detail Pet peeve of mine!

[George Bojaciuk]

I guess I'll annoy....

Accel was the hot ticket back in the day. I should know as I was in the Performance Parts Industry. I worked at S&W Performance in 1977.  My sales rep handed me some wires and I put them on my Vega V-8. Great marketing back then, since yellow, immediately, meant Accel. Later they had a red set (note my coil wire on the Vega engine!). Blue was Moroso for the Blue Max Series. At one point a yellow knock off came out. They were quickly shut down. MSD then had the market for Red. Restorers wanted the HP stuff and many came forward and offered kits in black to satisfy the demand.

I've always tried to encourage builders thru my writings, and I will at any instance. Build what you like!  By the emails I get, I think I've accomplished that. But to the original point, if you note my parking meter, I did use a black wash.

BTW, My Vega engine compartment looked like this, but with hoses. History attached.

To anyone reading my post...build what you feel. Point is to build!!!!! ...and enjoy it!!!! Just have fun!

 

Edited April 25, 2018 by George Bojaciuk

[cobraman]

I think at one point or another I was guilty of doing all the above things !  I do take notice however when someone forgets to blacken the inside of a hood scoop that isn't hollow or the exit ends of chrome exhaust pipes. I have done those also.

[SfanGoch]

[DiscoRover007]

I have a lot of pet peeves with building kits but it’s not my place to put my standards on anyone else. If I had to list one though it would be scale of flake on metallic paints.

I see a lot of great builds that are well detailed but in my eye they are near ruined sometimes because the scale of flake is just not realistic for 1/24.  It is especially true of 1/1 car paints. 

Silver: If you want true in scale flake silver you basically have 3 options. 

1: Tamiya Gloss Aluminum with color sanding before final coat.

2. Model Master Aluminum metalizer under clear.

3. Gravity Color Porsche Pearl Silver

[thatz4u]

Here's mine: as a kid I bought kits for $1.49 & they had much less warpage on body, frames, etc, than the kits I buy now for much more....my $.02

[Snake45]

59 minutes ago, DiscoRover007 said:

I have a lot of pet peeves with building kits but it’s not my place to put my standards on anyone else. If I had to list one though it would be scale of flake on metallic paints.

I see a lot of great builds that are well detailed but in my eye they are near ruined sometimes because the scale of flake is just not realistic for 1/24.  It is especially true of 1/1 car paints. 

Silver: If you want true in scale flake silver you basically have 3 options. 

1: Tamiya Gloss Aluminum with color sanding before final coat.

2. Model Master Aluminum metalizer under clear.

3. Gravity Color Porsche Pearl Silver

I can vouch for #2. Best silver paint I've ever done was a Monogram Porsche 911 with non-buffing Aluminum under Metalizer Sealer, rubbed out. Spectacular! I just finished a '70 Chevelle SS in Tamiya Aluminum with clearcoat, it looks okay. I did a '63 Vette in Model Master German Silver and it looks like silver metalflake. Will never use that again. 

Back to yellow/blue plug wires: I have NO problems with them on a Day Two, drag car, hot rod, etc. Just don't put them on something you're calling correct "factory stock." 

And BTW, I've seen red plug wires on some (real) early '60s rods and customs, so apparently that was a thing at some point. 

[DiscoRover007]

35 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

I can vouch for #2. Best silver paint I've ever done was a Monogram Porsche 911 with non-buffing Aluminum under Metalizer Sealer, rubbed out. Spectacular! I just finished a '70 Chevelle SS in Tamiya Aluminum with clearcoat, it looks okay. I did a '63 Vette in Model Master German Silver and it looks like silver metalflake. Will never use that again. 

Back to yellow/blue plug wires: I have NO problems with them on a Day Two, drag car, hot rod, etc. Just don't put them on something you're calling correct "factory stock." 

And BTW, I've seen red plug wires on some (real) early '60s rods and customs, so apparently that was a thing at some point. 

Aluminum Metalizer is a great silver paint. However you will be putting in a ton of hours in the primer stage. You basically have to polish the primer and eliminate all orange peel, while not sanding though to the plastic.

Tamiya gloss aluminum is a little more forgiving than this. I have made the switch adopting a recent method I use.

