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Chief Joseph

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Everything posted by Chief Joseph

  1. Harbor Freight sells a foot pedal switch that will work with your compressor. Actually, they used to sell two different switches: a normal on-off latching switch and a momentary switch that was only live when you put your foot on the pedal. I have a couple of the latching-type pedal switches and they work really well. I suppose you can use the engine primer, but it's usually thicker and more expensive that regular primer. If I had a choice between standard primer and engine primer for models, I'd always choose the standard.
  2. Gosh, I hope this catches on... It's the perfect height and size to be mistaken for a garbage can
  3. Thank you for your comments! After talking to a few guys today, I think I will be offering a version of the vector wheel with the lug nuts and centercap attached. It'll be just one piece like a normal Monogram wheel front. It'll be slightly cheaper than the version with separate parts, but the trade-off is it'll be harder to paint. The grille is coming soon. Stay tuned on that. The Buick GN is undergoing something of a renaissance right now. December 11th was the 25th anniversary of the last GN rolling off the production line, and there has been a documentary film released this week called "Black Air." The film explores the unique culture surrounding the cars and the people who own them. And the Grand National will be re-introduced by GM, built on the same platform as the outstanding Cadillac ATS. Yeah, 4-doors but at least it's RWD.
  4. I really like your work on this Regal! The seat belts add a lot of realism, and the stock hood looks very good.
  5. Here's a sample wheel I painted for some promo pics: Wheel is painted with Alclad Aluminum, the lug nuts are Alclad Chrome, and the decal on the center cap is the Buick emblem used on Regals. The tire is not included in the wheel set; this one is my resin Eagle GT. You may note I haven't included valve stems with these wheels-- I wanted to leave something for the modeler to add. Maybe one day I can finish my Grand National models now! Speaking of that, here's a prototype of the earlier GN grille with paint and foil: I'm thinking that Alclad Chrome might be easier to use instead of foil. Stay tuned, Buick fans
  6. To sink even deeper into the depths of nerd-dom, do any of you remember seeing the cartoon ALF show? It chronicled Gordon Shumway's adventures on Melmac, before he came to Earth.
  7. I've tried printing directly to BMF with an Alps printer and it does not work. Isn't there a waxy layer on BMF so that it shines up when you buff it? That waxy layer would inhibit just about anything from sticking to it properly.
  8. Fixed it. Somehow got a space at the end that didn't belong. http://www.starshipmodeler.com/tech/pa_booth.htm Hmm, still acting weird by loading sometimes and sometimes 404'ing. Use this direct PDF link: http://www.starshipmodeler.com/tech/CoMMiESPaintbooth.pdf
  9. I don't have personal experience with either booth you've presented. But, I will be in the market for a spray booth when we downsize next year. I would choose something more like the MicroMark booth; I like it because it is more open and it's a downdraft design. What I don't like is that it uses a proprietary filter. I don't think you'd have to worry about overspray with either one unless you are use big industrial-strength spray cans. They should handle an airbrush with no problem unless you are blowing out a jar of paint at high pressure. Not to get into a discussion about safety, but you mentioned using an indoor bucket filter. This bucket filter is designed to work with moderate amounts of solvent paint: http://www.starshipmodeler.com/tech/pa_booth.htm
  10. Not with this method, since the foil "is" the part and the epoxy is just meant to back up the foil and give it strength. Quite fragile, since it's just thin foil. It doesn't stick to the surface, so the hardest part might be keeping the foil in place while you press it with the eraser. A couple of strips of tape would be prudent to hold the foil in position during the embossing phase. I used a toothpick to apply the epoxy, so I had to be careful not to press it into the foil and spoil the part. I did both of these parts without any problems, but if I were doing these to use on a model, I'd make a few extras in case I boogered something in the process.
