. This photo illustrates well just how small older cars really are. There seems to be the notion, even among car enthusiasts, that old cars are big and heavy. A couple years ago I was travelling down a busy four lane road, two lanes of traffic coming towards me. Among the traffic was a car much smaller than everything around it. Still a way off, I couldn't identify it right away, except I could tell it was old. As it got closer, I saw it was a '59 Chevy four door sedan, with its little 15" wheels and skinny tires, looking positively tiny in the sea of modern SUVs and cross-overs. I just couldn't get over how small it looked.

Welcome to the forum, Patrick. Good to have you aboard.

Stunning. My mind boggles. This is a very impressive build. I'm going to have to dig up the build thread.

Very nice fab work. That thing is looking great.

Love them Autocars. Looking great with the Holmes kit.

Very nice build of a very cool old sports car. The engine looks great with all the added details. The piping looks good, too. Looking forward to seeing your XK SS.

Very cool!

Wicked looking Pontiac. I'm not a big fan of metallic black, but it is perfect on this big girl. Very nice, Bill. I love it!

Looking mean. Love the wheels.

Cool project! I have a couple Moebius '72 Fords in the stash, but haven't built one yet. I'll be watching this one. Man, I would love to park that 1:1 in my yard. I just gotta know, is it a manual?

It's a shame those IMC Dunlops were so poorly done. The hobby could use more proper period sports car tires.

Stunning collection, Gary. There are some very cool versions of the Ford GT there. Very impressive, I would love to see that lot in person.

Yes, you need a couple more coats of primer on that body work until you have good solid, even colour. Even colour of any base coat or primer is important, as a patchy result will often transfer to the final finish (especially with yellow). Painting the inside of the body with black helps a lot, but even primer application is important. Apply light coats. If the primer lays down dry and dusty/gritty (as the photo appears), you may need to get in a bit closer when spraying. Either way, a bit of light sanding with 1000 or 1500 grit sandpaper between coats and before final paint will keep things smooth. Sand wet, and rinse/dry parts very well before paint or further primer coats. It is also necessary to achieve solid, even primer coats to properly assess any places that need further work prior to paint. Small scratches and very minor imperfections can sometimes be sorted with another coat of primer. For small repairs, such as the spot at the top edge of the intake cowling, I use Gunze Sangyo Mr Surfacer. It comes in several 'grits' (grain size, I guess), but I use 1000 or 1500. It is basically a very thick primer that I spot-apply with a brush to fill small divots or deeper scratches. When sanding, it feathers out beautifully. It's good for filling the ejector pin marks on the underside of the bodywork, too. It shrinks while it is drying, so I apply a thick, heavy spot, allow it to dry/shrink, then sand it flat. It is a lacquer that dries quickly (though not CA quick, which I suppose it why many people use CA for such things). Just one man's method, of course. There are numerous ways to sort such things. Taping off the mating surfaces is not lame, just good forethought. You are doing well. Keep in mind that anything I say is just my way of doing things. Other builders will have other methods or techniques, and you will absorb and draw from these. There is almost no end to ways of 'skinning this cat'. There are definite wrong ways of doing it, but if you ask ten modellers the right way to do it, you will get twelve different answers. If other methods, or your own ideas, clash with any advise I offer, then those methods or ideas are not necessarily wrong. Just different. Eventually, every builder settles into their own methods or ways of doing things that works well for them, usually a mish-mash of things they've heard and read over the years that solidify into their own personal methods. This is why forums work so well at developing our own personal skills and techniques. We are all the result of a mash-up of everyone else's methods and experiences.

Very cool model. Nice work on this resin kit. I quite like the simple, very early cars (and other era machinery), but kits are virtually non-existent. Great scratchbuilding subjects, though.

Lovely build. The colour looks spot on. very nice.

Really digging those Gotti wheels, and they would look great on a 240ZG.

That's going to be a good looking Vette. I've been thinking of combining one of these AMT split-windows with the chassis from the Revell '67 for a bit more detail. Having said that, I don't necessarily dislike the one piece chassis, as it allows one to get a great looking model on the shelf without getting mired in the weeds of detail.