1. Use Tamiya white primer(it’s the finest).

2. Get the primer as smooth as possible, go up to 4000,6000 grit if needed.

3. Achieve full coverage in light mist coats to build a base, then spray at one-two at most wetcoats.

4. Let those dry and then color sand with polishing cloths. 3600-4000 at least. Eliminate any orange peel you see.

5. Final 1-2 wet coats. By the time you get to the heavier wetcoat you’ll start to see the paint self leveling with the layers underneath it and it will look darker and finer grain. This is about the level you want to stop at before you risk runs.

6. Mist coat a base layer of clear to protect it from the wet coat. Apply final wet clear coat 20-30 minutes later.  BAM In scale silver paint job.

Edited April 26, 2018 by DiscoRover007

[StevenGuthmiller]

4 hours ago, DiscoRover007 said:

I have a lot of pet peeves with building kits but it’s not my place to put my standards on anyone else. If I had to list one though it would be scale of flake on metallic paints.

I see a lot of great builds that are well detailed but in my eye they are near ruined sometimes because the scale of flake is just not realistic for 1/24.  It is especially true of 1/1 car paints. 

Silver: If you want true in scale flake silver you basically have 3 options. 

1: Tamiya Gloss Aluminum with color sanding before final coat.

2. Model Master Aluminum metalizer under clear.

3. Gravity Color Porsche Pearl Silver

I agree with you on the scale of the metallic particles in most paints.

It is a big disappointment to see an exceptionally well built & detailed model with a paint job that makes it look like a bass boat!

But I have to disagree about the options for a good metallic silver paint.

While it is very difficult to get any metallic paints with the "correct" scale particles for 1/25th scale models, vendors like MCW are consistently better than most.

These kits were all done with varying shades of metallic MCW silver & gray, and for our purposes, you'll be hard pressed to find anything better.

Not that the options you mention are not good, but there are plenty of other alternatives.

 

Steve

 

 

Edited April 26, 2018 by StevenGuthmiller

[High octane]

7 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

My pet peeve is that Testors makes the printing so small on their paints that you can't read the colors.

Ditto!

[TomZ]

1 hour ago, thatz4u said:

Here's mine: as a kid I bought kits for $1.49 & they had much less warpage on body, frames, etc, than the kits I buy now for much more....my $.02

Heh. Given my "error tolerance" when I was a kid as compared to now, I'm not prepared to say that. I do remember one severely warped convertible top from way back then.

FWIW, back in the '70's I ran yellow Accel wires on my 1:1 '67 'Vette as they were high-temp tolerant and there was just no way to keep them completely off the headers. With those wires they could lie right across a header pipe with no problems.

[Snake45]

38 minutes ago, TomZ said:

FWIW, back in the '70's I ran yellow Accel wires on my 1:1 '67 'Vette as they were high-temp tolerant and there was just no way to keep them completely off the headers. With those wires they could lie right across a header pipe with no problems.

If you had headers, you weren't factory stock. (I had yellow Accel wires on my '69 Camaro 1974-1980, too.) 

[Snake45]

52 minutes ago, DiscoRover007 said:

Aluminum Metalizer is a great silver paint. However you will be putting in a ton of hours in the primer stage. You basically have to polish the primer and eliminate all orange peel, while not sanding though to the plastic.

Tamiya gloss aluminum is a little more forgiving than this. I have made the switch adopting a recent method I use.

1. Use Tamiya white primer(it’s the finest).

2. Get the primer as smooth as possible, go up to 4000,6000 grit if needed.

3. Achieve full coverage in light mist coats to build a base, then spray at one-two at most wetcoats.

4. Let those dry and then color sand with polishing cloths. 3600-4000 at least. Eliminate any orange peel you see.

5. Final 1-2 wet coats. By the time you get to the heavier wetcoat you’ll start to see the paint self leveling with the layers underneath it and it will look darker and finer grain. This is about the level you want to stop at before you risk runs.

6. Mist coat a base layer of clear to protect it from the wet coat. Apply final wet clear coat 20-30 minutes later.  BAM In scale silver paint job.

Primer is a must with Aluminum Metalizer, as it will rub right off bare plastic. I forget what I used for primer on my 911--probably some Model Master military gray--but I didn't sand it, just shot the aluminum right over it. Came out great. 

