What Joel said, no silvering at all and the edges look completely gone.

the bonnet looks great Russ. Amazing finish with the blue and gold contrast. Looking forward to seeing it all together.

cheers
Michael

Thanks for the kind words guys

hoping to get the clear coat on this week sometime

Top job, on the decals, Russell.

Thanks Jesper

Great job Russel. Paint and decals look fantastic. The screaming chicken on the hood is great.Can't wait until its finished.

Thanks Darrell

Clear coats on, masking off




next up, chrome

Looking good Russ, excellent finish. Have you picked up some BMF or are you going to mask and paint the chrome trims?

Cheers, D

Russell,
You really nailed that Gloss clear coat. Truly impressive deep shine.

Joel

Thanks D!

yep, ordered some BMF last night from BNA to the sounds of "gee, your hobby's expensive!"

And I had to ask: "as compared to?"





Thanks Joel

Really, I can't take credit for it though. The enamels seem to self level as long as the dust bunnies stay away...

The hardest part was making sure the metallic effect wasn't ruined by over application of the paint

Disaster has struck!

After completing the application of the BMF chrome to the trim and installation of the glass, I noticed that the sides of the shell had been dulled by my hands when holding it.

Attempting to clean it up a bit, I applied turtle wax car polish and was dismayed that it began to eat into the paint

No matter how much I buffed, I have not been able to restore the shine and the blemish runs the entire length of both sides of the car from wheel arch to wheel arch.

Now, I really don't know what I'm going to do?

Do I, a) hit the area with some 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper and then buff with some compound and hope like hell it restores the shine, or
b) respray the sides again?

Talk about a mojo killer!

Ahh man, that really s...
Never heard of wax eating into the paint. Is it "only" the clear coat?

I would try and sand/polish it. If it doesn't work, then repaint. If you repaint, you need to remove all of the polishing compounds you've applied. Even a small trace of wax, can make the top coat start to crackle.

I'm really sorry that you've hit a snag here Russ, sounds very perplexing. The problem that I see is that you have used an enamel for both the colour and clear coats, so if there is a trace of mineral spirit solvent in the wax it has reacted with the paint. It might be tricky to remove the wax without further reaction with the paint. I'm wondering if a coat of something like Alclad Aqua Gloss over the top might restore the shine, and not react with enamel gloss coat.

Cheers, D

Russell,
Oh no !! Sorry to hear of your clear coat issues.

Turtle Wax has several types of waxes and polishes. Even their polishing compound is labeled as a polish, which it really isn't. I have a full shelf in my garage loaded with various products to polish and wax the Coupe.

Exactly what was the name of the product you used? Does the ingredients contain, mineral spirits, Alcohol, or a lacquer which would be it's base?

This is one of the main reasons why I only use a Lacquer based clear coat. But with that being said, all isn't lost.

Worst case scenario is that you need to wash down the clear coat surface to remove as much of the polish as possible. Then I would lightly rub out the finish with 6.000, 8,000, & 12,000. Then if you have the Novus system use both the fine and finish pastes, followed by only a Carnauba liquid wax. The finish should be perfect once again.

BTW, when ever I work on a polished shell where I have to hold it, I wear white cotton gloves from the drug store.

Joel

I feel for you Russ!

I think it always difficult to match paint finishes so just working on the sides of the car, either through sanding/polishing or painting it is going to be difficult to match. I would bite the bullet and redo the shell though you would lose the decals already in place.

Good luck with what you try!

cheers
Michael

Thanks Gents for all the kind words of support... It's always a downer when you get to final lap and one of the tires blows out landing you in the kitty litter

After careful examination, it actually looks like the Turtle Wax (yep just the ol classic Turtle Wax I use on the car) hasn't eaten into, or dissolved the paint in any way. It actually seems that it's just left micro abrasions on the surface. Unusual, I know.

So, without access to really fine grades of paper (Treasury restrictions, you understand...) my plan is to rub back the affected surfaces (Just the sides of shell below the waist and between the wheel arches) with 2000 grit paper, removing all traces of the polish in the process (I hope) and then respray the clear locally while the rest of the car is masked off. Luckily the colour underneath has not been damaged, hopefully avoiding the need to colour match and saving the decals-Fingers crossed!

Russell,
That's good news for sure about the actual paint. As for the fine grades of Micro Mesh emery cloth, you can achieve the same results by using auto body finishes, which is what I use to use. For me it was Meguiars Scratch X 2.0 followed by one or more of their liquid polishes, and then one of their liquid Carnauba wax. The system that I used is their Detailer series. The finishes that resulted were equal to what I end up with these days using the full Gravity system which is crazy expensive, and certainly not made in house by any means. By no means do I use the top of their line on models, which as I said is just for my Coupe.

The key is use liquids, not pastes. Pastes are semi solids and will scratch as you rub them into the surface which takes more force then liquids do. Also, the wax build up on the application rag is an issue as well as it's more prone to grab and hold dust particles. I personally use Micro towels that I cut up into small squares that I buy at a discount auto store, then toss when used just once.

The other option is just mask and re-gloss the entire shell if the damage goes through the clear coat.

Honestly, I've re glossed shells plenty of times and the end results are always better then the 1st time. If you're using a Air Brush, the last Wet coat can be thinned about 10-20% more and applied with an even coat. That really does help level out the finish.

Joel

Hi Joel!

Words of wisdom from the Master!

Well, I'm going the re-spray route, but I need to be careful so as not to spray the windscreens or the satin finishes... so a bit of unusual masking required

Russell,
Solid choice for sure. just give the surfaces to be resurfaced a light rub 1st. Looking forward to your update with the positive results.

Joel

Lots of luck with the respray. the car looks well masked so you should be okay with the over-spray. I want to see the finished product.

Thank you Joel

yep, rubbed down with 2000 grit paper, ready for a respray (tonight, all being well )




Thanks Darrell. Me too!

Fingers crossed this works!

Hi guys! Good news! It worked!

Some dodgy mobile phone shots...






The panel fit on the Revell kit isn't too good but I figure, neither is the 1:1 panel fit that good, so I'm going to go with it!

Just a couple more items to finish off then we're all done!

Actually, I think it's the first time I'll finish a model in more than a year!

Looks great Russ, I'm glad the fix worked out so well for you!

It will be really good to see this one cross the line, and won't it feel good to get a completion under your belt!

Cheers, D

So glad it worked. Looks amazing Russell.