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Ford Mustang 1964 1/2 Convertible 1/16 from the Coupe AMT kit: the Indy 500 Pace Car


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Hello to all,

 

I was off to a bad start in the new step that was the "PACE CAR" inscription, using first just water, and then Micro Sol. My letters, as previously (and logically) did not want to conform on the flat body surface. I realized that using the Micro Sol was a big error, as this product is to use on irregular surfaces.

I thought that a mix Micro Set (supposed to enhance adhesion) and MMFA (a very good white glue) could allow me to fix this big problem. 

And it seems that this recipe is quite good:

 

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Edit later: WARNING: you must not put too much Micro Set. If you do, you will fragilize a lot your decal that will become unusable. The best mix imho, with the little experience I begin to have, should be approximately:

- water: 60%

- Micro Set: 25%

- MMFA: 15%

 

To be followed...

 

 

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Hello to all,

 

Now that I found a way to get acceptable results with my custom decals (see the previous post), the question is: shouldn't I completely redo the inscription job, whose I am not very satisfied? It would also be the occasion to improve the lettering (I showed above that it was not really faithful to the original). 

After several trials by myself, I realized that the main problem I had with these inscriptions INDIANAPOLIS "500" and PACE CAR was the space between the letters. If I could modify it, I could perhaps try to print the whole inscription on a custom decal and get a good result, rather than placing every letter and digit, what is very difficult.

I decided to call the Microsoft support, and the advisor, who first, wanted me to go on the Microsoft community, finally kindly took the info and told me how to proceed to get custom spaces:

 

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Before diving in this new bath, I will do a trial, to see if the film (the idea to place the whole inscription means that the latter would not be removed around each letter and digit) will not be too visible. Considering that the film (Liquid Decal Film) is very thin on custom decals (no comparison with normal ones), I think it could be OK...

 

N.B: if I go on with this idea, the door handle will have to be removed with care...

 

To be followed...

 

Cheers    Olivier

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Hi Olivier

 

If I may be so bold... Knowing your attention to detail I can see that not redoing it will bug you! And knowing your skills you will do a better job.

 

My two cents worth

 

Nick

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9 hours ago, Fnick said:

Hi Olivier

 

If I may be so bold... Knowing your attention to detail I can see that not redoing it will bug you! And knowing your skills you will do a better job.

 

My two cents worth

 

Nick

 

Seconded!

 

  Stay safe          Roger

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Hello to all,

 

I spent quite a lot of time yesterday afternoon to get the best inscription and spaces between letters and digits possible.

And this morning, a trial could be done:

 

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After careful comparison with the original inscription using the pics at my disposal, such the one below, I could get an even more faithful result:

 

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The space will be extended of 1,9 instead of 1,7 (not on the PACE CAR inscription), the space between INDIANAPOLIS and "500" will be reduced a bit and the brackets will be closer from the inscription 500. On the other hand, I don't know how to get the left bracket correctly oriented "...

 

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Edit a bit later:

 

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2 problems remain:

- a little one: the left bracket, not oriented as I would like

- the main one: the limits of the custom decal, even Clear, will probably be a bit visible. A not too thick coat of LDF will be applied, to limit this problem...


Now, I have to mention here the crazy thought that is more and more turning in my brain. If you recall, I realized recently that the shape was not really faithful to the original on the car's side, with an AMT notch underlined not at all as on the real car (the green arrows on the pics 2 and 3 of this post). Of course, representing better this notch would mean a very delicate and complementary job, and would also mean removing completely the decals and the paint on the outer part of the doors but also rework the front and rear wing (and remove the "Official" decal inscription left side), as this notch extends forward and backward!

But the result would probably be finally better, here too, and definitely more faithful to the original. This notch is indeed imho an important aspect of this car's design. I could use my 2nd kit's decals, after the carving, sanding and painting job... And, after all, only the final result matters, right?

Another pic to show this notch on the real car:

 

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With only 0,3 mm thickness (and probably a compromise in term of result regarding the notch), I would certainly get an undesired transparency effect. In order to avoid this problem, I would need to disassemble my doors and thicken the outer portion by adding a putty material such the TEP or a plastic sheet. Is it worth it to dive in such challenges? That is the question!

 

N.B: I also measured the thickness on both rear and front wings (extensions of the notch) and it is better, about 1,5 mm.

 

Cheers,     TMO...