The Tamiya silver job I just did, great big PITA. Had to strip the first one off and do it again. It was NOT a fun build, though it came out pretty okay in the end. 

[Jon Cole]

1 hour ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

 

Steve, just got to say... what a stunning Ford! Is this built from old stock, or a roof from the '60 added to the '61 sedan?

[Mercuryman54]

1 hour ago, Jon Cole said:

Steve, just got to say... what a stunning Ford! Is this built from old stock, or a roof from the '60 added to the '61 sedan?

Looks similar to the one in Hollywood Knights

Dennis

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, Jon Cole said:

Steve, just got to say... what a stunning Ford! Is this built from old stock, or a roof from the '60 added to the '61 sedan?

It started as an original AMT built kit.

Part of the reason why I decided to do it as a mild custom was because AMT made the mistake of producing the Starliner with the Sunliner script on the front fender, so it needed to be removed.

Here's what it looked like when I got it.

 

Steve

 

[StevenGuthmiller]

38 minutes ago, Mercuryman54 said:

Looks similar to the one in Hollywood Knights

Dennis

You nailed it!

The car in Hollywood Knights was exactly my inspiration.

I may have gone a little overboard, but I took some liberties with the interior.

 

Steve

 

[Draggon]

Stance, front/rear track, and wheelbase always gets me. I prefer an average build that nails all these aspects more than one of the over the top builds that completely botches it.

[Mercuryman54]

19 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

You nailed it!

The car in Hollywood Knights was exactly my inspiration.

I may have gone a little overboard, but I took some liberties with the interior.

 

Steve

 

I believe it's only in that one quick scene.

Dennis

[StevenGuthmiller]

5 minutes ago, Mercuryman54 said:

I believe it's only in that one quick scene.

Dennis

I think you're correct.

I believe that it was Jimmy Shine's girlfriend's car.

It was in this late scene that she arrived to pick him up.

 

Steve

[NOBLNG]

On ‎25‎/‎04‎/‎2018 at 12:42 PM, NOBLNG said:

My pet peeve is that Testors makes the printing so small on their paints that you can't read the colors.

There! I fixed it! The older bottles are just fine.

[Ich_Will]

I don’t have any pet peeves with this hobby yet. I’ve spent the better part of the last 8 years in the 1:1 VW world and those forums were a nightmare. Complete over the top criticism of everything. “Stance cars are junk. Those wheels are cheap. That makes the car look ricey. Mechanical blow off valves suck.”  I’m of the opinion that unless someone is asking for a critique I’ll keep my personal opinion to myself. Honestly I’m glad everyone here is as mellow as they are.

Edited May 17, 2018 by Ich_Will

[Snake45]

On 5/16/2018 at 7:10 PM, NOBLNG said:

There! I fixed it! The older bottles are just fine.

That's one solution. Mine is, the first time I use the bottle, when I put the lid back on it, I "clean out" the paintbrush on the top of it, leaving a streak or blob of the color. Makes it REAL easy to find next time! 

[Ben]

The main thing I notice on a well built model is when the builder leaves the seam down the center of the oil pan and transmission. I just think it’s a shame that something so obvious and easily fixed was overlooked.

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, Ben said:

The main thing I notice on a well built model is when the builder leaves the seam down the center of the oil pan and transmission. I just think it’s a shame that something so obvious and easily fixed was overlooked.

That's not that bad if you don't plan on turning the model over.

What's worse in my mind is spending hours detailing, wiring & plumbing an engine & engine compartment & then leaving something like the seam down the middle of the radiator!

 

Steve

[Reegs]

On 4/25/2018 at 10:50 AM, ewetwo said:

I'll never build anything correct because I'm just building and having fun. Isn't that what a hobby is all about? I look at other people's builds and the imagination they have to create some of the custom, barn find, stock, and hot rod builds. I enjoy looking at them and commenting on how nice their build is. And amazed at the detail. But heck. I put stacks on backwards hot rod build. My dyslexia kicking it. Will I fix it. Maybe. Maybe not. Because to me it's all fun and games and that is what model car building should be. And as Dan above said. Criticism can really bring someone down who has built the best to there ability. I, for one, am so happy to find this model car forum because the builds I see and the fact everyone sees nice. Boosted my desire to start building again.  :-)

Amen, brudda, Amen.