'53 Corvette Roadster, Revell

[louisik1]

Found this a few months ago at Goodwill, everything still in sealed bags, so I decided to take a chance for $6.

I put the frame together first and then painted the whole thing semi gloss black, instead of painting each piece first. I will go back later and add some detail color. Everything fit together but the instructions were ambiguous a couple times about how pieces attached. The rear sway bar was particularly annoying.

Then I found out how the wheels are supposed to be painted.  Holy moly..!  Here is my first attempt at a wheel.

 

 

Any recommendations, perhaps a super-fine gel pen in red that you like?

 

Cheers!!

 

 

[Lizz62]

Found this a few months ago at Goodwill, everything still in sealed bags, so I decided to take a chance for $6.

I put the frame together first and then painted the whole thing semi gloss black, instead of painting each piece first. I will go back later and add some detail color. Everything fit together but the instructions were ambiguous a couple times about how pieces attached. The rear sway bar was particularly annoying.

Then I found out how the wheels are supposed to be painted.  Holy moly..!  Here is my first attempt at a wheel.

 

 

Any recommendations, perhaps a super-fine gel pen in red that you like?

 

Cheers!!

 

 

i use acrylic art paint . you can paint it , but you csn also remove it. On chrome you can detail it and remove the unwanted paint with a toothpick. Wet it , and it will all come off and you can start over if you like! Very forgiving.

[Lizz62]

You did an awesome job , looks great to me !!! 

[Modlbldr]

I like your progress.

I agree with Lizz62. Acrylic paint and a toothpick to wipe off the messy parts. Works very well. I have this same kit and am planning a Pro Touring style car with it. 

Later-

[espo]

You might try using a flat edged wooden tooth pick to remove the paint where not wanted on the hub caps. As for the painting itself I have used a Pigma Micron brand pen I got at Office Depot. They offer some other colors also. I used their "05" pen in Red and it worked great. I have also used their White pen for White stripe tires, and Red over White for Red line tires. 

[louisik1]

I have used a Pigma Micron brand pen I got at Office Depot.

That's funny because I stopped by there tonight and picked up some other colored pens in that area. I saw the Pigma Microns but I couldn't tell what it was like from the box.  I bought some others, Staedtler Triplus Fineliner, but it's not opaque enough.  I will take these back and try the Pigma! Thanks!! 

 

To everyone else, thank you so much for the tips. I did use a toothpick after Lizz62/David recommended it and it works great.  For now I have done three wheels using good ol Testors acrylic gloss red.

Here's my latest attempt:

It's still flawed!

 

For reference, I found this reference pic of an actual wheel, courtesy of CorvetteStory.com:

So beautiful, eh? I need to add the blue inset paint around the Chevy insignia.

Thanks again, everyone. Cheers

[louisik1]

Ok, sorry, just one more for reference of what it's REALLY like trying to paint it.

 

[PARTSMARTY]

This really looks like a cool project !!!

[Slotto]

Great job on the wheels! Can't wait to see more

[louisik1]

Hi everyone. These wheels were a challenge. I tried 8000 red pens and didn't find one that I liked.  I messed up one wheel after so many attempts that it was beyond saving. I ordered another whole model from ebay just to get a new set of wheels.

One thing I'm really embarrassed about is how 'wrong' my first attempts at the wheels were. I'm kind of baffled at how I thought I saw them and how I thought they should be during that first round.  But after many attempts and modifying my technique I finally found a way that I could live with at least for now.

The imperfections always look so huge in the pictures.

 

I also don't know why but for two weeks I couldn't make myself air brush some parts. These wheels needed the mounting wheel to be painted before putting on the frame so I gathered everything up that needed to be semi gloss black. 

The job left a micro fine texture, which looks good for the soft top but it makes me wonder.  Is that good? For semi-gloss black?  Or should it be smooth?

Then I got stuck/obsessed with trying to set up some masking on the underside of the hood. I want the edges of the underside to be body color, not black. I tried various tapes but nothing was fine enough or flexible enough for me to trust it. I tried Elmers glue a few times but kept removing it because I didn't trust that either.  After going back and forth several times I finally said f it and tried Elmers glue again. Then painted it like you see above.

Now I'm peeling away the glue and finding this:

Yeah.  Soo..  I can buff/wash a little and paint over the edges with primer..  but I'm afraid it's gonna go to BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH.  At least I have another hood in the backup kit in case I destroy this one.

 

Cheers.