Bill J

I'm not sure I understand your problem, I do not mean to offend you at all. It really sounds to me like you tried cutting tiny strips of bare metal foil to put on the interior areas and it came apart. It sounds like the wrong technique for applying BMF. You should cut a fairly large piece and stick it on where desired and then burnish the area to be foiled permanently. Then trim with a new hobby knife, leaving the strips where they need to be. Looking at the door panel, it would be an easy BMF job as long as you apply the BMF by the directions. Some where there is a link on how to use BMF. Again, no offense if I am understanding you incorrectly. Just seems you are not familiar with how to use BMF and I am trying to help

So far it started with Testor's acrylic, the white was perfect, the black was like it had sand in the bottle. Then I tried lacquer, wasn't real bad but I muffed the masking job. Then tried Testor;s enamel and it came out horrible. The current paint on it is Scalefinishes acrylic enamel. Which has never been sticky 2 days later before, so something isn't right. I have never had orange peeled Scalefinishes either. It seemed too thin. It took a bunch of coats to turn it black. Black paint usually covers right away. I'm hoping I can polish it out with my polishing kit and make it work. If not....maybe the crusher??

Lol, it is truly a patience test and a painting refresher. If I paint it again, I am going rattle can, it's the only thing I haven't tried

I think it looks great Jonathan. Sorry to hear about all the issues you had. I swear some kits have Christine like attributes. I've painted a 57 Black Widow at least 5 times and still don't have a body worth putting the chassis under. Everything that could go wrong with paint has gone wrong on that Black Widow. Painted it again this week and it is all orange peeled and it won't dry, still sticky to the touch so I can't try polishing it. That was brand new Scalefinishes paint too. Jinxed!

I just painted a 57 Chevy Black Widow this week, the tape is still on it, so won't know if my masking job worked until Wednesday or so. The very white used on 57 Chevy's was called Imperial Ivory. That is what went on my Black Widow.

I have no experience with that particular airbrush, so it is hard to say. If you had air leaks you would hear them when not spraying. The fact that it worked initially and the second time did not, it sounds more like dry paint in the tip or on the needle. The other possibility, as others have mentioned, is that the gaskets/packings/o-rings have been damaged, possibly by the type solvent used to clean the brush. I would expect with that design and nozzle size that the airbrush is produced with some medium like ink in mind. Artists are mostly into acrylic inks these days and water cleanup. Some solvents, particularly strong solvents like lacquer thinner can damage gaskets, depending on the material the gasket is made of. Most of the higher end airbrushes either have very close tolerances without gaskets or use material like Teflon that handles strong solvents. The Paasche VL has all Teflon for instance. My first airbrush, which I still use is a Badger 200 single action, siphon fed unit. I painted some camo paints on an airplane and all was good until I left the airbrush sit awhile. I had done a token cleaning on it. The next time I went to use it I had problems, it spit choked and sprayed funky. A friend that had been using one for some years told me I had dry paint in the tip. We soaked it in lacquer thinner awhile and then ran some thread through the tip, white thread and it came out green from bringing old paint with it. Since then I have kept them all clean and never had another problem with the Badger. I use it for most metalizers and some small part painting. So, try a through cleaning of the nozzle and needle and perhaps buy some acrylic ink at an art store made for airbrushing and try spraying it. You for sure have a small diameter nozzle/needle for model paints, so that will effect it's abilities. The Paasche VL, if you use the size "3" nozzle is twice the size of your Chinese airbrush, I recall 0.78 being the size of the "3" needle/tip combo.

