Mr. Show

Well, 20 degrees F which is a little over 6C. But it's the wind that has been bad which has been minus 17C.

Carving some brake discs. This will actually be my first complete model and I wasn't expecting this much custom work, but it's been a lot of fun so far. The temperature today is finally over 20 degrees so hopefully I can get some painting done.

That looks great. Is that spoiler from a firebird? Also, I have an aero bird bumper from the Tbird SC kit if you want it. I'll be doing that one stock so won't need it. Here's a picture: The slots on the bottom are exhaust ports. Kind of funky looking, reminds me of the custom Buick Electra rear end. Also for others doing a car with the 2.3l in it, the book "40 years of Mustang" has some outstanding pictures of it. They have details I've not seen anywhere else which will be really helpful. Should be able to get it at your local library. Also a really interesting book otherwise; it was sad reading about how the Mustang got crippled in the late '70s and '80s, and a lot of information on how car companies worked back then. Ford did some shady things.

Small update. I've had it with the stock bumper. It never fit right and was always too short for the body leaving major gaps that I can't repair at my skill level, so I'm using one from an old f body Mustang. It fits perfectly and won't take much work to align to the body. Just have to strip it, fill in the writing at the bottom, hit it with the dremel and some filing and it should be good.

Very nice. I really like the clean look and the wheels are perfect.

This just occurred to me and I haven't seen it elsewhere. I know people use future on clear parts for a shinier, more realistic appearance. Can you also tint future then use it for a tinted glass effect? If so, what would you use - water based acrylic, enamel or lacquer? I would have tried it already but I don't have any spare clear parts I want to ruin.

I know contemporary cars aren't popular around here but I like them. I've been working on this thing on and off for a month. I was going to do a metallic silver and green two-tone originally. As I was prepping the HoK candy green after the silver base coat had cured the can blew a tiny hole in the bottom where it meets the cylinder. I hadn't even put it in very hot water, though I did shake it rather hard. So I stripped the body and decided to go with just a single body color - grape pearl. I hate enamel but I don't have anything else that would look good. The pre-turboized engine. I've got a little more weathering to do to blend the chips I made and fix some painting error. I hate transmissions that are molded to the block. I decided, probably a little late, to fill in the trim to make one smooth line. Depending on the wheels this will be either black or chrome foiled. I messed up a little while weathering the chassis but it should be an easy fix. Also lost an A arm and still looking for a replacement. The front bumper with a couple mist coats. Glad I didn't put too many on or it would have been a nightmare trying to fill in the trim. Still deciding what wheels to use. I'm leaning toward the one on the bottom since I think that would look great with purple but it also looks a little too drag carish. Also since I'm still new to the hobby, tips and suggestions are always welcome and appreciated.

You can find 2000 in the auto section at Wal-Mart. It's the finest I've found anywhere locally, including huge auto parts stores. You may also want to pick up some swiss files, sometimes called hobby files, needle files or jeweler's files. I couldn't live without them. You can get cheap ones online, or if you have a Menard's they have a nice set for ~$7.

I can only answer your second question. JB Weld is definitely the way to go for joining metal to plastic, or anything to anything really - I love JB Weld. There are no no mixing ratio problems since it's 1:1. In my experience it's not messy at all and easy to apply, and it'll hold the pieces forever.

Weathering is a lot of fun, but man the temptation to go overboard is strong. I ruined a chassis that I had looking really nice with light rust and black washes, then thought to myself "Hey! What about airbrushing a white gray wash for a dried dirt appearance?" It went from a subtle rust and grease effect to a kaleidoscope. The gray covered pretty much all the detail from previous washes. At least it should be easy to fix, or at least I can't make it look any worse.

91% alcohol will take lacquer off fairly well. I've gone to that since messing with brake fluid is too messy and toxic. If you do go the brake fluid route it'll probably be your best cheap option. It'll take off anything within a day.

Don't mean to bump my own thread, but if others are looking for sources, I've found auto repair manuals to be a great help. Any library should have them. I picked up one for the Taurus since I'll be doing a SHO soon and the detailed engine and chassis pictures will be extremely helpful.

I've done quite a few thrift store runs since getting into the hobby a month ago. Pickings have been slim so far (Rolls Royce, Space Shuttle and Corvette all I've found in 20 or so visits.) I did see a huge bag full of train stuff at a Goodwill, but knowing nothing about trains nor being interested in them I passed it by. Plus I'm sure it would have been $30+ even if it was garbage since Goodwill prices can often be ridiculous on things they think are valuable. I also quit shopping at Goodwill after a friend who used to volunteer there told me how the employees who go through the donations in the back set aside the good stuff so they can buy it.

Awesome. Thanks a lot.

You can hit print screen then paste them into MS Paint (if you don't have any other paint programs) and save. I didn't have much luck on eBay for this particular model. Oh, I just remembered Craigslist. There's no doubt pictures of every car in existence on there. Just google "craigslist.com: car name" to search all cities and states.

Revell has a "Basic Builder" line. Everything is molded color, not a lot of parts, though gluing is required. May be a nice intermediate step after the snap kits. And if you can find any, Minicraft models usually have a really low number of parts, and the plastic is incredibly sturdy which would be good for younger ones.

I'm having a tough time finding pictures for the '87 Thunderbird I'm working on. So far 80% of the images in google image search lead to an ad/spam redirect/attack site (it's not my PC, I assure you.) The web search isn't much better. Is there a source of stock vehicle images somewhere? How do you find yours?

Thanks for the replies. I went ahead and stripped the wheels and will try again over the bare plastic. I also had another question concerning paints that I don't feel deserves a new topic: I have a can of Boyd's "Grape Pearl" enamel spray. Does this need a base coat? The color on the lid isn't transparent like the other Boyd's pearl I have but I want to be sure. Thanks.

Very nice. Love that body style.

There were two others on the shelf, a bright platinum and I think silver. On both cans it says "two part system required, base+clear." The aluminum plate is the only one that doesn't have that. I'll take a picture of something I painted so you can get an idea of what I mean and post it shortly. edit: Here's the picture: That is one light mist coat even though the picture looks like it's caked on there for some reason. You can see where it rubbed off in a few places. The wheel was primed (Duplicolor white lacquer primer), sanded and free of any grease, dirt, etc. Forgot to mention also that after three days I decided they were dry enough to put in the tires, but it rubbed off onto my thumb even with light pressure.

I bought some aluminum plate buffing metalizer since it's the only one that doesn't require the base and clear, which I can't find at any store anyway. I have a few questions since my results have been less than stellar. First, it says on the can to do only one mist coat and buff after one hour. Can you recoat after buffing? I buffed lightly with a very high fiber count polishing cloth and it took off quite a bit of the finish, leaving it very dull and looking nothing like aluminum. What's the best base coat? So far I've only tried white and gray primer and primer sealer. It looks the same on all of them. The cans that say they require the 2-part system: can any primer and clear be used or are model master's some special formulation?

The body picture isn't showing up for me. Everything else looks great.

How was it shipped? One of the reasons I quit eBay is because too many people use parcel post. It is the slowest domestic shipping option and they just don't care about protecting the package and many do get lost when sent parcel. I can't recall ever receiving a box shipped parcel post that wasn't dented and beat up. I've also read stories of it taking up to two months to be delivered.

In my experience it takes off multiple coats of lacquer within a few hours. You can peel it off in big, gooey sheets. Enamel takes a while longer and requires more work to get it out of all the crevices. Acrylic, on the other hand, doesn't seem to come off at all. I left some pieces painted with water-based acrylic in for a week and it was stuck on just as well as when I'd put them in the fluid.

Very nice. The paint is awesome.