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Hello to all,

 

I am still wondering if I will modify the notch. In order to help me making a decision, I made a trial/ training on the 2nd kit's door:

 

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Conclusion of the trial: I think I will do it. If I don't, I will regret...

 

More soon...

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I can see where you are going with this, but I think you are right that going so thin will give transparency issues and therefore inconsistant colour on the body.

I notice that the step in the panel is much more rounded on he real car compared to the model. My suggestion (if you really want to improve) would be to keep the original thickness as it is and just fill the notch such that is is more rounded than it is now.

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Hi Olivier

 

An idea to solve your bracket problem. If you are using windows you could use the "snip it" program to copy the left bracket as a picture, flip it vertically and then insert it over the original left bracket. At least that way it will slope in the same direction as the original and still look the same as the right one.

 

Nick

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9 hours ago, Pouln said:

I think you are right that going so thin will give transparency issues and therefore inconsistant colour on the body.

Hi Poul,

 

You suggest to just round the AMT notch, but if you look closely to the real car’s pics, you will see that the middle panel is really recessed from the top panel. That is why, imho, just rounding the existing little notch is not acceptable.

Yet the trial on the 2nd kit’s door showed that I didn’t need to decrease to 0,3 mm or even 0,5 mm the middle panel’s thickness to get a much better result. This thickness was at least 0,7 mm, as mentioned.
More, the empty space between this panel and the inner door is rather low (about 5-6 mm), and that is why I finally don't think there will be a problem of transparency for this middle panel, the inner door bringing the opacity required.

And so I think I may reproduce this notch on my door.

In fact, I worry a bit more about this action itself. The moves with the bur must be very precise and controlled to keep a straight line and avoid creating little notches. I will show how I proceed to represent this notch in a next post.

 

Thank you anyway for your contribution.

 

9 hours ago, Fnick said:

Hi Olivier

 

An idea to solve your bracket problem. If you are using windows you could use the "snip it" program to copy the left bracket as a picture, flip it vertically and then insert it over the original left bracket. At least that way it will slope in the same direction as the original and still look the same as the right one.

 

Nick

 

Thanks Nick for this idea. I am gonna try to follow this tip, hoping it will work.

 

Cheers     Olivier

 

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Hello to all,

 

Tip of the day: here is the new tool I used for my trial/ training on the 2nd kit's door:

 

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I could order this great tool for 299,99 € (not to say 300€), a very good price!

 

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The finishing sanding job was done mainly with the Tamiya sponges.

 

N.B: even with this great tool, the job was very delicate. Getting a regular notch without creating little notches with the bur while not biting on the top panel limit to keep the straight line is not easy...

 

Cheers    Olivier

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Hi again,

 

I begin the complete outer door rework:

 

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Nearly 1 hour later, my doors are ready for the notch improvement job:

 

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If I decide to assemble the doors before their painting job, I have to think about the best strategy for the next steps. In particular, the dashboard should be assembled before the doors, what will mean a good masking job when painting the latter...

 

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N.B:

1) about the "Official" inscription, here is how I thought I could do:

- place the too small "Official" decals of my 2nd kit's decal sheet on a piece of White plastic card 

- scan them

- using Word, increase their size of about 25% and check. If necessary, do size corrections and try again until I get the right size.

- when the size is correct, print them on a Clear custom decal and apply them.

 

Did some of you ever did that? What do you think of this strategy?

 

2) about the door's gap: I worry about this step. Reducing the gap while keeping though a little one (regular) seems to me difficult. Here too, other modeler's experience should help...

 

Cheers     Olivier

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Hello to all,

 

I thought about another way to get the « Official » decal at the right size, just taking a photo of the one I placed right side (the one left side was ever removed). This photo was reframed and exported on Word:

 

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Now the question was: what size?

I used the rule of 3 from the profile view below to determine it precisely. I could so confirm that the AMT decal was much too small, about 30%:

 

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I made a first trial on a simple A4 paper:

 

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I noticed that the background color has a big influence on the final result. If I want to get a White background, the best is to place the decal on a White plastic sheet...

 

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Cheers   Olivier

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Hello to all,

 

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Furthermore, I am trying to improve the result after my recent carving to restitute the ridge (better word than notch?), using the Tamiya White Surface Primer and my home made sanding tools (from 1 mm to 2,5 mm):

 

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That's all for today...

 

Cheers, Olivier

 

 

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Hello to all,

 

the sanding job is now over or nearly so on the areas of the body concerned.

