I've had decent luck with Rust-oleum. The key is recoat within one hour or after 48 hours. Otherwise it won't gas out properly. And I've mixed and matched Testors spray cans with RO with no issues. Guess we'll see. I am interested in learning to airbrush. I shared a video on the Model cars thread about a rechargeable brush and compressor combo. This one:
In reply to Javelin (Forum Supporter) :
There were 250 SWBs in the 3 hour "Daytona Continental" which was a predecesor to the 24 hour. Those cars did not have the wheels I am using on this build, and I am not aware of a mid/light blue car there. In dark blue with wire wheels it would fit in next months Sebring theme, as in 1961 Denise McCluggage won the 3 liter GT class in hers that she drove to the track. This build is part of my personal theme of not red Ferraris the way I would want them,
Can we pick the March contest so I actually have time to get something. Been missing out.
initial reshape of the front wheel opening:
achieved by gluing a piece of wheel well from another kit into the fender with lots of sanding and filler!
Progress on the wheels. The kit comes with the 5 hole wheels, but Bill's car used the 9 hole wheels. These are donated from a Monté Carlo parts kit I have.
solfly said:Can we pick the March contest so I actually have time to get something. Been missing out.
12 Hours of Sebring cars with a focus on Corvettes. There's at least six of us building one.
3d chess
In reply to Saron81 :
I really need the 5 hole wheels. I can trade you the set of 9-holes that came with my kit.
Javelin (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to Saron81 :
I really need the 5 hole wheels. I can trade you the set of 9-holes that came with my kit.
send me a pm/email with your address... I think I have another new set. I threw the ones from this kit in my 84 Petty kit so it too would have the correct wheels. I definitely have a gold painted set if nothing else.
Saron81 said:Javelin (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to Saron81 :
I really need the 5 hole wheels. I can trade you the set of 9-holes that came with my kit.
send me a pm/email with your address... I think I have another new set. I threw the ones from this kit in my 84 Petty kit so it too would have the correct wheels. I definitely have a gold painted set if nothing else.
You are awesome! Thank you!
Primer and build started. Building sub assemblies first.
Anyone know what color the engine block should be?
Mike McLaughlin's decals arrived late last week with a fairly ominous warning
I am not very familiar with this liquid decal film they mention. Is it a spray or other liquid form? Does it just get applied over the top of the whole decal sheet or somehow applied after each decal is put on the body?
Aside from that, I'm very impressed with the level of detail in the decals on this sheet. Some of them look impossibly small and probably difficult to apply, like the decals that go on the wheel lips. We'll see if I have the patience for those.
Out of curiosity, I tried messing with the kit's original decals, which were not sealed in plastic and show signs that they got wet at some point. I experimented with the harness and seat branding decals and I don't think they went well.
Yuck! Those will have to come off and I'll have to try again, unless I get lazy and just dab flat black paint to cover the discolored margins.
I haven't done much actual building in the last couple days, content to let the chassis paint harden more before handling and making me wonder if the gray I used is significantly darker than what was used on the actual car. I won't redo it, but I'll always wonder. A more immediate concern is whether the Testors bottle of gray on hand will match well enough if I need to touch up those sprayed parts after it's all built.
In reply to Claff :
I don't know if they have a particular type they want but the film for home printing I use a clear Testors decal spray.
This is one of the upgrades I was excited about trying... the headlamps in these NASCAR Tbird kits are flat where the real cars had deep dual buckets. The pro stock models got the shape right. I found a set online, and here they are compared to what comes in the kit... of course they're a little smaller and rounder.
Here's the start of the bodywork to make them fit! Made a spacer piece for under the lights, and putty for the corners. Much sanding to do...I've never done this much bodywork on a model!
I've seen this stuff recommended for spraying on older decals to keep them from disintegrating.
There's also the brush-on stuff from Microscale. This is what I use although it can be tricky to apply smoothly.
https://www.amazon.com/Microscale-Industries-Micro-Liquid-Decal/dp/B0006O9K5G
As always, best to test it on a small or unimportant decal before coating the whole sheet with it.
