Foxer

I'm getting ready to use Sophisticated Finishes to rust out a van I'm working on and, since this thread is pretty much about that, I have a question. The Iron Metallic Surfacer I have seems a bit thick and went on heavy on the test I did. I'd like to know what consistency this is supposed to be. It's almost like a goo even after I added a little water to thin it. And, is water the proper solvent to thin it with? It does say it's a water based product. At any rate, it was very difficult to get a smooth application of the dark grayish metal look that shows in many of the samples here. The rust chunks are not a problem. Here's a photo of an headed after 2 applications of the rust solution in a baggie ... I did put some dullcoat on it to tone the shine down.

I'm not sure fiberglass resin would work on such a small piece, but I'd getting close to trying! I got some Sheet Gap superglue thinking it would give me time to adjust the part. Also got some JB Weld epoxy thinking the softness of the 5 minute epoxy is doing this. So far neither worked but I need to do again with a bit more care. I'm thinking I'd probably have to buy a gallon of fiberglass resin just for an eight of a dab of it. Here's a photo close up of the piece .. this one is still holding. The .04 plastic tab is rounded with a round file to fit and the 1/16 diameter tube has been filed to roughen. The header is a scrap I tried some Sophisticated Finishes on to see how it will work for the exhaust .. I think this will work. And, since this IS an update, the dash and interior panels have been stripped and repainted. Also, many of the chassis and engine parts have been cleaned up and painted.

Yes, printing white is the real limit to using inkjets, but sometimes using white decal paper will solve that. Elements is a good program to use for bitmap images. I use Photoshop, but Elements should be as good for scaling and arranging the images. I put everything across the top for an 8.5 x ll sheet. I can then cut off the decals and reuse the same sheet. Printers don't really care how long your sheet is. For creating you own decals, such as lines and shapes, a vector program such as Adobe Illustrator will give the sharpest results. For sealing, you just need an acrylic clear spray. A couple light coats usually does it. Look in a crafts store for some. All inkjet decals sheets need this or the ink will run when wet. For scaling, you need your calculator. I set Photoshop's paper size to 8.5x11 to match the actual paper and don't re-size the image ... PS will just change the pixels per inch. You can do a test print and check the size you get. I just ratio the needed size over the printed size I need. Say I need a .25" high decal. If the decal prints out at .5". divide .5 by .25 (needed size divided by printed size) and then do an actual resize of the image in Elements. This time you DO want to change the image, in out case, multiply the image size by .5. I usually set up each decal in a separate file using 8.5x11 sheet and only vary the DPI. Then I can copy and paste it to the master decal sheet file and all resizing remains intact with each decal on a separate layer.

This really looks the part! .. I can see the smoke coming off those tires

Welcome in, Trae. That Vette looks good.. the interior has some nice textures. I'm a restart from the 90's too. I've started many after coming back a couple years ago, though I haven't finished any .. or those left over from the 90's. But, the things that stalled those have been solved just by being here with the great people in this forum. Someday I'll have to apply what I've learned.

This sounds to be as realistic weathering as it gets! Do you think this is any faster than what it took my 1:1 VW bug to rust thru the floor pan?

Looks like it's been freshened with newer logos.

I just plain love this one!!

Mine was the AMT '58 Thunderbird ... when it was released in 1958. It was all wheels from there on after some years of ships, planes and armor.

This is pretty interesting. I've heard about, but never experienced ghosting myself. I'm wondering if the reason is that I usually sand the whole body down so the emblem area is the same texture as everywhere else and solvent absorbsion is equal everywhere. Ghosting due to solvent absorbsion still seems odd as when an emblem is removed the area around it gets sanded equal.

Thanks, Jeff. It IS going foward. Ryan Silva posted a 8 lug wheel he's working on for his resin casting in this thread. If I need a wheel before he gets his to production, I'll make one but won't be casting them. If it comes out well, I will offer Ryan it's use as a master for a little variation.

OOO OOO OOO! There's still a chance I can beat ya for the Lion's build, Benard!

I like that ... Rhino grain vinyl! You're right on the Krylon Global Blue. That was the first color I tried and was not bad, but the 2nd color that caused the crazing and is visible in the cracking photo is Dupli-Color Light Blue metallic. To tell the truth, I really don't know what type of paint either is ... they don't put that on the cans anymore. I assume the Dupli-Color is a lacquer, bu the Krylon I don't know. It'd be interesting to know if anyone can shed some light on this. Update: I did find that the Dupli-color is acrylic lacquer, but Krylon does not say what type of paint the Indoor/Outdoor is.

yup .. I rushed it. I know better than this ... applied the metallic paint on top of another incompatible paint. I KNEW I should have primered it before the lacquer. At least the interior panels have no body work and are in the purple pond. The dash I have to sand down. At least Cranky will praise this paint job as it's giving results comparable to the Crackle product he found! Between the hinge glue problem and this it's two steps backward. Nothing unusual.

This is looking great ... I especially like the end of the running board.

'03 Infinity G35 Coupe ... only a few things needed ..I GOT to get this one out! '59 Chevy Impala ... ONLY needs BMF .. for about 15 years! '35 Chevy sedan modified '91 Porsche 944 S2 ... My last Porsche '39 Chevy Sedan Delivery ... has been in need of white lettered decals for 16 years '67 TR4A ... wish it wasn't 1/32 to reproduce the one I had That's not all, but I think I've overstayed my welcome!

I thought I would trash this thread for the photo impaired if I put up some of my mega-stalled ones, but, gladly I'm in good company! So ... '32 Chrysler Hot Rod ... will be on it again before long '32 Ford ... NOT chopped! '49 AMT Merc ... doesn't EVERYONE have one of these? '51 Plymouth ... my first car '55 Renault 4CV ... from Police version to beach "woodie" '56 VW Kombi ... some paint repair needed '60's Dragster ... This WILL be one of the next to get done '61 Valiant ... the body is actually in decent shape now on this old glue bomb '92 Crown Victoria ... paint repair on this one too is needed ... continued

there's a good list of links here when you exhaust yourself from the great links posted so far!

OMG! Was there a sign on this saying "for review by Cranky"? It looks like all YOUR cabs in a row!

Welcome here and that looks like one smooth paint job!

That's a creditable weathering job .. looks great!

My favorite type of build! Looks like you have the corr4ect hubcap in the last photo.

That's two of us! .. but, WOW! 2011 looks like a good year if ANY of the above make it Under Glass!

I'm glad to see some are sticking with this build .. ME more than anyone! I see not one photo on this page, so here's some with the interior paint and a tease ... The left spoon is the paint I'm using. The dash has paint like the right spoon but will be redone. The epoxy of the hinges parts keeps breaking loose and that's what's stalling this more than anything. It seems to be having a hard time bonding to the aluminum tubes. Maybe I should have used super glue, but I wanted the strongest bond so it would last and figured that was epoxy.

I agree with above .. for instance, my avatar is in one of my Under Glass pages. Most peoples avatars are from larger images, but the page to put the avatar on requires images of the small size .. so that's all you get when clicking them.