First of all, don't be concerned about the apparent lack of participation in your WIP thread. The race car part of the forum is not nearly as well attended as some other parts of the forum. Only the die-hard race car builders hang out here, and there appears to be far fewer of them than builders of road cars, customs, and hot rods. As you have found, IPA wont strip enamels. Don't use paint thinner to strip paint, it can seriously damage the plastic. There are several common items used to strip paint, some work better then others depending on type of paint (lacquer, enamel, acrylic), specific manufacturer's formulation, type of primer, how old the paint is, and curiously, the colour (some don't strip well, such as flat black or silver). Here is a link to a thread with much good information. It's 27 pages, so probably way too much information, and some mis-information (if it doesn't sound right, question it). Everyone has their personal favourite paint strippers for removing different paints. A quick breakdown of the common players; - Castrol Super Clean degreaser, colloquially referred to as the purple pond (great for enamels, sometimes works on lacquer and acrylics). Pour it into a suitable container and dunk the whole body in it. Can take from hours to days to work, depending on the paint. It's re-usable. There is a knock-off product called Purple Power, but it's not nearly effective. - Easy-Off HD oven cleaner (NOT the fresh scent or lemon scent stuff). Like Castrol Super Clean, it employs lye as an effective ingredient. Put the parts in a zip-lock bag, hose the parts with the Easy-Off, and seal the bag. - Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA). Use at least 91% IPA. Works great on most lacquers and some acrylics. - Brake Fluid. Can be a bit messy, but can also strip stubborn to remove paint. I use it when the others don't work. It's re-usable. - There are also a couple a bespoke products that work very well, though I've not tried any of them. One is ELO (Easy Lift Off), a Testors product, I think (could be wrong, but the linked thread will have the vital info). You don't soak parts in this stuff, but apply it with a brush/rag to soften the paint, then remove the paint. - ...and a couple tips; All strippers work best when warmed slightly. Also, paint will strip easier, especially stubborn or old paint, if the surface of the paint is abraded with sandpaper, allowing the stripper to get in under the outer cured layer of paint. Also, it's best to use latex gloves or similar when handling any of the strippers. I appreciate the reticence to strip a paint job that took many hours of work to prepare and apply. The impetus is to try to save as much of the work as possible. However, in the end, you will find that if you are not happy with flaws in the paint, you often will not be happy with attempts to fix it. Some flaws and issues can be skillfully repaired with an airbrush, so it's not always a loss, but we have all put more hours of effort into trying to save a hard won paint job, reluctant to strip it all off. Often you come to the conclusion that putting 200 hours into a build with a compromised paint job is not nearly as satisfying as putting in 220 hours into a build with a great paint job. Though a pain in the butt at the time, the end result is a model you are even more proud of, knowing you went the extra mile to get it right. You soon get used to removing a paint job that did not go down well as soon as you realise it's not good, thereby saving all the hours and effort you would have put into a doomed attempt to save it. The real nuisance is when the model has a lot of repairs, corrections, or custom work involving putty. Most paint strippers damage most putties, requiring all that work to be redone. In some of these cases, sanding off the damaged paint may be the best way forward. It depends a lot on the type of body and its details that can be damaged by sanding. All very subjective. It looks like your body panels are ready for primer again (it's usually not necessary to remove all traces of the previous primer job). Give the parts a quick wash and scrub with mild soap (absolutely must be silicon free) and warm, running water. Rince well using a fine nail brush to get into all the crevices, dry with a lint-free cloth, and let air-dry thoroughly. Give it a quick wipe with IPA on a lint-free cloth. Then apply your primer. Once the primer is on, you can assess the quality of the surface finish, and do some fine follow-up sanding if needed. Re-prime if necessary. A final light rub with 1000 or 1500 grit sand paper, used wet. A final thorough rinse and dry, final wipe with IPA, and you're ready for paint.

Cool project, Topher. Coming along nicely.

It's coming along nicely, Marcus. You've got the wherewithal to get it right, a necessary ingredient for a great model. Stripping paint is definitely the right move at this stage. As you mentioned, mocking up and pre-fitting is vitally important, especially with a kit of this complexity. This stuff becomes second nature as you progress through a couple builds.

Welcome back, Daniel.

Interesting project, Ismael. The body is looking good. Like you, I am surprised this car was never offered as a 1/25 scale kit. I had an opportunity to check out this car in person way back in 2000. It looked as cool as I knew it would.