Ace-Garageguy

Give me a trailer full of Spam, a few chickens, and a small vegetable garden, and I'm good for the collapse of Western Civilization.

Well that's pretty dangity cool. I need something like that to do plaid seats in an old Mercedes race car. Have to give it a try.

One is not necessarily greater than zero, according to a lot of zeros who insist that math and logic are oppressive.

Man after my own heart. These days I'll usually smoke less than a pack a year, but if I smoke at all, it's unfiltered Camels or Luckies when I can find 'em.

The question was about using DTM primers on die-cast, I related the answer to real-car practice, and yes, I'd definitely scuff fully dry DTM primer with 180 prior to applying polyester filler. I usually scuff plastic with 180 prior to applying polyester filler as well. And I don't have adhesion or featheredge lifting problems. Ever. EDIT: I have had featheredge lifting problems after applying polyester (catalyzed 2-part) over plastic only scuffed with 400 or so. After shaping and featheredging, subsequent priming with lacquer primer would sometimes pull up the featheredge. But hey...I've been experimenting for decades, and I know what works for me.

Wow. What-ifs are among my favorites in the hobby, and this beats everything I've ever seen by another order of magnitude. Few things really rate "stunning", but this does. Thanks for turning us on to it.

I need to lose the equivalent of two to three cats.

Just FYI, in the REAL car world, there are primers that are NOT recommended for application "direct to metal", like most urethane primer-surfacers (recommended to be applied over epoxy primers or self-etching primers). But it gets "confusing" real quick, as it's usually recommended you don't put polyester high-build primer-surfacers over self-etch (except for Featherfill G2, and that doesn't always work right). However, polyester high-build primers and other polyester products (like bondo) work well over epoxy primers. And this is why, in the real-car world, smart guys stay within one product brand to avoid unpleasant surprises, as manufacturers test all their own stuff for compatibility and give you instructions as to what works with what. But I've known plenty of cowboys in the bodyshop biz who think they're smarter than the chemists at DuPont or PPG, and mix anything that's cheap with anything else that's cheap...just like a lot of modelers. And God forbid they'd ever actually read the product TDS or application instructions. And you know what? They have the same kinds of problems modelers have from trying to save a few bucks. But a redo on a real car can cost many hundreds of $$$ in material alone. Pretty clever way to save money, right? Bottom line if you want repeatable GOOD paint jobs on your models: stay with products made for modeling, or products that have been tested extensively and recently (like Duplicolor primers)...OR...do your own extensive testing yourself before you start combining stuff because some random guy on the internet said it worked. EDIT: In a lot of cases, the labeling of consumer-oriented refinishing materials has very little to do with reality, and is simply rebleating words some marketing guy who knows little about anything and cares less came across somewhere. For instance, I've seen "2K" rattlecan products that aren't anything remotely resembling true two-part catalyzed products. Paint manufacturers for real cars pretty much HAVE to get their labeling and product usage info right, or they won't be in business for long. But some company turning out second and third rate paint that's going to get shot full of runs and dribbles and dirt on granny's lawn chairs doesn't generally hold itself to the same standards.

Making molds of the lenses wouldn't be very difficult with the right materials, and casting them in a tinted clear epoxy or polyester would also work...with the right materials. If you have a lathe, turning them from red tinted acrylic rod would work well. EDIT: For that matter, you could turn some custom bullets from red sprue, using a drill motor. Or somebody on feePay is doubtless selling something that could be easily adapted. The pair below is about 10 bucks plus shipping.

Metallics and pearls are prone to streaking with improper application, period, and on real cars just as much as models. Airbrush (or spray gun) adjustment and technique are critical. Air pressure too high can blow the center out of the pattern, leaving the edges too wet, resulting in streaks. Poor or inconsistent overlap of passes can cause streaks, and jerky movements can cause blotches. Shooting the stuff too wet can cause local pooling or puddling, leading to streaks and blotches. Shooting from too far away, or too dry, can make a grainy texture that will look horrible under your clear. Like everything worth doing, learning to shoot metallics is a learned skill, and you learn to do it by doing it. Best to practice on something other than the model you want to get right the first time. Spare bodies, or small plastic soda bottles, scuffed and primed with the primer you'll use on the model, make excellent practice targets to learn how to shoot blotch-and-streak-free metallics and pearls.

Humans who can't grasp the "ONE" part of "One Sentence Game" and repeatedly post multi-sentence "copy and paste" definitions probably do need help from robots.

Looking forward to seeing this progress. I recall being similarly disappointed with the kit, and pretty much stripping it of parts for other projects.

PM'd

There are several, actually. The mixing formulas for different cars will each specify a particular flake in suspension. I'm not familiar with current mixing systems (I haven't painted cars professionally for quite a few years now), but I know for a fact that the mixing system at the shop where I'm doing the Chevelle has, for instance, quite a few "silver" mixing bases, each with very obviously different size flake. In general, from coarse to fine, real-production-car flake sizes run from "metallic" or "poly" (coarse), to "mica" (finer), to "pearl" (finest). A real-car paint shop or supply outlet can custom mix just about anything, but the question is whether they will. One example: the real '66 Chevelle I'm building is to be painted with a custom color that started with the stock '66 GM mixing formula, but our painter has substituted a much finer flake than the OEM color calls for, and has added a blue pearl toner as well. Sorry I can't give you a more specific model-related answer, but I believe at least one of the model-car paint sources over here (who provides OEM colors for modelers) uses a more scale-correct flake.

Future AI wouldn't be such a worry if all of 'em were hardwired with Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics.

Businesses of all sizes are having difficulty hiring anyone with physical skills...and I don't mean guys who wash cars or mow lawns...who can 1) do anything even slightly demanding, and 2) will actually show up regularly and on time.

Resin 1/25 '60 Dodge Phoenix to keep the '61 company. Box it came in says "Motor City Resin Casters", and it's one of the highest quality resin pieces I've ever seen. Minor bubbling on the vac-formed clear parts, but I can definitely work with it. I saw a while back they were having some difficulty, but if this is what their product looks like, it's sure as jell worth a wait. Also the SBC longblock, Ford flathead V8 3-spd gearbox, and adapter from the old Revell Roth Tweedy Pie. I normally don't buy loose parts online, but this was too good a deal to snooze on. Saves me having to steal the adapter from a kit, or cast one.

Honestly, I've been kinda lax about exercising since Christmas. Just didn't really feel like it, but the creeping lard-alarm got my lazy tail dragged out to the woods. Nice 2-hour hike I could do in 1.5 hours last year, but I finished without having to call for dustoff. Man...you really go to jell quick when you're an old fart. Gots to keep up with it.

Bravo, Mr. Snake. Glad you're still with us. Schleicher ASK-21? I've fixed a few o' those. Fine airplane, very tough, very strong. Are you taking instruction, or just a ride? Either way, pretty cool.

Delusions are replacing reality in some sectors.

Thanks for your interest. The bench I do glasswork on is currently tied up with a full-scale DeLorean custom instrument panel, but it won't be much longer...