Revell Deal's Wheels “Van”
By Ward Shrake
INTRO
I intended for this to be my shortest hobby article yet for Internetmodeler. As it turns out, it's somewhat short “for me” but still longish. Oh well! Hopefully, folks like the stuff I talk about here. I've tried to be as generic as I reasonably could, when describing tips and tricks: in hopes that more folks, from genres all across the spectrum, can get something out of the techniques being shown here.
MODIFICATIONS
If you check out the First Look on this kit (from June 2009), you'll see what the raw parts looked like before I did anything to them. That comparison will tell a few subtle tales; but for the most part, what I did amounts to an out-of-box build-up of the kit. Or pretty close to it, anyway. For the most part, what I did to personalize my 'toon van model was just to leave some of the accessory pieces off: including the surf boards, the wooden bumpers, and the "scoops" over the engine's vents.
As far as actual modifications go, I added a sheet plastic firewall behind the engine. (Template included here, so you can make one, too.) I also added some flat sheet plastic to the mirrors, to flatten out those reflective surfaces. And I used the “Magic Seam Powder” trick to add one bar to the Van's logo: making a peace sign out of it. But for the most part, what's seen here is "just what came in the box".
Folks looking for additional modification or personalization ideas might check out the newly-added hole in the roof. I stole that idea from Michael Curry. You can see his (really nice!) Van build-up, and Joe Riley's awesome nearly-out-of-box build, over on the Deal's Wheels website. There's also a really nice Van build-up on the Coffin Corners website, in the "Completed Projects" section of those forums. "Glue Puddle" over there cut up the body on one of these kits, and used the driver from the Zzzzz-28 caricature kit, and came up with a really nice little surfer's pick-up truck.
BODY WORK
One of the techniques that could easily eat up an entire article's worth of text and photos, would be "block sanding". I tend to do this with bodies on cars, because the molding process accidentally leaves subtle ripples and waves in the surface – not just on cars, but on any kind of injected plastic model. For now, just take my word for that; but note that the whole body looks like it was sanded, before I got around to painting it.
Part of that process – as I do things, anyway – is to try to "sharpen" molded-in panel lines. The short story is that I run a sharpened needle-file (a "yarn darner" needle works okay, too) along all existing panel lines. (To deepen each line, and create a fine line at the bottom of each groove). I then dab or paint a small amount of Tenax 7-R (liquid solvent or "glue") along each groove – which sort of deburrs and smooths the newly cut groove. After the body has been block sanded, the accidentally-raised plastic surfaces on either side of the molded-in line are partially removed ... which cures two problems at once. It removes ripples and high spots all over, and brings everything to "one level"; while it also removes all but the sharper, thinner, lower grooves on any panel lines. It's hard to describe – and I plan to cover it in a future article, on an in-progress non-toon car model – but you start with the usual panel lines that are too wide and too soft, and you end up with a much-more-in-scale looking, thinner, sharper set of panel lines. And a smoother body surface, too. (A critical factor for doing any kind of shiny paint job.)
While I was messing about with the panel lines and block sanding, I decided to "move" the panel lines in the back, a bit. The box art shows the lower panel attaching a certain way, but the kit's panel lines run in a different direction entirely. I did a few subtle changes, to better match the box art. Wasn't necessary: I just felt like doing that.
PAINTING
Here's another area where I could write a small book! But time's a-wastin', and I gotta get this in – so, I'll try to sneak some additional details into my future articles.
(Part of my rush this time isn't Deadline-itus, or the editors bugging me for stuff – they're too laid back and cool for that! – so much as a moral imperative on a personal level. What I mean is: I recently noticed that even though I have submitted 18 book reviews in the last two years, along with 3 DVD reviews, 9 First Look pieces, and 4 "Features" ... I still haven't submitted what any normal hobby writer might think of as a straight-forward "build one and paint it" article!? Yikes!)
Hopefully, the pictures will mostly tell the "what I did to paint this thing" story ... at least up to the point where I did what's called a Swirl-a-Delic technique.
For more info on swirl painting, you might want to check out this link (about swirling the body on a guitar), since that was one of my primary references on how to get started, using that technique. (Note, however, that I'm using a modified technique. They say NOT to use Testor's (spray?) paint made for scale models; but I'm sorta doing that, anyway. They're right that some paints tend to badly film up, or clot, or whatever you want to call it. The "square bottle" Testors stuff does that, pretty badly – unless you thin it with Mineral Spirits, before you add it onto the top of the water's surface. Through experimentation, I've found that six drops of that paint, per color, is about right; with about three-quarters of an inch or one inch worth of mineral spirits – as measured by looking through the sides of a glass eye-dropper.
