Question for all of you had a (dis)pleasure on working on models kits like this one.

Box said that car must be painted. Box has #3 difficulty written on it.

My question is, are all of these decals already on car or that something that needs to be painted or glued on (especially on race cars)?

 

Zoran, as a fellow model car builder, what it means is the car body is molded in white plastic. But the decals are waterslide decals that will need to be applied by you. They are fairly easily to do...though you'll need to be very careful not to rip them once the decal sheet is soaked. Being an older kit, the decals will be even more brittle, too. Skill 3 means its got the most parts and details. Good luck! Hope this helped!

 

I found two really nice '80 NASCAR Thunderbirds and they look great on the picture, but there is no way I would be able to build them like that. I can't build even simple plastic model without messing things up.

Thanks for your help.

 

Follow the plan and take your time.

Started building plastic models at age 6. If I could do it, so can you.

 

I think there are about 10-15 models in my basement that are half-way finish. I start working on them, but I quit half-way because I get disappointed with the work.

Decals are the biggest issue. I can handle everything else.

 

There used to be a decal set solution. I forget the name. Microset or something.

I slid the decals on and took a sable brush to move them then get the air bubbles out.

 

That would be great.

John, from your experiences, for how long do decals remain on a car like that?

 

I'd say a good long time. Many years in fact. The biggest issue is that they become brittle over time and yellow. I've got some that I built 25 - 30 years ago in a box in the crawl space. I'll dig em out and look.

I used to shoot them with clear (either matt or gloss clear). The decals never matched the shine of the paint until they were shot with clear. The clear sealed them up and helped keep the colors true.

If I remember, Testors and Poly S (maybe) made rattle can clear, matt, gloss, or semi gloss. It was decent. I used to mix up my own and airbrush it.

There are a few models without clear on them too, I think, that are that old. I'll see what they look like.

 

I hope to get back into model building...I started the hobby back when I was a young kid and my last completed kit was a year ago but I have lost the ability and patience needed.

 

This is a model that I bought recently. I paid $20 for it (I also got a display case) thinking it's a metal diecast, but ended up being a plastic model.

I'll be more than happy if my results end up like this one.

 

Here are a few pics with a sh*%%& camera of a Monogram '69 SuperBee in 1/24 that I built for a buddy who wanted to see what his car would look like in Hemi Orange and a White interior. I did this in '85.

Redstar - The decals are still in great shape. This one was shot with clear after the decals and trim were painted.

 

Great job.

Car still looks beautiful after 25 years.

 

Nice I've built that kit many times. Very cool...I like the simplicity of it.

 

Thanks. I've had it for a long time. It is suprising how well it survived.

There were several other models from the same time frame in the box that weren't in good shape.

 

Well I bought it, so here goes nothing.

 

Well, I'm done with one of them.
I know it looks bad, but this is first model kit that I actually completed so I must be happy.