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Talbot Lago Record 1950, 1:24 scale, by Heller


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I plan on using Alclad Chrome (or any Alclad) for the first time for my Scania builld, so this is very interesting. I'm wondering: is the Alclad ready for airbrushing out of the bottle or does it need thinning? 

 

One other thing Mr. Crank: I can't believe you're doing all this modelling with your finger wrapped in hard plastic!! I find it hard enough with all my fingers working normally.

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3 hours ago, mdesaxe said:

Chromed wire wheels are a feature of vehicles whose owners intend only to show them off rather than drive them hard. The process of chroming the spokes weakens the metal, so chromed wire wheels on a high-performance car are dangerous - the spokes are more likely to break under stress. Most wire wheels on high-performance cars usually were painted or stove-enamelled (often a silver colour) to protect the steel spokes.

 

Maurice

 

PS: Alumium is not a good material for spokes; usually steel or stainless steel was/is used. the rims and hubs often could be aluminium because the mass was greater.

 

 

Thank you so much Maurice for this explanation .

You're right concerning the spokes, they can't be made of aluminum, and when I talked of aluminum for the wheels, I meant aluminum ribs

Not sure that on this Talbot they were made of aluminum or steel....anyway, on the photos they are not chromed.
So I'm quite happy, your remarks consolidate my choice to dechrome the kit's wheels, and the color I got with Alclad Chrome looks rather correct now :)

 

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8 minutes ago, JeroenS said:

I plan on using Alclad Chrome (or any Alclad) for the first time for my Scania builld, so this is very interesting. I'm wondering: is the Alclad ready for airbrushing out of the bottle or does it need thinning? 

 

One other thing Mr. Crank: I can't believe you're doing all this modelling with your finger wrapped in hard plastic!! I find it hard enough with all my fingers working normally.

Hi Jeroens

All Alclad metallic colors are ready for airbrushing without any thinning (never thin Alclad metal !)

But, to get the desired effect, you must, especially with Alclad chrome (and Alu, copper, steel, brass etc.), spray before a very glossy black smooth layer.

There is with Alclad a special color to do that: ALC-305 Gloss Black Base, but a Tamiya Gloss Black works too.

 

Concerning my left middle finger, I fell off a few weeks ago, and had a "mallet finger" (Extensor tendon rupture), as I had 6 years ago in a bike crash on the right middle finger.

So I'm wearing, for 6-8 weeks more, a Stack's splint (The plastic stuff on my finger)

And yes I work on this model, so disabled, because I've no choice ! :) 

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3 minutes ago, CrazyCrank said:

Hi Jeroens

All Alclad metallic colors are ready for airbrushing without any thinning (never thin Alclad metal !)

But, to get the desired effect, you must, especially with Alclad chrome (and Alu, copper, steel, brass etc.), spray before a very glossy black smooth layer.

There is with Alclad a special color to do that: ALC-305 Gloss Black Base, but a Tamiya Gloss Black works too.

Thanks. I've just reread @Olivier de St Raph's extensive research on applying chrome and I think I will get a Molotow refill as well to try out. I'm looking for bright!

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My actual build status:

 

48725232628_16371a1a8c_c.jpg 

 

Four wheels, ready for assembly:

 

48725733077_2388233688_c.jpg

 

Assembly will be difficult because:

 

- 1/ In order the glue to act, I have first to strip the paint on the contact surfaces, gently with the tip of a scalpel, wearing magnifying glasses

- 2/ in order to align perfectly the spokes of 3 parts of each wheel, there is 2 very tiny pins and 2 tiny holes that have to match. And  it remains a bit of flash from place to place, not very visible before painting job, making the fit more complicated

 

48725764737_13621967af_c.jpg   48725764717_9c13ea992c_c.jpg

 

 

Wait and see, folks :)

 

 

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Some notes about these wheels and about Alclad chrome in general...

 

48725733077_2388233688_c.jpg  

 

- While you realistically, with an OOB-project such as this, can't help the spokes being a bit thicker than they would be IRL, I think you could upgrade the look of the innermost part of the wheel assembly (=the 'disk' with 14 raised spokes). Heller made them resemble the drum brakes caps. To make it look as real as possible I'd definitely paint that part, except its spokes, in a different colour, for example brown or black; best to check references. It shouldn't be that hard to paint between the spokes, I'd try what the armour modellers call a pinwash. Online I did see some of these cars with similarly looking paint tone, but I saw another that has a drum brake covered in the same colour as the car body. That look really neat to my eyes.

 

- The colour of the spokes looks great to me, mostly as it's not the mirrory chrome finish you're looking for (and you shouldn't). 