Other than that, the only weird stuff I did, paint-wise, to the body, was to use this stuff as a masking agent (on the camouflaged "hippie flower" design along the two sides): I realize that some folks may do a "does not compute" on me, when I say what's coming up falls into the "relatively normal" category of painting stuff so allow me, please, to preface the next bits by pointing out that different segments within the scale modeling hobby sometimes have their own pet name for a technique. Others may do what amounts to that same thing – but if you put, say, model car guys and model airplane guys into a room, together, and get them talking about what they do: they may not realize all the common ground they have.
What model car folks call a "fade" paint job technique may roughly equate to "pre-shading" on a model airplane.
Sort of. It's not exactly the same thing, mind you, but there are more similarities in terms of what you're doing and why, that any differences aren't "deal-killers".
Car modelers are taking two different opaque paint colors, and making them blend together, where the two colors "touch" or over-lap; making a subtle blending of those colors. To do that, they have to thin both paints well enough that they're both fairly transparent – at least where they overlap.
Airplane guys use a similar idea, when they over-spray a base coat of a certain color, with that same color after it has been either darkened or lightened ... and then over-thinned to transparency. Same basic idea, in both cases.
Before I did the Swirl-a-Delic paint work on the (finished and primed) body, I did a "fog" or "fade" paint job, using – believe it or not! – nail polish. I'll admit that it's mildly embarrassing buying the stuff if you're a middle-aged, bearded male (as I am) ... but I've found that the checkers at the counters who are ringing up your purchases are usually more embarrassed than you are, if you answer their inquiring looks with a confident “huh?” look (and if necessary) a whitty and non-defensive, friendly retort. A denial tends to confirm their suspicions, I find: so I'd suggest "confuse them" or "bore ‘em with the truth" as a tactic ... or just don't get embarrassed for buying things like nail polish, in the first place! (Well-thinned, the stuff lasts a long time. “Cheaper than hobby paints”!?)
I thinned those colors well enough to spray them; and then, thinned just enough beyond that, that if you spray the resulting mix over something like a page from a newspaper, you can still read the text; but the paper around each letter is tinted with the color you're using.
This “fade” work was done through a Paasche "H" model single-action hobby airbrush; using a compressed air tank as a silent air source. (My big home / outdoor compressor's definitely NOT silent!) To be able to regulate air pressure well, I have a $50 Sears-brand (I think it was?) regulator between the tank, and the hose going to the airbrush. I have quick-disconnects on all the larger connections. (I know that Coast Airbrush has tiny ones for airbrushes and airbrush hoses – maybe one day I'll pick some of those up.)
This is something probably best explained visually, through a video or something, but I tend to hold a part that I'm spraying in my left hand, while I spray with my right.
The idea here is that I want to turn the part, and angle it just right, so that I can see the change in reflectivity I'm causing, as a nearby light source shines on the part.
What I mean is: most people watch the surface change color, as they spray. That's fine, if you're spraying an opaque coat, fairly thick. Quite often, I'm not doing that: I'm building up layers of transparent paint (due to the extra thinner I've added) slowly – over time and via many coats.
Because I'm spraying stuff that I have to sometimes spray onto paper, just to be sure the airbrush didn't clog or I ran out of paint or something: I'm watching the fine mist I'm spraying as it hits the actual surface, and makes it wet. Usually, the tip of my airbrush is a finger-width or less away from the surface I'm painting; up to maybe two inches away, at times. (Close work! Sometimes very close!)
What allows me to hold the part in one hand while I spray with another is that I'm adding such a thin layer of well-thinned paint, that it dries very quickly. I'm also using the regulator to its full potential, and to good effect.
What I mean is: while others often say they spray their paint at 30 PSI or something, on down to maybe 15 pounds or occasionally maybe down to 10 ... I'm usually spraying at an actual "button is pressed" gauge reading of five pounds of pressure. Ten PSI, for most of the things I'm using, is towards the upper-middle end of the spectrum. Fifteen pounds of spraying pressure is about the upper end of what I normally use, for most paints on most models.
Even the (custom mix of) dark gray metallic automotive enamel I used to make the "Iron Cross" was a 15 or 20 PSI deal. I find I don't need more than that, for what I do – if the paints are properly thinned. Which means more than the ratios involved: I almost never use anything but the fluid that a paint manufacture recommends for airbrush use. (One exception being nail polishes. You're sorta guessing in that case. For this model, I used lacquer thinner with the nail polishes – and a dual cartridge respirator, too!)
If I'm doing really fine lines or any kind of tricky multi-colored work while doing this almost-glazing, layered transparent paint technique, I'll press the airbrush's airflow button down, as I watch the gauge on the pressure regulator. As the gun is actually puffing air (I haven't added any paint to the gun yet) I watch the pressure gauge and adjust the air pressure knob: turning the pressure up or down, as needed, to spray a particular fluid well.
