Foxer

Good to have you aboard, Jericho!

Thanks Foxer. I was over at a friends house back in the spring, and we were digging around in an old shed on his place and we found some of his old models, boxed up, from back in the 70's It was like a time capsule lol MAN I felt old lol. But it really lit a fire under me. Like I said, Im trying to get this shop remodeled and what not, I want to have everything set up right, so Im not sprawled out on the dining room table like back in the day. Grammie was a lot more understanding than the wife is lol. I can remember, no matter how careful I was, I always managed to get paint on her table cloth lol. Anyway. I'm looking forward to it. Thanks for the welcome. It is really worth it to get a shop set up. Once I retired I set up in the basement with work table, paint booth and photo area. All my kits are behind me on metal shelves and I'm slowly getting working tools and supplies organized .. slowly. Some things just found their natural place but others I put where I think at first and sometimes find a more useful spot as I use them.

That looks really good ... you hand held the sanding sticks? I have the Dremel Workstation and want to use it as you do, but I haven't figured out a tool holder so I have some control, though will never be like a lathe.

Very well done rust and subtle ...

Welcome to the forum and back to the hobby! I took the same kind of break .. and did leather carving in the meantime too ... and all the things I wanted as a kid .. kits, tools, paint ...all that stuff is available now ... it's a good time to get back to it!

Volvo 145!

I have one and use it a lot. It works very well for me. I use it mostly on styrene and I haven't used on acetate, though I'd expect it to work the same. What was the problem you had?

That would be a great addition to the available Long Roofs ... this is a great example to the ocean liners of old!

Start smoking and you'll never notice it!

Now, that's a Caddanantal Kit!

Very nice work making that box and frame .. and rail ... ! A cool idea .. I'll have to keep in mind for all the junk van bodies I have here. . .. and watch yours come together.

Wow, Harry ... maybe I should look into getting some pinkeye to up my building!

I grew up around and on the New Haven Railroad, so I have a love of trains from all those experiences. I've always been interested in HO Model Layouts but never had the space or time to build one. I knew it would take over my life if I ever started. My son was given an HO Train Set for one birthday and we set it up a few times but he never got too interested. I ended up painting the engine and some boxcars in New Haven colors and got some weathering practice early before going back to model cars. The trains are all in my son's house waiting for my grandsons to take their turn with them.

Jim ... some great insight and experience for me to look into. I thought the lacquer thinner had was cheap hardware store stuff, but I've had it for some time and don't really know where I got it. There's a good chance it's an automotive thinner, so I'm going to get "hardware" store as everyone has been talking. I also cranked the compressor up to 30psi . as high as it would go. I rarely spray aver 20 if that. So another thing for me to look into. The copper base was paintscratch.com paint that exactly matches the 1:1 Mini I had and I believe it's lacquer .. I have to look deeper into this as internet supplier rarely actually what kind of paint you're buying. I's possible it a water base like about all automotive paint nowadays and maybe that the problem .. with the Mini anyway, which is the worst of the two. And, Hugh .. I have used Testers enamel thinner with their enamel paint and have gotten one of my best paint jobs with that, but I wanted to try for a quicker drying one this time and with black, hopefully a shiner one. And the lower body will stay as Is as you're right .. it has the perfect look for those plastic panels!

I love these old "modern" body dirt trackers from my trips to the track way back when ... very cool looking build!

Just to clear up what I used it was a cheap lacquer thinner. I've had the same gallon can I've been using for a few years on all the automotive touchup paint and lacquer paints. The Testors Glassy Black enamel was mixed 2:1 as Don Yost recommends.This was unusual for me as I didn't have a primer on either body .. at least the last coat wasn't primer .. both have primer on the bare body. The infiniti has been painted with a few different paints .. testors or tamiya gloss black enamel and a flat black automotive primer last time. All were left on and sanded smooth as I couldn't soak it in th epond because of body putty I didn't want to do over. The Mini was painted on top of the automotive touch up paint from Paint Scratch. I guess it could have been a reaction to the paint underneath.

Well, I painted the black roof and lower body moldings with Testor's Gloss Enamel thinned with lacquer thinner per Don Yost's video. I followed everything to the letter but it sure didn't work for me. I've done beautifully smooth lacquer paint jobs with a cheap and enamel thinner airbrush and this looks like sand. I don't know what went wrong. The coverage is very uniform but the surface is like rough and looks like fine sand. I did my Infiniti G25, for the fourth time, and is is only marginally smoother, thou smooth is not a word for this surface. The lower Mini panels might just stay as this is a good representation of the molded black plastic trim! My only thought is that the lacquer thinner dries before the paint hits the body. Yes I did apply it directly on top of the Copper paint and the Infiniti on top of the last black paint that I sanded out and it has dried for maybe 3 months. This does not appear to be a reaction to the paint underneath. I'm posting the Infiniti photos here so they can be see altogether. I know it's difficult to judge paint from just photos, but I would appreciate any thoughts on what could have happened.

I really like your selection and will be watching to see some On The Workbench of these builds . eheh

No one has said what their problem using "hardware store" lacquer thinner was, but I've used PaintScratch paint for years with no problem when I thin with the cheap lacquer thinner I use for all paint. With the last few colors I've purchased from them I did get it in a spray so that is their thinner, of course. It could just be them selling their own thinner as just about every model paint on the market recommends using only their thinner ... and we all know very few of us do!

While I was waiting for the body to dry I continued on with the Interior. It was all black with the door "loop" in a shiny black. The steering wheel has a PE ring and Mini Wings logo. The center pod that carries the huge speedometer had the Navigation display in the center with a red marker that went around the outside as a speedometer needle. I used a decal on my nav with my home on the map .. a bit small to make out. The petal surfaces are also PE. I took these photos before gluing the driver side panel on to open for these photos. I did paint the body with Brilliant Copper but never took any photos. Here it is all masked to paint the roof and lower body moldings gloss black. I'll dullcoat the lower moldings.

Paint job is even better than I imagined after seeing it taped up ... VERY COOL!!

Didn't notice it was 1/48 .. but a neat piece .. looks good.

That Mini on tracks is a cool one! (the dozer kit you pictured is one I hope makes an appearance here) I like that you're a truck builder working on probably the smallest car we have .. I have another Countryman kit that I was planning on doing a custom of some sort .. after seeing your creativity I'm going to have to think more on it..

This sounds cool .. amazing '50's cars there that have been kept alive with whatever was available. And some actually look good! It should spark ideas for some cool builds .. a whole new category! ... now we'll be able to scoff at those '50's rivet counters!

I have the Workstation and got it with the same idea of drilling an accurate 90 degree hole. The project I had in mind was a custom rim I had with closely spaced holes around it. Another thread here told of creating a guide from paper to use for spacing the holes. I haven't tried yet, but the Workstation I was happy with and my little used old Dremal is mounted to it. I have used it more as just grinding tool so far. Drilling hole with the old wired Dremal tends to melt the plastic too much which is the reason I bought a battery Stylus. In any case, this is a good option when buying a drill press for mega funds is not in the cards. It is rigid enough for any use I'd have in modeling. In the end, for the wheels I mentioned, I got this Arbor/Punch Press with the pin vise holder from Micro Mark. It will give me the 90 drgree hold accuracy using a pin vice. It hasn't been tested as I just received it but feels rigid enough and should do the job for me. I also have the Multi-Vise and that has proved to be a good addition and has also been used to hold my Dremal for grinding in addition to other vise uses. Recently I used it to hold a garden hose water pump when the basement drains overflowed.