Ace-Garageguy

Yuck. But hey, what do I know?

Yes. Even in the real world. Very hot with either very low humidity or very high humidity can play hell with spraying. Depending on exactly what material you're using, hot and humid can cause solvent popping and blushing, and hot and dry can cause graininess and excessive orange peel. Even in the real-paint world where special additives are available to tailor materials to the weather conditions, they only work so far. While working in the Az. desert for a while, we had to shoot paint first thing in the early morning. Here in the Southeast at the other end of the humidity spectrum, I've sometimes had to do my real-car painting in the middle of the night. NOTE: The "Mr. Leveling Thinner" that's been recommended elsewhere is similar apparently in function to "retarder" used in real-car lacquers, and "slow reducer" used in real-car enamels and urethanes. I assume it's formulated to evaporate much more slowly, and as such, keeps paint "wet" while atomized (thinner evaporating out of the material before it even hits the model on low-humidity hot days causes dry spray and grainy orange peel), and keeps paint "flowing out" after it's on the model.

I know you've had a tough time with this one, but I admire your perseverance, and wish you lots of luck as you get closer to the end. You certainly deserve it for sticking it out and stripping it multiple times. I'm pulling for you.

X2. Actually, this angle doesn't do it justice. It's one of the cleanest, best-proportioned cars of its type on the planet, and one of the few that looks really really good from every angle. That's a tough trick to pull off, even for the top-line styling studios.

While that's undeniably true, and in spite of the endless harping on the opinion that these models were primarily intended for children, the truth is (and it's apparent to anyone who was around back then and read the model mags AND the big-car mags) that a LARGE part of the intended market was teens and young adults who had fully-developed eye-hand coordination and some manual skills. The show-winners and feature cars in the model mags were invariably built by teens and adults. The real-car mags heavily promoted the hobby, and in case nobody here remembers, the introduction of Revell's 1/32 scale Ford pickup, '55 Buick, Ford convert, Chrysler and Caddy, was accompanied by a FEATURE article in Hot Rod explaining how these new models could stand in as a creative substitute for the building of full-scale cars (for those on budgets or without the space), and how they could be helpful for developing the skills that could eventually translate to their full-scale cousins. The instructions back in those days also called out the correct names of many parts (a largely forgotten practice today), and frankly, I learned a huge amount about real cars from building models. Model cars were treated as a viable field of interest in real-car magazines like Car Craft, Rod & Custom, the afore-mentioned Hot Rod, and many others...and the accompanying advertising reflects that. "Kids", the pre-teen only-capable-of-making-gluebomb-messes crowd, were hardly the audience these things were intended for initially...but the marketing mavens who probably saw the potential for "toys" marketed to serious 1:1 car enthusiasts also probably determined there was still a larger potential market if models were also promoted as "toys". Kits like Revells notoriously "fiddly" offerings (like the Challenger One, Ivo's Showboat, the Anglias and Ford A-models, and exquisite engine and chassis parts-packs among others...all of which I dearly love) were never intended for sticky-fingered "kids", nor were the kits with "advanced" customizing features like the multi-section roof chop shown here. But as the reality of the market played out, and as the toy end of the spectrum most likely produced far more income than the serious hobbyist end did, the inevitable dumbing-down of the product soon followed. An interesting side note is that this didn't happen the same way in the model railroad world. The "toy train" folks went in a different direction than the "model train" guys, and though there was some slight overlap, the "model" train segment of the hobby was and still is the province of mostly adults (adults who tend to care about scale-fidelity, prototype practice and function, and overall quality of workmanship, both in the models they BUY and the models they BUILD). Model Railroader magazine is still being published, with content obviously aimed at people possessing skilled hands and minds, and has been published continuously since 1934.

Just an FYI...when you say something's been "Pledged" it's taken to mean (by anyone who's been doing this for a while) that you're referring to the spray-can oily furniture polish. Many model builders and show-car prep guys use it to get a final gloss...AFTER everything that can possibly be done to a finish has been done. It is, as I said, an oily substance, and is designed to keep things from sticking to it. This includes decals and paint...which will almost always fisheye if shot over the stuff. "Future", whether it has "Pledge" in the name of not, is an entirely different product...made for floors. The two are NOT interchangeable, even if the names sound kinda similar. As with many things in life, precision in using terminology can go a long way towards clear communication and avoiding problems.