 

- However, if you're going for that chrome look on other parts of the model, such as bumpers or so, I'd recommend you to not use the Alclad gloss black paint. Tried that 5 years ago or so and it was almost unmanagable on the airbrush, very sticky and it was very difficult to clean the airbrush afterward. Disastrous experience ;) However I know more people complained about it and I can imagine Alclad has changed the formula since then. Simply because I'm not sure, and certainly if you have that paint and encounter difficulties, I'd recommend trying another grand such as Tamiya. The paint has to be glossy and perfect, as every particle of dust can be eventually seen. If you can't find a good glossy black paint, you could simply apply matt black covered with glossy varnish. 

 

- After hardening of the black paint (keep it in a dust-free environment, it could be sticky for awhile), it's a matter of spraying the thinnest of layers of chrome. Any dust bits here cannot be sanded away. Try to apply two ultra thin layers. If it still looks black (=not chrome) to you, keep it in the sunlight and check after blinking your eyes. Sometimes the change into chrome look doesn't become clear at first glance, as this change is very subtle. To answer Jeroen's question, the paint can be sprayed undiluted. If after two layers a third one is needed, spray again but VERY thin. Here, temptation is severe to paint a little bit too much, because all of this trouble seems to be leading you anywhere... that's the trap! Just spray one more ultra thin layer and examine it, preferably in sunlight. If any more is necessary, add a fourth layer, again thinnest as can be. At one point you'll see the glorious chromy shine come through. I doubt a fifth layer should be necessary. Imagine those four layers combined to be be as thick as one 'normal' layer of airbrush paint. 

 

- Let it dry and harden, then paint one or two thin layers of the special Alclad varnish for use after chrome. If not using this, you'll run the risk of making the beautiful chrome shine disappear. If not varnishing at all, touching it (handling or cleaning the car, for example) could damage the chrome. 

 

Hope this helps :) 

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36 minutes ago, Roy vd M. said:

Some notes about these wheels and about Alclad chrome in general...

 

- While you realistically, with an OOB-project such as this, can't help the spokes being a bit thicker than they would be IRL, I think you could upgrade the look of the innermost part of the wheel assembly (=the 'disk' with 14 raised spokes). Heller made them resemble the drum brakes caps. To make it look as real as possible I'd definitely paint that part, except its spokes, in a different colour, for example brown or black; best to check references. It shouldn't be that hard to paint between the spokes, I'd try what the armour modellers call a pinwash. Online I did see some of these cars with similarly looking paint tone, but I saw another that has a drum brake covered in the same colour as the car body. That look really neat to my eyes.

 

- The colour of the spokes looks great to me, mostly as it's not the mirrory chrome finish you're looking for (and you shouldn't). 

 

- However, if you're going for that chrome look on other parts of the model, such as bumpers or so, I'd recommend you to not use the Alclad gloss black paint. Tried that 5 years ago or so and it was almost unmanagable on the airbrush, very sticky and it was very difficult to clean the airbrush afterward. Disastrous experience ;) However I know more people complained about it and I can imagine Alclad has changed the formula since then. Simply because I'm not sure, and certainly if you have that paint and encounter difficulties, I'd recommend trying another grand such as Tamiya. The paint has to be glossy and perfect, as every particle of dust can be eventually seen. If you can't find a good glossy black paint, you could simply apply matt black covered with glossy varnish. 

 

- After hardening of the black paint (keep it in a dust-free environment, it could be sticky for awhile), it's a matter of spraying the thinnest of layers of chrome. Any dust bits here cannot be sanded away. Try to apply two ultra thin layers. If it still looks black (=not chrome) to you, keep it in the sunlight and check after blinking your eyes. Sometimes the change into chrome look doesn't become clear at first glance, as this change is very subtle. To answer Jeroen's question, the paint can be sprayed undiluted. If after two layers a third one is needed, spray again but VERY thin. Here, temptation is severe to paint a little bit too much, because all of this trouble seems to be leading you anywhere... that's the trap! Just spray one more ultra thin layer and examine it, preferably in sunlight. If any more is necessary, add a fourth layer, again thinnest as can be. At one point you'll see the glorious chromy shine come through. I doubt a fifth layer should be necessary. Imagine those four layers combined to be be as thick as one 'normal' layer of airbrush paint. 

 

- Let it dry and harden, then paint one or two thin layers of the special Alclad varnish for use after chrome. If not using this, you'll run the risk of making the beautiful chrome shine disappear. If not varnishing at all, touching it (handling or cleaning the car, for example) could damage the chrome. 

