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Wow, that came out really nice, Lyle!

Looking good! Thanks for the tips, I'll definitely use them when I get one.

Once again, thanks so much. Tooltas, the engine is a 396 from the Revell '66 Chevelle station wagon. Not really period correct, but oh well. Ramsfin, I used spots of superglue along the underside of the wire, then pressed it onto the seats a little at a time. Sometimes the spots of glue showed up as a glossy spot on the seat, but after spraying a few coats of semigloss clear on the seats, they weren't as noticeable. I've used detail wire, too, & that worked really well. It's just that most times detail wire isn't available in the color I need, so I found that painting the bare wire worked well, too. Also, to start off, I drill a hole in the corner where the seat bench & back meet, pass the wire though it, & glue it to the underside of the seat to securely hold it in place.

Wow, just wow!!

Wow! Very nice!

No brand name on the label, just this: K07CV0811-6 .007" CLEAR 8X11" $2.29 I did a search on that number & this is what came up. http://www.c2f.com/h...p?GRP-K07CV0811 There is a company called Midwest Products & they make the PVC sheets I used for the laminated dash knobs. They don't have clear in .007", but they have it in .010". That is a good one to use, too. I found that at a local hobby store that is more geared towards RC stuff.

Thanks for all the kind words, I really appreciate them! But, believe me, it is surely not perfect. I settled on quite a few things that were adequate, but not as nice as I wanted them to be. But, that's how it goes, we need to move on & not dwell on those things, right? Jantrix, the "glass" is .007" PVC sheet or something like that. I found it at Hobby Lobby. It takes curves better than clear styrene sheet, & won't haze when you make a tighter bend. It takes quite a few trys to get the end result to fit just right. The windshield actually stays in places with no glue (but I glued it just to be sure). The backlight is held in place with Crafter's Pick glue. The vent windows sit within the frames, help in place with Testor's clear parts cement. Thanks again.

After severe building burnout that lasted almost 3 years, I think I am finally back for a while. This was a project that I started on in 2007, & worked on & off for a couple of years before putting it away in a box. Earlier this year, I gradually started working on it again, & now, I'm happy to see it finally complete. It started life as a 1951 Chevy Fleetline & I decided to make it into a 1950 model. I reshaped the rear fenders to look more like a 1950, & also reshaped the front & side panels to make them a bit more rounded, & not so flat. I also did a severe rebuild of the windshield section of the roof since the AMT version is so off & wrong. Of course, I chopped the top & did lots of other things to it. For more photos during the building stages, check out my FB page. It's open to the public & don't need to have a FB account to see it. http://www.facebook....136565936448460 The '50 Olds bumpers, grille & '53 Olds hubcaps came from Promolite, & the tires are from Modelhaus with whitewall inserts I modified. Frenched '50 Ford headlights & taillights. The dash was scratchbuilt & the laminated knobs made from layers of transparent orange, clear & white plastic. The seats & door panels have tuck & roll inserts made from acrylic craft paint poured into a mold. Once again, checkout my FB page where I show step by step photos. The piping is 32 ga. wire painted with the same acrylic craft paint as the inserts. Resin copies of scratchbuilt armrests, door handles & window cracks. The paint is HOK candy root beer with a bit of black mixed in on top of HOK copper pearl , shot over a black base coat.

Very nice work! That's the best use of Alcad that I've seen in a long time. I've thought about using urethane as the basecoat because of the slower drying time (similar to emnamel in a way), but haven't tried it yet. You don't polish the urethane after you shoot it, the gloss is from straight out the airbrush, right?

Bill, this is a fantastic step-by-step. Thank you!

Southpier, I found some of the plastic sheets at a local RC hobby store. They sell the sheets individually. Before realizing that there was a place locally, I had ordered some online. In that case, you have to buy a pack of 4 sheets. The sheets are made by a company called Midwest Products. https://www.midwestp...9d-efaf5b1ca690 Johnny Racer, yes, I primed everything before painting.The reddish-brown on the seats & door panels is Tamiya NATO brown, which is very flat. I kept shooting light coats of semi-gloss clear until it had the look I wanted. I could have gotten more gloss by adding more coats, or mixing in a bit of gloss clear to the semi-gloss.

