AMT's 1958 Edsel Pacer: WIP

[randyc]

That can be frustrating for sure.   Glad you worked it out.  

[gotnitro?]

your Pacer is really looking good!  Really like the distressed look of the interior 

Mines stalled until colder temperatures force me back inside 

[Force]

On 9/16/2020 at 3:53 PM, espo said:

A thought on your lettering for the Valve Covers. There are dry transfer lettering and numbers available in various fonts that you could use.  These can be had in different colors as well. 

 

On 9/18/2020 at 12:12 PM, David G. said:

Thanks Roger. There is a time when I would have attempted that but there is no relief cast in the valve covers and my hands are not that steady right now. I painted the bumper markings on this Jeep a couple of years ago and though they came out okay, I don't believe that I could do as well today. Which is kind of a bummer since I used to calligraphy and hand lettering.

Keith Marks has a decal set for the AMT Edsel with the correct looking E400 markings.

https://public.fotki.com/mofobow/ford/edsel-1/58_edsel/

[espo]

2 hours ago, Force said:

 

Keith Marks has a decal set for the AMT Edsel with the correct looking E400 markings.

https://public.fotki.com/mofobow/ford/edsel-1/58_edsel/

Thank you for the info. I have used some of his fine decals in the past, just never thought of him having a set for the Edsel. I think I'll order a set since I plan to build at least one of my Edsel kits in the future. 

[David G.]

23 hours ago, randyc said:

That can be frustrating for sure.   Glad you worked it out.  

Thanks Randy, me too.  Though I have had to set project aside until I could develop the skills to correct some issues, I usually get them sorted out.

22 hours ago, gotnitro? said:

your Pacer is really looking good!  Really like the distressed look of the interior 

Mines stalled until colder temperatures force me back inside 

Thanks Jeff. I actually decided not to go with that look for this car and repainted those bits.

 

17 hours ago, Force said:

 

Keith Marks has a decal set for the AMT Edsel with the correct looking E400 markings.

https://public.fotki.com/mofobow/ford/edsel-1/58_edsel/

Thank you for the link Håkan, they have some really good decals that are difficult or impossible to find any other way.  I plan on using their Roadrunner decals when I build my '70 SuperBird. I wish I would have thought to check their offerings earlier but I started building this one on a whim. And well, I feel I'm just a little too far down this path to include them now. 

Thank you all for your comments, I truly do appreciate them. I should have another  update soon.

David G.

[GeeBee]

On 10/1/2020 at 7:32 PM, Force said:

 

Keith Marks has a decal set for the AMT Edsel with the correct looking E400 markings.

https://public.fotki.com/mofobow/ford/edsel-1/58_edsel/

Thanks for the link, I'm going to be ordering a few sets of those 

[David G.]

Hello All!

Lately I've been spending more time than I would like correcting a couple of paint issues so I haven't accomplished as much as I would have liked. I did however find the time to get enough done to post this minor update.

Here are some of the chromie bits that have been stripped of their "chrome" and repainted in gloss black.
I'm trying a new chrome paint called Spaz Stix. It comes in a can so I don't have to fire up my airbrush and it's supposed to be a bit more durable than the Alclad that I normally use.

 

The result looks pretty good but I think I need a little more practice. I probably over painted just a little.

 

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to comment.

David G.

[doorsovdoon]

I've heard good things about that Spaz Stix, awful name, Lol, but I've been wanting to try it for years, though cant find that stuff in the UK for love nor money.

[espo]

Spaz Stix  is little bit more durable to handle than Alclad  but you will want to make sure it has dried for a couple of days before trying to install the bumpers. The times I have used it I found less is more as far as getting a great shine. With repeated coats of the paint it starts to just look like shinny silver. I like how the interior looks. 

[David G.]

22 hours ago, doorsovdoon said:

I've heard good things about that Spaz Stix, awful name, Lol, but I've been wanting to try it for years, though cant find that stuff in the UK for love nor money.

Thanks for your comment Gareth.

Yes, I often wondered where that name came from, "Spaz Stix" seems to have no connection to what the product is or what it does. That's unfortunate that it's not available in your part of the world as it does live up to the promises.

20 hours ago, espo said:

Spaz Stix  is little bit more durable to handle than Alclad  but you will want to make sure it has dried for a couple of days before trying to install the bumpers. The times I have used it I found less is more as far as getting a great shine. With repeated coats of the paint it starts to just look like shinny silver. I like how the interior looks. 

Thanks for the tip David. I'm learning to work with Spaz Stix in the spray can versus Alclad in the airbrush. With the aerosol can it's much easier to over apply than it is with the airbrush. I managed to get a fantastic result with the hubcaps but I overapplied with the bumpers. "Practice, practice, practice," as they say.

Thanks for your compliment on the interior. It's completed now and I'm rather pleased with how it turned out. I should be able get some photos posted in a day or two.

Regards,

David G.

[David G.]

