foxbat426

I'm just completeing one of my first models in a long time and am wondering if i should detail it with chrome or silver paint or use bare metal foil. It seems like most people use the bare metal foil for around windows and such. I have a pretty steady hand especially now with reading glasses so painting in the details doesn't really scare me off. Is anyone actually painting in the details anymore? I'm also curious about contests. In a contest do the judges prefer paint detailing or BMF? is bare metal foil considered cheating?? thx, john

i've been out of modeling for a long time. scanning ebay for model kits i am amazed at how many corvettes, t-birds, mustangs and camaros etc etc there are for sale. whats with these manufacturers? - its the same ole same ole stuff reboxed 100 differnt ways. it seems like there is a bigger selection of nascar models then regular cars. how about some good ole americana like an ambassador, rebel, metropolitan, bonneville, catalinas. how about a pontiac ventura, cadillac seville or maybe a olds custom cruiser wagon or ford falcon economy. where are the pintos and the vegas and valients and demons? are the tooling costs to make these just so outrageous its not worth it to them. i would love to see a bigger selection. good news i just read that MPC is reissuing the amc gremlin. now that's one i will buy.

don, thx for the quick response - yes i will give it a try and see what happens on a brand other than testors. Don, do you shoot mostly with enamels or do you use acrylics and lacquers also? by the way do you offer a package deal on your dvd's? i would like to order all of them - i've watched the previews and they look great! john

a thread in this forum recommends using lacquer thinner, not mineral spirits, for thinning Testors oil based enamels. it mentions that the dry tiome is much faster using lacquer thinner. My question is, does this hold true for all brands of oil-based enamels paints or just testors? thx, john

great lists! for me more 70's stock ( as in as they came from the factory) cars. i wouldlove to see. 70, 71, 72 plymouth fury I, II and III (not sure if they ever made these) 70's chysler imperials 74 GTO plymouth volare and chrysler cordoba dodge magnum from the 70's thats just the beginning.

for me anyway! I'm sure this has been discussed here before, but here it goes. Alcohol 91% works very good IMO. Brake fluid and oven cleaner in my experience are poor at stripping paint. I have not tried Castrol Super Clean yet, but have heard good things. One problem with alcohol is it seems to work to a certain point then stops. So far the best thing i have found and as far as i can tell does not damage the plastic is Citristrip. I had a bottle in the garage and for the hell of it gave it a whirl on a 66 fairlane i'm stripping and wow! Has anyone else tried this?? It's a natural based stripper that smells like oranges. It softens up the paint (in this case enamel) fast and i found slowly "pealing" with an old stiff credit card works really well. The paint rolls right off. i don't keep it on long 3 or 4 minutes max. and then start scraping with the card, rinsing under water every now and then until the paint for the most part is gone. So far so good on 1 AMT model. I don't know how other manufacturers plastics or resins would react so i would try it on some scrap first. Use at your own risk, but this is the best and quickest way i have found. I would sure be interested in hearing what others are using for strippers. I know the best way is to avoid stripping altogether, but when you're a novice.... well you get the picture. great weekend! FWIW, john

i'm fairly new to modeling and have only can sprayed enamel paints on my few builds that i have done - i have since purchased an airbrush and was wondering what is the best type of paint to use for the nicest glossiest finish. i realise there are advantages to acrylics such as no smell and freindlier to work with, but all of that aside what is the preferred type of paint for models cars. also does anyone use rustoleum or "non" hobbiest types of oil based enamels like the ones found in wal-mart or ace hardware on their cars??

cool stuff isn't it!

ok mike, - yes i purchased the 3 gallon pancake compressor from them also. i didn't have trouble with the regulator, but i had a problem with the compressor leaking - it would not hold a charge long and the compressor kept kicking on every 4 minutes or so - it was an internal problem and they returned it with no problems. the regulator i purchased is NOT the one used on the little 1/8HP compressor or the pancake compressor. the one i purchased seems to be built better and so far it works great. the HF manager admitted to me that some of the pancake compressors do come back with problems, but he also told me they sell about 150 of them per week out of this store alone! amazing - all in all he said people keep them. it seems like it's hit or miss with harbor freight on certain items. i can tell you that i purchased 4 airbrushes from them and they all work great - even the cheapo 7 dollar external mix one works suprisingly good. i suggest taking the regulator off of the 1/8hp compressor you have and replacing it with the 1/4NPT one they sell and reducing the 1/4 outlets to 1/8NPT fittings to fit the compressor. for 14 bucks you can't go wrong - keep the gauge from the bad regulator and use it on the new regulator as it sits flat vs. vertical like the one that comes in the 1/4 outlet regulator - the item number on the regulator i purchased is 68228 if you decide to go that way. keep me posted - thx, john