 

Hope this helps :) 

 

What an explanation, wow ! Thanks a lot for this contribution @Roy vd M.

 

A little precision:  I wasn't looking for an ultra shining chrome on my wheels, using Alclad Chrome, if not, I wouldn't have dechromed these parts...For sure I would have prefered to get them a little bit more flashy, but, as I said,after having  compared them with those of my ref photos, I think I'm rather close to the real, and they looks so too to you, as I understand.

 

Concerning the disks with 14 spokes (drum disks), they are painted Alclad Polished aluminum (rather close to the real), and the difference with the Alclad Chrome rims is in reality more visible than on the pictures I posted.

I've planed to put a little bit of chrome on the 14x4 spokes, using a 1mm thick Molotov Chrome pencil

 

Thank you so much for the utilisation advices for ALclad Chrome...I need clearly to improve my skills with an airbrush 😉

 

However, I've not planed to dechrome all parts of the kit: bumpers , headlights will keep, I think at the moment, their chrome.

The others will be dechromed and painted with a Molotiv pencil

 

Stay tuned if you like :)

 

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Having read a lot of the reports about Alclad products, and having using it myself in the past, I feel I must add my tuppenceworth of advice....sorry.

Alclad DO produce some stunning metallics , but, unless you put plenty of clear on and don't have to handle the pieces afterwards, I think the product is unfit for purpose, tbh. The gloss base-coat they provide doesn't really go off and you can end up with a multitude of problems. Any gloss enamel paint from your local store works far better....figure that one out lol.

 

The best recommendation I can give to anyone re metallic paints is AK extreme metal range...as it says in the name, a freshly painted part can handle just about ANY abuse you can put it through (spilt thinners, anything).

The rear axle on my Fiat is AK extreme metal finish....it's been subject to the blow-torch while re-soldering the suspension hangers and no harm came to the paint. I can barely believe it myself that any paint could stand up  to the kind of abuse that I've subjected it to, but it did. Best stuff going imo… If I can't kill the finish, it MUST be good stuff:lol:

 

 

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Evening chaps :)

 

I've put another layer of polished aluminum on the 14-spokes-parts of the wheels and, once dried, sprayed them with Alclad Semi-Mate Clear.

 

One wheel has been assembled (without glue) before that tiny job, in order to have a look on the possible final effect:

 

48728474887_38fdf6a4f0_c.jpg   48728474872_8f6f45033c_c.jpg

 

Now, I've to wait until tomorrow before handling safely these parts for final assembly

 

Meanwhile, I've made a little progress on this build, painting and weathering  the leaf springs and  the transmission shaft / gearbox:

 

48728302416_32a013edeb_c.jpg

 

Stay tuned if you like for next step, and thanks for watching :)

 

Edited by CrazyCrank
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Evening, my Lords :)

 

Four wheels have been assembled.

 

Ultimate layer of varnish has been put, and tires has been cleaned with dishwashing liquid.

 

While all this stuff is drying, I've fixed today the transmission shaft, the rear axle and leaf springs on the chassis.

 

As usual with Heller's kit, nothing fit correctly, and a lot of corrections and tries had to be made, but finally, I'm happy with the result:

 

48732605448_ef04694455_c.jpg   48732932501_5b80350bd8_c.jpg

 

48732605433_fa1b108424_c.jpg

 

On this last photo, you can see the exhaust line put temporarily in place, primed. It required a lot of sanding  before being satisfying !

 

48733114557_a95773b9d0_c.jpg

 

The exhaust line will be painted gun metal

 

Later, all the underbody will be weathered using pigments (City street dust,  Asphalt road dust, Rust, polished metal, Lybian desert sand 🤣 etc.)

 

Stay tuned if you like and thanks for watching :)

 

 

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I've primed, sanded, filled, re-sanded, re-primed one front seat, and now, it looks correct.

 

Same tedious job has to be done on the other one, and on rear seat.

Then, they will be painted fauve leather, and weathered, using oil paints...

 

48738033002_fe3e8b66a4_z.jpg   48738032947_e11b9266cf_z.jpg

 

 

 

Micro surgery has been done on the left side of the inside of the car !

 

Look carefully at the photo below:

 

48737940958_fec29a02b9_b.jpg

 

 

You can see several differences between the left inside and the right one, which is as it was on the sprue, at the moment:

 

- Backward of the inside, under the armrest, there was initially an embossed curve on the leather, whose shape was hairpin bend. This is not close to the real, where the is only an embossed curved line. This has been fixed, removing the unnecessary part with an Exacto.