First the bad news... I had to throw the body into the purple pond. 

In addition to the casting flaw on the roof, I have been working to correct a few other paint flaws. I thought that I was getting it all under control until I pulled off the masking from my most recent effort only to remove yet more primer from the body. It seemed that every time I put tape on the car, more primer pulled off. I decided I wasn't going to go on chasing that for the rest of the build, so into the pond it went.

I thought I had a good prep on it, but for some reason the adhesion just wasn't there. I have the body all cleaned and scrubbed and I'm working on filling and smoothing the couple of spots that need it... and I'm using a different primer for this round.

Now, on to more pleasant topics.

The interior is done!

 

I managed to come up with a couple of shades of pink to reflect the various textures and surfaces.

 

Here's some dash detail. A little rough but it will look good through the windows.

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to comment.

David G.

[randyc]

I feel your frustration.   Been there.   Fought it.  Good luck getting it sorted.  

[gotnitro?]

You'll recover from your paint woes, we've all dealt with them ! Mine occurred when spraying clear and humidity was high...started seeing these little bubbles..argg

Fantastic contrasts on interior though, really wakes it up

[espo]

Sorry to hear of your paint issues. What type of primer are you using ? 

[doorsovdoon]

Interior is looking great. The two shades of pink work well, very nice. Nothing worse than paint issues especially on the body. I had a similar issue with my '67 Impala build, the primer wouldn't bond to the car no matter how well prepped the plastic was. The paint would come clean off with the masking tape, I'd repair it and then the tape would pull more paint off next to the repair so I ended up stripping the whole thing and using different primer, aaagh! I know how you feel.

[BullysCustomModelParts]

looking good mate, I use this clear plastic primer underneath the primer to get it to stick. I think you can get it off eBay.

 

Edited October 7, 2020 by BullysCustomModelParts

[David G.]

22 hours ago, randyc said:

I feel your frustration.   Been there.   Fought it.  Good luck getting it sorted.  

Thanks Randy, It'll just take a little more time and effort than I planned.

17 hours ago, gotnitro? said:

You'll recover from your paint woes, we've all dealt with them ! Mine occurred when spraying clear and humidity was high...started seeing these little bubbles..argg

Fantastic contrasts on interior though, really wakes it up

Thank you Jeff, that must have been really frustrating to get all the way to the clear coat stage then have it go south on you. Thank you for the compliment too, I'm fairly pleased with the way the colors worked out.

16 hours ago, espo said:

Sorry to hear of your paint issues. What type of primer are you using ? 

Thanks David. The primer on the body was Dupli-Color which hasn't given me any trouble in the past. This time around I'm using Tamiya.

15 hours ago, doorsovdoon said:

Interior is looking great. The two shades of pink work well, very nice. Nothing worse than paint issues especially on the body. I had a similar issue with my '67 Impala build, the primer wouldn't bond to the car no matter how well prepped the plastic was. The paint would come clean off with the masking tape, I'd repair it and then the tape would pull more paint off next to the repair so I ended up stripping the whole thing and using different primer, aaagh! I know how you feel.

Thanks Gareth, I'm glad you like it.

Most times when I've had to start over like this, the the resulting paint job was much better than the one I was trying to save.

12 hours ago, BullysCustomModelParts said:

looking good mate, I use this clear plastic primer underneath the primer to get it to stick. I think you can get it off eBay.

 

Thank you for the compliment Jackson.

I may decide to use Pledge Floor Care as a barrier on the casting error on the roof. I spray that through my airbrush but It would be convenient to have such a barrier in a spray can. Maybe I'll look into that, thanks.

Thank you for all your compliments, tips and commiserations. I truly do appreciate them.

David G. 

[David G.]

Okay, most of the re-prep is done. It took longer than I thought it would because, doesn't it always?

I used Pledge Floor Care, Future... Shiny... whatever they're calling it this year, as a barrier over the casting flaw on the roof and it... helped, sort of. After two generous coats were allowed to cure there was still an indication of the flaw. I decided to proceed and mask and shoot the roof as I didn't want to chance getting too thick a coat of Future and blurring the lines between the roof and the trim moldings. I should be able to sand out most of the texturing from the flaw.

 

 

The rest are just test fitting shots.

 

The ride height seems to be about right.

 

The continental kit looks great. The way it mounts to the body, it looks like it can be installed so I can swap it with the stock bumper if I want to after the model is completed.

After priming I also discovered some contamination issues on the side scallops and rear facia which required some additional meticulous sanding.

 

Gotta love that late Fifties profile!

Zoom!

 

That's all for now.

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to comment.

David G.

[espo]

Well you have the interior dialed in and the wheels and tires look good. Sorry to hear the body and paint is still fighting you. 

[David G.]

On 10/16/2020 at 7:15 AM, espo said:

Well you have the interior dialed in and the wheels and tires look good. Sorry to hear the body and paint is still fighting you. 

Thanks David.

