‘55 El Camino

[NOBLNG]

On 7/13/2025 at 7:24 AM, johnyrotten said:

Thanks for the tip, I'll try and not look so close. I'm always amazed at the level of detail some are able to create. Again,beautiful work on this one.👍👍

Thanks John.🙂

On 7/14/2025 at 10:29 AM, A modeler named mike said:

Wow Greg, she's coming together nicely. Beautiful craftsmanship and great attention to detail. 

Thank you Mike.🙂

On 7/18/2025 at 5:50 AM, STU111 said:

I’m looking forward to seeing this one in the under glass section. Beautiful work so far. 👍🏻

Thanks Stuart. I hope to get it under glass in the very near future.🙂

On 7/19/2025 at 4:20 PM, WorldOfCarModelsCraft said:

Wow What an amazing work, I have the same project not touched over 10 years, i opened door and cut roof off , wanted it to be pickup nomad, this what you did is very inspiring, Thank You

Thank you Rafael.🙂 By all means, dig it out and get back at it.😜

[Zippi]

So, is the jury back in yet Greg ???

[NOBLNG]

1 hour ago, Zippi said:

So, is the jury back in yet Greg ???

I’ve been away for the last week Bob, but now I’m back at it. I’ve been fiddling with the tail lights trying to get them to fit nicely. The front turn signal lights don’t fit great either. I had painted the headliner black but today I sanded most of the black off and brush painted it red like the interior. I hope to get some paint on the body either tomorrow or Sunday.

[Kenmojr]

Awesome!

[NOBLNG]

Got the first coat of paint on. I hope the next coat darkens it up substantially or I may have to add more black. I previously filled the hood cut-out with styrene and Tamiya thin cement and didn’t sand the outside sufficiently.😕 So I’ve stripped it, sanded it and re-primed it. Hopefully today I can get it re-painted. Thanks for lookin’.😎

Foiled the script too before laying down any paint.

Edited Monday at 08:15 PM by NOBLNG

[NOBLNG]

That looks a little better!🙂

[NOBLNG]

That should be it for paint.🥵 I added some more Metallic Black to the mix. Once this is good and dry I can clean the paint off the script and foil the rest of the trim.

[NOBLNG]

And a couple of teaser pics.🙂 Unfortunately the tape left marks on the black roof.🤬 Hopefully I can polish them out. If not I’ll have to mask the body and repaint the black.😬

[customline]

1 minute ago, NOBLNG said:

And a couple of teaser pics.🙂 Unfortunately the tape left marks on the black roof.🤬 Hopefully I can polish them out. If not I’ll have to mask the body and repaint the black.😬

What exactly did the tape do to the paint? 

[NOBLNG]

12 minutes ago, customline said:

What exactly did the tape do to the paint? 

It doesn’t seem to be tape residue because it’s not sticky at all? The paint is Tamiya LP-1 that’s been in the dehydrator for 2weeks. 

[customline]

25 minutes ago, NOBLNG said:

It doesn’t seem to be tape residue because it’s not sticky at all? The paint is Tamiya LP-1 that’s been in the dehydrator for 2weeks. 

Hopefully, there's enough paint rub out.  That's what I always worry about. What color is the primer underneath?

[DJMar]

18 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

It doesn’t seem to be tape residue because it’s not sticky at all? The paint is Tamiya LP-1 that’s been in the dehydrator for 2weeks. 

Unfortunately, I've had the same thing happen with different types of masking tape and Tamiya lacquers. It doesn't seem to matter how long the paint has had to cure, some tapes leave ghosting in the paint. Not really sure what causes it other than a reaction with the adhesive.

I've tried FrogTape Delicate Surface tape with better results, but basically I stay away from Tamiya paints if I'm masking a two tone.

Edited Tuesday at 08:38 PM by DJMar

[NOBLNG]

19 hours ago, customline said:

Hopefully, there's enough paint rub out.  That's what I always worry about. What color is the primer underneath?

It’s Tamiya grey primer. I’ve sanded it lightly with a #3000 3m trizact sponge. I hope it’s good enough cause I went ahead and foiled it.😬 I think the clear should bring back the shine.

1 hour ago, DJMar said:

 Unfortunately, I've had the same thing happen with different types of masking tape and Tamiya lacquers. It doesn't seem to matter how long the paint has had to cure, some tapes leave ghosting in the paint. Not really sure what causes it other than a reaction with the adhesive.

I've tried FrogTape Delicate Surface tape with better results, but basically I stay away from Tamiya paints if I'm masking a two tone.

Thanks DJ. I figured since it was well-dried lacquer it should be fine to mask. The tape wasn’t on excessively long either. Maybe being in the dehydrator for a short time contributed to the issue?😕

Edited Tuesday at 10:16 PM by NOBLNG

[NOBLNG]

[customline]

3 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

It’s Tamiya grey primer. I’ve sanded it lightly with a #3000 3m trizact sponge. I hope it’s good enough cause I went ahead and foiled it.😬 I think the clear should bring back the shine.

Thanks DJ. I figured since it was well-dried lacquer it should be fine to mask. The tape wasn’t on excessively long either. Maybe being in the dehydrator for a short time contributed to the issue?😕

That roof should be good with some clear, Greg.

I just got a dose of it today. I was able to rub most of it out with Scratch-X but if you know it's there, you can see it but it's no big deal.....it's a gas tank, not a roof 🥴👇

Tamiya paint, Tamiya tape. Good R & D, huh?

It's still there but now it shines! 😃

Edited yesterday at 01:32 AM by customline

[DJMar]

The ghosting issue that I've had in the past with Tamiya lacquers has happened with 3 different brands of tape (Tamiya's own, 3M High Performance Green, and Scotch Blue). All of the lacquer was flashed off in the dehydrator for 2-3 hours, and cured for at least a week (some longer) BEFORE masking. All the paint had those weird marks on it after removing the tape, no matter which of the 3 brands I used.

I usually remove masking tape as soon as it is safe to do so without disturbing the paint underneath, so it's not an issue of the tape sitting on the paint for too long. I thought perhaps it was the solvent in the paint causing a reaction with the tape adhesive, but you would think the same thing would happen when spraying other lacquer paints, too. The fact that it happened on 3 different types of tape was also frustrating. I haven't had this problem with cured enamels or any other automotive lacquer I've used.

To be honest, I never tried polishing out the marks. IME, clear coating them doesn't make them disappear, just makes them a little less visible.

[customline]

1 hour ago, DJMar said:

The ghosting issue that I've had in the past with Tamiya lacquers has happened with 3 different brands of tape (Tamiya's own, 3M High Performance Green, and Scotch Blue). All of the lacquer was flashed off in the dehydrator for 2-3 hours, and cured for at least a week (some longer) BEFORE masking. All the paint had those weird marks on it after removing the tape, no matter which of the 3 brands I used.

I usually remove masking tape as soon as it is safe to do so without disturbing the paint underneath, so it's not an issue of the tape sitting on the paint for too long. I thought perhaps it was the solvent in the paint causing a reaction with the tape adhesive, but you would think the same thing would happen when spraying other lacquer paints, too. The fact that it happened on 3 different types of tape was also frustrating. I haven't had this problem with cured enamels or any other automotive lacquer I've used.

To be honest, I never tried polishing out the marks. IME, clear coating them doesn't make them disappear, just makes them a little less visible.

I shot Tamiya gloss black (see above) and an hour later I taped it up and shot the red. Brought it in the house and pulled the tape and there it was. It seems that the timing doesn't matter.  

[slusher]

Beautiful paint, Greg!  Love the color!

[stavanzer]

Great Progress on this build!