 

- Forward on the inside, on the door, there was on the kit part 2 "horizontal" kerf / grooves (I don't know the right word) and this is false compared to the real: The top one exist, but its shape is totally different, I've modified it removing the unnecessary part and engraving the correct one. The lower one doesn't exist: In reality, there is an embossed curve. So, I've filled this groove, and later on, I'll try to simulated the embossed curve of the real car (using nylon fishing line or copper wire...)

 

- The rear part of the door, on the kit, has been put too much backward. I've fixed that, filling the groove between body and door, and engraving a new one (whose shape is not perfectly close to the real ... pity)

 

- And finally, the front part of the door (the curved line between the front part of the door, and the body), isn't placed correctly on the kit part. I've engraved a new one slightly backward , and filled the wrong one,

 

Having primed all this stuff, I've had to sand, fill, prime several times before getting a correct aspect. This took several hours, but it was worth the effort :)

 

 

Hereunder, 2 ref. photos of the car that Heller tried to emulate (All ref. Photos taken by "Cateralp" of the Heller-for-ever forum, in Rochetaillée Museum 😞

 

48738126421_1ae089edb4_c.jpg   48738307197_dee712e2bd_c.jpg

 

To be more exact, I should have moved a bit lower the window lift crank, and the door opening device, but best if the enemy of better !

 

I'll try probably to add the embossed beading at the top of the door and the chromed doorhandles that you can see above...

 

Stay tuned if you like, and thanks for watching :)

 

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Evening, gentlemen :)

 

Before leaving house tomorrow for 5 days vacation, I've finished to give some enhancements to the left inside panel, using 0,3 mm copper wire:

 

- Added an embossed beading at the top of the door (0.3 mm copper wire, filling with Tamiya putty to join the plastic top of the door)

- Added a locking doorhandle, bucket shaped, minus than 2 mm wide, and 1.5 mm high. This will be painted with Molotov chrome at the final stage

- Added the embossed curve in the middle of the door, not as perfect as I'd dreamed, but acceptable.

 

48750811668_9f1660bbbc_c.jpg   48751137191_4fa70404f9_c.jpg

 

48750811788_474e266e48_c.jpg.  48750812253_1aab629352_c.jpg

 

48751136841_a5af00602d_c.jpg

 

All that stuff has been re-primed white, before the "coming soon"  layers of "fauve leather" paint.

 

Stay tuned if you like, next step next week, and thanks for watching :)

 

 

 

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Evening, Chaps :) No time for kidding, I'm back at my bench 😎

 

The left inside is ready for painting, as are seats and rear shelf.

to avoid wasting "mat leather" paint, I've to finish preparing the right inside, in order to paint during a unique session all leather upholstered parts.

So after having engraved the new lines of the right door panel, I've filled with Tamiya white putty all the unnecessary grooves

 

48789888922_d423b30fa1_b.jpg

 

A tedious sanding and re-filling job is needed to get a good result, as for the left inside door panel

 

Meanwhile,  here are the paints I'll use for the interior of the car:

 

48789888892_83abd3d798_c.jpg

 

And hereunder the paint I've decided to use for the body:

 

48789888907_081fcafd0e_c.jpg   48789888737_41ac5c7214_c.jpg

 

Stay tuned if you like and thanks for watching :)

 

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Right inside panel modified and primed.

 

It remains to add the buckle which simulate the locking doorhandle and then to finish priming  the inner and outer sides of this right inside panel.

 

Next will come the final painting job:

- Mat tan (fauve) leather for the inner sides of the panels, front and rear seats and rear shelf

- and semi-gloss black for the outer sides

 

48793239641_543cca373e_c.jpg   48793239816_dec9e5e243_c.jpg

 

48793239841_2d22d58b48_c.jpg

 

48793381662_83c4a6f329_c.jpg    48793381632_75c6c8daf4_c.jpg

 

Stay tuned if you like :)

 

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Locking door handle of the right panel installed and panels primed black on the inner and outer sides:

 

48795354142_da21811e65_c.jpg   48794858258_dc608584b9_c.jpg

 

The grainy aspect of the paint is welcomed because it simulates the roughness of the original paint on these parts of the car and the dirts (oil, tar, etc.) that inevitably spoil the factory painting

 

Similarly, I've painted the lower side of the car's floor, and  the grainy aspect that I got is, here too, welcomed, for the same reasons:

 

48794858268_429548da54_c.jpg

 

Later on, I'll add some weathering on these parts with pigments (City dust, tar etc.)

 

Stay tuned if you like  and thanks for watching :)

 

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