Well, every now and then, they do manage to get something decent in the store. Not often, but it happens. I just thought perhaps you'd had a run of spectacular luck.

Besides walking the two miles to the store and back yesterday, I was able to go for a 6+ mile hike today. Good bit of pain towards the end, and when I got home, but it's the first time I've been able to manage it since I got a minor pelvic fracture 2 months back when a deck chair collapsed and I landed hard on concrete. I think I should be back in OK shape by Christmas or so.

You may have a problem getting decals or flat clear to stick to something that's been Pledged. I'd suspect any paint you try to shoot over it will pretty much explode in fisheyes.

On what planet? Surely not on Earth?

Looks like with the chain drive, solid rubber tires and spoked wheels, a credible model could be built using one of the Monogram '26 Mack Bulldogs as a starting point.

Frame and proportions look good.

It was offered as a promo, in acetate. Every now and then, you'll see a decent one listed, but they're typically warped pretty badly by now. There's one up on Ebay at the moment, pretty straight, but shrunk in every dimension, for about $150.

Hang in there. You'll get it.

Really enjoying what you're doing here. Like you, I've started a couple of championship "big cars" in 1/24 scale using these guys, 'cause they're so big. I'm still in the research phase for the most part, but I amassed a bunch of these kits over the years...including an original first-issue acetate kit that very surprisingly isn't all warped out of shape.

Man, the chassis and suspension is really looking great. Some of you truck guys care so much about getting the guts right, and do such nice work, I'm thinking I need to spend more time on this side of the board.

Agreed, and the potential brittleness problem is very real. I had an Indy car chassis essentially turn to powder after immersion in brake fluid. Every time I tried to replace a 'tube', a section next to it would crumble. I ended up deciding it would just be easier to scratch-build an entire new chassis from styrene rod stock.

In all things.

I agree with everything Dave Ambrose has to say here except... 1) The plastic that spoons are made from is considerably harder and more solvent-resistant than the formulations the model manufacturers have been using for several years, at least. I can spray hot primers and colors on some spoons with no crazing. The same materials sprayed directly on many models will ruin them. All "styrene" is NOT created equal. 2) It's impossible to develop proper overlap technique painting spoons. They're simply too small. If the correct amount of overlap between successive passes with the airbrush (or rattlecan, for that matter) is not achieved, you'll either get runs or the resulting dry edge will almost invariably produce undesirable orange peel, at least in some areas. You couldn't possibly learn correct spray technique for real cars by painting toilet seat covers, which have about the same surface area relationship to a car as a spoon has to a model. This is why I now recommend practicing painting with pop bottles. They are roughly the same size as a 1/25 scale model car, they have varying surface features, and they need to be turned to get complete coverage and correct overlap, just like painting a model car body.

The paint on your Rolls model is gorgeous, looks 'right'...and honestly...I'm rarely capable of shooting so flawless a coat of clear on a model. If I could, I'd certainly prefer to avoid the tedium of final sanding and polishing. But I can't. Simple as that. On the other hand, every now and then, I can lay down a pretty slick job on something bigger...

CLICK HERE:

This great looking model of yours has finally inspired a direction to go with a glooey '56 I got a few years back. There are fingerprints all over the body, and it just never occurred to me to de-chrome it. Thanks.

I never would have guessed in a million years that somebody built a sports car with a 3-cylinder 2-stroke Wartburg engine.

Sorry, but I have no specific recommendations as to AB pressure, viscosity, distance, etc. What I DO heartily recommend, however, is to scuff and primer some small plastic pop bottles. Sand and prep them as close to exactly like you're doing to your models, and practice, practice, practice. To shoot an orange-peel-free coat of anything, you're pretty much within a gnat's-whisker of running the stuff, and it's a skill that takes time to master and judge correctly. Once you can consistently lay down a slick paint job on a bottle, with little or no peel, and just know by the feel and sound of your paint if it's the right viscosity, only then are you really ready to take that skill to a model. When I started painting big cars (over 40 years back) there's no way I could have or would have gone into a booth and just started spraying. I practiced for hours on end, on junk panels, to get the feel of the guns, different materials, mix-ratios, etc. And to this day, because I don't paint on a daily basis, I ALWAYS practice and warm up...whether painting on real cars OR models...before I work on something that matters.

Maybe I ought to build some curbsides. Maybe I just might finish one.