  11. I had a few minutes today so I thought I'd just try the method I described in my earlier post. I first saw this method in Scale Auto Enthusiast magazine in 1986 or thereabouts. Using plain, thin kitchen foil, I embossed these two emblems from the 1/25 Revell '68 Firebird: The arrowhead quarter panel marker light (bigger pic: http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/fireballmodels/JO066282.jpg) The "400" emblem from the decklid (http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/fireballmodels/JO066284.jpg) I used a pencil eraser to press the foil around the raised features and get a good, smooth surface in the foil. I used the foil's shiny side as the outer surface so the final emblems would be chrome-like. I mixed up some 5-minute epoxy (J-B Kwik) and filled the depressions in the backside of the foil: (bigger: http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/fireballmodels/JO066281.jpg) (http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/fireballmodels/JO066286.jpg) I made sure to carefully "screed" the top of the epoxy so it mostly filled the depression and did not leave much excess outside the depression itself. I placed the two pieces of foil in a toaster oven at 150F for about 30 minutes to cure the epoxy. This particular brand of epoxy is great because the dark gray color contrasts with the foil and you can see what you're doing. A clear epoxy might be more difficult to work with. I cut away the excess foil from the edges of the emblems with a fresh #11 blade. To show the emblems actually in use, I tacked them onto a 1/24 '69 GTO body with white glue: (http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/fireballmodels/JO066287.jpg) (http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/fireballmodels/JO066289.jpg) A little red paint will make these particular emblems decent replicas of the originals. There are limitations to this method-- it works better on solid shapes like the arrowhead than lettering scripts-- but it's not all that hard and can add a cheap custom touch to a model. Sorry if this became a "how-to" post in the "q&a" section
  12. You may find this article interesting: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/magazine/04FOB-onlanguage-t.html?_r=0
  13. I can't comment on that particular method, but the method that was in Scale Auto Enthusiast was much simpler. Take a small piece of common kitchen foil-- the thin kind, not heavy-duty-- and place it over the emblem you want to copy. Using a soft pencil eraser, carefully press the foil over the emblem. This action should leave a finely-detailed impression of the emblem in the foil. Take the foil and flip it over. Mix up some epoxy and fill the depression with epoxy just until it's level. Let the epoxy cure (this could take a while ), and then carefully trim away the excess foil with a new #11 blade. The epoxy-backed foil emblem is now ready to use on the model.
  14. I know that. I was young and I probably either didn't mix the small amount properly or I didn't allow enough time for the small mass to fully cure. The larger the mass, the more heat is created in the reaction, therefore the epoxy cures in a reasonable amount of time. Adding a little heat for small masses will help them cure faster.
  15. There was an article in Scale Auto Enthusiast magazine back in 1986 or '87 that had a very brief mention of using 2-part epoxy to stiffen a foil impression of an emblem. This article was reprinted in Kalmbach's Building and Detailing Scale Model Muscle Cars by George S. Bojaciuk in 1998. I tried it many, many years ago and it didn't work for me, but I think I was using the wrong kind of epoxy. The emblem was still too flexible after the epoxy cured (or did it ever cure?). If I were to try this method today, I'd use a toaster oven to heat the epoxy-filled foil emblem because with that small mass it'll take forever to cure.
  16. The tiny Plastruct hex rods that I'd been waiting on finally arrived in the mail yesterday, so I made the lugnut. I'm casting copies of that tiny thing today and I expect to have the set ready to go by the end of the week.
  17. Not simple at all! It takes skill to represent worn and weathered building materials and you have mastered that skill! These building details look incredible
  18. Hi Scott! A father-son project is always great. I'm surprised you have time to build models these days-- don't you have an empire to run?
  19. Do you know of the window pane trick to make yellowed decals clear again? If not, then it goes like this: tape the sheet of yellowed decals to the inside of a window that gets sunlight during the day. It can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, but the UV rays will remove the yellow discoloration. Obviously you don't want to do this on a window that sweats during the colder months. After the yellow fades, paint a coat of Liquid Decal Film on the decals and use them like normal.
  20. Thank you, Bob! I wanted to practice painting a female face and since it was the only female kit I had, there wasn't much of a choice. I followed a method that David Fisher teaches in his Model Mania videos and it is almost fool-proof. I highly suggest these videos for anyone wanting to paint large-scale figures. There is a wealth of information available at the Clubhouse forums, too. www.theclubhouse1.net
  21. Ideally, you'd find another kit and get the part you need or find someone who has that extra part. Since the one taillight cover you have is handed, you can't just make a mold and cast a copy for the other side. I would recommend using epoxy putty to fill in the taillights on both sides and sculpting the contour of the lenses into the putty with carving tools and sandpaper. Maybe someone has that model and can give you a replacement. Good luck
  22. Super-nice paint and I like how you washed the interior to make the detail pop!
  23. It dries very fast; the instructions say allow it to dry 15 minutes before using the decals. For really old decals, I would apply two separate coats to the sheet and wait until the next day to apply them. No need to rush things.
  24. I haven't made much progress... but now that I have my 3d-printed vector wheel, the last part of the exterior puzzle is in place. I'm not sure if I want to do the turbo conversion or just glue the hood closed. Another thing you may want to look at is the rear window. The defroster grid is molded into the window with the pattern for the 3rd brake light. An '85 Regal does not have that 3rd brake light, so I carefully sanded away the grid and polished the window.
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