'41 Willy's Pro Street Curbside

thanks Al, no worries my friend, I have no intentions of going that mad, just yet. I never planned on doing the entire lid. Although it did cross my mind, the deciding factor was how much the adhesive caused them to squirm around. Which turned out to be quit a lot, in the end I stuck with my plan to only do a few rows.

Thanks Clay, I totally agree on the build up concern. Any tips, and or advise is always welcomed.

For those interested in how I plan to control the issue of paint build up.

I wet sanded the white base coat back with a 2400 sanding pad? I took it down until I could see the original colour of the tape. Once I get the coverage right with the orange there will be a lot of time spent masking with either liquid mask and or tape and wet sanding after every step to help control the build up.

Going to be a real challenge most definately.

I have just this minute realised an issue that may be a real concern but one I could have avoided. The yellow base had a flat finish, even though I wet sanded it down to a smooth finish they laid the making, I should have cleared it first. I thought of doing this during this step, but me decision not to was trumpeted by the fact I didn't bother when I did the Merc. In future I will be doing a clear before laying down any masking.

I actually do have qualifications in Psychiatry and counselling so i could come over and interview you, make an assessment for a training regimen to increase your inhibitions in doing crazy stuff, then when you're on the right track and making progress i'll chose that time to take my leave ..... it'd probably only take a few months and  ...... ahhhh stuff it i'm just out for a free holiday :)

I can tell you Dr. Colin that flying you over here and putting you up for a week would be cheaper then the assessment cost over here. My mother in law had one done, $2500 dollars was the charge.

So whe can you make it?

Some more messing around.

I fashioned myself a double bladed knife to make some more checkers out of Tamiya tape. Wanted to see if it might behave better then the AIZU micro tape I used previous.
It works the same, the tape will squirm around after it has been placed then positioned. The key it to place a corner exactly where it needs to be then press the rest of the "checker" onto the surface. Crazy hard to do.

The checkers I laid previous were .7mm, today's checkers I am laying on the A-pilar are .4mm. One day I will come up with a better method of cutting far more consistent looking "squares". These were cut using the double blade then I just eyeballed the "squares".
Currently working on the other A-pilar.

I also fashioned some .24mm pinstripping. Just taking it on a test run on a spoon, hoping to incorporate it into this somewhere too.

In keeping with my theme of trying new things I am also currently attempting to create that cracking effect when lacquer is laid over enamel. I am not sure it will occure as I used Acetone to thin the enamel.
I currently have three spoons with three different base colours, Tangerine Orange, Light Blue, and Copper, with Tamiya TS-64 Mica Blue Lacquer over top. I really hope it cracks, it better damn well. I have had enough back luck with past paint jobs
If anyone of you more experienced builds have any sure ways to to this please post it up. I would gladly try your suggestion.

If I can make it happen I will incorporate it into then lay out.

I will have another update later today.

I commend your patience and dedication to this Curt. Have you thought about how you're going to get those tiny checkers off the body after painting?

Thank you Denis.
Are you thinking the paint is going to be too thick? Not to worry, it won't. I will be masking off areas as I progress through the different paint so as not to have too much build up. The yellow checkers are ones that have already been removed. I have to admit they look pretty rough right now, hopping they look better once this is all done.
No biggie if they do, this is after all just plastic and practice.

Not so much about the thickness but they're so tiny you'd almost have to use the point of a blade (always scary on paint) to lift one up. How did you take them off?

The tip of a mini #11 type blade, and very cautious.

A-pilar roof junction checkers down, I wanted them t look like they are starting to come apart, unfortunately they look a little too ragged. This is the adhesive causing some of this, I can straighten them some what then they just squirm back. Working with them is kind of like bending spring metal, you have to bend it past the settling point. I am sure they will look fine in the end.

Been working on the front, trying different methods of cutting 1.5mm checkers. Finally settled on a method that works.

The last picture illustrates how I settled on cutting the 1.5mm squares.

I am using 1.5mm vinyl auto tape as the guide. Measureing and eye balling it turned out to be too difficult and time consuming to get consistent squares.
These are not perfectly square but will have to suffice until I can figure out how to program our laser plotter at work
 

Here's a crazy idea. Lay down your tape on gloss paper, then put that sheet in the paper shredder at work. Some shredders cut two ways and you probably won't get the same size but you will get interesting patterns quickly. The gloss paper is so you can remove the tape and still stick to the body.

Like I said...crazy! You're doing a great job and showing much dedication to this. I like the "flying checkers" idea!

Lotta minuscule taping !!!

Thanks guys.
I like the way you think Denis. We bring in a service to shred all our documents, I work at a mechanical engineering firm.

For a chequer effect i normally cover the area with tape and then, using a thin bit of bendy styrene rod as a straight edge, use a scalpel to cut the squares .. just pick off the ones you dont need with the scalpel point, laquer and spray the top coat ...

One for you to try mate, it's easier than sticking them all on individually ...

I'll be doing this on the roof of the s'cool bus, but starting small and running larger to the rear.

I do like where you're going with this though, especially the disappearing chequer effect.

Thanks for the idea Colin, I have thought of that in the past too.  These are just too small and to add the lines of the front end make it pretty much impossible to accomplish that technique successfully. I fear the end results might have been the same or worse in this case.

Keep the ideas coming though, I appreciate any and all suggestions. Sometimes a simple suggestion spurs another idea.

I managed to get the checkers laid, 160 1.5mm pieces in total for the front end. 64 .4mm for the flying checkers on the A-pillars.

Thanks for checking n on the progress.

Some colour.
Chrome base, pearls with a fade over it.

Really nice pattern you got there. Now hurry up and take those 160 squares off before they all dry and settle in! Can't wait to see how that comes out.

I can't decide wether you are mad, insane or talented and inspired so I'll hold off sending in the men in white coats for now.

Great stuff Curt!

Thanks Al and Denis.


Denis, I am in the process of removing them now. I use Model Master acrylic, l like it to set up before I pull the tape. l am still learning how this stuff reacts to time and taping for small areas like this.

And Al, I am most likely closer to the mad side of the spectrum, my ADD/OCD comes into play with this stuff.

Just want to add. When I do stuff like this I like to use lacquer as the base colour paint and acrylic for the graphics. That way if it messes up I can strip the acrylic in Mr. Clean and still have the base colour. Another reason I use lacquer to seal all the masking.


I am not entirely new to this process, just new to it in this scale. I have painted a few helmets and hockey goalie mask and bikes for friends in the past. Still, that Was back in the mid '90s, so I have forgotten a lot.

These are all paint no decals, and my own hand drawn/cut stencils.


Thanks guys for checking in and providing continued support and interest.

Hi Curt,

Those are some very sweet looking helmets...

Andy...

Thanks Andy.

Just pulled the tape, this is raw. It will be cleaned up, the fade originally was three colours. Blue, purple, hot pink. The hot pink wasn't very noticeable so I just carried the purple onto it. Should have just left it, paint is too heavy on the top portion, and too add acrylic does not bite into Spaz Stix chrome lacquer. You can see some edges and corners where the Chrome is peeking through.

Thanks for checkering in.


Also got some more masked and painted, lace will be applied over this with teal coverage.

Managed to get the lace down. Liquid mask still needs to be fully pulled.

Wow! that looks good Curt and I love the lace wing!

Brilliant Curt!

Thanks guys, I just realized the lace looks like Space Invaders characters on the fenders.