rickcaps55 Posted May 20, 2023 Share Posted May 20, 2023 Those look perfect nice. I keep the clear red and white trees that come in a lot of kits just for making custom lights and with the plastic tints you can make some good looking lights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted May 20, 2023 Author Share Posted May 20, 2023 2 hours ago, rickcaps55 said: Those look perfect nice. I keep the clear red and white trees that come in a lot of kits just for making custom lights and with the plastic tints you can make some good looking lights. I found it difficult to shape this type of material. I thought it would be easier 😧 but with some practice and the use of better ("rounder") material, I might be able to make all 6 bullets closer in contour. These are a bit too random in shape. Uniformity is a problem. They are pretty small and are therefore hard to handle. I may need to try again but I think when these are in place they may be good enough. I have glued a "base" to each one so I can install them from the back side after everything else is done. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SfanGoch Posted May 20, 2023 Share Posted May 20, 2023 If you have a keyless chuck for your rotary tool. you could secure the material in it and, using files, sandpaper and X-acto blades to round up and shape it. When you achieve the appropriate shape, polish the piece while still in the chuck with some polishing compound on a cloth. Run the tool at medium speed and place the cloth over the part, applying light pressure while it spins. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted May 21, 2023 Author Share Posted May 21, 2023 5 hours ago, SfanGoch said: If you have a keyless chuck for your rotary tool. you could secure the material in it and, using files, sandpaper and X-acto blades to round up and shape it. When you achieve the appropriate shape, polish the piece while still in the chuck with some polishing compound on a cloth. Run the tool at medium speed and place the cloth over the part, applying light pressure while it spins. Yup, that's what I did. The material (clear red sprue) that I had to work with was not consistently shaped (round) and I had a bad time making a .....anyway, I will be looking for more sprue to work with because I don't like the ones I made. Gotta go through my kits. Thanks for your thoughts, Joe. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slotto Posted May 21, 2023 Share Posted May 21, 2023 Maybe a handheld pencil sharpener that you can use to twist on the tree? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted May 21, 2023 Author Share Posted May 21, 2023 (edited) Steve, that would probably work on styrene but whatever they make tail lights from is sorta brittle and hard. Spinning the sprue chucked in my Micro and running against 220 grit it takes forever to shape a bullet taper on it. I had the fastest cutting with a file but it was difficult to match the contours of 6 pieces. While test fitting the new lenses I lost one to the "floor who eats dropped tiny parts". 🥺. Looking for alternatives, I shopped the parts merchant's on flea bay but not much luck there. I then searched through some of my kits for some decent red clear sprue and found some perfect size bullets in the AMT '57 Ford Fairlane kit but only four of them. Gotta find 2 more or make them from sprue to match the 4 I have. I must succeed or this one goes back in the box. 🤨 Edited May 21, 2023 by customline Spelling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SfanGoch Posted May 21, 2023 Share Posted May 21, 2023 (edited) 14 hours ago, customline said: Steve, that would probably work on styrene but whatever they make tail lights from is sorta brittle and hard. Kit glass, head and tail lights are also made from polystyrene. Without getting into a detailed technical explanation, transparent polystyrene is hard and brittle because it is essentially a clear resin. Styrene of various colors, including white, are produced by the addition of colorants/dyes and additives which make it impact resistant, i.e. less brittle. Edited May 21, 2023 by SfanGoch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted May 21, 2023 Author Share Posted May 21, 2023 5 hours ago, SfanGoch said: Kit glass, head and tail lights are also made from polystyrene. Without getting into a detailed technical explanation, transparent polystyrene is hard and brittle because it is essentially a clear resin. Styrene of various colors, including white, are produced by the addition of colorants/dyes and additives which make it impact resistant, i.e. less brittle. Well, it's difficult to work with. 😕 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SfanGoch Posted May 21, 2023 Share Posted May 21, 2023 Chuck the sprue section. Run the rotary tool at 15K RPM, moving a flat file up and down against the sprue, maintaining pressure on it. Check periodically to see if it's beginning to round up, Once it's round, place the file along the top at an angle to shape the tip. When the desired shape is obtained, reduce the speed to 10K RPM and, using 400 grit paper, smooth the part. Finally, polish it as I indicated in a previous post. You can use this part as a master to make a mold and cast identical parts. Alumilite Amazing Mold Putty is great for making small molds. It's ready to use in about twenty minutes. I use Bondo Fiberglass Resin to cast parts with this. Mix a small amount of clear red acrylic paint into it and it makes decent tail lights. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted May 22, 2023 Share Posted May 22, 2023 20 hours ago, customline said: Gotta find 2 more or make them from sprue to match the 4 I have. I must succeed or this one goes back in the box. 🤨 Or you might find or make 2 clear ones and call 'em backup lights. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted May 22, 2023 Author Share Posted May 22, 2023 1 hour ago, Ace-Garageguy said: Or you might find or make 2 clear ones and call 'em backup lights. Yup. Totally thought of that one, Bill. I just "won" some lenses tonight that may work for this. They won't be as spectacular as those pictured above but, if they fit, I'm in business. And the Impala stays out of the box ☺️. I appreciate your interest, Bill, it is always welcome. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted May 22, 2023 Author Share Posted May 22, 2023 All righty then....I finally got the point. 🤓👍 If you put a monkey in front of a typewriter and wait long enough..... Anyway, I found it very difficult (pay attention, Michael) to get a proper point on the clear red sprue. It was either too rounded or the point would just not form. What I finally did was chuck the sprue in a pin vise and grind a rough shape with the big sanding drum on the Micro at low speed. Once I had a fairly decent shape, I chucked the sprue in the Micro and smoothed it out with 220 followed by 400, then 600, then 1000. 😀 YAY! a point! Getting that point meant a light touch and good (in my case, magnification assisted) eyes. I guess it's just a matter of using the finer grits very carefully to get a nice sharp point. Not all sprue is good for this. My bullet (left) is actually better than the kit piece, 🙂 which has a nice bubble 🤔. Behold! mine is a bit slimmer though 😕 (oh well.) Now I just need to make another one just like it but I think I'm going to take the advice of "Ace-Garageguy" and make a pair of clear ones to see how it looks both ways. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slotto Posted May 22, 2023 Share Posted May 22, 2023 What about... Light Bright pegs? 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted May 23, 2023 Author Share Posted May 23, 2023 3 hours ago, Slotto said: What about... Light Bright pegs? Oooooo.....I think the green ones would be cool 🥴 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted May 23, 2023 Author Share Posted May 23, 2023 Seriously, I think I got it straight. Thank you Mr. Ace-garageguy! (Well, I was on this...I was....really ☺️. ) And the winner is..... 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Ellis Posted May 29, 2023 Share Posted May 29, 2023 On 5/10/2023 at 8:54 AM, SfanGoch said: If you want to add a '63 Impala to your stash, or just to build, might as well get the AMT kit and put your modeling skills to work because it doesn't seem like Revell will be reissuing its version anytime soon. Or later. Fleabay prices border on the ridiculously expensive. I don't think that the leftover Revell 1963 Impalas are worth $60-80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted May 29, 2023 Share Posted May 29, 2023 i just found this thread and wasn’t sure if anyone posted photos of a first issue kit. Here’s my original that some kid built. He was way ahead of his time with the flat finish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.A.K Posted June 4, 2023 Share Posted June 4, 2023 On 5/22/2023 at 10:58 PM, customline said: Seriously, I think I got it straight. Thank you Mr. Ace-garageguy! (Well, I was on this...I was....really ☺️. ) And the winner is..... Those turned out great looking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted June 4, 2023 Author Share Posted June 4, 2023 (edited) 14 minutes ago, H.A.K said: Those turned out great looking. Thanks, Sam. The end result is credited to Bill for what should have been, for me, a no-brainer. I got a lot of practice, though, for making tail lights from sprue. The big take-away here is those red bullets from the AMT '57 Fairlane kit are a real good fit for this application so add it to your data base 🤓. Thanks for your interest, Sam. P.S.....I kept the red bullets that I made for some future project. You never know.🤷♂️ Edited June 4, 2023 by customline P.S. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted June 10, 2023 Author Share Posted June 10, 2023 Yesterday I shot some TS-45 white pearl on my ready-for-paint Impala. The humidity was a nice dry 47%. This morning I wet-sanded it with 2000 and put it in the sun to dry so far-so good. When it was good and dry a couple of hours later I shot a second coat and it came out flawless. Didn't get pictures so you'll have to trust me. Then I drove my old Ranger to Hobby Town and picked up a can of clear blue, TS-72. The RH today is a really nice 39% so I figured I would go for it. The white pearl, I'm told, is a good base for candy. So off I go with my perfect white pearl Impala and (I spray outside, folks) guess what? Three "inclusions" in my candy blue paint. And....and the panel line edges are white. Great. 🤨. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slotto Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 Outstanding Jim. Congrats. Sounds like all the stars were aligned for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted June 10, 2023 Author Share Posted June 10, 2023 2 minutes ago, Slotto said: Outstanding Jim. Congrats. Sounds like all the stars were aligned for you You missed the part about the "inclusions" 🥴. it's death for a candy paint job. Fatal. No-can- fix. Never should have done it. Big waste of pricey paint. I had one shot and I freaking blew it. I need a beer to cry in. Thanks for looking! Nice color, huh? 💩 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam I Am Posted June 11, 2023 Share Posted June 11, 2023 Jim Make it a really good beer👍 Then finish the thing up and stick it on the shelf. Leave your anal retention where it belongs...in the toilet. Sorry, couldn't help myself. 😅 Besides, it's a beautiful blue. 😍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KWT Posted June 11, 2023 Share Posted June 11, 2023 It actually looks pretty good from here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted June 11, 2023 Author Share Posted June 11, 2023 Yeah, yeah....I know. It needs more paint on it to even it out, though. Color sand and more blue. No sweat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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