Ace-Garageguy

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.

I'd like to know the real deal on this too. I've read opinions, but nothing from anyone who I'd really take as a trusted expert...someone who was actually an industry player at the time.

The three-window was always the first choice for closed '32s. It just has a lighter, sportier feel to me, and the suicide doors on the 3W foretold the design of the '33-'34....though I like them all. As to which is my favorite...again, it really depends on the specific car. Some versions of each look perfect, some are ill-proportioned messes.

Either or, depends on the specific car. I've seen examples of each that I loved at first sight, and many many examples of each I thought were just awful wastes of vintage tin.

It's always worked very well for me, though I disagree with the instructions on the Testors website. If your product is definitely "Aluminum Plate", it should be the "buffing" variety if it's packaged correctly. There IS a non-buffing aluminum, but it doesn't say "Plate" or "buffing" on the label. The web instructions say it must be shot over bare plastic, which is total bull. Whatever you shoot it over needs to be extremely smooth though...like 1500 grit. The web instructions also recommend shooting their sealer over it. More bull. All the sealer does is ruin the bare-metal effect and make it look like silver paint. I let my buffing metalizers dry MUCH longer than the 10 minutes that's recommended...sometimes as much as 2 days, like you. It does get more durable the longer it dries, but still buffs up beautifully...or always has for me, anyway. You can go back months or years later and buff it up again if it's dulled with time...which it sometimes will. To get the best polished-metal effect, it needs to be shot wet, almost on the verge of running, so it will slick out smooth. Spraying dry mist coats will create a pebbly, grainy surface texture that looks a lot like cast aluminum, but that will not buff up to look like polished, machined aluminum. The fleece on the inside of old-style cotton sweatshirts has worked best for me, to polish it.

I didn't assume that, as he said "era correct" when referring to his choice of colors, rather than OEM correct. Assumptions can be tricky.

From a purely logical and cost standpoint, I'd suspect the two-tone vehicles got painted the light color all over, and then masked off for the dark color. Masking prior to painting the light color, while it would save a little paint, would add an additional labor step of unmasking and re-masking. If the light color was sprayed only on the to-be-light areas without masking, the dry-spray edge would need to be dealt with before the darker color was masked and sprayed, also an additional labor step. Painting the entire vehicle the light color on the paint line would allow painted one-color vehicles that were slated to be two-toned to be pulled off the main paint line, masked, shot, and returned to the main assembly line with the least amount of additional work and delay. I'm also certain I've seen two-toned vehicles that have weathered, and exposed the main color under the accent color. This would be consistent with my hypothesis above.

White-walls in general are entirely period-correct looking, and whatever was available in a tire that would fit a rim that could be physically bolted to the car would be "correct". Somewhere, I have a pre-war shot of a '34 Ford that's had Duesenberg wheels fitted.

Now Tom, we can't be using the "b" word anymore. The politically-correct term is "follicularly challenged", or, depending on the degree of the challenge, "comb free". Please make a note of these replacements for future reference. NOTE: It has also come to our attention you persist in using the word "clueless". Please substitute the term "factually unemcumbered" in any subsequent communications.

She's progressing, so I thought some of you may like the see where the thing began to take off. This was the first styling fiddle, with the front fender filler made from sheet styrene, and the rear skirt made up from card stock. I tried several hood treatments, and settled on using a part from a diecast model of Posies Extremeliner as a start. The next thing was to draw the front wheels on, to get a feel for the overall look. Then I built a frame from rectangular styrene stock to hold the front fender modifications together, straight and parallel, and to give it all enough strength to hark on it. I started the filling-in process with rough lengths of styrene strip stock, stuck in place quickly with liquid cement. I'd previously glassed the underside of the cabin (the part the previous owner / builder had started on) to hold it together, and now I've filled the backside of the new front fender pods with epoxy / cotton flock. I've also used the same material to reinforce the attachments of the fenders to the body shell. This structure has to be pretty tough, as I'll be carving and shaping the top side into a plug for molds. The whole thing needs to be able to stand up to some pretty rough handling, grinding and sanding. The fronts of the fender pods, also rough-filled with the epoxy / cotton-flock slurry. The blocks under the leading edge of the grille were added to adjust the lines, when viewed from the side.