new member - 80's scale 1/43 collector

[Guest]

Not really thought of it. After I've finished the light blue version, the only other colour I want is yellow. There'll be a black version out in a few months so I'll buy that.

As mentioned the yellow's proving so difficult to find and because it's a prime colour it cannot be made.

What's the deal with these airbrush kits? Not sure if it would be worth buying an airbrush kit just to paint one model.

What did you use and what were your methods? May be worth it depending on cost and how much effort needs to be put in.

[Simon]

I used a budget one powered by a can of compressed air when I made up models years ago. Too expensive for just one model/one-off. If you are looking for a particular shade, can you get it in aerosol in Halfords?

[Guest]

Thanks, it's not the particular shade that's proving to be the problem. I'm not too fussed about the shade, preferably I'd like it to be a strong yellow shade like the volkswagen golf, think it's marina yellow or sunshine yellow.

But it's the fact that for some reason the yellow doesn't conform to the model, tried about four different types on top of the original red and with the red scraped off. The yellow paint just doesn't want to know. May have to accept defeat, not sure if there are people who do respray jobs for model motors but that may be my only option the way things are going.

[Captain Slow]

Try priming it first.

[Guest]

Hopefully by the weekend I'll have pictures of three more ford sierras joining the car park, obviously I've painted one in vision blue colour (or light blue) which are still awaiting the decals to be slid on - they haven't arrived yet.

I've painted two more, one in chestnut brown and the other - wait for it - in sunshine yellow! These two I've used spray paint and it actually works quite well. Tomorrow evening when they're totally dry I'll put the bits and pieces back on again.

All being well pictures will be up by the weekend.

[Guest]

Unfortunately the ford decals haven't arrived yet even though they were sent out to me first class last Thursday... it appears royal mail have lost the letter.

The person who's supplying these decals said he can make some more and send them out on Tuesday, that is if the others haven't arrived by then.

Therefore you're gonna have to wait folks... bit frustrating as I have three new sierras just awaiting the ford decals to be slid on and they'll be totally complete and can join the rest of the cars on set.

On a side note, I've thought of a way where I can take one shot of all 20+ cars... three rows of eight bays, semi aerial view. I've taken trial pictures with just the empty bays and the background wall and it's definitely manageable in one shot, you actually get to see all the motors quite close-up.

Then I'll take three more shots so you get to see each individual row close-up of the same car park.

Pictures will be up subject to delivery of the ford decals!

[Russ]

best way to paint dicast vehicle bodies is to strip them first by leaving them (with no plastic parts attached) in a jar of brake fluid for a few days, then rince well with water, dry then prime with normal car primer and paint in top coat with an can or an airbrush.
The brake fluid trick does work with some plastics ,ive stripped model diesel locos using the same method with no side effects

[Guest]

I've learnt to do all that eventually! For some of the earlier paint jobs, the cars I've sold I used a brush which was supplied with the touch up paints brought from ebay. Looked good but the spray paint job is defo much better.

Although I now strip the original paint off using the method you mention for all the models I re-paint, there hasn't been any need to use a primer. Three or four very light coats of the spray paint brought from B&Q does the job nicely.

They are the plasti-kote super gloss sprays.

In the future I'd like to respray another version of the red mk3 escort, however the stumbling barrier appears to be the front grill and headlights. They look so stuck-on it looks like they'll be difficult to remove without breaking!

[Russ]

There are products you can buy to dissolve glue, super glue remover should work. The beauty of using car sprays is that you can get the exact colour of any model. The only thing to watch is that some metalics are 'over scale' when painted. For these I would use a primmer then dust the top coat on

[Guest]

When you say over scale do you mean they tend to lose the finer details?

With these aerosol sprays I make sure I don't by spraying very very lightly from a fair distance. I've learnt this through experience. There has been an occasion where I sprayed too much - or not lightly enough - and lost some of the finer details. It didn't matter though as I just dipped the shell into break fluid oil to strip the paint and started again the next day!

Thanks for the info on the glue removers. May have to rack your brains again if I do decide to respray another version of the red escort.

[Russ]

Sometimes the 'metal' content in metallic paint is too large, I have a vanguards allegro that is metallic and the metal flakes are too big and show up on the model

[Guest]

New pictures should be up on Sunday hopefully. Been assured new decals on their way and will arrive before the end of the week.

As mentioned three new painted/resprayed sierras will join the car park. I'm gonna change the diorama slightly - there will be a traditional pinkish/brownish coloured brickwall with a blue skyline in the background.

Then there'll be a different car park with all (24?) cars visible in one shot, semi arial view.

[Guest]

New pictures up with new diorama, new additions from last time are the blue, brown and yellow ford sierras and white morris marina.

[Guest]

painted sierra in vision-blue colour, a brush was used and the original paint stripped off:



resprayed sierra in chestnut brown colour, original paint was stripped off but a primer wasn't used:



resprayed ford sierra in sunshine yellow, original paint was stripped off and a primer was used:


Tomorrow I will post pictures of all 23 cars in one shot lined up in a different car park.

[maestro dave]

All cars look fantastic ,
well done