‘77 Pinto - Pintera WIP

[Bainford]

Very sorry to hear of your painting woes, but admire your tenacity in getting it right. Serious bummer to lose all that fine body work though. A real shame. The paint on the Camaro looks very good. Here’s hoping the best for the next round on the Pintera. 
 

And don’t worry about the long post. It’s these types of things that make a build thread personally interesting, can invite problem specific advice, and are a potential learning moment for us all. Cheers. 

[David G.]

I'm sorry to learn of your paint problems, there are fewer things in our hobby that are more frustrating.

I hope that things go more smoothly for you in the next round.

David G.

[atomicholiday]

Finally got to the store to pick up some alcohol.  Party time!!  Oh wait, not that kind…

 I soaked the body in 91% isopropyl alcohol for about 15 minutes and then scrubbed it with a toothbrush.  The results were amazing.  The old paint brushed off with very little effort.  

*Good tip for future reference:  to remove Testors Extreme Lacquer, use 91% isopropyl alcohol.  Job done!

And the best part?  Most of the primer stayed on the body and the body filler is almost totally unaffected!  I was really dreading having to redo all the body work.

So this one is back on track (sort of).

Next steps - hit it with a very light coat of primer, scuff it, and repaint.  That’s gonna have to wait a while though.  Our warm weather from the last couple of weeks is gone.  It actually snowed again (!) the last two days in a row.  Indiana weather.  What can you do?  It’s actually holding me up on a number of projects, not the least of which is getting my boat ready to go in the water.

Thanks for following along!
 

[David G.]

Nice rescue! It's a bit of good fortune not to have to redo all the body mods.

David G.

[atomicholiday]

Been working on this one a little more.  I decided I wasn’t happy with the primer.  I felt it was too thick, so I stripped it off too.  This thing has been in the pool three times now…

So I’m back to doing body work again.  It’s starting to feel more like I’m building a model in reverse.  My next update might just show me gluing parts back onto the sprue!?

I do think it was the right thing to do though.  I don’t feel like I would have been happy with it otherwise.

So since it’s back to raw plastic, I thought I’d show a little of the body work since I skipped it at the beginning of this wip.  I need to sand a bit more and then hit it with a light primer coat to check my progress.

Here you can see how the front end fits together after a ton of shaping.  It fits nothing like this when you start.

I decided to change colors too.  After seeing it in the blue, I wasn’t digging it.  The shade felt a little too “modern” for the vibe I want.  Instead, I’m going with Dupli-color forest green pearl.  I think it’s a Chrysler color.  To me, it feels more 70’s.  Never shot this stuff before, so I’m going spoon painting soon to try it out and get used to it.

Last update.  I’m calling the engine done!

Edited May 10, 2023 by atomicholiday

[bisc63]

Fun project! Looking forward...

[slusher]

Your doing some real nice work!

[atomicholiday]

I think I’m gonna call the floor pan done too, except for some minor touch-ups after assembly.  The white blocks are what I’m going to mount the side pipes to.  They will get touched up later. 

And yes, I did say side pipes!  Speaking of which, I did some work on them the other day too.  I opened up the hole at the end.  They’re flat right out of the box.  Ugly.  I may open them a little more, but I’m afraid I’ll go to far and cut through the side of the pipe.  We’ll see.  Haven’t decided yet.

 

[David G.]

It's a shame to have to do all that body work over again but it'll be worth the work to have a finished model that you can be happy with.

After all, that's what it's all about.

The chassis and engine look great BTW.

David G.

[atomicholiday]

Got a coat of primer on it today.  And it looks like just a very little bit of sand on the rear quarter and it’ll be ready for a final primer coat and then finally some color.  I did a test shot of Dupli Color forest green pearl with Rustolium clear lacquer on a spoon.  That’s what I’m going with now.  The other spoons are various experiments for other projects.

[OldNYJim]

That Duplicolor paint, in my experience, can be a little ‘hot’ for some types of styrene and can wrinkle them…be sure to exercise caution with that…

[ea0863]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed Jeremy! I love the green, now hopefully it lays down nice for you.

[atomicholiday]

6 hours ago, ea0863 said:

I'm keeping my fingers crossed Jeremy! 

You and me both.   I'm ready to be done with this one. 

[David G.]

Nice recovery on the body work.

Your color choice looks right for the era.

David G.

[atomicholiday]

I got the paint on it today. I’m really happy with the way it came out.  I’ll definitely be using Dupli color again.  Hopefully later this weekend I can get some clear on it.  And then again maybe not.  If it still looks this glossy after it’s cured, I might just skip that step.

 

[David G.]

Nice color, very Seventies.

David G.

[slusher]

Great color and shine!

[Dennis M]

What a beauty'' the paint looks great.

[atomicholiday]

Thank you gentlemen!  I’m pretty happy with it myself.

[atomicholiday]

Just a short update.  After the paint has cured out,  it still looks pretty good and smooth.   But it has lost a bit of the gloss,  so I will be clear coating it sometime in the near future. 

[atomicholiday]

Got the clear coat on the Pintera this afternoon.  I sprayed Dupli Color clear.  Finally making some headway on this thing.

 

[slusher]

Fantastic shine!

[David G.]

Smooth and shiny, it looks great!

David G.

[cobraman]

Paint looks great !

[Slotto]

Ooooh, I like the green!