Thanks. The piping is 32 ga. bead wire brush painted with the same craft store acrylic paint as the seat inserts.I attached it to the seats with spots of superglue on the underside of the wire. After it was glued down, I sprayed the whole seat with Acryl semi-gloss clear. That helped to hide any glossy spots from the superglue on the seats. The paint on the dash is HOK copper pearl with a few coats of HOK Kandy Root Beer on top, followed by Dupont clear lacquer. The knobs were my attempt to replicate laminated dash knobs that were popular in early '50's customs. I superglued layers of .005" transparent orange, .010" white & .010" clear plastic in layers & then shaped each knob using files, sanding & polishing. 4 layers of orange, 2 layers of white, & one layer of clear in the middle. I dipped the knobs in Future to add the final gloss. Check out this link to see a few more photos. https://www.facebook...36448460&type=3

Try thinning it a bit more & lower the pressure. It happens with lacquer, but I don't know if I've ever seen enamel do that. Once, I used a cheaper hardware store thinner to thin clear lacquer, & got lots of white powdery overspray. Switched back to Dupont thinner, & the white junk went away.

To make things look more realistic, don't go as glossy as they appear in reality. I know it sounds contradictory, but I find that if I go with the intended gloss, it ends up looking more "toy-like". One thing to try is paint the seats using flat black, then rub your fingers over them to add skin oil. This may be just the right amount of sheen they need. If not, Acryl semi-gloss clear does a good job of adding a subtle sheen to flat painted surfaces. That's what I used on these seats.

Art pretty much nailed it. Air pressure that high will cause the roughness in the areas you describe. Trying thinning it until it shoots out nice & wet at 20 psi. Personally, I have always overthinned paint. It may take more coats to get coverage, but there will be less sanding & polishing to get to smooth.

This, for larger areas, & superglue for smaller areas. Although, I have been using lots more superglue in the past year or 2. It's so good for filling ejector pin marks, mis-matched seam lines, etc.

Artist's acrylics like Liquitex & craft acrylics like Folk Art are softer, & clean up easier than Testors Acryl or Tamiya. I don't know what Testor's Acryl formula is, but it is tough stuff. I once painted a car with Acryl metallic blue, & then used Dupont clear lacquer on top of that. No problems at all. I've been curious about trying Acryl as a barrier coat to protect plastic from lacquer, but never fully tested it. If the paint hasn't dried too much in the cup, then I use water for cleanup, but most times, I'll use lacquer thinner to remove any of it that has dried. As far as your original question, I use water for thinning craft acrylics, & use Acryl thinner for thinning Acryl. I've tried denatured alchohol with craft paint & Tamiya acrylics & it worked well for Tamiya, but did nothing special for craft paints.

Clear PVC works well for "glass". It's not as prone to cracking & hazing at bends like clear styrene is. I've found .007" sheets at Hobby Lobby & .010" sheets at a RC hobby store. http://www.arlenesartistcatalog.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=pvc+sheet

Any updates? I hope it's not just sitting in a box because it surely was looking good.

Looking good!

S-o-o-o perfect!! The photos & tutorials are fantastic, too.

Super nice!

Yep, it's bad.

Lighter fluid removes masking residue without harming most paints. I have used it many times on lacquer finishes & also enamel. It dulls the enamel a bit, but does nothing to lacquer. I learned the hard way not to mask something & let it sit in warm/hot conditions. I painted a guitar with graphics back in the '80's & let it dry in the sun. Took off the masking & had the same problem as you do. I tried all sorts of things until finally finding that lighter fluid worked best because it evaporates so quickly.

Mike, please explain this porting you did on your VL. Mine is about 30 years old & I've changed various parts over the years, but it's the only one I use. Thanks,