WIP: 67 GT500 diecast I'm dickin around with
 

I've never done any diecast stuff before but the paint on this thing sucked. I got it as a gift ... years ago probably and was just going to assemble it with some cool wheels and fix the paint. Paint fixing didn't work so here are pics of where it's at.

Godawful paint out of the box:
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...t500_paint.jpg

Hope for the future. OOB paint looks half decent at this distance but it doesn't reflect hardly any of the magazine.
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...500_mockup.jpg

Clear coat failure. The stripes show it best. I figured there might be some lack of compatibility between what was on the car and my Dupli Color clear. Oh well.
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...gt500_hood.jpg

Tangle with 220 grit and you LOSE sucka! I'll be letting a new can of oven cleaner handle the rest.
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...500_sanded.jpg

Keep us posted on the progress!

I have a whole bunch that I still want to do.
Here's one that I was able finish awhile ago.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...isc/Boss9b.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...isc/Boss9a.jpg

Sort of a half-hearted attempt at the "True fire" technique.
Used HOC Rootbeer Candy over a Black Pearl base.

Looking forward to seeing how yours comes out! :thumbsup:

Looks great...
Hard to be appreciative with such a lousy paint job...:lolhit:

A lot of die cast have orange peal bad if you want the chrome around the windows to look right most hobby stores carry a thin chrome like tape you cut it and stick it on works great and looks real.I'm a old model car builder you need any idea on anything let me know.On the Lemans stripes Shelby used they get wider at the back of the car most die cast don't do this if you want to heres the specs on the real cars you'll have to scale it down http://site.cobranda.com/tech/lemans.pdf

thanks folks. nah there won't be any factory correct stripes or anything else going on here. I'm not even sure what color it's gonna be yet. I've been thinking about doing the Super Snake style stripe with a single larger stripe and some narrow outter stripes ... or something to that effect. It's been soaking in oven cleaner a couple days now and the old paint is coming right off, so I should make some progress in the next week or so. I'd really like to correct the typical diecast "rounded corners" here and there but I'm not sure exactly how to attack that. You'd think the seams would be perfect on a diecast but apparently not. Anyway, it's my first try so we'll see.

That's pretty cool. I flat-blacked a hideously-painted Camaro gift once and it looked pretty mean.

I just bought a 79 Z28 and a 94 Z28 to make a model of my car. I need to convert the t-tops to hardtop and find/make a cowl hood, and I'm putting the 6spd, center bolt heads, console and seats all in the 79 to replicate mine. I'd also like to make my own subframe connectors and slide-a-links somehow. Any pointers?

Is it metal or plastic if its plastic go to your hobby house and get a tube og tamiya putty it works like bondo for models you can build up those corners with it.woody80z28 you want round or square sub frame connectors for it round use the plastic tree the parts come on for square use a frame from a car or truck model cut to fit.The slide a link is a little harder but can be done the mounts you'll have to make any tin straight sheet of plastic will work the bar between then the plastic tree again will work.

I don't have too many die casts with really nice paint. I think the smaller ones get worse. Have fun with it and keep us posted. You may be able to build it up a little with some Duplicolor filler primer sealer. I find it at Walmart. Make sure it says "filler" in the title somewhere (they have a plain primer sealer that does not build up). The foil tape mentioned above is called Bare Metal, and does look pretty good.

My best advise would be not to ask me cause I'm a noob when it comes to models, however I've picked up some really great stuff from other people. Everyone uses styrene (sp) and I found some at a hobby shop here that came in sheets, 3 different thickness. You'll prolly need that to fabricate stuff for sure. The guy who posted here under you talked about putty. I got some plain ole Testors brand that works just fine so I'd get some of that too. You can make pretty much anything. Those finger nail files, the card board kind? - they are really handy cause you can cut them up and file anything. This is my first go at diecast so if that is what you're working with I can't help much. There are going to be some obvious obsticles with metal that you don't have with plastic. If you want to add on, cool, but if you want to remove parts .... I guess I'll be turning on the air compressor and getting out the cutting wheel. :shrug:

Anyway, here's a link that'll help you out. http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...lay.php?f=1797
Those folks do some crazy models with crazy detail and they pretty much have cool tricks for all that stuff.

Thanks man ... I use the whole Dupli Color gamut for painting from primer to clear, so I have cans of it sitting around at home. It's good stuff. I'm pretty sure my paint will come out fine, it's the body work I'm worried about most. Some of the seams are poor and almost like a real car, whoever put this one together wasn't concerned with alignment of the various parts so there are highs and lows butted together. I guess diecast is pretty soft metal so my sand paper is chewing it up pretty well to knock down the high spots.

alright then ... the ole Shelby's paint tangled with some oven cleaner and a gentle wire brush .... it wasn't pretty.
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...0_stripped.jpg

Here is just some initial body work. The gaps up front suck badly so they will be no more. It was almost as if parts were misaligned (if that was possible on a model) and there isn't a smooth line from fender to the head light buckets, so I'm trying to fix it with putty and later, high build primer. I'm ditching the upper scoops and trying to make the door scoops blend into the body lines better ... this shot is without sanding yet. Still have no idea what color I'm gonna go with so throw out your opinions if ya want.
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...0_bodywork.jpg

If you sanblast the parts and use automotive fillers and putties it will give you great results. Do not use model paint or primer,use the spray cans from the auto parts store.If you want to step it up use basecoat/clearcoat and they will look amazing. You can also let the touch up paint dry and then clear it with a two part clear.If you have a buddy with a body shop have him shoot the model as hes doing another job.


Dont be afraid to experiment,you can always strip a metal model and start again. Each one should come out better than the last...

I have a can of Evercoat sitting in the garage for the Firebird but somehow I just can't justify using it for a model. I can't see me mixing a teaspoon of filler and trying to get the right amount of hardner either. I'd probably get more on myself and everywhere else than on the car. However, I only use Duplicolor primer/base/clear on models anyway cause you're right, they're pretty much the way to go. A little fine sand paper and scratch X and things are lookin good. But with the piss poor weather here I just haven't gotten much done to show everyone. This thing is kinda on hold. My "WIPs" are more or less boring anyway cause I don't do all the detail but it gives me something to do to get away from other projects. It's ready for primer though and when I get that done I'll have something to show.

Some of my other models: http://s161.photobucket.com/albums/t...y_ofthe_south/

Looks like your too a good start on it.I have used finger nail polish to paint models before its cheap a lot of colors and can spray it thinned down.