Richard Rawlings clear coat and good to go! boom! Ga...... oh

Splendid job looking forward to seeing the colour

Color is on, the car is red.

Unfortunately, so is a lot of other stuff in my workshop and even beyond. This Vallejo Flat Red 70.975 paint has been a total mess.

I applied 6 thin coats over the medium-dark gray primer, spread between 2 days. Total spray time per coat was around 2 minutes for the entire body, keeping it thin, and very even. Until the 5th and 6th coats, the coverage on the car was very weak and the color wasn't saturated enough.

But after the 6th thin coat, it was looking pretty good. Then I discovered that the floor, workbench table, shelves, tools, art supplies, etc. were also covered in a fine layer like dust. Wiping horizontal surfaces with an alcohol soaked cloth brings it up. Some paint "floated" or was tracked from the shop floor further into other areas. So I've been spending my free time cleaning every surface of this mess.

Really took me by surprise. I have airbrushed various acrylics on canvases in this same workspace for a couple years, more than a dozen paintings. Even misting on large blue sky-scapes and out-of-focus effect green foliage backgrounds in nature scenes. Red and oranges in butterflies. I have NEVER had anything but a bit of predictable overspray on my workbench drop cloths and easel.

I am ending all airbrush usage in my workshop. I'll do any further outdoors only. My most recent airbrushed canvas painting was completed nearly a year ago, so I am not really missing out on much. I am very happy that I didn't have any of my current painted canvases or Bristol paper artworks stored or drying near where they could be totally ruined.

Anyway I'm a bit annoyed with it all. I'll get back to the model sometime later.

Finally got to take a few photos of the color. To my eye, the red appears more saturated in these pics than in person. But they are pretty close on the couple of screens I viewed on.

Some areas do need sanding to clean them up. I am very tempted to just treat this as a red primer and choose another acrylic paint (not matte) for a single final color coat before clearing it.

Note that the camera I used for this created the "dirt" spots, they aren't on the car (or wall, or where ever).






Work table is still not usable. Most of the clean-up from the red spray is done, but I'm going to do some re-organization while the work area is dismantled. New (better) table work top is planned, plus I would like to get my task lighting improved from the rather make-shift setup now, to something solidly fixed overhead. Also might do some fix-ups for my chair and whatnot.

So all that will be done first, before I eventually return to the model.

Sorry to read about your Work table. The model is looking great! Fantastic work!


Rob

That is awesome man! You really did a excellent job on it.

Thanks. I have not worked on the model in near a month now. But the work bench updates are making progress.

I used to have a make-shift metal clamp-on light with a bulb mounted high on my left hand side, and then the fluorescent magnifier light to the right to help eliminate the harsh shadows from the other lamp.

Switched out to an LED shop light mounted under my shelf. It's essentially the same size and shape as a 4 foot long fluorescent tube, but all LED. 100W equivalent output from just 19W device, with no hard shadows thanks to the continuous diffuse light dispersion. Darn better than my old light setup.

I did take the model out of the box today, LOL! Much easier to see with this new light, and working on details should be easier. Haven't got to use the light for a real task yet, so I'm eager to see how it goes in practice. See how the model looks a bit more rusty/orange-ish in this pic? That's why I'm probably going to treat it as primer and light coat it with a richer, redder coat of some other paint down the road.



You can see the bench top is veneered plywood. Not an ideal choice, but I had lots of it back when I built this bench. The edge chips a bit, and the veneer does not handle cuts and jabs from hobby knives and wood working chisels very well. The edge also is a bit ragged and annoying. So that is all next to be updated.

The month since I inadvertently painted tons of stuff red has not changed my view that how I used to work with the airbrush is simply not suitable to continue with. Building a vent hood, either through the wall behind the bench or a window (could also be useful when applying wood finishes/varnish/glue fumes/etc.) but is going to require WAY more work than I have interest in now.

So not sure where things will go from there. But I do have ample (!) tiny details on this model to do during the winter months ahead, none of which will require airbrushing, so there's no hurry.

Looks really great can't wait to see it finished (The Car =)).

Throw a little grey primer here and there and it would like my real Mustang when I had it.

When I used to spray paint, I always thought about getting a cheap oven hood to use that as a spray booth vented through a dryer duct.

Had a little time to work on the trunk a couple of weeks back. No way to spray enamel primer in these tiny spots, so I brushed the primers on. A bit of dry brushed silver and gray on top of the gas tank.

After taking these photos, I applied some Bare Metal foil for the piano hinge on the trunk access door, and for the locking plate in the center. I'll do some dark brown washes in the corners to add some weathering when I next get time to work on it.

The left and right walls of the trunk will be drop-in scratch built parts that are installed after the body is glued to the chassis. This way I can be certain that I don't make the body mounting much harder, and that the trunk hinges clear everything with the final placement.

Making use of some of the warm weather the last week, I was able to airbrush a new red over the body. I did the airbrushing outdoors, in pleasant working conditions. The new red is a Badger brand opaque red. To my eye, it's a bit more magenta in the bottle, but dries quite neutral. I have used this paint for many projects in the past few years.

First I removed the body panels, and sprayed their closing/end panel surfaces. After that had dried, I assembled the body, secured it to a plastic bottle, and sprayed the entire thing together to ensure an even coat. This red looks "right" to my eye in person. Deep, tending toward a blacker red in the shadows. Quite neutral, not leaning visibly toward either orange or magenta.

Still a few flaws, but hey, I am a noob at this.

