dbiggied

an old professional paint shop calculation: booth opening area in sq feet X 100 = cfm so for a booth with a 20" by 20" opening the area would be about 2.75 sq feet, so you'd want a fan rated at 275 cfm. That may seem a bit extreme, but that's what's recommended for professional paint installations, so you could get away with a bit less. I cheated a bit and am using a modified 12 volt power supply to run a shrouded car radiator fan pulling about 900 cmf

Man...I thought I was the only one that did this to my models pre-paint...difference being that I use the cheapo paste style toothpaste...gives the plastic such a nice lovely finish for primers...and like you said...every nook and cranny.

it's basically going to be a week long road trip with the show at the end, so the model will go into the hotel room at night. I have been mulling over ideas like packing it in a box with some freezer packs just to keep the temps down in the box, but then I'd worry about condensation. I'm probably way over thinking it, but North Carolina in the summer tends to about 3 degrees short of He** and I'd be crushed if my first ever show entry was "droopy" when I got there.

Minor threadomancy here...I'm preparing a model for a show in July as part of a week-long road trip...what about heat? Has anyone experienced heat damage to a model in the trunk of a car over time? I'd hate to get there with nothing to show but a melted plastic blob...

I'm looking for aftermarket or kit sources for putting wide performance tires on a 49 mercury...but with a wide whitewall. It's a custom build with a turbo Porsche V-10, so I'm talking mini-tub width on the rear...but I don't want the super skinny sidewall like you'd see on most performance tires. But I also don't want the high sidewall look like stock...somewhere in between. Everything I can find (kit or aftermarket) is either wide tread and skinny sidewall, or enough sidewall but narrow tread. I am toying with cutting a pair of leftover kit tires down to make one wider tire, and then cast it, but it isnt going well. Any thoughts? Here's sort of the look I want...not too much sidewall, but enough for the stripe... What I DON'T want...

I still haven't figured out how you got them to disassemble the real car so you could take "in progress" pictures of individual components...good job though with photoshopping pictures of your hands in front of real car parts.

How long also depends on tank size. I think the most common tanks are 5 pound and 20 pound, but they have other sizes too. A 5 pound won't last nearly as long as a 20 pound, but a 20 pound CO2 tank is a pretty big boy...heavy too. So when you decide what to get, figure in the trouble you'd have storing it and taking it for refills.

Stick with CO2. Nitrogen tanks are filled to a much higher pressure (something like 3000 psi), so if you knock it over and break off the neck, the tank is going through your wall, your car, your shed, your neighbors house, etc.

I don't have any pictures yet, but how about a Porsche Carrera V-10 and a GM Auto in a '49 Mercury custom?

I, literally less than a year ago, sold a '55 Coronet that was a virtual twin to the one in your profile pic, except mine was the reverse colors (blue with a white hood)...beautiful car, but couldn't keep it because of family situations. Also, fantastic work on the Firebird.

Totally off topic...what's the car in your profile pic?

I actually use the grit on homemade tools mostly for cleaning up metal gaming minis. As for plastic, it works well for small detail parts and engines and whatnot, since you can make small tools in different shapes. I also make my own padded sanding sticks. I use what they call eva foam...comes from the craft store or the craft section at walmart in sheets...I glue down a whole sheet to the back of a sheet of sandpaper, then to the back of the foam I glue down a bunch of popsicle sticks or bits of wood...let dry and cut up. They don't last as long as the pre-made kind from the hobby shop, but they are a lot cheaper, and I can mass produce them.

That famous auction site...search for tumbler grit. I got a little bag of 400 grit that has lasted me for years with no end in site. My favorite is to put glue on the ends of toothpicks and stick them in the container and let them dry, but you can use any shape you want.

I see your 485cfm and raise you 549cfm for about $15 less...now I know where my Christmas money is going. http://www.amazon.com/R7-RB445-Rotom-Replacement-Blower-Dayton/dp/B005RAHEG6/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1419284173&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=r7-rb445

This thread is over a year old...are you still producing these or something similar? If so, what are you charging for them?