The Paasche VL should serve you well. Good airbrush with parts availability being a big plus in the long haul. As far as the Badger 350 goes, for $10 it should be a good deal. I have one but have not used it in decades, it is simple but it tends to split the tip if the needle point is screwed in too much and then it will spit paint and be useless. The cup does work like a cup on a gravity feed and you can use it or not use it. I know some on here really prefer the gravity feed airbrushes but it escapes me why that it. The gravity feed models are generally geared toward graphic artists that use inks and their paint surface is one dimensional, like a piece of canvas or a photo being touched up. That makes spilling paint everywhere much less likely than when painting 3D objects like engine parts or shock absorbers on a parts tree. A closed gravity feed would probably be a good option but hardly an open top. Cleaning a bottle and a cap is not that hard and swapping paints is much easier for me. I bought several different size bottle adapters, so I can screw a cap right onto some Testor's Metalizer and start spaying parts. If I am painting all the parts for a car, I start at the lightest color metalizer and just screw that same cap (uncleaned between) to the next darker color until I work to gunmetal color. No cleaning between color changes, just unscrew the cap and screw it onto the next color. I clean when finished. With color paints I do clean between colors or use multiple adapter caps. I also have a cap that screws directly onto Alclad bottles and Scalefinishes paint bottles. I only use the empty glass jars when I have to mix thinner and paint, like the Testor's enamels. I prefer premixed paints when I can get them. One other note, the VL and the Badger 350 siphon nozzles are at different angles and you have to have separate cap adapters or risk spilling paints with bottles at odd angles.

The nozzle size seems pretty small for model paint. Most good airbrushes use something like 0.5 or larger. For like $60 you can buy a Paasche Millenium set or a Passche VL set, both are great airbrushes. I've used my VL for 20+ year without a single failed part. Coast Airbrushes has good prices and service, take a look at their choices. I personally prefer a siphon feed with the external bottles, to me they are less hassle, some prefer the gravity feed, pick one and go with it. Good luck.

TAXI!!! The 57 is looking awesome and that yellow is like WOW!

Fantastic looking Jag-U-ar. The color and the body work really set it off. Keep it coming mate!

I get the 2 ounce bottles and can almost always get 2 full bodies out of the 2 ounces. If I am only painting one body, I prefer to have extra paint available in case I have to reshoot. I have been pleasantly surprised to find that after 2 years the paint is still good in it's bottle, so extra is a good thing.

That Talladega looks awesome! Great work. Paint looks perfect and the interior striping looks super.

I use 20 pounds of pressure through my Paasche VL and my Iwata Eclipse. That is for painting bodies or parts. I back off to 15 pounds for Alclad. Everything else is 20 pounds. I have a Paasche Talon siphon feed but have yet to try it out. As far as thinning goes, it depends on the paint, the type thinner, the nozzle/needle size and the air pressure. It is a challenge getting it just right. I tend to start too thick and thin a little at a time until it flows right. I prefer pre-mixed paints like Scalefinishes, they always spray perfectly!

Jonathan, the Boss is sure looking good! I love that purple you used. I wouldn't have picked that one but now that I see it on the car, wow! Awesome! Can't wait to see the next installment of the buildup.

To me, the fact that most paints I use require mixing with thinner or reducer, it is easier to mix in an airbrush bottle than in a paint cup built into the airbrush. The exception is metalizer and Alclad paints, they come airbrush ready. I could see using a gravity fed setup on them but what I have been doing works for me. I think a good buy in an easy to maintain airbrush is the Passche Millenium or VL models. If you get the complete set with a hose, air bottle, spray cap and a paint cup for that gravity fed type easy cleaning. You also get 3 sizes of spray tips and needles with the complete set. You can add things as needed, later. I have had my VL for 20 years and never once replaced a part except to upgrade to some minor design improvement, at my choosing, not at all necessary. Great airbrush for the money.

Base coat of the common custom candy apple red is gold. Silver will make the red look altogether different but it works fine if that is the color look you are wanting. HoK has to be clear coated and nearly any clear will work, always paint a test sample and check compatibility. I've been using a spray can of clear lacquer that I bought at a local paint store. I am sure Tamiya or Testor's clears would work fine too. Be sure your HoK paint is dry and fully cured before clearing. I have used an automotive lacquer primer, put on a basecoat, the color coat and the clear in one afternoon without any issue, all lacquers. I don't make a habit of it though

