mbdesignart Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 14 hours ago, Spiny said: humidity in the garage is above 70% RH Is that 'Rainy as Hell'!? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neddy Posted November 6, 2022 Author Share Posted November 6, 2022 It is as far as I'm concerned! Currently it's coming down hard, bouncing up six feet (1.82 metres) and coming down a second time... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOUSTON Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 Neddy, IMPECCABLE workmanship so far. She's looking splendid. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neddy Posted November 6, 2022 Author Share Posted November 6, 2022 Thanks @HOUSTON for your kind comments. I'm gradually improving and pleased with what I've done to date. Several of the improvements have been entirely down to helpful comments and tips from other members for which I'm really grateful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neddy Posted November 6, 2022 Author Share Posted November 6, 2022 Had a bit of a "Duh!" moment this afternoon. One thing I've hitherto found difficult is hanging doors. No matter how hard I struggle, test-fit, shape and sand I can't seem to get the doors of a model car to hang correctly when finally assembling them. Determined not to have this problem with the Mustang I trial-fitted them as usual and then it occurred to me that I was going about it in the wrong way, faithfully following the instructions and painting the door frame/inner panels, spraying the outer door skins, then assembling them and lastly adding them to the car. This time I've trial-fitted them while still in bare plastic, then glued the outer and inner parts together and fitted them again while the plastic weld was still tacky, adjusting them until a really good fit was achieved then clamping them firmly before removing the assembly from the car to dry. It's the little things... ....it also means I'll have to spray the doors once assembled but again this is a Good Thing - the door shuts, hinges etc. need to be the body colour anyway and the interiors will be hand-painted once spraying is completed. I'm sure this is obvious to most of you but I felt quite chuffed I'd worked it out. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neddy Posted November 11, 2022 Author Share Posted November 11, 2022 Just a quick update, production having been held up by the vagaries of Hermes/Evri/Whatever-they're-called-this-week delivering much-needed paint supplies. Having read Matt's superbly informative article on vehicle spraying I decided to throw off some of my 20th Century habits and instead of spending the best part of a week painstakingly rubbing down the body panels with wet 2000 grit I opted for Tamiya Fine Surface Primer, which arrived today. Grabbing the opportunity of mild relatively calm weather I applied two very light coats and the result is probably the most boring photo ever posted on these hallowed portals... Sorry about the shadow, it was taken after dark and I couldn't avoid it. At least it looks a little better than the native 💩 coloured plastic! More when the weather allows... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted November 11, 2022 Share Posted November 11, 2022 3 hours ago, Neddy said: and the result is probably the most boring photo ever posted on these hallowed portals... Yawn It;s progress though, so not boring at all. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neddy Posted November 13, 2022 Author Share Posted November 13, 2022 I got lucky with the weather over the weekend - mild, dry and hardly a breath of wind - ideal for spraying. Four plus coats of Tamiya TS-53 dark metallic blue later... ...it's not looking quite so boring now. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted November 13, 2022 Share Posted November 13, 2022 You definitely got lucky with the weather, we had mild, calm and even some sunshine here but also high humidity which stopped me getting any clear on the Alpine. TS-53 is a very nice colour and is working very well here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neddy Posted November 20, 2022 Author Share Posted November 20, 2022 Quick update: I'm pleased with the way the shell has sprayed up and I'm not going to ruin it by handling it, hacking it, using masking tape or anything else on it until it's hardened completely so I'm leaving it for a couple of weeks and meantime have started another project which couldn't be further removed from this. Having got far enough with it to realise I have a chance of producing something worth talking about I'll be starting a new build thread shortly. Thanks for your patience and interest so far, normal (!) service will be resumed as soon as possible. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted November 20, 2022 Share Posted November 20, 2022 Good decision. It's always smart to be careful and leave things to cure and settle safely. There is no need to push luck when it's looking so promising. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted November 20, 2022 Share Posted November 20, 2022 Got to agree, it's always worth letting paint cure before doing any work on it. I usually leave at least two weeks, but at this time of year leaving it a bit longer as you're planning won't hurt and should give you a much tougher surface to work with. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neddy Posted January 16, 2023 Author Share Posted January 16, 2023 As I was saying many weeks ago, the sprayed 'shell has now had plenty of time to harden while I was otherwise occupied with the lunatic project you may have noticed elsewhere in these hallowed portals. I'm now back working on this one and have started populating the engine bay - battery, heater, brake master/servo and bracing struts added so far. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 The paint has dried to a nice deep shine. I painted mine yellow when I built it years ago. It never has been shiny! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neddy Posted January 17, 2023 Author Share Posted January 17, 2023 Thanks! I'm actually quite pleased with the finish. I took my time over it and used nearly the whole can but it was worth it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vesa Jussila Posted January 17, 2023 Share Posted January 17, 2023 I like paint too. Looks very much from period. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neddy Posted January 25, 2023 Author Share Posted January 25, 2023 Still progressing slowly. Doors now complete apart from glazing... ...the lighting has not been kind to these images! The exterior chromework is now complete - much use of Molotow and 3mm masking tape involved! I could only do this on certain days due to an annoying intermittent tremor in my hand, hence the delay since the last update. Thanks for your patience! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fnick Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 Great chrome work. Molotov is not easy to brush paint on. Nick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 Not need to worry about our patience - you're still building at a quicker pace than I usually do even with the tremors. And I would second the nice chromework comment too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neddy Posted February 2, 2023 Author Share Posted February 2, 2023 This may be the last update before the model is finished, barring last-minute setbacks that is! All glass now fitted (after remembering to paint the headlining in a suitable shade) and I was pleasantly surprised by the fit. The quarterlights on the doors needed a bit of fettling but the front and rear screens went in with no issues at all, despite the badly formed windscreen pillar. The rearview mirror, door handles, grille, headlights and taillights were then fitted, all without major drama. Finally the front and rear chin panels had their lights and reg plates fitted. Now all the sub-assemblies are complete, just (ha! Just!) the doors to hang, the body, interior and chassis assemblies to mate up and the chin panels to fit. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neddy Posted February 7, 2023 Author Share Posted February 7, 2023 ...and my work here is done. The 'shell fought me every step of the way as - being a 40+-year old kit - it had spread slightly and mating up the interior tub and chassis to it was a bit ...er... "interesting". The front and rear chin panels thus needed reshaping at the edges (a pain after being sprayed) as the body curved inwards more than allowed for as a result. Here are a few images of the finished article, I'll post a more comprehensive set in a new post in the RFI section... All in all I was very impressed by the kit quality considering it's age and the fact that it's an AMT/ERTL. I was surprised at how much better quality the mouldings were than the recent re-release '56 T-Bird from the same stable. I've enjoyed the build and learned more as I've gone along. I hope those of you who followed the build found some interest there too. Thanks for sticking with it! The RFI thread can be found HERE... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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