I'm really getting a good chuckle over the cat claws in this thread. Ya'll fight like a bunch of wet hens. For what it's worth, my two cents is that if you spray flammable materials through a fan that isn't designed for it because you're too cheap to buy the correct kind of fan, you deserve to watch your house burn down...and just because you've been doing it for xx years with no problems doesn't mean something bad won't happen tomorrow. I once pulled the ignition coil wire off a running engine with my bare hand and found out just how far 30,000 volts can jump...just because I'm still alive doesn't mean I should keep doing it...it just means I was luckier than I was stupid. Having said that, I have a homemade spray booth (with a proper squirrel cage blower), but I need more CFM. Has anyone seen the fan below? It seems to be sort of a squirrel cage type blower, and looks to be easy to modify for a custom spray booth. If it's "explosion proof" and pulls anywhere near the rated CFM, it would seem to be the best buy around, but I can't find anything specific about the motor on the company's website. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Shop-Vac-Air-Mover-500-CFM/15406586

Just make sure you carefully prep your parts...I sent some stuff off to them and they came back perfect...so perfect in fact that they showed off every single little gouge or rough spot I left on the parts like they were under a spotlight. Nothing will make you realize what a crappy job you did of prepping a part like a nice new coat of chrome. Taught me a lesson about putting some elbow grease behind the 1000 grit.

They sell whatever people donate. It's sort of like a treasure hunt, and it goes to a good cause. My current list of Goodwill acquisitions is as follows: The above Ferrari $1.99 Monogram 1/48 B-29 $4 Revell 1/48 F-106 $2.99 Revell '67 Chevelle SS 396 $2.50 Revell 1/32 AH-64 Apache $4 Imex Harley Custom Springer $3.50 Testors 1/48 FA-18 Hornet $4 Scientific Models Thermopylae (wood, 31") $14.99

The pictures are perfect, thanks!

That is awesome! Thanks so much for the link!

Check out what I got today...original shrink wrap...only problem is, opened it up and no instructions. Anyone know where I can score a copy?

Getting stuff for free is awesome. Having said that, look in your local yellow pages (they still have those???) and find a plastic supply company. You might have to call a few to find one that will sell small orders, but about 15 years ago, I bought four 4x8 foot sheets in different thicknesses, and they even cut them into 2 foot squares for me. For about $30, I got enough sheet to last me the rest of my life

I am going to take the middle road here. You CAN do it on a budget, BUT PLEASE DO IT RIGHT. Even if you think you are safe from explosion, you MUST maintain a minimum air flow to properly exhaust the fumes or you will end up with lacquer in your lungs. Multiply the width and height of your booth's front opening, and then multiply that by 100. That is the minimum cfm your fan should have. for example, if your booth opening is 2ft by 2ft, then 2x2x100 = 400. If your fan is rated for anything less than 400cfm, you are NOT moving enough air. Another thing I don't think I saw mentioned here...you must have a source of fresh air. The air that your fan blows out the window has to come from somewhere. If you have gas/oil/wood fired heat, that air can get pulled from your heating system...hello carbon monoxide! Even if you have electric heat, if your house is properly sealed up, there's no where for the replacement air to come from, and your cfm will drop. BUT...you can have your cake and eat it too...you just have to put in some effort... For my booth, I have an insulated board mounted permanently in my window with two air doors actuated by push rods...one for exhaust air and one for intake air. My blower is mounted directly to the board blowing straight out of the exhaust door. My modeling desk has a hole cut in the top surface lined up over the blower and sealed to it with some rings of wood and some weatherstripping. All I have to do to paint is remove the piece that covers the hole in my desk, drop in an air filter, stand up a temporary three sided shield + top on my desk, pop open both air doors and turn on the blower. I got lucky and got a 400 cfm squirrel cage blower at a thrift store for $8...check craig's list, yard sales, classifieds, ebay...I can almost guarantee you'll find a used one for $25 or less if you look hard enough. The push rods for the air doors are music wire run through nylon tubes...hobby shop...$7 total Everything else (mounting board, air doors, insulation, hardware) all came from scrap wood, materials, and various bits of hardware I scrounged up from my and my dad's house My point is that you CAN build a booth that will be safe and healthy WITHOUT spending a ton of money. You just have to have the will to make it work.

I'm going to commit a slight act of threadomancy here, but I just ordered some flocking off of Ebay...it is listed as Velvet Flocking Powder For Velvet Manicure Nail Art Polish (who knew they had such a thing?) I've only seen about 13 colors, but at $1.69 each + free shipping, it was worth a shot...will post pics when it comes in.

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