Ace-Garageguy

This is its wife... http://safety-car.info/esv/75-aurora/2664-aurora-esv.html

$373.75 today. You can get something similar, US WWII equivalent, for about $125, including shipping..

The inspiration? Or maybe...

Must be a Gorgon. Look at it, turn to stone.

X2.

Holy moley. Even the welds on the muffler can look right. Beautiful, beautiful work.

Thanks, Steve. I looked, and that's exactly what I've been hoping to find. Thanks again. Beautiful work too, by the way. I could spend hours looking at those pix.

In large measure, I see the "society" that's failed today's youth as being primarily my own generation. Somehow, all the socially-engaged and aware protesters I knew in my teens and 20s who wanted to save the world grew up to be self-centered strivers for material success, and neglected a lot of the "old-fashioned" family responsibilities like teaching kids the value of honesty, work, and knowledge. And somewhere, BS-speak concepts like "outcome-based-learning" (which I label BS, as the "outcome" is a bunch of kids who can't make change or understand fractions...or even write legibly and coherently) made their way into educators' minds, replacing proven concepts like adding, subtracting, reading, and spelling. I don't understand how the entire educational system seems to be operating completely devoid of anything approaching common sense. How is this possible?

Glad to hear you're working. I'm sure it's something of a relief, even though it's not what you had in mind. Hope you get something you really want to do, soon.

QUESTION: I've heard before about the "scale" size of the flakes in the metallics and pearls, but for some reason, it hasn't really registered in my tiny little mind until just now. I'd really like to start using this stuff if that's the case, as the size of the flakes in everything I've been using drives me nuts. Do you have any more information about this ??

Lots of people have been using real automotive paint on models for many years. Just reduce it properly for airbrush application (I currently use a small siphon-style automotive touch-up gun for paint, and a big ol' gravity-feed Sata clone for 2-part primers), use a decent primer to prevent crazing of some of the more sensitive kit plastics, and TEST before you commit to painting anything you care about. I've found I can turn down the fluid and air on my big guns to apply paints and primers to models just fine. This is freshly shot with a 2K urethane primer-surfacer, using a full-sized gun. Follow the same mixing procedures you'd use on a real car. The chemistry doesn't change just because you're painting something small. Experiment with slight over-reduction (from what you'd use on a real car) if necessary (using the appropriate reducer or thinner for the material you're using). TEST TEST TEST, and figure out what works reliably for YOU, using the materials YOU have access to. There are SO MANY VARIATIONS in available 1:1 paint products, nobody can tell you exactly how to make what YOU have access to work perfectly, most likely. There are some builders who consistently get the dipped-in-syrup look from using real-car paints, and there are some builders whose paint doesn't obscure details and looks scale-correct. It's all up to you and how you handle the stuff. I know some builders who use 2-stage urethane basecoats, and cover them with rattle-can clears (to avoid the heavy buildup some guys get with big-car clears).

It's really not a secret (but it's not Billy Gibbons ). There are a lot of people who know. This is one of his other cars. And this one too... ...and this...

The '34 3-window was going to be a 5-window, but the body shell was so bad (pretty much gone from the middle of the doors down) the owner decided to start with a vastly better 3W. She'll be all steel, traditional, shiny, full-fendered with a built '48 Ford flathead. We just took the steel roof insert out, done probably 50 years ago (badly) and are going back with a built-up stock style roof. The steel repro floors and subrails are getting jigged on the frame as we speak, and an original firewall is about ready to spot-weld back into the shell before it also gets jigged for major repairs. The engine and suspension are done. The '32 roadster is another all steel car, every part genuine pre '48 or '49, no repop if humanly possible. It's a very subtle period-correct shiny highboy build, getting a full-house Mercury flathead. It's taken some time to correct over 80 years worth of "repairs" to the body and frame. The client is a kinda well-known rocker, also well-known for the quality of his cars.

Some of Luigi Colani's designs, because they're completely over-the-top...

Maserati's 2005 Birdcage concept does it for me, too...

First one that always jumps to my mind is the 1953 Ghia / Chrysler Coupe D'Elegance (a refinement of the '51 K-310 concept), to which the '98 Chrysler Chronos pays homage.

It's "helpful" sometimes when responding to a particular post to respond to one sentence or phrase at a time. This is most easily accomplished by responding in a different color, inside the post, to each individual sentence or phrase. If you have a problem with my use of colors and my use of quotes, and my responses, and whatever it is you imply I am "at times on this board" (I don't call people names, by the way...which you are doing, ever so subtly...so you think) please feel free to report me to the moderators, or better yet, become one yourself and ban me from the site. I'm really getting tired of being called out for "how" I say something, when the content of "what" I say is entirely overlooked. I know a lot. From experience. I try to share my experience. I try to help. And if I DON'T know something, I don't post. Too bad more folks don't feel they should actually KNOW what they're talking about before offering advice.

I personally use the 2-part putties over bare plastic, thoroughly sanded with 180. I'll use the one-part putties over primer occasionally. Just personal preference and what works reliably for me. In general, the model car primers I use most are lacquer, and the 2-part putties aren't really intended to be applied over lacquer. I've had adhesion problems develop on 1:1 work from applying 2-part putties over lacquer undercoats. BUT...if I use a two-part urethane or polyester primer, I'll use a 2-part putty over it if necessary. Usually though, the 2-part primers give such high build and filling that additional fill isn't required. The fill work was done on this one over bare plastic, sanded with 100 grit. Then buried in 2-part urethane primer... The surface required no additional fill. Here it's been sanded to about 400 grit. The final simulated bare-aluminum finish required a flawless and stable base.

Which stick from up where? I said in post 19 that, yes indeed, I occasionally screw up paint work, even on the 1:1 stuff...which costs a lot more time and money than a model. And the ONLY REASON it ever happens is because I fail to follow tried-and-true, proven, best-practice methods. Period. I rest MY case too.

Switchers Phaeton / Sedan kit WIP...

AMT '32 Fords. Everybody knows their shortcomings, but I keep coming back to them over and over and over. Several WIPs...

I use cheap powder-free latex gloves ($5 for 50 at the grocery store) for handling during the painting process. Keeps the paint off my hands, and keeps skin oil off the model. Cheap enough to shotgun them. They work for assembly too, keeping greasy fingerprints off of freshly-polished bodies. For handling after assembly (like taking a model to a club meet) I'll use cheap, lightweight cotton "inspection" gloves. Again, avoids getting greasy fingerprints on a polished surface, and having to wipe it down. Believe it or not, you can also feel some flaws in bodywork better through thin cotton gloves than you can with bare skin. I learned this while doing 1:1 cars.

Seems like Army Special Forces may have said it first... Marines like it too.

I like it, but as far as top-end hybrids go, I prefer the Jag.

Bloody marvelous, mate.