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The 175 is a good airbrush. I have three now; one for solid colors, one for metallics, one for clear. Bear Air has good prices on them.

Looking great so far 8)

I'll second the fact that Easy Off is excellent at removing chrome (plating vanishes before your eyes, clear takes longer). In addition to gloves, you must wear some sort of mask as you cannot breathe the stuff.

Lee, yes that's the same model you saw at that show. I had forgotten what year I restored it. I've got a '69 Javelin restorable kit waiting for it's turn :wink:

I also use a Badger 175 Crescendo (medium tip) with good results. And as Jairus mentioned, the key to the best looking finish is the base coat. If it's not glass-smooth, the chrome won't look nearly as good. Apply the chrome coats lightly; make a light pass and watch the chrome "settle", do several (enough so the black is completely covered and the finish is still reflective) and a few minutes after they're applied you buff off the overspray with a soft cloth and it shines up nicely. Then don't touch the Alclad if at all possible! It's not very durable. Get some cotton gloves made for handling delicate parts, and always apply the chrome parts last. It took me awhile to get comfortable w/Alclad (and Spaz Stix; basically the same stuff from another mfg.). I had to do some spoon tests and redo several bumpers before having decent success. I'd suggest testing it out before going straight to a project; as I had crappy results a few times from my inexperience. Now if they'd just make this chrome stuff able to take a clearcoat...I've tried several low-solvent clears from Future to urethane and they all kill the sheen :cry:

Thanks Ismael. I've been having fun this year building the unexpected/oddball kind of stuff. It's Testors lacquer Big Bad Blue, a factory color for this car. In some light it looks great, other times it looks slightly washed out.

Thanks for the replies! Here's the AMX with my '68 Javelin:

Thanks! I had no choice but to keep plugging away at it; the kit was discontinued prior to the dehydrator incident. I spent about 3 hours over a pan of hot water on the stove carefully getting the shape back. The bumpers warped this past weekend when I was drying the black base coats. But it goes back to the right shape....mostly...though the body did seem to suffer a slight amount of shrinkage in a few places, somewhat hidden by my use of the black shadow mask that's not along the upper body line which bows a bit too much. And I also realized it hasn't been 1 year, it's been 2 that I've been simmering with this thing :roll: Our pony car theme for this year's NNL got me to finish it up. The AMX is one of a handful of '60's cars I'd really love to own. Maybe you'll be lucky to get yours back! My Dad's boss had a '68 Javelin when they were new. The shadow mask was such a trademark for a '70 I had to do it! It'll look good next to my lime green '68 Javelin restro promo w/black vinyl roof and black side stripes :wink:

Awesome work! Nice vintage feel to it.

This is an OOP Motor City Resin 1970 AMX repopped from an original ’70 annual kit. Nicely cast from a very clean mold, yet I had problems with the kit (mostly my fault, but the resin was kind of soft and warped badly in my dehydrator where I've never had problems with resin before) with numerous glitches along the way causing me to take well over a year to build it. I was inspired to build a ’70 after seeing one featured on a Speed Channel muscle car show; the black shadow mask and the “sidepipe†rocker trim and the hood scoop looked particularly cool on the ’70. Wheels/tires are from a Revell ’67 GTX, redlines are Shabo dry transfers. The black shadow mask is airbrushed Tamiya TS semigloss black, the separation stripes are BMF toned down w/semigloss clear to look like the silver factory stripes. AMX tags were made on the computer and printed on my laser printer. I’m happy w/the overall appearance which matches pictures of a 1:1 that I really dug when I saw it, and I’m relieved to have this one finally done considering how it tried my patience many times. It currently has no engine, it may get one someday but right now it’s as done as it’s going to get.

Looks good, though I think it needs to be about half that width. Once you've done this a couple times it gets easier. I have a dedicated fineline airbrush that makes it fairly easy to do the job. I can't remember what Steve uses; I use Testors candy blue and candy green (more blue than green) transferred and applied lightly and when it's dry I polish out the overspray.

I screwed up, it's the P4 :oops: . It's just been reissued.

To put it in perspective, I've held a $25 328GTB kit in my hand at a show in the past year or so and put it down w/o buying. I'd balk at $15 for a 348. My Ferrari purchases in the next few months will likely be the Fujimi P3 reissue, 599GTB (Revell and/or Fujimi), and perhaps a Revell Superamerica. The Hasegawa kits are all pretty dull by comparison.

