Monty

Just you and me

If you can find the thread, our own Drew Hierwarter did a similar project for his Model Master 1/2 oz bottles a short time ago. IIRC he routered holes part way through the bottom slats to keep the bottles from tipping over. Just a thought...

José, if you get a chance, post some pictures of your work once you've painted something. IIRC, I just used 70% isopropyl alcohol as a reducer.

I've used them in the past and found them to be as good as Tamiya acrylics while also offering some colors that no one else had. Most of the paints I bought were gloss colors, and they had a fairly good shine once they were dry. I didn't feel the need to clearcoat or polish my paint, but it can be done with excellent results. Unfortunately, Gunze Sangyo pulled all of their aqueous-based acrylics out of the US years ago, so I've had to buy mine from all over the world. I've never heard of other acrylics reacting badly with these paints, but you can always test them on old model bodies or cheap plastic spoons. What may help the most is using a food dehydrator to make the first coat of paint dry completely before applying a second coat. If you plan on color sanding, you'll probably want to have two or three coats because it sprays fairly thin. About 15 years ago, there was a great article in Scale Auto Enthusiast that compared 4 or 5 acrylic paints from different manufacturers and showed how to get the best results with each one. If someone can get you the Month/Year of that issue, it'd be worth your time to track it down. HTH

I'm enjoying watching this come together. Great updates, Art!

A friend of mine (member purepmd on this board) built a model of this funny car using Tamiya acrylics. He says Tamiya X1 acrylic black is the deepest black he's used. I laughed when I saw where you wanted to get away from black paint with a tinge of brown. That had to be a Testors reference.

Well poop! Turns out I'm not as brilliant as I thought. Now I have to call the Nobel Prize people and tell them to hold off on sending my "Genius" medal. Thanks for all the input!

Allow me to wander a little further out into this swamp. The consensus so far seems to be that I can't use the yellow plastic body by itself to create the "richer" maroon I want to recreate. If I were to use Cato's idea (Future as a barrier) would its self-levelling properties fill in any low spots on the body?

Let's assume I'm going to be stubborn and plow ahead on this without primer, primarily because my prior experience doing this resulted in a better looking maroon. (Donn Yost has made a career out of painting models without primer, and it's kinda hard to argue with his results.) The main question I was trying to ask was whether Monogram's yellow plastic will bleed through the lacquer paint. I've heard stories about red and orange plastic bleeding through, but I don't think I've seen anything about yellow.

I've read that some of the Ferrari guys use yellow paint under the red top coat to make the red "pop" more. I experienced something similar years ago when I sprayed Tamiya TS-11 maroon directly over a yellow Monogram fender. The fender is long gone, but I now have a yellow Monogram body that I want to use this same shade of maroon on. In order to achieve the shade I created with the fender, I'll have to paint this body without primer, silver undercoat etc. What is the likelihood that the yellow plastic will bleed through the maroon paint? .

IIRC, Ford had to ship these cars off to Kar Kraft, a subcontractor, to have the shock towers modified to accommodate the width of the Boss 429. Because of space considerations, the batteries were moved to the cars' trunks.

BIG10 Network was televising Nebraska's Spring game Saturday, so I got to watch it live. This video was all over the place by Sunday. Here's some basic background on the kid: Back in April 2011, Hoffman was diagnosed with a brain tumor, according to The Daily Nebraskan. He has had two surgeries since and is now on a break for two weeks from a 60-week chemotherapy course, per ESPN.com. Puts a lot of my problems in their proper perspective.

Since you seem to be committed to going low-buck on this, there have been modelers who've used Dollar Store aluminum foil and MicroMetal Foil Adhesive. If your local hobby shop won't carry anything like Bare Metal Foil, it's doubtful that they'd carry a foil adhesive, so you'll have to get that by mail order/internet. Keep in mind that once you buy your foil and pay for the adhesive (plus shipping!) you'll be working with a material that's not as thin as BMF, and you'll be trying to make it stick to your model by applying the adhesive as evenly as you can to the areas you're wanting to foil. When it's all said and done, I'll be curious if you think the money you saved was worth it.

I'm fully aware of the meaning of "late model". My point was that if Revell could dumb down a model of a car that most auto enthusiasts would consider iconic, do you think the Gen Y guy is going to be elated when you finally ussue a non-AARP-mobilecar he feels passionately about, only to find it's a 12-piece snapper?

I can't speak for other modelers as I despise curbsiders, snap kits & everything else the model companies put out that's been dumbed down or decontented. Is half-a-loaf-or-nothing going to become the new normal? I used the '63 'Vette as an example of how Revell hacked me off, and how they seem to want to do the same to guys like Rob & Jonathan who're demanding newer cars. If they're interested in the car, let 'em build the whole thing, including the engine.

And I prefer my kits with full detail, including engines. See the difference?

Brett, most of the time I look forward to reading your posts because it's obvious that you're very knowledgeable, well-informed, and you understand the builders' points of view as well as the model companies' perspectives. Here's where we part company. Do you realize that, after all these years, I still can't buy a decent 1/24 or 1/25 kit of the most recognizable Corvette Chevy ever made - the '63 "split window"? AMT's entry is obviated by its promo chassis, and despite the fact that Revell has done some other nice classic 'Vettes, the '63 they finally issued is another snap-fit 'tard toy for the I'm-too-stupid-to-use-glue crowd. And you wonder if you can get American modelers to be more "accepting" about decontented kits by purposely offering no alternative? I'll vote with a closed wallet and two upraised middle fingers.

Well said!

Kurt's telling you that if you're interested in the street machine version (the picture you posted) you should grab it ASAP, as it will never be released in this form again. The molds were recently retooled at some expense, changing it (permanently, most likely) back into the Petty NASCAR race car. Yes, it's possible that the kit may appreciate somewhat in value due to its rarity. OTOH, since there are far fewer 1/16 scale builders, demand may not be as great. Don't plan your retirement around this kit's potential future value. Build the thing and be happy.

I'll give you this: at least you get how plug wires lay. I've seen a lot of "angry spider" wiring setups over the years.

Thanks John! Were you satisfied with the way it sprayed? I'd heard that early batches of this paint were problematic. Can't see any ill effects in your pics. I agree with Ken, that's a wicked green.

Rich, thanks for taking the time to do that. Was this shot over bare plastic? Primer? Silver/gold undercoat? I love the Boyd's colors, but I've noticed the overall color can often be affected by what they're sprayed over. That '57's gonna be nice!

Jason, I'm going to make a suggestion that will improve the look of your engine & help you with future builds as well. While I can certainly respect someone making their own distributor & adding spark plug wires, the size of the wires can have an effect on how accurate a given model looks. In your case, the plug wires look to be the size of battery cables. Here's a recent thread on determining the correct size of wiring to use for this: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=56674&hl=wiring In answer to your question about preassmbled cap & wire kits, a lot of us use these guys. http://www.madmodeling.com/store/ccp0-catshow/distributors.html Again, I hope you'll take this as a helpful suggestion instead of seeing it as criticism. I like how you're doing the exhaust manifolds and the engine bay. Can't wait to see it finished!

I'll be doing a paint run this weekend and I may add a can of this stuff to my shopping basket depending on what you guys show me. Indoor and outdoor shots would be great, if you have both. TIA!

Rich, any chance you could post up a pic of your work with this paint? I'd like to see how it turned out, too.