Impalow Posted November 29, 2016 Author Posted November 29, 2016 Thank you guys! I'm excited to bury all that flake under some clear and make it sparkle! Man thats a cool paint job ! Clever idea masking up again with BMF, must have taken you ages but well worth the effort ! Love that gold leaf, how do you lay that down without it snapping ?? You know I'm a fan of your work Eric, looking forward to more 'show cars' from you.... Thank you Martin! I'm addicted to these chromed out over the top show cars for some reason... maybe cause they are just fun to look at and build. The gold leaf strips actually are more durable than you would think, I cut them long and then use tweezers to get one end in place and straight. Then I burnish that end down really good, and they are strong enough to pull on a little while you lay the rest of the strip down to get it straight. I think the extra thickness of the gold leaf on top of the bmf helps a lot, i know plain old bmf isnt this tough and breaks pretty easily.
Cool Hand Posted November 30, 2016 Posted November 30, 2016 Always enjoy watching your wips, and look forward to updates. The imagineering an craftsmanship is most impressive.
Rider Posted November 30, 2016 Posted November 30, 2016 This is really looking great Eric, really looking forward to seeing it finished.
Impalow Posted November 30, 2016 Author Posted November 30, 2016 Thanks Luke and Lloyd! I got one side done last night... I was curious to see how long it took, so i payed attention to the clock for once, and it was about 1.5 hours to do the one side. Which isnt all that bad. Good news is just one side to go, and then I can clear it, hopefully my next update on the body will be "Its cleared!" haha
James2 Posted November 30, 2016 Posted November 30, 2016 So cool, did you ever mention how you make the gold leaf?
D. Battista Posted December 2, 2016 Posted December 2, 2016 Extremely Awesome work on this one .... I have seen the Gremlin on the show table and is also very cool....!!
Impalow Posted December 7, 2016 Author Posted December 7, 2016 Thanks guys! So cool, did you ever mention how you make the gold leaf? I never got really detailed into it... mainly because I'm still learning and not very confident with it yet. I can tell you what I did and what I used, not 100% sure its the "correct" way to do things tho. I used this "size" or glue: https://www.amazon.com/DUX-Quick-Oil-Based-Gilding-Size/dp/B004O7GSOW and this for the leaf itself: http://www.ebay.com/itm/L-A-Gold-Leaf-Variegated-Leaf-20-5-x-5-1-Booklet-/381804309790?hash=item58e54f6d1e:g:djsAAOSwepJXZE9j I cut about a 2" chunk off the bottom of a sheet of matte aluminum bare metal foil, and taped it down to my work bench. Used a wide flat brush, and applied a thin layer of the Dux Size, trying to keep the layer thickness even. If flows out pretty nice, so you cant see any brush strokes. Then I walked away for about an hour. Let it dry until you cant leave a distinct fingerprint in the corner of the sheet, this is a little funky to judge with the reflective surface of the BMF. I just went with an 1-1.5 hours in a 69degree room. Once its tacked of, you just lay the leaf on being careful to not get wrinkles in it, burnish down with a cotton ball. If the sheet of leaf breaks (and it will) just lay more on top and then burnish the overlap off with the cottonball. Once its completely covered, walk away and let it sit overnight before cutting strips or however you want to use it. Here is a photo of an early test piece i did on gold foil... (which was old BMF and didnt work very well, the new matte aluminum strips stuck much better)
Psychographic Posted December 7, 2016 Posted December 7, 2016 (edited) Here's a tip for doing leaf. Tack and dry time is everything, the problem most people have is gilding too soon. To wet and you'll never get the proper shine, too dry, it doesn't stick. This is also why you want to lay as even of a coat as possible. Quick size is a lot more vital to time than 24 hr.size. When you set up to paint the size onto your object, find a scrap piece of something to paint some test patches on 1/2"x1/2" is enough. When you think the size has set long enough to lay the leaf, go to one of your test patches, make a fist and touch one knuckle to the size and pull back. The size should NOT transfer to your knuckle, but should "snap" when you pull it away. If this happens, you're ready to gild. If some size sticks to your knuckle, wait 10 minutes and try again on another patch. When you get the snap, gild your test patch, it should stick with no problem. To gild you want to just drop the leaf over your sized area and gently tap it into the size (I use the pinky side of my hand). You can then burnish it with cotton. If the size is not tacked up enough, the slightest movement will tear it, and it will most likely have a wrinkled appearance. As this was Variegated Leaf, it's much easier to work with, it's thicker and slight wrinkles can actually look good as they catch the light different than a smooth surface. Edited December 7, 2016 by Psychographic
