Well, I got the trim cleaned up quite a bit between the use of isopropyl alcohol and liberal use of fine tip Sharpies. I also took the Molotow 1mm Chrome Pen to the emblems, door handles, locks, and the hood ornament. I used the chrome pen, then the red fine tip Sharpie, then the blue, then a toothpick since the white paint pen tip was too big – not a decal! The original car had burn thru places from the detailer hitting it too hard with the buffer on the real car, so those burn-thru spots are actually somewhat authentic, even though they’re a side-effect of too much polishing.
I cut the .05mm fine tip black pen down to a wedge shaped tip and hit the seams on the doors, hatchback, and gas filler door, which came out OK… maybe a little too much on the hatch seam, though. Still gotta paint the reverse lights, but I’m liking how it’s coming out.
The ’79-’93 Mustangs had this weird beltline trim that ran all the way around the car, along with the cool ‘louvered’ trim pieces behind the quarter windows. My ’82 GL came with some chrome pieces around the windows that made the car look like a grandma’s car, so I blacked ’em out to look a bit sportier.
I still have some spots to clean up and tweak a little with the Sharpie, thanks to the Testors masking tape lifting up in a few places. But all-in-all, I think masking and airbrushing the black trim came out pretty good.
I wasn’t happy that the kit had no provisions for any kind of sychronized steering (both front wheels are turnable, but kind of pointed off in whatever direction they wanted like Marty Feldman’s eyes). My solution, make a scratch-built rack & pinion to hide the incorrect tie rod I made using a paperclip. I ran the ‘clip through the inside of one of those straws that came on a WD-40 can.
Since I’d already painted up the interior panels/engine aprons, I decided to add some details as well in the way of electrical harness runs, brake lines, some hoses, battery cables, the battery and washer bottle, and cut some slots in the firewall for the paper clip hood hinges I had to make as well. I also added a couple of hoses to the air cleaner which I’ll hook up to ‘something’ under the hood once it all goes together. On the interior, added the carpet panels on the lower door panels, along with the window cranks, door handles, and the little trim pieces. There wasn’t a lot of decoration in these cars.
Well, the first run with the new airbrush station was a success in my book. The paint job however… mixed reviews. It was looking really good until I shot the clear, then things changed a little – the color went a little darker than I was hoping for, but it’s probably actually closer to the factory color. I also got a little bit of trash in the clear, along with the Pledge Acrylic as clear coat didn’t lay down as shiny as I was hoping (gotta do a little bit of polishing now).
All in all, I’m still pretty happy with it.
Now, if I can just get it polished and add the black trim without messing it all up.
1. Pledge Acrylic Floor Finish can be used as a suitable clear coat for plastic models sprayed [directly from the bottle without thinning] through an airbrush. 2. Make absolutely sure the area around the spray booth is clean and free of debris (like dust, fibers, etc.), otherwise they’ll wind up in your work. 3. I love airbrushing [again] – it’s a helluva lot of fun… especially when you don’t have to move the car, unpack everything, do the work, then pack everything back up to get the car back in the garage and secured at the end of the day. 4. Cameras don’t magically charge themselves (no pics this time).
Today after adding a few more finishing touches to the work space (tunes, a trash can, cutting mat, a new caster to replace the broken one on my old computer chair, etc.), I got to shoot some paint. I have no idea what to use for ‘primer,’ so I found some interior acrylic ‘Feather Gray’ at the hardware store, thinned it out, and shot it through the El Cheapo Harbor Freight airbrush. Getting the right mix of ‘thin enough for the AB was a challenge, but I eventually got some “primer” laid down on the Mustang body parts. I have no idea if it’s even going to stay stuck, so I’ll let it sit for a few days before checking it out – it’s stuck to my fingers quite nicely, however. If it won’t stick, no worries – it’s water based, should come right off, and I can start again once I find some real primer for the airbrush. I also learned a few valuable lessons today, in the way of securing the work, setting the flow needle, and making sure the airbrush actually stays together while cleaning it. Good times!
I joined an airbrush forum and had a question about there being an adapter for Paasche airbrushes, since their hoses and fittings are different than the ‘standard.’ I took this pic to hopefully show the difference between the hoses and fittings.
OK, so it took about a week (with a few days off due to weather – too cold – and a little bit of head scratching) but I finally have the airbrush station I’ve been wanting for quite awhile. As it sits right now, it’ll get me through adding color to my model kits, but I’ll most likely need to expand the ‘booth’ area for bigger projects and actual ‘artwork,’ if I ever get some inspiration.
