1156 replies to this topic

[Jairus]

Thanks but.. . decals. Tamiya has the best in decals and customer wanted it just like the box art.

[havlicek]

Of course they're ALL beautiful Jairus...b-b-b-but that "BatCar" is stunning!

-john

[Jairus]

Last Hard body car I will ever do for hire. Cross my heart and hope to DIE!
(unless I get paid a suitcase full of money of course!)




Windscreen vacuum formed from the old glue covered original. Front wheel inserts vacuum formed over scratch built master.

[Roger U]

A beautifully built model of a Lotus.

[dc-65x]

Last Hard body car I will ever do for hire. Cross my heart and hope to DIE!

(unless I get paid a suitcase full of money of course!)

Maybe a handsome check? Beautiful Lotus by the way

[HarV Wallbanger III]

LOTUS BEAUTIFUL DUDE! MONGO WANT LOTUS 40, NOT KNOW WHAT MONEY IS TRADE YOU FOR BIG HEAVY ROCK!

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[Jairus]

No rocks Mongo... just cash.
I am sick of sanding, puttying, priming, painting decaling, clearcoating. I spend 40 hours before some stupid reaction happens and the decals lift and wrinkle. It's just too frustrating and not worth the effort. Didn't say that I don't have a half dozen of my own projects in the works... including a nice 330 spyder and a woodie! But for hire, it had better be a pretty fat check Rick! I got so many hours into that Lotus 23 that I couldn't have made more than two bucks per. Can any of you guys live on that? Huh... anyone?
I thought not....

Right now I am working on some box art for a model car kit. The customer didn't like this one so I am forced to do another because he said: "It dosn't look like box art to me and I want something that shows more of the side." "More of a 3/4 view and something that has the door handles on it!"
That I swear to you guys is God's honest truth!

Everybody is a critic.

[dc-65x]

But for hire, it had better be a pretty fat check Rick! I got so many hours into that Lotus 23 that I couldn't have made more than two bucks per.

I feel your pain. Back when I tried to build chassis and sell them I'd put 20 (often much more) hours into it and had trouble getting $100 oe so. When the time comes we'll work it out Bro .

Beautiful box art man

[HarV Wallbanger III]

Thanks Jairus for the drivers!

[dbs]

Everybody is a critic.

Well, I think you did a great job capturing the essence of that Buick with it's
massive front end, portholes and side trim. The scenery makes me want to go
out for a drive.

As far the comment about "box art" you should take that as a compliment. I've
seen a whole lot of boring boxes and they all start to look alike.

[Jairus]

Thank you guys!

(Funny, nobody caught the spoiler I dropped yesterday about the woody?!? Oh well...)

[havlicek]

Jairus...is the woody a static model or a slot car? I had a woody slot car when I was a kid that was one of my K&B rewinds that I always talk about...loved that car and I don't see any slot-woodies around. I also had one of those old Dodge vans that had a rear end like a pickup (I guess early sixties?) also setup as a wheelie slot car and painted to match the woody...but the woody was faster.

The box art actually looks VERY much like the ads you'd see in print back then...like the Saturday Evening Post ( remember all those Norman Rockwell family scenes?) or Life magazine. Sometimes they'd be artist renditions or actual photos, but they had the same general kind of vibe...very cool!

Talking about pay...you and Rick just made me feel a whole lot better because if guys like you (top of the heap) aren't getting close to what you deserve for museum-quality work, I shouldn't worry! I have about $18-$20 in supplies for each arm and maybe two-three hours work between prep, winding, tieing, epoxying, balancing, cutting the com and finishing touches (engraving, test run, dyeing). Even at $20/hour, the arms should go for $60! Maybe when I'm dead, people will find them lying around in someone's junk drawer.

Anyway, I digress. Lovely work as always!

-john

[Jairus]

This is slotblog John, right?
Yes, slotcar and with real wood too!

[havlicek]

This is slotblog John, right?
Yes, slotcar and with real wood too!

Hmmm...let me think if anyone has ever posted a build of a static model here. Gee...I think even you might have Jairus Heck, I think there may even be a non-slot model forum! Anyway, the idea of a woody with REAL wood sounds aces, and I sure look forward to seeing that one!

-john

[Mopar Rob]

Just painted a race body for my friend Bill

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[Jairus]

Looks very good Rob!

[Michael Rigsby]

Jairus, I love that little Lotus. I can't imagine what it must take to do a full resto on one of those old gems especially when you talk about having to mould a new windshield and such. What kind of issue were you having with the decals?? I tried redo-ing one of my die cast NASCAR's here not too long ago to change it from a duplicate Sterling Marlin car to a Rusty Wallace MGD car, and had all kinds of decal issues (went through three sets before I got any that would fit right).

Love the Buick pic by the way....makes me want to go out for a drive in the country....

Michael Rigsby

[Jairus]

Michael,
Reaction with the clear-coat usually. The decals wrinkle and lift on the edges when I shoot Tamiya or House of Kolor clears. Only way to avoid that is to use an enamel clear and wait two weeks for it to dry completely, but I don't have that much patience. Lately I have been clearcoating the whole car and then add the decals as long as the edges are trimmed right to the edge of the image. It looks pretty much the same.
But with the Lotus I tried to fog the paint for two or three coats just to get the decals covered and then flood it for a shiny finish. Worked on the two rear numbers but the front one wrinkled. I waited two days and then wet sanded, re-applied the white background and new numbers. Then sealed the decal under Future floor wax... then more "staged" clear. That seemed to work! (And boy was it a lot of work!)

[Mopar Rob]

When using HOK or any Acrylic Urathane clear you should probably use HOK intercoat clear or somthing like PPG's DBC 500 color blender over the decals. Assuming you don't hose the stuff on it will prevent the lifting, and you wont need to wait 2 weeks.

[68Caddy]

I have to say I think its the luck you have that day, sometimes I get away with murder when I paint and the decals are just fine.
And then I have day's when I do the same procedure and every thing goes south?

Nesta

[Jairus]

Nesta, truer words were never said before!
Karma comes to us all eventually... right Dave?

[idare2bdul]

When using HOK or any Acrylic Urathane clear you should probably use HOK intercoat clear or somthing like PPG's DBC 500 color blender over the decals. Assuming you don't hose the stuff on it will prevent the lifting, and you wont need to wait 2 weeks.

I've got to learn how to use these new paints. Foamy has a head start so he can help me but it always seems no matter what people tell you or how much you read the technical information the manufacturers put out, it always is kind of trial and error. A change in temperature or humidity and you can have issues. I got used to lacquers but those are going away so new paints here I come. Gulp.

I also got used to painting Lexan from the inside so painting hard bodies from the outside again is a transition. All of this takes way more time than it did when I was painting regularly.

[Kehlo]

With cans I made very good experience using gunze topcoat glossy which never wrecked any decal on my cars, neither tamiya nor revell nor cartographic - but it's more expensive than gold...

For deeper information on clear coats you may want to ask german Dieter Jens for (Dieter speaks very good english):
jens@scaleracing.de

Hi cars look like china... www.scaleracing.de

[Jairus]

A few more finshed up this morning.

This vacuum molded Galaxie sits on an MPC chassis with a 26D motor.



Here is a beautiful T.S. Ferrari 512 for a Retro Pro chassis, soon to be constructed once the rules are decided.



And a set of controller handles for a special HO race.

[Jairus]

Finished another one up for the “Captain” today. He’s making a set of stacks for it and will show the full car complete on his own thread.
Here’s to hoping you like it Cap’n!