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What Did You Accomplish Today? (Model Car Work)


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Just finished the Snake-Fu on that cleanly built JoHan AMX I bought at the local toy show last Sunday. It didn't need much, just a few finishing touches to take it to the next level. 

This is my 12th completed project of 2020--six diecasts and six rescues/restorations. 

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Went through some more parts kits, found quite a few items to post next week in the trade forum.

Also got my pickup loaded with 27 boxes with about 300 kits I'm taking to the MDA Model Show and Swap in Roanoke VA tomorrow.

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I signed up for a 3 day workshop on resin casting at Artists Emporium. Along with an ugly zombie head, I managed to cast the missing wheel rim for my Ferrari and a couple of the other sets that I only had 3 of. I didn’t do the best job of the mold for the rims with the holes in them...but the missing holes can be drilled out. The centerlines turned out nice.

F7BD0693-ED76-477B-A25E-D49C2B161294.jpeg

Edited by NOBLNG
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On 3/6/2020 at 9:35 PM, NOBLNG said:

I signed up for a 3 day workshop on resin casting at Artists Emporium. Along with an ugly zombie head, I managed to cast the missing wheel rim for my Ferrari and a couple of the other sets that I only had 3 of. I didn’t do the best job of the mold for the rims with the holes in them...but the missing holes can be drilled out. The centerlines turned out nice.

[...]

Cool to see someone doing casting.  I've been doing a bunch lately, but could use some education on two - part mold technique.  The taillights are something I've done on this project.

IMG_1746_Fotor.jpg

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I decided that it’s science experiment Sunday today - had a few new techniques I wanted to try and see if they worked.

First, I’d never tried using 2 part epoxy for gauge glass so I messed with that for a while and then I got curious and wondered if I could mix a little candy paint into it to make some little colored-glass-looking knobs for tiny switches or shift knobs maybe:

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414DD5B9-B97C-49C7-BEFB-5CFB6DA8369A.thumb.jpeg.2ea7c9181d806dad285c4b94ffa8198b.jpeg

Not bad - I’m going to leave them to sit for a while and make sure the paint doesn’t affect how well the glue sets up before messing with this some more.
 

Then, I tried using my scrapbook cutter as an etcher to make some little gauge faces...sprayed a light coat of flat black on some styrene sheet, and had the cutter ‘cut’ as lightly as possible with a pin rather than the blade.  The first test was the lightest blade pressure and the third was the highest pressure...I wanna put a blob of epoxy over the good one and see how it looks!

BB5E8570-3DC8-4E6B-8F18-07E29D67E569.jpeg.4f96146b8c9e80a834f04aa384120d06.jpeg

Edited by CabDriver
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59 minutes ago, Flat32 said:

I'm surprised the scrapbook cutter can trace that small. I like your style.

Apparently it’ll cut at an accuracy of 1200 dots per inch..not totally sure I believe that it actually hits that in real life but in THEORY it can!  
 

Not totally done messing with this technique yet, I’m sure there’s more tricks to discover to improve the end result ??

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The cutter follows a vector path like a CNC machine so dots per inch isn't relevant, I think. Cricut has an engraving tip that is a sharp point and I'll order one. It looks sturdy enough.

I'm going to give it a try with india ink instead of paint and on clear pvc instead of styrene (I don't have styrene sheet). Been playing with micro LEDs and want to see if I can backlight it.

I don't see why black letters on white couldn't be done, if my machine proves as capable as yours.  It would be simply black washing engraved white material.

Where did you get the vector file????

Many thanks for the inspiration.

Cricut engrave tip

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Interesting - I got the 1200dpi line from Silhouette themselves when I asked...maybe if you use their line trace tool for an image higher resolution than that it won’t add any extra ‘points’ to the vector?

The vector was just a black and white image that I vectorised in the Silhouette software - I guess the Cricut probably does something similar.  I’d love to see your experiments with this trick!

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I have to use Inkscape to convert an image file to vector format and I think Inkscape allows adjusting the number of points on curves.  Haven't the foggiest notion what Cricut's limits are with scale reduction. Really small stuff runs into machine rigidity limitations and stepper motor resolution.  My machine is a new Cricut Maker and has failed to cut out the bolt holes on 1/25 scale Flathead Ford head gaskets using the drag knife. But if it will do a single point scratch, no trailing knife offset to contend with, then I might be able to scratch through paint on copper foil and use etchant to do the cut through. Big if.

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3 hours ago, CabDriver said:

Beautiful Steve!

I shot some candy on my ridiculous Impala Street freak for NNL East - the roof was the biggest and easiest part - the rest will take a little longer with masking and layering:

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That’s insane! Looking forward to seeing it in person!

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47 minutes ago, Modlbldr said:

Steve,

What brand and color of black is that on the chassis?

Later-

It's "Rustoleum High Performance Enamel" in flat black.

Something I normally wouldn't buy for modeling, but I had it leftover from a fireplace repair, and it worked fairly well for both. ;)

 

 

 

Steve

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6 hours ago, Sam I Am said:

I was able to get a diecast I blew apart in primer today. First model I have touched in months.

Diecasts are a great way to ease yourself out of a modeling slump. I've done a few dozen of them now but just this week completed my first complete repaint job on one. B)

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