I think I have the primer on the scallops smoothed out about as well as my skills and patience can get it. I plan on masking and painting today. At some point you just have to sat it's good enough and move on.

Regards,

David G.

[David G.]

Hello everybody!

I'm working on some of the final phase test-fitting and I wanted to make sure that the glass was going to play nice with the body and chassis before I went much farther. Also, I finally got some color on this car and I wanted to see how it looked as a whole.

 

Pink is not one of my favorite colors but I believe it suits this car and the time period it was designed and built for.

 

Though I'm happy with the color, I'm not pleased with the way the paint went on. This is exactly the reason that I avoid Rustoleum paint. This is the worst spot but most of the rest of the car has similar issues. I can fix this but I'd rather not have had to. Also, please feel free to offer any tips or advise on what causes this and how it may be avoided in the future.

 

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to comment.

David G.
 

[Plowboy]

David, I think your paint problem is with the paint itself. While I've never used Rustoleum paint. I did give their red oxide primer a try. It was terrible! I sprayed a body with it and after a few days, it was still soft! So, I decided to strip it back off. Once stripped, I discovered that the primer had etched into the styrene! Luckily, it didn’t craze it. But, I swore never again will I use primer that's not formulated for styrene! 

[espo]

This paint has been fighting you from the start it seems. I know there are those that use and swear by paints that aren't really designed expressly  for plastic models, but this is an example of what often happens. Should you have to redo this whole paint job I would encourage you to consider using the more expensive paints designed for models like this. The colors look great and I like how you have done the trim. 

[doorsovdoon]

Do you have one of those automatic air fresheners spitting off in the room? I had one in my kitchen and wondered why a couple of my builds were reacting regarding paint. When I did the whole paint job in my shed I had no issues, but if I brought it into the house between coats the air freshener particles would float about and stick to everything, it took me weeks to figure out why the same paint I used worked one day but not the next. I figured it out by chasing a darn fly around the kitchen with fly spray, that too ruined a pint job on one of my builds so I kind of made the connection to the air freshener going off!

[David G.]

22 hours ago, Plowboy said:

David, I think your paint problem is with the paint itself. While I've never used Rustoleum paint. I did give their red oxide primer a try. It was terrible! I sprayed a body with it and after a few days, it was still soft! So, I decided to strip it back off. Once stripped, I discovered that the primer had etched into the styrene! Luckily, it didn’t craze it. But, I swore never again will I use primer that's not formulated for styrene! 

Thanks Roger, I agree.

Like I mentioned in an earlier post:

On 9/9/2020 at 5:23 AM, David G. said:

The paint I'm using is Rustoleum brand, which I usually try to avoid using for several reasons. Unfortunately, I saw this color on the shelf and decided it was the perfect shade of pink for a 1958 Edsel. So I thought I'd give the brand another try. I thought that maybe some improvements had been made in the several years since I last used it but alas, no. It still sprays like a garden hose and goes on waayyy too thick. I may try decanting some for use in my airbrush when it's time to paint the body.

I plan to let the paint cure for a couple more days before I start color sanding. After I finish after I finish smoothing out the paint I think I'll follow my own earlier idea and decant enough paint to use my airbrush to lay down the top coat.

 

19 hours ago, espo said:

This paint has been fighting you from the start it seems. I know there are those that use and swear by paints that aren't really designed expressly  for plastic models, but this is an example of what often happens. Should you have to redo this whole paint job I would encourage you to consider using the more expensive paints designed for models like this. The colors look great and I like how you have done the trim. 

Thanks for your comment and compliment David.

Trust me, I need no encouragement in using paints that are formulated for plastic. I currently have three cans of Rustoleum, this one and two cans of primer which I use for chassis work. The rest of my paint stock includes around thirty cans of Tamiya and about a dozen cans of Duplicolor, which until recently worked very well with a good primer under it.

Tamiya's pink just wasn't what I was looking for and I happened to find the Rustoleum by chance at Walmart. I should have known better but it had been a few years since I used Rustoleum so I talked myself into giving it another chance. The rest of the story you already know.

 

13 hours ago, doorsovdoon said:

Do you have one of those automatic air fresheners spitting off in the room? I had one in my kitchen and wondered why a couple of my builds were reacting regarding paint. When I did the whole paint job in my shed I had no issues, but if I brought it into the house between coats the air freshener particles would float about and stick to everything, it took me weeks to figure out why the same paint I used worked one day but not the next. I figured it out by chasing a darn fly around the kitchen with fly spray, that too ruined a pint job on one of my builds so I kind of made the connection to the air freshener going off!

Hello Gareth. My wife and I both have breathing issues so no, we don't have any aerosols in the house. Rustoleum is the only paint that I consistently have this type of problem with. Rarely do I have any trouble with Tamiya that I myself don't cause. I'd love to find a way to work with Rustoleum because they have such great colors but is all the extra bother worth it?

Thank you all for your comments and compliments.

David G.