I made new checks and adjustments, in order to get narrower gaps doors/ body.

And the result being now much better, I decided I could finally paint my doors before their assembly:

 

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N.B: the altered rib is now much better imho than the AMT one, I don't regret my decision to remove completely paint and decals on both doors and on the body. 

 

Cheers, Olivier

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Most editing apps have a tool to select an object by color or outline by clicking within the letters. That selection can then be saved as a new file, you can change the color of lettering if needed. That can then be sized to the dimensions that you need. Then print in the color you want on the clear paper.

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Good evening Olivier
When you draw your letters you have to open a file that has no background (the background is visualized by a checkerboard), once your drawing or text is done you save it in png format, if you save it in another format, jpg for example, automatically you will have a white background.  When you save it as a png the background remains transparent.
We use this method for example when creating a website, if for example the background of your page is red, and you want to place a logo on it, if it is in png format, you will have the logo perfectly drawn on a red background.

 

Nice work on the doors, it was worth it.
Manu 

 

Edited by Ghost69
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5 hours ago, busnproplinerfan said:

Somebody should 3d scan this car and produce a new model of it.

It would be necessary to scan the many parts separately. But then my build would become very common, while my ambition is to get the only faithful replica of this legendary car 😭!

We must be realistic, in a few years, if things go on as they are with 3D, all the time I spend to get a nice result will be much easily got...

10 hours ago, Lvp said:

Most editing apps have a tool to select an object by color or outline by clicking within the letters.

Can you precise what app can do that, please?

 

6 hours ago, Ghost69 said:

When you draw your letters you have to open a file that has no background (the background is visualized by a checkerboard), once your drawing or text is done you save it in png format, if you save it in another format, jpg for example, automatically you will have a white background.  When you save it as a png the background remains transparent.

Here too, things remain unclear for me. First I didn't draw my letters but took a photo of the AMT decal.

 

I hope I will be able to use my custom decals with the film nearly totally removed, but in case of failure (placing them while they will be very fragile will be another challenge), the option to remove the background would be very useful...

 

 

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My answer was in addition to the one made by Lvp, it doesn't matter if you draw your letters or if you import a picture.
Once your photo is imported into the drawing software you use the clipping tool, or magic wand, or lasso (the most common term is clipping), once the clipping is done with precision you open a new file with a transparent background....and the rest I explained in my previous message...it must be saved in png format otherwise your background will not remain transparent.
Good day to you.

Manu

 

Edit: 

Olivier, I think all photo and drawing software does this. You have for example the software "PhotoFiltre" which allows you to do this by using the lasso? You have to watch the videos by typing "Photofiltre détourer une photo" and you'll understand the manipulation.
In photography this function is used to even crop people and therefore very complex subjects, cropping letters is certainly the easiest thing because the edge of the letters is very sharp.

Manu

 

 

Edited by Ghost69
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1 hour ago, Ghost69 said:

My answer was in addition to the one made by Lvp, it doesn't matter if you draw your letters or if you import a picture.
Once your photo is imported into the drawing software you use the clipping tool, or magic wand (the most common term is clipping), once the clipping is done with precision you open a new file with a transparent background....and the rest I explained in my previous message...it must be saved in png format otherwise your background will not remain transparent.
Good day to you.

Manu

 

Edit: 

Olivier, I think all photo and drawing software does this. You have for example the software "PhotoFiltre" which allows you to do this by using the lasso? You have to watch the videos by typing "Photofiltre détourer une photo" and you'll understand the manipulation.
In photography this function is used to even crop people and therefore very complex subjects, cropping letters is certainly the easiest thing because the edge of the letters is very sharp.

Manu

 

 

 

Ok Manu, this sounds more and more clear, thanks a lot to you and Les. I will study that very soon and will definitely learn something, but for now, I am focused on the question of the glass gap at the bench level. Maybe some of you remember that I represented this area on the door - long ago, see the posts of p. 20 (1/1/2019), 21 (2 and 3/1/2019), 26 (16 and 19/2/2019) -. I will have very soon to represent as well this area on its extension at the bench level, between the latter and the body:

 

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Yet for now, my gaps are not OK, especially left side, as the following top views show:

 

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N.B: my gap on the door is a bit oversized compared to what it is in reality, due to the challenge it was to represent the several coats (rubber joints, felt, top of the window).

 

To be followed...

 

 

 

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