Cheater lines on the Tamiya 1:24 Porsche 959?

[4knflyin]

I've been having a hell of a time getting a good paint result, so my next victim is going to be the subject model that is of low value to me when compared to some of the kits I have lined up. I've noticed what are identical to paint and decal cheater lines on the car. But that doesn't make any sense to me. Before I go a remove them, can somebody enlighten me as to why they're there? They run from bumper to bumper. I don't know of a popularized paint job that was two-tone, much less one that follow those lines.

This pic can be confusing. The prominent line you see under the headlight is actually the mold join line. If you look closely, you'll see the cheat line runs around the outside of the lamp.

 

Then it make that funky turn to bisect the b-pillar window before riding the ridge to the back of the car. (Again, there's a mold join before the funky turn that can throw you off.)

Edited July 22, 2024 by 4knflyin

[stitchdup]

are you sure its not just another mold line? the 959 body shape probably had more p0arts to the tool than a 911 would

[Force]

This is very common on model kit bodies, because these lines looks to be mold lines from the molding tool wich is at least made of two parts that can be put together and opened up to get the molded parts out.
Model kits are injection molded where the hot plastic is injected under pressure into the modling tool made of steel, a one piece body is complicated to do and the mold has to be in at least two parts or more for the body to be able to come out of the mold when the plastic gets colder, and these lines are where the modling tool is joined.
So you can safely sand them away as they are not supposed to be there.

[Mark]

Those look like mold parting lines.  Literally the points where the multiple sections of tooling that produce the one-piece body come together.  After checking photos of 1:1 cars in those same areas, sand away those that shouldn't be there.

Doesn't apply to this particular car, but checking is important.  Certain British sports cars have panels that are swaged together (crimped at the area where they meet).  Every so often I see a built model with those areas molded smooth, there should be an overlap in that area.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Those are all mold parting-lines, as described above, period. 

No "cheater lines" about it.

https://sealectplastics.com/news/what-is-the-parting-line-in-injection-molding/

[Force]

Here is a picture of one of the injection moulding tool parts for a Revell car model, the tool has a positive and a negative part and can be of two or more parts that closes up when the plastic is about to be injected, and this looks to be the tool part for the top side of the kit parts.
You can see the upper part of the body at the low near the camera and the rest of the body is on the other part of the tool going into the voids beside the upper section and over the 4 steel pins, it's not shown but you can see some of the ejector pins at the lower right in the picture.
There can be inserts in the tool to be able to make changes to the modle kit.

 

Here is an interesting article on the subect where this picture comes from.

https://craftsmanship.net/parts-recreation/

Edited July 23, 2024 by Force