I have about 12 or more airbrushes, I have pretty much tried most of them on the market. There are good points to a gravity feed but it is easy to spill paint with the open cup and it is also easy for contaminates to fall in. If you are switching colors and then back again to the first color, it may be hard with the gravity feed. A simple alternative, and the best of both worlds is to buy an airbrush with a metal cup included that can be used like the gravity feed cup when you are painting a single color and want a quick cleanup. A gravity feed with a covered cup might be a nice system, I have never owned one though. Presently, I use 3 of my airbrushes. For metalizers and Alclad I use a Badger 200 single-action. I have the fine needle and tip in it. It gives me positive control on the amount of paint being sprayed because you screw the adjustment in or out to the amount you desire. For small parts and things like chassis, I use a Paasche VL double-action, which has the medium needle and tip. The double-action lets me widen my coverage on larger parts and areas and use a more narrow spray on small areas. For painting bodies, I use an Iwata Eclipse double-action. It is very smooth to operate and gives me the best results. All three designs above take one steel cup if I want to use it like a gravity feed. I can't recall the last time I did use it, very seldom. I have bottle spray caps that fit different size bottles and lots of empty bottles, so it is not a big deal to clean a cap and bottle. I use cheap lacquer thinner for all my airbrush cleaning and they all clean very easy. I just make sure to keep them clean and leave them clean when all wrapped up for awhile.

Great info to know, thanks for the Windex tip. I juts used Alclad for the first time recently and did the light mist coats and all worked out perfectly. I am sure the strip technique will be useful to me in the future. I also did not know that a light buff will improve the shine, I need to try that.

Send a PM to JeffB and he'll hook you up.

I'm glad I bought my new Wrangler in 2012 before Fiat had any influence. Although, there was a recall on some oil line change and they keep telling me they are a year out on getting enough parts to fix it. I have never had a recall on any car that did not have the parts and got the changes made ASAP. I cannot imagine why it takes a year to get 2 metal oil lines.

I would not buy a Toyota FJ because it has independent front suspension. Very limited travel and lots of joints to go bad. While Fiat may not be the best choice of owners for Chrysler and Chrysler may not be the best choice of owners of Jeep, at least the Wrangler is still a true off-road vehicle that has live axles at both ends and a 2 speed transfer case. It can also be owned with a manual tranny if so desired. I'd prefer a Land Rover Defender but the price on the few used ones around is quite prohibitive. As far as the Jeep Renegade goes, let's all hope it is a dismal failure. The world does not need another SUV that is really a cheap station wagon and not a utility vehicle in any sense.

Great link, thanks. That is a car I remember from when Shelby first took over the GT program. One thing his team did to solve an overheating problem was to add a small lip in front of the air exits on the front hood area. That allowed the air to flow through the radiator and not be trapped in a low pressure area created by the nose. The car in the pictures clearly has that lip. Interesting side note, when Ford reinvented the Ford GT in 2005 or 2006 they left off this important feature, so the new street models may have a tendency to fun warmer than desired? I am sure the lip was on cars that Ford used to look over when designing the new car. The designers probably had not idea why there was a little spoiler lip there! I think the Arii kit does a nice representation of the body from this early era, about the time a few useful mods were added, which helped the car on it's way to later successes.

I actually have 3 of those airbrushes and initially I liked them because of their light weight and ease of changing tips and cleaning of the tips. Then one by one, they started to spit paint all over and I stopped using them. I had tried new tips, new bottle adapters and such, nothing solved the problems. A week ago I took all three out to the painting room and tried them. I had one do exactly as you describe, the tip worked in the other 2, as did the bottle of enamel thinner I was trying to spray. I tried water, other tips, nothing worked on that one black Aztec. The 2 grey ones I own appeared to spray ok but I did not try paint through them. I was just seeing how they would be after years of sitting in a box. I recall that when I stopped using them, that the problems were caused by me using lacquer thinner to clean them. Since you cannot get into anything on the body of the airbrush I am not sure what gets messed up. I assume it is some gasket/packing/washer that is not compatible with strong solvents like lacquer thinners. I do not recall the directions stating any limitations but there sure appear to be some limits and all three brushes I own all went bad after a short time. Compared to my old Badger 200 or my Paasche VL, the Aztec scores about zero. I still use the Badger and the Passche regularly, never have any problems and all I have to do is keep them clean and replace a Teflon washer on the Badger from time to time. So, good luck with the Aztec, you may be able to get it going but from my experience, it won't be easy, if it can be done at all. For the money, they are a serious disappointment to me.

I'd be all over one of those 50 Olds convertibles if it came with an up-top. I just love that top up look

I second that! Jeff's up-top is perfect in every way. makes a great addition to the nifty Moebius Hudson convertible.