Revell '68 Corvette Roadster 2'n1

[Justin Dodson]

Also, I am going to repaint it soon but there was some Scratch Out that got into the door cracks, I'm wondering if I should just leave it there? I tried to rinse it out of the cracks but it just won't come out...

Also, do you notice something different about the quality of my pictures? That's right! I got a new camera which has 4k video!

[spencer1984]

Congrats on the new camera!  When polish gets into panel lines like that, I usually take a toothpick or toothbrush to help get it cleaned out.  You'll want to get it as clean as possible before you repaint.

[THORDOOR220]

Hope you have an easy recovery! And nice! I need to get a camera like that, my phone doesn't work too well for it

I second the toothpick. If you have to, you may even use the back side of a #11 blade. Careful with that though. Also, talking to a body guy I know, I've learned that you don't always need things like Scratch Out. Thick enough clear coat will smooth out the orange peel as well as any (very small) scratches. I've just confirmed that with my Impala model, put my last covering of clear on it (cleared it before, wet sanded (where your scratch out would be perfect), and just put 3 more heavy coats of clear to really shine it up as well as smooth it out). I don't have pictures of it up yet, but it's nearly flawless (except where I screwed it up). By combining your new rubbing compound with a couple layers of clear, you could probably get that thing perfect. Although of course, it is your model, and therefore your choice on what you want to try.

Anyways, I'll quit rambling. Hope to see more progress soon, and good luck with your recovery.

[Justin Dodson]

Okay guys I've ran into a problem. I tried to switch out some wheels I had glued onto the axles, but 2 of the axles came with them... Help! What to do??

[crazyjim]

I'd drill a hole on each side, CA glue in a piece of brass tubing, CA glue the wheel on.

[Curt]

Use an index card to clean out those panel lines.  I learned that on this board and it works well.  Just use a corner and run it down the door crack - switch to a new corner when it gets gunked up.

[Rat Roaster]

10 hours ago, Justin Dodson said:

Okay guys I've ran into a problem. I tried to switch out some wheels I had glued onto the axles, but 2 of the axles came with them... Help! What to do??

I'd glue the stub back on first, correctly oriented, let the glue set then (pin vise) drill down the center and glue in a good stiff piece of sewing straight pin. Won't matter if the drill wanders a bit

[THORDOOR220]

I've done that before, too. I just glued it back in place when I was ready for it, with the wheel attached since I couldn't get the piece out. Maybe not the best way to do it, but it worked. Rat Roaster's idea is probably along the lines of what I would do nowadays, it would be stronger than what I did before.

[spencer1984]

If you can get the stub out of the wheel, Rat Roaster's idea is the best way to get a strong and correctly aligned repair.

[Snake45]

I had a similar problem lately. I had to drill the stub out of the wheel, and then make a new stub from Evergreen styrene rod. I just happened to have the right diameter on hand. If I hadn't, I'd have just filed and sanded a piece of sprue to the right diameter. 

[dino246gt]

That idea of using a card, like those in magazines for ordering, works better than toothpicks in door lines. You'll have to keep using different corners as they soften up, of course since there's only 4 corners, you should cut the card in half or more. Another method is running the body under hot, or very warm, water and using an old toothbrush. Yet another way using toothpicks is to file the end of the round toothpick into sort of a wedge, making the end thinner. You'll have to keep the toothpick inline with the panel line.

[Justin Dodson]

All good advice guys. I've found that the diameter of the stock axles are roughly 3/16". I might search for some aluminum rods of that diameter. Do you all think aluminum would be alright for the rest being plastic? I mean I was thinking I could put a solid axle (like you would find in the rear) in the front, even though it would not be realistic whatsoever lol. But it would be stronger! 

[THORDOOR220]

You could drill out the spindle with a pin vise and glue tubing in the whole perhaps

[Justin Dodson]

Didn't think I just abandoned this project, did you guys?  

Of course not! I've been busy getting supplies. I decided to sand the painted body, hood and roof so that they're smooth. Whenever I see a painting-appropriate day outside, I'll repaint the body parts with Tamiya spray cans. I have one can of Silver Leaf because the guy at the hobby shop recommended that I give it a silver base; apparently that will give a better effect. 

Next, I made some progress on the front steering/axle part. I found some driveshafts in my spare parts box, and when I cut off the ends, they work great for axles. Since the spindles no longer have their axles attached to them, I plan to cut a small portion off of the driveshafts to use as a new axle for both spindles. I plan to drill a hole in the spindles, and put the driveshaft bits into them. But the spindle is too small to be strong enough to hold that size of axle. So, what I did was I cut 2 rectangles out of a material called Thibra*. I heated the 2 rectangles and then bent them into 90 degree corners, and glued them onto the outside side of the spindles. Now, there is more "meat" to strengthen the spindles that will hold the new axle pieces. Sorry for the long paragraph, I wanted to explain my "engineering process" if you will. 

*I recommend this brand of plastic sheet to any modeler, it is SO USEFUL! Once you heat it, you can bend it to any shape you want, it's great stuff.

Well, that's all for now. 
P.S. I almost never abandon a car-related project. It takes a lot to get me to abandon a project permanently. LOL

[Can-Con]

Justin, I'd try that Tamiya on the underside of the hood before you start painting the whole body with it. The Tamiya may have a bad reaction with the Testors enamel you already have on it and wrinkle up like a vinyl roof. That way, at least it's on the underside of the hood. 