While I own several decent (good, but not top of the line) double-action airbrushes, and am a big fan of having those types of tools available, I'm finding that the increased control and predictability I get from having such a fine-control, gauge-equipped regulator and a relatively steady (that is: non-pulsing) air pressure source, it's a lot easier to do tricky stuff ... even with a relatively simple, very inexpensive ($40-ish) single-action airbrush. My Paasche H-model came with various accessories, including different tip types. I've found that virtually anything I've tried to spray (including automotive paint and thick nail polishes) sprays very well using the #3 (medium) tip.
SCALE CHROME
Here's one other Model Car Guy painting trick that might be food for thought. Stripping chrome plating off of plated parts is one option (and I did that trick, on most of the parts for this kit) but another option is to spray a clear flat coat over the plating ... and then use oil paint washes to "dirty down" the parts. The reasoning here being: it's actual chrome, on those very small parts. This makes the reflectivity of the scaled-down part's chrome look many times more shiny than any non-show-car chrome is likely to look, in real life. (Sort of like arguing over "scale effects" for slightly altering paint colors.) To knock down the reflectivity, several notches, I dirtied up the kit's wheels using that technique. I mostly liked the effect – but it's one of those areas that's new enough to me that I'll keep playing with it, over time; with plans to “say more” when I have more to say, on that subject. For now, I'll just say that I used mostly a brownish oil paint wash, to cover “everything” lightly; and then added a dark blue in a very few places, just to darken “deep holes,” etc. It also seems to give just a bit of visual difference: tends to look less mono-tone than just washing everything with a single color. I was surprised at the visual complexity it added, just to add a tiny amount of a second wash color.
TIRE GLUE
Many folks have complained that not much they have, will stick the new tires together. I've found a glue that works great for that! (See the photos, but note that it's called VLP.)
THE FIGURE
The figure was painted with a variety of techniques, using mostly acrylic paints – including the very cheap ones sold at large stores like Wal-Mart. It didn't come out quite as I had hoped, but it'll do. And next time, I'll know more of what worked out best, and can do less of the other stuff. (I started out doing pre-shading type work, with a cheap double-action airbrush; but didn't like the color, so I went over and over it, to get that right ... killing off any darker areas, entirely, as I did it. Oops! I then did a bit of re-work with that Paasche H. That worked well; but it's one of those things where, if I had chosen the paint color correctly in the first place, and did less rework in the second place, it would have looked different / better.)
I'm finding (thanks to an old article in a back issue of Modeler's Resource, written by master figure painter Tom Gilliland) that most brands of acrylic paints have some sort of a flow aid or extender: a clear chemical you can mix with the paint, that will both thin the paint a bit, and make it take longer to dry. This allows you to blend such paints more easily, when you're brushing them on. Having discovered that stuff, and the improvement in ease of use it adds: I'll definitely be using it more often!
ENGINE
I almost forgot to mention what I did in the engine's compartment. I added a firewall, behind the engine (the kit just has a see-through-to-the-front effect, which lets the kit down, I thought) and then painted that area up with both brushes and an airbrush. The big thing, though, are all of the custom decals. I had purchased those from Tres Wright, a couple of years back. (He no longer makes them; but at one time, he sold them to his web site's readers.)
The kit's designer (Dave Deal) had made the engine super-tiny, on purpose. (As mentioned in my First Look.) With a firewall behind it, it looked ever more dwarfed by the big cavity it was sitting in. The decals crack me up, though: some of those are nearly big enough to cover the engine! And they're perfectly in scale with this series of kits: it's not the decals that are out of scale, it's the “3.6 HP” caricature of the “Wimpy” engine that's out of scale!
CONCLUSION
That's probably more than enough words, for this time! The main thing I hope folks walk away with, after reading this article and checking out all the photos, is having their imaginations fired up. Kits like this are a great change of pace, if you're normally into some other genre. I think of myself as a "cool shapes and colors" modeller, however, so this kit was right up my alley! The Van's kit's proportions and outlines are perfect. The figure is pretty nifty, too!
There's a lot to like, with "painter's kits" like this. You can “just” build and paint the kit, more or less like everyone else might decide to. Nothing wrong with that! Or you can use the very cool shape as an excuse to do a lot of experimenting; as I did. Looking back on it, I'd say that for the most part, most of my paint-work experiments more or less did what I hoped they would. I ended up with more stuff in the “That worked okay” or “That mostly worked” column, than in the “Ummm...” category. And I feel a few things came off as a “Man, that turned out looking COOL! I gotta try something like that again, on other kits!” So, all in all: I'm pleased with it. Works for me.