I haven't made too much progress yet, but the engine is mostly together.
In reply to Claff :
I use the Microscale that Slowbird linked. Do not do the entire sheet at one pass. Brush it out so it is as thin as possible. Carefully do just the colored portion of each decal. Where ever possible trim the decal right down to the color before wetting. The extra clear that looks so bad on your seat belt sample will be even more obvious with the coating applied. On those belts you can probably trim them in place to improve.
I sprayed Testors clear on a sheet once and it seemed to work. That was decades ago, however.
Everything is painted now on my Modified kit. The hood got inexplicably blotchy and I may try to repaint it. Body got really nice. I'm liking this kit but it still manages to have enough MPC-ness to keep me suitably irritated. Pics soon.
Did some preliminary painting on the cockpit and chassis parts, cleaned up the body and painted it.
In reply to BenB (Forum Supporter) :
Lawdy!
Some progress on a not red Ferrari. The grille assembly would not be possible without the pins for the first 4 pieces. After the glue was set on them the remainder went easily. Pretty fiddly removing the excess glue though.
In reply to TurnerX19 :
Lawd have mercy! How do you do that?!?
Impressive photo etch work!
In reply to TurnerX19 :
Wow! Nice Work!
That makes me feel like a wuss for whining about the hood latches in my Cobra kit.
In reply to ddavidv :
These are a hell of a lot bigger than the Cobra hood latches! This is an old Gunze Sangyo kit, and they were real proud of the photo etch parts. Some of that pride is justified, if only the rest of the kit was as good as the grille.The wire wheels were great too, they look excellent on my Esci 250 California Spyder. This kit had no engine and some bad proportions in the interior. I have opened the doors and bonnet, and am using the engine from the Gunze GTO kit. After market seats too, as I used these kit seats in said California Spyder. I had to move the gear stick back, as it collided with the instrument panel. The pedals were molded into the floor and appeared to hang, while the real car's pedals go through the floor like a Volvo 544.The floor itself that is cast into the die cast frame is 1/16" short of reaching the front of the parcel shelf behind the seats. In the photographic instructions you can see the gap! Some of those issues are why I put this one aside 30 years ago.
They must have hired some engineers from MPC. 
Current status of the "Ridge Runner" (good name for a pre-runner pickup; dumb name for a roundy-round car):
Thank you to whoever recommended green. Tamiya metallic FTW. This is a kit of highs and lows. I'm pretty sure the chassis is shared with all 4 of these kits. I also think the engine is probably the same. The decal sheet and box art want you to believe it's a Ford but the intake has a rear mounted distributor. MPC's solution was to point an arrow vaguely at the front of the engine to mount the distributor. Or, a smart guy would just cut off the mount tab off the bottom of the intake and flip it around. I don't think any BBF had a four bolt valve cover. I could have put the 429 from my '73 Mustang in there I suppose. Meh, who's gonna know?
The roll cage was a miserable thing to put together with teeny little pins that went into slightly-too-large holes. Trying to hold it together as you add pieces was an exercise in frustration. A smart guy would just use ACC but this smart guy didn't have any. Much cursing later it is together. The floor pan has mounting points for the seat but the cage hits it on the outboard side and the steering wheel doesn't line up with the seat. At. All. The rear leaf spring mounts are a joke and I dumped Krystal Klear over them in dismal hope it keeps them attached to the chassis long enough to carry it to the display case. OTOH most everything else has fit with a precision I find, well, unsettling for an MPC tool.
I'm not looking forward to the floorpan and rear deck installation. Test fitting didn't inspire confidence. The wheels get glued in place with (literally) square pegs into square holes. This is one of those kits where you do a bunch of assembly and am impressed with how well it goes together and then WHAM, something is just awful. And there are ejection pin divots in everything.
With all that complaining completed I still think it will look pretty cool when it's finished.
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