If you have to, it's easy to strip the Testors off with oven cleaner and a few other things I'm sure a bunch of other people will tell you about soon.

But if it works well over the existing paint , I'd just spray the blue on. Blue is a better base for a new coat of blue than the silver. 

 Just because someone works at a hobby shop dosen't necessarily mean they know much about the products they sell.

Edited August 4, 2018 by Can-Con

[gman]

^^ Ditto

Lacquer over enamel is usually a bad move, as the hotter solvents in the lacquer can react with the cooler solvents in the enamel, leading to a science project on your plastic (that will be even harder to "fix"). Even though Tamyia's lacquers use solvent that is cool enough not to affect plastic, they will be more than volatile enough to affect enamel. Enamel takes forever to dry, and the outer skin of the paint will dry while the inner portion may stay uncured for weeks, longer if it was sprayed in heavy coats. That means the lacquer can attack the outer skin and chemically affect the uncured enamel very quickly. A test spray should answer that for you. I would suggest stripping the old paint off using one of the popular methods before re-shooting with Tamiya lacquer.

Tamiya sprays are very nice. If applied properly in thin, successive coats, they also level out very well due to final coats melting into and smoothing out the previous coats. That means they need a very smooth surface to look their best. As they go on thin and semi-translucent, base color will shift how the top coats look with their metallics. Test spray a small piece of plastic over silver vs. bare plastic and/or primer to see how that effects final color. Plastic spoons will show you the end result while not requiring a lot of valuable paint to do so.

Edited August 4, 2018 by gman

[Justin Dodson]

Thank you both for warning me of the "bad move". I'm glad I checked this forum once more before I went out to start painting! LOL! 

So I recently went out and acquired some Purple Power. And man does that stuff do the trick! I left all 3 body parts soaking overnight (outside, of course!). This morning I got out a nasty old toothbrush and I scrubbed the body; the paint came right off. This is my first time doing this, but now I have the ability to "restart" my paint job if it doesn't go as planned. 

 

More progress is on the way! 

[THORDOOR220]

Purple power works wonderfully on most paints. I've had 1 where it didn't seem to want to strip right, but otherwise it's been good. Looking forward to more updates

[ThatMustangGuy]

On 7/9/2018 at 2:11 PM, Justin Dodson said:

Yeah I will definitely be using flat colors for interiors from now on.

Here's some more progress. I acquired some spray paint for the body.

I always get the underside painted before I paint the side that viewers would see. Also, this is my first time using a wire coat hanger to hold the body for painting.

First coat is done on the underside of the body, hood and roof. I might do only one coat on the underside, or I might do more. I'm thinking on it.

Well, that's some progress. I'm hoping tomorrow there will be more painting-appropriate weather outside. I guess time will tell

Looking good, I’m looking foreward to see this

[THORDOOR220]

On 8/27/2018 at 12:41 PM, ThatMustangGuy said:

Looking good, I’m looking forward to see this

Me too. Hopefully he's okay, since he hasn't replied in a while and I know he mentioned surgery recovery

[Justin Dodson]

Hey everyone. I have been trying to reply for a week or so and I kept getting a 404 page.  I tried re-wording this reply, hopefully this time it will submit.

So here's the latest: I am constructing a new system for the rear axles. It is not supposed to replicate any type seen in real life; it's purely my own design.

Next, the engine is almost done. Speaking honestly, I don't know anything about how an engine works. That's why it's not very detailed.  There's one more part that goes on top but I have to repaint it. 

That's all for now peeps.  

[MrObsessive]

Justin, this is coming along nicely and that's an interesting tool you made there! I have one of these to restore in my to-do pile, and in fact was in line to be done but I needed a couple items first before I get started.

A restorable '74 is now on the table, so that'll do for now.

[ThatMustangGuy]

On 8/31/2018 at 12:02 AM, THORDOOR220 said:

Me too. Hopefully he's okay, since he hasn't replied in a while and I know he mentioned surgery recovery

Yeah, I hope so too.

[THORDOOR220]

That engine sure does look pretty, detailed or not. If you really want to learn how they work, V8's are very simple. I can try to teach you, or there's numerous videos, forums, and other websites with animations and plenty of information to really help you understand. I build full sized cars, so it might seem simpler to me than it actually is, but I would definitely take a little time to figure it out if I were you. I, for one, find them really fascinating little (big) machines

[Justin Dodson]

Hey everyone. You could call this the "pen" update. 

I acquired 2 types of pens: Molotow Liquid Chrome (2mm and 1mm), and Sharpie oil-based paint pens. 

The Molotow pens work excellent. Words cannot describe how impressed I am with these! And I did not just "touch up" these chrome parts, mind you. I previously put them in Purple Power, so they were bare plastic. In other words, I applied the Molotow pens to each entire part. The liquid chrome just seems to equalize itself once it's on the surface. 

Next, the white sharpie pens. I have always wanted to put white letters on model car tires. Now I'm able to! Only thing is, I just had to use a magnifying glass. So I whipped out my trusty "helping hands" tool and went to work. It becomes much easier, at least for me, to see what I'm doing on these small tires once magnified. I'm younger than most model car builders, so if I need a magnifying glass, then you prob-- never mind (LOL)

Stay tuned!