So, here’s how we came out. I finished up the benches, punching a hole through the wall for the exhaust vent, and running of the wiring the other day, and today was all about cutting out the corner platform for the portable hobby spray booth, mounting it up, and installing a retractable electrical extension cord in the garage (which will get used for more than just powering the workstation).
The vent hose was the biggest hassle to install, since it’s fairly rigid compared to normal dryer vent hoses.Don’t know what to put over here… I’m sure that’ll change soon. I’m amazed at how bright the El Cheapo Harbor Freight overhead LED lights are – the included bench lights… not so much (waste of power outlets on the ‘strip more than anything).Looks like this should be fun, and there’s plenty of room for expansion, as necessary.Here’s how big the booth is, just for scale purposes. It even has its own lights, which will help during the painting process.
I actually finished up the workbenches, hung the lights, ran the power cables where they needed to go, and pretty much gotten everything done yesterday afternoon, but it was almost dark and I’d forgotten to take pictures.
Today, I had to run to Lowe’s to get a 24″x24″ piece of wood for the corner piece/airbrush booth perch, a louvered exterior dryer vent (for the exhaust hose), a 4″ hole saw (which needed a new drill, since my old one’s batteries died), and some sheet rock screws. I also went by Harbor Freight to score a small dedicated work bench tool kit (so I don’t wind up carting a bunch of my regular tools out there and leaving them), and also to get the 40′ retractable extension cord to mount up in the garage so I can have some light.
The weather called for mid-60s, but they lied – it never got above 39… which made cutting the exhaust vent hole and installing the vent bezel pretty much all I got done today before it started getting dark again (not really ‘dark’ dark… just dark enough to not be able to see inside of the shed – hence, the need for power and overhead lights). If it warms up a bit more over the weekend (looking like the best chance for that is Monday) then I’ll get the final things finished up and hopefully get some pics of the finished product.
So, a few years ago I built this cool shed on the side of my driveway, hoping it would eventually become a small shop in which I could permanently set up my airbrushing gear. Then, we basically made my mom get rid of her storage unit ($70/month bill she no longer had the money to pay), and her final leftovers wound in it while she was ‘going through the last bits.’ Well, as usual, she abandoned that since it was hot, in a place that she didn’t have to worry about it being destroyed or gone missing, and was boring so she didn’t want to do that anymore. That was sometime in late summer of 2016, and we’ve been waiting for her to finish ‘going through’ her crap ever since.
Last Friday, I decided I’d had enough of that and got busy on completing my small shop area. We boxed up the junk she’d covered our plastic table in, and basically shoved it aside so I could get the area I need cleaned out, organized, and ready for a transformation into functionality.
Saturday, I went to Harbor Freight and picked up 2 metal work benches, an airbrush compressor kit, some overhead shop lights, a 4′ power strip, and a few extension cords. Then I spent the weekend afternoons putting together the benches (as much as I could before it got too dark to continue) and got things somewhat situated in the shop area.
Here are the pics I took before working on it a bit more this afternoon.
The plan is for a corner piece for an airbrush booth to occupy (pretty much where the floor fan is currently), and to have plenty of light, along with an exhaust vent for the booth, and get it set up with some tunes and/or a small computer for reference/tunes. I’m also setting up a retractable electric cord in the garage to string out and plug-in the bench/lights so I’ll have some power available. Eventually, I’ll get an electrician to get some dedicated power at least close enough to plug-in the building as I need to without having to run the extension cord from the garage (although, I’m pretty sure there’s something in the builder’s code about not actually being legal to wire up a plastic building).
Dave and I took off to Warren Performance Exhaust (WPE) in San Angelo to get the bung for the O2 sensor welded in. While there, I asked them to weld up some of the joints for the Pype stainless exhaust to eliminate some clamps, and install some permanent tailpipe hangers (I’d used the floppy universal hangers and tons of clamps when I originally installed the system). Dave and I took off to Corner Stop a few doors down for some awesome breakfast burritos and Migas while the work was being done. After we returned (about an hour later), the work was already done, and only cost $50! Sweet!
Took a quick ride over to Advance to get some paint for the Ram Air air cleaner and A/C idler pulley & bracket, then went back to the house. It was pretty ‘swampy’ as Dave liked to say [regarding the humidity, compared to Phoenix] so we just chilled and hung out for the rest of the day. Gonzo came by and hung out for a bit as well – had a good time shootin’ the sh!t and tellin’ stories.
I’ll get those things done one of these weekends when the temps come back down, the bugs go away, and there’s not some kind of car show or band thing going on. Stay tuned!
