Ace-Garageguy

My educated guess is that you'll probably need a primer on some styrene parts, probably not on others. I've used these vinyl dyes extensively in the 1:1 world, as well as on flexible parts for models. The carrier solvents must be pretty hot, because the seem to penetrate flexible materials very well, and stick like there's no tomorrow. Hot solvents mean the dyes MAY be likely to craze styrene...especially the soft carp many recent kits are molded from. As the Snake says, please TEST, and let us know your findings.

Well fellas, the Oxford online dictionary seems to think, along with me, that one 'correct' use of the word "may" is as a modal verb defined as "expressing possibility". Thought you'd like to know. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/may

I think the gecko be likin' Flo...

The spindle-mount front wheels have a 5-pointed center star that looks like a Halibrand spindle-mount, but the 8 'spokes' are unusual. See what I mean? I think Ed has the right idea, but maybe start with some 8-spoke 'turbines' like this (these are 10), machine 'em down, stick on a different rim, drill out the centers, and graft in a Halibrand-style spindle-mount center (spindle-mount Halibrands are available in scale). The rear wheels on this car are unusual too, having 4 small holes rather than the more typical 5 holes of Halibrand "kidney beans". The knockoff centers are also unusual, and my bet would be that these are real pin-drive knockoff wheels. Somehow, I can't see fake knockoffs on this record-setting real drag car. EDIT: Yup. Here's a Halibrand 4-hole wheel with pin-drive and knockoffs.

I would.

Always one of my favorites. Tony Nancy's cars looked as good as they ran. Hardest part of doing a scale replica of this would be finding the right wheels.

To further illustrate the panel-line thing, here's one of mine. Nice glossy paint, but my panel-lines look like carp. Compare this to the work Mr. Cruz did on the beautiful red '53 Ford above. He did it right. I didn't. Small thing that makes a HUGE difference.

But the issue here isn't "too glossy". It's too-thick, where the seams weren't scribed often enough, and the material was allowed to form a meniscus (meniscus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meniscus ) at the edges of panel lines that wasn't dealt with correctly. I've been guilty of this one myself, but if you look at the work of modelers who get-it, a high gloss looks very real. This model is by Marcos Cruz. Compare the gloss to the real cars in the second post.

Agreed 100%. And I still don't see the harm in voicing one's tastes or personal opinions on an open forum. Not everything is going to appeal to everyone. The appreciation of art is subjective, and building cars, big ones or little ones, qualifies as "art". If I had a few billion dollars, I'd buy a Monet, but probably not a Picasso.

Need to watch letting it get PERSONAL, directed at other members. The criticism in this thread is of the posted instrument panel, NOT other members here. And by the way, by your reasoning, anyone who uses "I am super"...anything as his profile name must have an inflated sense of self-importance.

I hate to be a bubble-burster and bring in some reality, but unless you cast VERY small or thin parts, you're going to have a SEVERE problem with shrinkage and warping due to the evaporation of your solvent. The big REASON that 2-part, catalyzed products (like polyester, urethane, silicone, etc.) work well for casting and for molds is because their chemistry allows them to harden without significant evaporation. They contain very small amounts of solvents that evaporate out, and because of this, they shrink and deform much less than things that have to "dry" to harden up. Sure, you can probably use a styrene / solvent mixture, brushed on in thin coats, allowing it to dry between coats. This is EXACTLY the method you use if you make molds from plaster, latex, or other materials that have to harden by evaporation. But why bother reinventing the wheel, when cheap, effective products already exist to do professional-quality work every time? Some other questions arise too, like what you plan to use for a mold-release agent if you're making your molds ON STYRENE PARTS by using a material that includes solvent that attacks and melts STYRENE PARTS. Many things are possible that aren't particularly good ideas, or that have severe practical limitations, and this is one of them. On the other hand, bits of styrene dissolved in liquid 'cement' can work well as a filler. I've done a fair bit of hands-on research into the various ways of copying parts in scale as well as in 1:1 over the last 40 years, and I've found that using catalyzed products that cure by polymerization is far, far better than materials that have to "dry". Here's a thread I posted years ago that shows how to make molds that actually work, and how to produce STRONG parts that are close to scale-thickness. http://cs.scaleautomag.com/sca/modeling_subjects/f/30/t/97991.aspx

Well, it's like this. Orange peel on real-car paint comprises only a few thousandths of an inch variation between the tops and the troughs of the texture on the surface of the paint. To be scale correct for 1/25, you'd divide say, .005" by 25. That gives you .0002" (if you divide one inch into 10,000 parts, that would be just TWO of those parts). It's pretty unlikely you'll be able to see that without magnification. Production cars from "back in the day", when photographed, appeared nicely glossy when new. I don't think you can see any indication of orange peel in these shots. Kinda the same effect as looking at a model.

X2. Stay strong.

Every time I think of another project, I usually start it. That's one large reason I rarely finish anything. But hey, I'm having FUN.

Well, if you feel the need to have readouts for horn-button temperature, windshield-washer fluid pH, and hour-meters on the headlights...necessary stuff like that.

It's just stupid, but hey...that's not against the law, right? I WANNA PWAY AIRPWAYNE !!!

Yup, the "fixer upper" in a "transitional neighborhood". Translation: a windowless crack house in a gang-controlled ghetto.

You're going to get some pressure drop no matter how long your hose is, so if noise is an issue, put the compressor where you won't hear it. What you DO need to do is have your regulator and water trap CLOSE TO THE AIRBRUSH. Hang them on the bench, or close to where you're actually spraying, with a shorter hose running up to your airbrush. Air is hot when it comes out of a compressor, so it holds more water vapor. This vapor condenses into liquid water in the hose as it cools. Putting your water-trap as far from the compressor as you can lets you get more water out of your air. Water vapor in your air can cause blushing, poor-adhesion, cratering, blisters, spitting, etc. You also need to be able to adjust the pressure, close to the airbrush, as you paint, because you'll probably have to do a little fine-tuning with each different color and type of paint.

I'm missing the point. I fly. You don't need half that much carp in a 200 MPH airplane. What's it supposed to be for in a car? Oooooo....wet's pway airpwayne. Goo goo gaa gaa.

Or try Rub n' Buff.

Yeah...I don't really like paper towels for buffing this stuff, because in my own experience, they often have stiffish fibers that tend to scratch the surface.

For me, it's usually that a build that I start with the intention of working straight-through with minimal re-engineering and modification will invariably snowball out of control requiring much research, additional parts-sourcing, and a plethora of necessary modifications I overlooked on the way in.