From: andy@b30.ingr.com (Andrew Brezinski)
Subject: Re: Another question (or two) from the 59 vette guy...
Organization: Intergraph
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 20:49:46 GMT

In article <1993Jan8.155741.10184@cbnewsl.cb.att.com> piz@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (G G ZIPFEL) writes:
>
>
>	First off, thanks for the suggestions about removing the paint.
>	I picked up some dot 3 brake fluid, gave it a soak, and now
>	it's a clean as a cruise ship. So now to new questions:
>
>	1) Will the texture of the paint on the body be better
>	if I pick up an air brush system? Can I use the air brush
>	to paint the indented panels on the side of the vette?
>

IMO, most definitely, YES.  About a year ago, I had my first opportunity
to use an airbrush.  I wouldn't exactly call it a high-grade system, but
the resulting finish was considerably better.  Also, another benefit of the
airbrush is that you can buy the bottles of "brush-on" paint which are 
usually about half the price of aerosol cans.  Eventually, the airbrush
will pay for itself.

There is nothing that you can paint with a spray can that you can't paint
with an airbrush.  My first use of the airbrush was on a 1989 Corvette ZR1
and I had no problems painting the side gills.  Hope that answers your
question.

>
>	2) Has anyone used the buffing/polishing kits that I read about
>	in last months "Scale Auto" Magazine? The results looked
>	great, but it seemed like quite a bit of work.
>

I have used these with pretty good results.  I know others who have had
outstanding results.  The difference has been in the application.  I
prefer to build factory replica stock, late model vehicles.  They tend to
have a lot of sharp edges and corners.  I have a tendency to go all the
way through the paint on these edges.  However, if you build a '49 Merc
Street Rod, for example, all of the edges are rounded and you dont' have
nearly as much of a problem with wear-through.

I use the Millenium 2000 kit and have been pretty happy with the results.
However, as you mentioned, be prepared to put a lot of time into this to
get decent results.  You may find it to be more work than it's worth.

One final note, it's very easy to break plastic parts using the polishing
kit by applying too much pressure in an attempt to speed up the process.

>	3) Do you guys do more than one model in parallel? ie/ while
>	paint is drying on one, paint another part of a second (or third)
>	model? I have a few I'd like to finish, but it takes so long
>	when I have to wait overnight after painting a small part...
>

About a year and half ago, I did this for the first time.  I built two
models concurrently in six weeks' time and this included using the polishing
kit on both of them.  My social life paid the price, but I was trying to
get them done in time for the IPMS Nationals in St. Louis, MO.  The '87
Buick GNX did't even place in it's category because it was deluged by over-
bearing competition.  The '91 Chevy 454SS Pick-up took first place for
the out-of-the-box trucks categroy, however.  Not bad for my first attempt
at using the polishing kit.  And these were both painted with spray cans.

Andy Brezinski
Intergraph Corporation
Huntsville, AL 35894-0001

Newsgroups: rec.models.scale