Monty

Mike (among others) has shown that nail polish finishes can look authentic and spectacular, while costing a fraction of what we're paying for hobby paints. I've got the Lindberg '67 442 on my to-do shelf, and I'm waiting to see how his vinyl top turns out.

Mike, that Impala is very impressive too. As you said earlier, some colors can make these cars look toyish. Fortunately, you've got a good eye for hues that resemble authentic GM colors. Thanks for listing the names of the nail polishes you used.

It's excellent paint, but like most enamels it requires a longer drying time. To achieve best results with them, stir the paint vigorously. I think Frank is disappointed that the paint is the color of the lid & not something else.

I see a lot of dust & wear on that lid. Have you had that tin for a while? Humbrol lids pretty much tell you what color to expect inside. Some of the Japanese acrylic "purples" I've bought online have been roughly that shade as well. Testors Model Master and Testors Boyds line have some better purples, although they might all be metallics if that matters. I'm curious how long it'll take for your dehydrator to cure the Humbrol paint.

Spend some time searching through the builds he has done over the years. There's some amazing stuff out there. He builds in several scales too.

First, my compliments on that color! Reminds me of the GM Firemist colors that were in use at the time. What did you use for primer under the nail polish? As for wheels and tires, how 'bout the textured 5-spokes from Revell's '32 Ford and some white letter tires. Use Tamiya XF-66 acrylic on the spokes etc as seen below. Boardmember Felix Plaza "The Cat" built this Camaro & used a similar, although peakier, version of the wheel I recommended. Ignore all other wheel advice you'll receive on this. Cragars and steelies with dog dishes are waaayyyyy overdone. I'm going to follow your build to see how you get the vinyl top material to wrap around the tunnelback portion of the roof.

What are you going to use for tires?

Dear Chevy, the next time you want to run a TV ad that's meant to show how tough your trucks are, skip the Barry Manilow soundtrack. Sincerely, Real men

I'm not sure why it changed since I've never played with the font size. According to the option list, this is size 12. Any better?

It might help to know if you're using enamels like Testors/Model Master or lacquers like Testors One Coat or Tamiya's TS series. Also, when you say "best place to buy" are you looking for the most comprehensive selection of brands? Lowest prices? Sometimes those are mutually exclusive.

Ed, if you're not averse to doing business online, you can still get them fairly cheaply. Here are the places I buy most of mine: http://www.hobbylinc.com/airfix_hobby_and_model_enamel_paint http://www.redfroghobbies.com/humbrol.htm Hobbylinc has the cheapest Humbrol prices I've been able to find, but it always takes about two days for your order to be pulled and shipped. RedFrog is only 20¢ more per tin, and they ship a little quicker.

Bill, I love what you did with this truck! I wouldn't have thought to use those two colors together, but they really complement each other well. I like your combination of well-cared-for body, weathered chassis and tired engine. Nicely done! I'm stymied by one thing, though. What are the two hexagonal holes in the black sheetmetal behind the grille? Lastly, do you recall which kit those wheels came from? They were a great choice for this project.

Maybe they live in the West End http://t0.gstatic.co...KQ9rEGES04G_c1v

I had some of the originals such as the Stiletto http://t0.gstatic.co...0mR_YG0IzTcOmQO the Turbine http://www.toycollec...2jjof7z5j6y.jpg the Nucleon http://www.toycollec...5j3cqkj0vmd.jpg and the Glasser, which I won at a Cub Scout meeting. I didn't know what all the "plumbing" on it was for, but apparently they made a whole set of cars that could be run off of compressed air http://t2.gstatic.co...F6OkqyvPYYvSRqQ

Even all-black interiors have different shades of black. As Marc has suggested, you'll need different shades such as a semi-gloss for vinyl or leather seats, gloss black for hard plastics such as you'd find on some steering wheels, & flat black for shifter boots & carpet (assuming you don't flock it) Testors semi-gloss has a slightly different sheen than Tamiya acrylic gloss, which gives you a couple choices. Humbrol Coal Black (#85) is a satin black, and the railroad guys have several shades of black from Floquil / Polly S / Polly Scale. If that's not enough, all of these can be augmented with Testors Flat, Semi-Gloss and Gloss sprays. These same techniques apply to the engine bay as well, where there are a variety of shades of black.

Anybody know the status of the molds for this? Did MPC use this as the basis for the Little Re Express/Warlock?

Here's an answer I received on another forum. It may prove informative. Metallic particles only bounce light in 1 direction. Mica chips, being crystals, bounce the light in multiple directions at once giving a different kind of "sparkle" or glow. Also, mica chips can be ground finer than metallic flakes giving us modelers a more in-scale effect.

I made a mental note of your vinyl top technique. I've got a couple tunnelback cars where your spray method should be easier than using masking tape etc to represent vinyl. What's your secret for doing the raised "wires" on the firewall so neatly?

So realistic you can hear the Lucas electrical system not working. Beautiful work on that car! Can't wait to see what you do next.

I assume the metallic has a smaller flake, but I've never used the stuff (yet). I'm asking partly because I don't want to end up with bass-boat metal flake paint, but also because I notice Tamiya carries TS-19 Metallic Blue, TS-54 Light Metallic Blue, TS-53 Deep Metallic Blue as well as TS-50 Blue Mica & TS-64 Dark Mica Blue.

Excellent! I know I have the Boyd's True Blue. I'll dig around and see if I have the TS-50.

Good to know! I wasn't aware of that. Thanks! When I'm tracking down 1:1 car colors, I like this site: http://paintref.com/paintref/index.shtml

This is an early '70s color GM listed as Chevrolet Mulsanne blue, Pontiac Lucerne blue, Olds Viking blue & Buick Stratomist blue.

That is an incredibly impressive build of that kit. Beautiful shade of red - would you mind telling us what paint you used? Is any of the white done with decals, or is that all hand-masked? (I don't own the kit). If you've got some close up engine and interior shots, I'd love to see them.

Wish I had seen your post earlier - I would've recommended Model Master Boyd's Red. IMO it's got a certain tone that's closer to this http://i7.photobucke...ed-backleft.jpg than Testors Dark Red. Boyd's Kandy Scarlet might be close, too, although in my experience, it does not cover well over white primer or white plastic.