Kit Basher

My most expensive so far was the replica of my '90 F150 4x4. It took three kits, a resin engine, a couple of tries with paint colors, and assorted other stuff. I didn't keep a tally, but I'm sure it was over $100.

This is not exactly a "fade", but it may give you some ideas of what you can do by angling the airbrush. There was no masking on this car. I did it from the bottom up, gray, light blue, dark blue. By angling the airbrush so any overspray would go off into space, I was able to let the body lines separate the colors. I think if you practice a little which way you aim your airbrush, you could do a fade without masking, as Ace described.

AWESOME!

This is really great. Awesome workmanship and detail. Cool idea too.

Thanks, Joseph, those pictures answer a lot of my questions. You're getting beautiful results. The only wrinkle I see for the wheels I want to cast is that there is a rim around the outside of the wheel. I guess that I would have to make the molds separate at that rim, in order to get the wheels out of the mold, but I run the risk of having flash right where I don't want it. It looks worth a try, tho. Thanks again!

Thanks, Art.

One thing that helped me a lot was getting a pair of round jaw pliers. They make it a lot easier to get smooth bends. You can find them in the beading aisle of a craft store. Yours is definitely better than my first attempt.

Definitely this!

Thanks for the reply, Art. The wheels I want to cast are halves, but they are not flat on the back. Here are some pictures: The back: The front: I guess I would need a two part mold, any suggestions for that?

I am getting ready to make my first attempt at casting wheels. I would like to cast two at a time. Any suggestions about organizing the mold? Should the wheels be horizontal or vertical, right side up or upside down? Should the resin enter the wheel from the top or bottom, where should the mold split, etc. Any advice would be very welcome. TIA

I'm thinking you deserve a reply, even if it's "I don't know". I've never had this problem, in fact the blacks cover better than some of the other colors. I'm guessing you have already stirred them thoroughly, so maybe bad batch, or ???. Thinning is worth a try. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

I recently bought the MPC re-issue WW II jeep. It has an axe, shovel, M1 rifle, Thompson sub machine gun, and an M2 machine gun, along with the big recoilless rifle.

This is just incredible. I always wait impatiently for the next update. As has been mentioned before, please consider not painting it, it looks so amazing the way it is! Thanks for sharing it with us.

Does your compressor have a water trap and a regulator? You will need those. If you're going to be using enamels, get some cheap lacquer thinner for thinning them, a la Donn Yost. His methods work great. It's also good for cleaning the brush.

Nice job, it looks great! I would buy one.

Tomo, i really like that "Golf, Golf" shot.

I did not clear coat over the Tamiya. I don't think it needs it.

For turn signal lenses that attach to a chrome grille, I got the best result by airbrushing Tamiya transparent orange on the outside of the lenses. It looks like solid orange plastic. When I tried painting the inside, it looked like a clear lens with paint on the inside. Hope that makes some sense.

Sa-weet! Impressive job moving the wheelbase.

I don't know if it's "best", but lacquer thinner works great.

They all look great!

I found this by doing a search of "virginia state police emblems images". I think the blue blocks with the white lettering could be made with MS Paint or another imaging program. I don't know what else you might need. Maybe it's time to try making your own decals, it's not that hard. To copy an image you find in a search, right click on it, click "Save picture as", and save it to your pictures. HTH

Finally had success at the flea market today.

Thanks Kevin and Bill. Since this seems to be a "use it or lose it" proposition, I guess I will follow Casey's advice and cast until it's worn out. Thanks again.

Looks really nice. I see you're undercover with that license plate.