What Did You Accomplish Today? (Model Car Work)

[Snake45]

426 pack, that's pretty cool! Drive on! 

[Russell C]

So many other obligations to take care of, so little hobby time. Finally managed to accomplish something after months of inactivity. Used my mini lathe to reshape a translucent ballpoint pen clicker down to a taper matching an old red AMT trucks emergency beacon lens I had (the one without the sunken area).  Then I jammed it onto a grinder bit to put in my motor tool so I could turn it at a much higher speed to polish it. Not half bad, needs just a bit more polishing. It isn't an overly soft plastic, but I need to be careful about putting too much heat into it from polishing. This helps to get a police car project back underway that had stalled out on this detail.

[Bills72sj]

My Freightliners are nearly complete. Just slowly adding chrome bits to the cabs. Got a big head start on my FIRST EVER diorama Wednesday. Cut a bazzilion pieces from the trees and have preassembled some of them in preparation to paint. I have some wall cabinets from an Ernie Irvan race transporter that are getting modified for use in my "Day Two Garage". Removed top of back wall, converting wheel well cover to open space under the drawers. Added toe kick and cove base to make it more accurate as a work bench in a building. You cannot see them in the pic but there are actually power outlets molded into the backsplash.

Edited April 4, 2020 by Bills72sj

[OldNYJim]

Tried Citadel paint through the airbrush for the first time today - was trying to find a nice oxblood red color for some interior parts and spotted this stuff in a store near where I was working...worked great!  Didn’t even need to thin it!

 

[Russell C]

Some more on the police car lights 3 posts back: from my pile of metal bits, two aluminum collars that were the perfect size from some disassembled electronic device (remember, everything ever manufactured on the planet contains bits that can be repurposed as model car parts) are now the horizontal rotating light reflectors, filled in with Bare Metal Foil and polished to a mirror reflector shine with Simichrome metal polish and then superglued onto a scrap chrome rod from some kit. Doesn't look bad as just double rotating reflectors, but I'll see if I can lathe-turn some solid aluminum rod into additional wafer thin reflectors to make these into quad units, which should make 'em more visually interesting. Haven't taken the one good red lens off the AMT trucks parts tree just yet ….

[lordorion1974]

Yesterday I experimented with a vinyl top on my '68 Camaro project.  After MUCH searching on other forums/websites, I came upon Steven Guthmiller (? Spelling, sorry if I butcher it!) procedure for them and tried it.

I like to think I got it just right, the glare doesn't help, but in person it looks pretty dang good. 

Then I did it again for the original project that started the search for it, a 1970 Super Bee for a friend.

[stinkybritches]

7 minutes ago, lordorion1974 said:

Yesterday I experimented with a vinyl top on my '68 Camaro project.  After MUCH searching on other forums/websites, I came upon Steven Guthmiller (? Spelling, sorry if I butcher it!) procedure for them and tried it.

I like to think I got it just right, the glare doesn't help, but in person it looks pretty dang good. 

Then I did it again for the original project that started the search for it, a 1970 Super Bee for a friend.

That looks pretty good.

[Snake45]

2 hours ago, stinkybritches said:

That looks pretty good.

+1 

[TooOld]

Over the weekend I finally finished the engine compartment for my '63 Fairlane .  My bench time is down to only a couple hours a week so progress is painfully slow , almost a month just on this .

[NOBLNG]

12 hours ago, TooOld said:

Over the weekend I finally finished the engine compartment for my '63 Fairlane .  My bench time is down to only a couple hours a week so progress is painfully slow , almost a month just on this 

That is a super nice job detailing that engine bay!

[espo]

13 hours ago, TooOld said:

Over the weekend I finally finished the engine compartment for my '63 Fairlane .  My bench time is down to only a couple hours a week so progress is painfully slow , almost a month just on this .

That is a long time, but it sure looks like it was time well spent. 

[ChrisBcritter]

Just now stirred up some resin and poured the first '63 Riviera wheelcover, along with another set of Monogram '40 Ford Pickup wire wheels, and got 'em into the pressure pot. Fingers crossed for no bubbles.

[ChrisBcritter]

And the result:

One down, three to go! 

[Tom Geiger]

 

 

Still working on the 1950 Chevy pickup for the Facebook Isolation 500 build. I just glued front inner fenders into the body. May be nearing the finish line. 

[Snake45]

I glued the front "horns" on the frame of the reissued MPC '32 Ford sedan delivery. This took way more work and effort than I thought. I just filled the resulting gaps with superglue gel, so tomorrow should be able to file that to shape and maybe even get it painted. Then I can drive on with this stupid little project. 