I've heard they'll be out in December, and that preorders from the traditional Japanese sources wouldn't happen until closer to the release date. Maybe then we'll get a decent preorder price in yen, and any more than 3000 yen is a ripoff for a 328, and any more than 2500 yen is a ripoff for a 348, one of the most boring Ferraris ever.

$46.69??? :roll: :evil: That's ridiculously overpriced for straight reissues of non-prime Ferraris. For $20 less I can get Fujimi's Enthusiast Daytona. I was going to get a 328 GTB but forget it for that kind of extortion for what should be a $25 kit. With 1000+ kits in my basement it's getting much easier to be choosy.

Looks great! Honeycombs are a nice touch. I'm not digging the photo host at all because there's no way to adjust the images down to a viewable size. Ginormous images of model cars = :cry:

I must agree that this is a golden age of the "mature" hobby; I too would be lost w/o the huge variety of subject matter from all over the world in both mass-produced and the cottage industry, and to the newer products/technologies that help to build the models, and the instant gratification of sharing our work and tips and techniques on boards like this. Modeling isn't a great vacuum of solitude that it once was. The only downside to the internet is it's ability to take time away from the modelkng activity we're discussing if we let it. Now, back to my resin '70 AMX that continues to defy me :roll:

Guess I'm so used to living in a city that there's a Home Depot or Lowes always close by. It's far easier to find a spray can of B-I-N around here than to find a decent hobby shop :roll: :cry: Funny that I had the spray can of B-I-N before using it on models, recommended by one of my best friends for doing primer work on an old wooden chair that I was refinishing. He raved about it, because of it's fast build/quick dry/smooth sanding and much easier on the olfactory senses than Kilz.

Bill, I think that either denatured or 91% alcohol will work fine. I can't remember what I used when I airbrushed it on my 924 just a few months ago, I suspect it was 91% rubbing alcohol. Mix that stuff up thoroughly; the stuff that's settled at the bottom is really thick. I didn't even know if it was available in a pint can; all I've seen are quarts, gallons, and large spray cans when I've seen it at Home Depot/Lowes. I have one of those awesome "has-everything-you-can-imagine" hardware stores in town, I'll have to see if they have B-I-N in smaller cans. They also have Pacer superglues, K&N brass, Evergreen, balsa/basswood...great hardware store

I prefer Tamiya clear; the MML clear goes on nice, but will blush-I've never had that happen w/Tamiya. I simply have better and more consistent results w/Tamiya spray cans. If the MM clear didn't blush I'd like it better-once they're dry they both look the same to me, and both buff out nicely. Funny how some prefer one brand over another, with my style of painting Tamiya sprays are far more precise and far less trouble-prone. I get about 100% good results w/Tamiya, my success rate w/MML is about 50% before resorting to airbrushing the stuff.

Testors nozzles hate me. I really wish I could slap a Tamiya nozzle on a Testors can, but ain't gonna happen. Testors lacquer sprays way differently than Tamiya; when transfering it it's obvious it's a bit thicker and foamier. It settles down w/a little thinner (Mr. Color Thinner) and airbrushes like a dream. Testors lacquer does have much denser pigment than Tamiya, or Testors enamel. I'm still painting a Big Bad Blue AMX that nearly was ruined by the first nozzle that splattered all over the AMX. My latest problem was with their clearcoat (airbrushed) it acted strange and isn't smooth. Perhaps it's the lacquer thinner I used... :roll:

I almost fell out out of my chair when you said that Testors actually had a better spray nozzle than Zinsser! I honestly thought one could not get a more useless nozzle than one supplied w/a can of Testors. Learn something new every day :wink: Good luck w/it! Those Testors lacquer nozzles can be messy, I've been using some this week to transfer some of the lacquer to an airbrush, I ended up using a small donut of fun-tack to attach a section of drinking straw to the Testors nozzle; sure makes transferring the paint much, much cleaner and easier. I cut the straw into a 2" section.

Thanks Bill, I'll also have to try the Future trick. I let the Future thicken up a bit before spraying, it goes on so watery.

Bill, thanks! That definitely sounds like something I'll try. Let me get it straight, that is to apply Ambroid and sand the area smooth twice before priming? Also, if color bleed is an issue obviously a sealer will still have to be used.

I have no idea if that will work; Zinsser B-I-N shellac based primer/sealer is what I've used. http://www.zinsser.com/product_detail.asp?ProductID=10