Impalow Posted December 7, 2016 Author Posted December 7, 2016 Here's a tip for doing leaf. Tack and dry time is everything, the problem most people have is gilding too soon. To wet and you'll never get the proper shine, too dry, it doesn't stick. This is also why you want to lay as even of a coat as possible. Quick size is a lot more vital to time than 24 hr.size. When you set up to paint the size onto your object, find a scrap piece of something to paint some test patches on 1/2"x1/2" is enough. When you think the size has set long enough to lay the leaf, go to one of your test patches, make a fist with and touch one knuckle to the size and pull back. The size should NOT transfer to your knuckle, but should "snap" when you pull it away. If this happens, you're ready to gild. If some size sticks to your knuckle, wait 10 minutes and try again on another patch. When you get the snap, gild your test patch, it should stick with no problem. To gild you want to just drop the leaf over your sized area and gently tap it into the size (I use the pinky side of my hand). You can then burnish it with cotton. If the size is not tacked up enough, the slightest movement will tear it and it will most likely have a wrinkled appearance. As this was Variegated Leaf, it's much easier to work with, it's thicker and slight wrinkles can actually look good as the catch the light different than a smooth surface. Outstanding info... very helpful. Thank you david! That explains some issues ive had just playing around with it.
Impalow Posted December 7, 2016 Author Posted December 7, 2016 Here is a little mini/boring update on the pinto: Most important thing I got the chassis and body shot with urethane clear... it has a couple funky spots, but it looks like it should buff pretty flat and shiny. Like i hoped, the clear really brought out the sparkle in the metal flake and the pearl. I had quite a struggle with the opposite side of gold leaf, the micro towel I was using under the car kept grabbing the strips and sliding and moving them... I was very excited to get everything sealed up in clear, so nothing else moved. then i made my blower belt... i printed lines of gray and black on regular paper and then a large black square, shot the paper with matte finish krylon. Then used spraymount to glue the 2 pieces back to back. Cut strips and then blackened the edge with a sharpie. Once that was glued in place, i added some brass hardware to the pulleys. I will eventually add some more bolt heads around the upper pulley, when they aren't in danger of getting knocked off.
John Teresi Posted December 8, 2016 Posted December 8, 2016 Eric......sorry I missed this thread .......this is one heck of a build.....congrats on a stunning build......love it!!!!
Foxer Posted December 8, 2016 Posted December 8, 2016 All the effort is worth it .. looking spectacular!
Rider Posted December 8, 2016 Posted December 8, 2016 Absolutely love the black chrome, really looking forward to seeing this all come together. Glad to hear you got that gold buried in the urethane.
mcandela Posted December 8, 2016 Posted December 8, 2016 This is simply awesome!!!!! Keep it coming!!!!!
Impalow Posted March 21, 2017 Author Posted March 21, 2017 Back onto this bad boy!!! The thickness of the foil and paint made the fist shot of clear a bit lumpy, so I sanded it down and hit it with another coat.... looks really good now, i don't think I am even going to buff it. Managed to get the interior bucket painted white last night, the the blue base color down on the carpeted area... While that was drying I made a drag link from RB motion rod ends and tubes. Hopefully I can get the interior flocked tonight... Maybe start on chroming some of these supension parts.
Draggon Posted March 21, 2017 Posted March 21, 2017 This one looks better on the bottom than a whole lot of models look on the top. What a work of art!
Impalow Posted March 22, 2017 Author Posted March 22, 2017 Thanks Glenn! This one is a lot of fun! Got some flocking/embossing powder down last night on last night! but that's about all the progress I made.
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