Here it is, with two tires set in place. After some detail elements, come springtime this should be ready for a glossy clear coat.

Ahhh, there's the red I have been waiting for and not that primer red. Can't wait to see glossy red come spring. I hope that's spring your time. Here it's about 5 months away. lol

An IPMS class winner adlabs! If you're a noob at this, can't imagine how good the work will be once you've got "experience".

Thank, but well I've got to get it finished in one piece, first!

Further preparation for the clear coat... How to apply the side striping? The decal that came with the kit is way too small. Not even long enough to reach from wheel well to wheel well, and part of the lettering fell into the door gap!

First, I bought Tamiya masking tape and did some testing for masking and spraying the stripes, and ultimately didn't want to go down that path.

Instead, I chose some Great Planes Model Striping Tape. I measured, and the "GT 350" logo was 1/16th inch high, so I bought tape that wide. Thus, the center stripe is 1/16th wide, and for the upper and lower narrow stripes, I used a hobby knife to cut the 1/16th strip into 3rds, or about 1/50th of an inch.

Then, eyeballed the alignment using the lower edge of the doors as my starting guide. I left a gap on the front fender for the "GT 350" letters, which I cut from the decal sheet and applied.

Then the fender emblems. These were made the same as the trunk, grille, and dash emblems shown earlier. A bit of styrene (.020) wrapped in bare metal foil, then used a 00 size brush to paint the details. Coated with a dab of gloss varnish to seal. After deciding on placement, I used a hobby knife to scrape a hole through the body paint and primer, down to the white plastic and use model cement to glue the emblems in place. Did the same on the trunk emblem.

Result is better than I expected the Great Planes Stripe Tape is pretty thin, and has a nice adhesive power on a clean glossy surface. I don't think I could have done as well using masking and spray.

Anyway, a few things left... Need to do a dark wash in the grilles ahead of the windshield. Probably will do the tiny metal foils for the key plates and hood pin latches, too, so the gloss coat protects those tiny parts. Then time for gloss spray overcoat when the weather permits. All details from there will go on top of the gloss coat.

Oh, and I finally used CA glue to attach the wheels to the suspension. Now the car can sit (delicately) on the suspension and wheels with no blocks underneath, while still letting me remove all those parts for easier handling while working. Those will likely be among the last things I do, gluing the suspension/wheel assemblies to the chassis.

wonderful build and thread. Thank you for sharing.

Awesome job Ads!

It looks great. You must have great patience. I could never put so much time in one model my patience would have gone down the drain =)

Incredibly good, Adlabs!

This weekend I tried some Bare Metal Foil on the window and tail light trim, plus a few little things like the keyholes and the hood pin plates. Most surfaces were sanded at 1000 grit before application to help keep the appearance as smooth as possible. I decided to go ahead and try to use the foil under the gloss coat. Even if the gloss coat slightly subdues the brilliance, it'll only help the scale effect, not to mention help hold the foil in place. The tiny pieces are prone to sliding on the model surface under finger pressure, sometimes.

Still need to do the door handles. I watched a guy on YouTube use the foil on bumpers, which I will try too. Plus I may as well do the gas fill cap, too. Foil went on pretty easily, about 10 to 20 minutes per window.

I do not like that big gap between the rear window and the rear interior sidewalls. I'm going to think of some way to close that up.

Well last week was the 1 year anniversary since I started this build... Where does the time go?!

The last couple weeks I've been working on more chrome details. Did the door handles, key holes, around the tail lights, the gas cap, and the tail lights themselves. For the tail lights, I've lined the inside with plain aluminum foil from the kitchen, and held it in place with a bit of tiny wooden dowel. These will get a sheet of styrene glued to the rear to finalize the form.

The Bare Metal Foil applied easily enough to the gas cap, capturing the embossed snake in the molding. On top of the foil I painted in with yellow around the snake, and added some little dabs of black for the "Shelby Cobra GT350" lettering.



The dowels are visible here:


Here I continue painting the outside of the interior walls red so they look match the bodywork when the doors are open:


I also made a few labels and stickers for under the hood. These are made from plain paper, marked with acrylics and dots of technical pen, and a few bits of ballpoint pen. Glued in place with white glue and coated with a bit of satin acrylic varnish.

Labels:
1. Part label on side of ignition coil *(invisible in this pic, see it farther down the page)
2. Battery check log sticker.
3. Left to right: Markings on radiator hose, markings on supercharger belt, "Caution Fan" label, and radiator cap warnings.
4. Vehicle spec label.
5. VIN tag (made from Bare Metal Foil)
6. Left: Shelby American labels on Supercharger (still some touchup here), Right, Ford maintenance guide label.
7. Shelby American vehicle tag.
8. Washer fluid label (not there yet!!!)


Here you see the red paint from the interior elements blending with the exterior, plus the Bare Metal Foil threshold plate.


And finally, some early ideas on display. This is a graphic layout of the side stripes, color matched best I could manage to the body. Laid in place is a 1:1 scale print of the graphic from a 1967 GT350 gas cap, to serve as the display label. If I were more nuts I might buy a real gas cap emblem and place it there. Underneath it all would be a mirror (in place of the silvery base shown here). This should all fit inside a 9x9 inch display area.

*And you can see the label on the ignition coil here!


EDIT: And a brief distraction from the model... I built a mallet from oak. Used no power tools or nails. If I build a furniture piece I've got in mind later in the year, I'm going to need the mallet for chiseling some mortise and tenons, maybe some dovetails. Saves wear on my hands.

Brilliant work - looks amazing!