ok mike, i saw your response about HF compressors on my other thread - yes i purchased the 3 gallon pancake compressor from them also. i didn't have trouble with the regulator, but i had a problem with it leaking - it would not hold a charge long and the compressor kept kicking on every 4 minutes or so - it was an internal problem and they returned it with no problems. the regulator i purchased is NOT the one used on the little 1/8HP compressor or the pancake compressor. the one i purchased seems to be built better and so far it works great. the HF manager admitted to me that some of the pancake compressors do come back with problems, but he also told me they sell about 150 of them per week out of this store alone! amazing - all in all he said people keep them. it seems like it's hit or miss with harbor freight on certain items. i can tell you that i purchased 4 airbrushes from them and they all work great - even the cheapo 7 dollar external mix one works suprisingly good. i suggest taking the regulator off of the 1/8hp compressor you have and replacing it with the 1/4NPT one they sell and reducing the 1/4 outlets to 1/8NPT fittings to fit the compressor. for 14 bucks you can't go wrong - keep the gauge from the bad regulator and use it on the new regulator as it sits flat vs. vertical like the one that comes in the 1/4 outlet regulator - the item number on the regulator i purchased is 68228 if you decide to go that way. keep me posted - thx, john

what happened??

Hi All. For what its worth to anyone looking for a great compressor, I purchased this 1/5 HP Harbor Freight compressor - this is the one sold with the air brush. I went to a hobbiest type compressor after using a pancake compressor and couldn't deal with the noise. I wasn't so much interested in the airbrush that came with the set, but instead interested in the fact that this is the bigger compressor of the two hobby compressors HF sells. What i didn't realize is that this one does not come with a regulator and the smaller 1/8hp compressor does comes with a regulator. Anyway wanting the bigger compressor, i was set on living without a regulator and to just rely on using the bleeder valve on the bottom of the filter as a make shift regulator. To make a long story short i took a ride to HF today and purchased their regulator - filter - gauge combo and now must say this great little compressor is even better. The regulator helps it out tremendously. Not only does it dial in the PSI on the button, but it also keeps the compressor from running all of the time which should add alot of life to it. FWIW to anyone considering one of these - hope this helps. Thanks, John

just wondering. i was told that years ago dealerships usually sold promo's at the parts counter - do dealerships still do this??

mike, that's exactly what mine does except mine runs up to approx. 58 PSI and shuts off. you have a bleed off valve too? mine has one under the water filter that acts like a regulator, but was told is not a true regulator - i've been debating wheather or not to put on a "real regulator", not sure what the differences are. sorry to hear about your shepard - i had one that passed at 8 years also. thx, john

thanks to everyone for their help - got it!

mark, so it is suppose to run all of the time?? that is until it hits its shutoff PSI. is that correct??? thx, john

Hi, Is an air compressor suppose to run all the time or only when the airbrush is keyed? I'm talking about a tankless hobbiest airbrush compressor, not one with a tank. My compressor has an auto shutoff of about 55 psi. When i turn it on it runs all the way to 55 psi, shuts down and sits there until i key my airbrush. When the pressure drops to 43 PSI it kicks on again, so basically it runs all of the time, regardless of where i regulate it, is this correct? do most tankless compressors work like this? I hear some hobbiests talking about how their tankless compressors only come on when they key their airbrushes and turn off when they unkey them. Confused. Can someone explain this to me. Thanks again, john

thanks for the quick reply - where would i connect it on the compressor? would i have to take out the guage and filter that is there and replace it with a gauge, filter and regulator system like on your model. I did see your model at HF. its a bit smaller capacity wise so i went for the bigger one that i have, not knowing it didn't have a regulator. in hindsight i should have gotten the smaller model with the regulator.

Hi, I'm new here and new to modeling (1/25 scale), just want to say it's a great site and i'm learning alot. I just recently purchased the Harbor Freight 1/5HP compressor, the one that comes with the airbrush, cat # 95630. I know it's not the best out there, but the price is right and I want to see if I like airbrushing before i spend more money. Anyway it seems to work fine, but i have a question about adjusting the air pressure. Is there a way to do it on this compressor? HF also makes a smaller compressor, a 1/8HP I believe and this one has a knob for adjusting pressure, i'm suprised the bigger one that i am using doesn't have this knob. There is a knob screw under the filter that seem to adjust the pressure, but it says in the manual that this knob is the filter drain - I'm confused! If anyone out there is using this compressor for airbrushing I would sure like to hear what you think about it and how you adjust the pressure. Thanks In Advance, John