Oh, also sanded on the filler piece I put in the hole of the Thunderbolt hood of an AMT AWB '66 Mustang I started about 4 years ago. I'm getting tired of looking at that thing on the workbench, too. Might drag it kicking and screaming to the BOYD build. 

[Russell C]

Regarding the quad reflector setup I mentioned a few posts up, it turned out to be easier to add two lathe-turned & polished thin ones to the double reflector assembly. More visually interesting. Now to make two more for the rotator in the red lens.

[heyjohnxx]

I made my first decal sheet today

[OldNYJim]

14 minutes ago, heyjohnxx said:

I made my first decal sheet today

 

That looks great!  What kind of printer did you use?

I’m having a polishing day...I used to find polishing really nerve-wracking when I was polishing mostly lacquer clear - always a decent chance of burning through an edge or ruining it somehow.  Since I’ve started using an enamel clear though I’m enjoying it much more - seems like the enamel is tougher and it’s easier to get a perfect finish more often than not:

[heyjohnxx]

Layout in MS Publisher, Testor's decal paper on an HP Officejet Pro 8610

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, CabDriver said:

That looks great!  What kind of printer did you use?

I’m having a polishing day...I used to find polishing really nerve-wracking when I was polishing mostly lacquer clear - always a decent chance of burning through an edge or ruining it somehow.  Since I’ve started using an enamel clear though I’m enjoying it much more - seems like the enamel is tougher and it’s easier to get a perfect finish more often than not:

Enamel generally goes on much thicker than lacquer.

That's the reason why it's not as easy to burn through while polishing.

This is the reason why I use multiple coats of clear lacquer.

You do have to be very careful about using enamel clear over light colors though.

Unlike lacquer, enamel can yellow very badly over time.

 

 

 

Steve

[OldNYJim]

1 hour ago, heyjohnxx said:

Layout in MS Publisher, Testor's decal paper on an HP Officejet Pro 8610

Looks great!!!  Very impressive!

 

32 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Enamel generally goes on much thicker than lacquer.

That's the reason why it's not as easy to burn through while polishing.

This is the reason why I use multiple coats of clear lacquer.

You do have to be very careful about using enamel clear over light colors though.

Unlike lacquer, enamel can yellow very badly over time.

 

 

 

Steve

You’re absolutely right on all counts Steve.  I did try adapting my process with lacquer to simply laying more coats down but still haven’t perfected it - I know you’re a proponent of using lots of lighter coats and your results speak for themselves.  How many coats of clear do you like before you feed comfortable?  
 

I really want to get perfect lacquer paint jobs down, because as you say enamels aren’t perfect over every color...and I can’t keep painting everything dark colors forever ??

[StevenGuthmiller]

2 hours ago, CabDriver said:

You’re absolutely right on all counts Steve.  I did try adapting my process with lacquer to simply laying more coats down but still haven’t perfected it - I know you’re a proponent of using lots of lighter coats and your results speak for themselves.  How many coats of clear do you like before you feed comfortable?  
 

I really want to get perfect lacquer paint jobs down, because as you say enamels aren’t perfect over every color...and I can’t keep painting everything dark colors forever ??

Everybody has their own techniques and some guys can get by with a coat or 2 of clear, but I like to polish mine regardless of how the finish turns out.

As a consequence, through my own experience over the years, I've settled on at least 4 coats, usually 5.

But that depends a great deal on the particular clear that you are using as well.

 

 

 

Steve

 

[OldNYJim]

42 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Everybody has their own techniques and some guys can get by with a coat or 2 of clear, but I like to polish mine regardless of how the finish turns out.

As a consequence, through my own experience over the years, I've settled on at least 4 coats, usually 5.

But that depends a great deal on the particular clear that you are using as well.

 

 

 

Steve

 

Great advice, thank you Steve!  Going to do some more experimenting with my lacquer technique here!  

[NOBLNG]

Well I had a productive day. Painted the engine for the ‘36 Ford. Painted the tail lights and headliner for the Porsche. Fish plated the frame for the TJeepster that I stretched yesterday, and cut the hood free from the TJ front clip.?

Edited April 10, 2020 by NOBLNG

[Tom Geiger]

Bad day here at the farm. I thought I’d be finishing up the 50 Chassis pickup but nope!  Got into issues slipping the body over the engine and having it nest down on the chassis, wiggled it a bit and crack! the front axle snapped. I do have a parts kit so I cleaned up and painted a new one which is now drying on the chassis. Oh well, no progress, but there is tomorrow.