2003 Infiniti G35 Coupe 7/7/17 Replaced photos fron Fotki

[FASTBACK340]

May I offer a tip I learned from an incredible customizer?

Get some 3/4 oz. Fiberglas mat (R/C Airplane fusalage skinning) and cut strips about as wide as the area your reinforcing. Soak the Fiberglas with crazy glue and apply to the inside after scuffing the bare plastic. Multiple layers makes it even stronger. Surprising how strong, and thin, the bracing can be. Excess can be filed/sanded smooth.

BTW: That incredible customizer was Liars club president Tony DelVeccio. Great person whom left us all too soon. Thanks for what you shared with us.

Edited November 6, 2012 by FASTBACK340

[Foxer]

I decided I needed something to finish and picked this from my unfinished .. just needed body paint I thought. The front clip broke again so I epoxied it and reinforced with fiberglass cloth.

I also tried the Brembo decals I made and am very happy with these .. just inkjet printed.

Edited July 7, 2017 by Foxer

[DrKerry]

May I offer a tip I learned from an incredible customizer?

Get some 3/4 oz. Fiberglas mat (R/C Airplane fusalage skinning) and cut strips about as wide as the area your reinforcing. Soak the Fiberglas with crazy glue and apply to the inside after scuffing the bare plastic. Multiple layers makes it even stronger. Surprising how strong, and thin, the bracing can be. Excess can be filed/sanded smooth.

BTW: That incredible customizer was Liars club president Tony DelVeccio. Great person whom left us all too soon. Thanks for what you shared with us.

Same concept but you can use kleenex or toilet paper and do the same thing with the same results!!!!

Sorry for your friend!!!

Edited February 16, 2015 by DrKerry

[Kennyboy]

Kerry beat me to it.......the Kleenex/toilet paper and CA glue has been a trick of mine since back in the day when I would repair speakers that had a hole in the cone. Works great and doesn't everybody have A_ _ WIPE around?

[darthsideous]

Your work so far is incredible. That dash conversion looks so good! Thai you for sharing this. Sorry about the body damage but your repair tip seems to have done the job so far. I always wanted to build an Infiniti g35 or g37 sedan in 1/24 or 1/25 scale but can't seem to find a kit. Anyways great build so far keep up the great work.

[Foxer]

Same concept but you can use kleenex or toilet paper and do the same thing with the same results!!!!

It would seem the effort wouldn't be worth it. The whole point of reinforcement is to strengthen the joint. These joints need tension and shear reinforcement ... sorry, but I'm a structural engineer. Like a concrete beam the concrete and metal reinforcement are analyzed individually .. concrete for compression and steel for tension. So a tissue paper/ epoxy joint would come out .. epoxy .. very good in compression ---- tissue paper ... virtually zero in tension really 0 in compression. It's just your imagination that using tissue paper to reinforce a joint actually works .... it's the epoxy still doing it all.

Sorry, but this doesn't hold engineering water.

Thank's for the comment, though .. no offense meant. It's just Engineering 101.

[FASTBACK340]

That's why you use thin fiberglas matting. Shear and tension strength, besides bonding. That left front corner has broken several times more than likely from a twist-load. I would coat the ENTIRE inside of that nose with fiberglas matting.

No offense, but tissue paper I never heard of, nor would I have gone through the trouble of using for strength.

_________________________________________________________________________

Tony passed more than 10 years ago (Rich correct me) but what he could do with plastic was amazing… I'm fortunate to have met the man, learned from him, and experienced his work.

Edited February 18, 2015 by FASTBACK340

[Foxer]

That's why you use thin fiberglas matting. Shear and tension strength, besides bonding. That left front corner has broken several times more than likely from a twist-load. I would coat the ENTIRE inside of that nose with fiberglas matting.

You're right .. I should have done this long ago .. the first time it broke! The ones that broke this time weren't reinforced, so I also added fiberglass over the last one standing! Doing the whole inside may be taking it too far and I'm worried about lights and grill fitting.

[Chuck Most]

Just doing a little thread necromancy to encourage you to get back at this one. 

[Foxer]

Just doing a little thread necromancy to encourage you to get back at this one. 

The body is sitting next to the paint booth in flat black as I type. Gloss black has been a fail with me so many times I decided to try clear coating some flat black. I have had great success with Testor's Wet Look Clear. I see it sitting there every time I go down to the workshop so it IS talking to me. So many close to finished builds clamoring for my attention! 

[Chuck Most]

Well, they ain't gonna finish themselves, no matter how politely you ask, right? 

[Foxer]

Well, they ain't gonna finish themselves, no matter how politely you ask, right? 

hmmm ... January  ... good thing I saw this.

ok  upfront ... the body, now sitting in a flat black is begging me for some One-Touch clear as I've given up on applying an gloss black paint.

it's going to stare me down one day .. on a table between bench and paint booth/stairs

[charlie8575]

I had a Chrysler that refused to take gloss black paint. Stripped it a thousand times. 

I came to the conclusion it's either something in the plastic or a bad can of paint, as I had some trouble with a couple of other bodies. 

I'm going to try again with another can of paint (Tamiya TS-14.) That stuff seems almost impossible to screw up and it looks great.

Charlie Larkin

[Foxer]

This is more outside the can than the paint. I deadly afraid of shiny black paint jobs. Every one I've tried has ended in failure, thou many were just carelessness on my part .... dropped or some body work thing.

I'm working it up as I see it ever ytime I go down to the shop!

 

[Dann Tier]

This is more outside the can than the paint. I deadly afraid of shiny black paint jobs. Every one I've tried has ended in failure, thou many were just carelessness on my part .... dropped or some body work thing.

I'm working it up as I see it ever ytime I go down to the shop!

 

I know what you mean. My fear is white paint. I've tried to build a white Fujimi Countach 16 times. I just tell myself the Fujimis were practice for the BETTER Aoshima kit. You can do it, you are a great modeler!

[Foxer]

This one is back on the bench, with a few more that just need little work to finish (?). I decided to inspect the flat black finish that's been sitting at bottom of shop stairs staring at me for a year. I put the Wet Look Clear in the dehydrator for a bit to warm it. Then, did a light coat and closed the flap over my paint booth. 15 min later, I went for another coat and lifted the flap ... was a half inch wide strip of dust over front fender ... the flap must of hit it ... calm down, it's only paint ... I CAN do this ... there's NO hex on me ---  !

Now it's back on table curing so I can sand again. I counter and this is the 4th time I tried painting. At least I'm happy about the Wall Mart flat black ... it was very dark and very uniform in color. This is my new 'flat black' for everything

Edited July 7, 2017 by Foxer

[Foxer]

I had to replace the Photobucket photos with Fotki!

I few new photos were added to better show what I was talking about

The grill had the Nissan logo removed and replaced with some Infiniti P.E. logos from another Infiniti model. Stripped and chromed with Alclad.

[DiscoRover007]

Here's a tip to eliminate most dust from getting out of your paint. Spray your work area with water in a spray bottle. Spray the floor, air, and inside the box or whatever you are storing the body to dry in. Wash the body itself and if you have an airbrush use compressed air at high psi to blow it off.  This has eliminated about 95% of dust from my paint jobs. I still get occasional hairs or little tiny dust specs. But nothing that can't be lightly sanded out.

Edited July 7, 2017 by DiscoRover007

[Foxer]

fixed this thread for Fotki switch ... with some proof here it was driven all year round!