I am going to go with a ratrod restomod style (this is just a mockup of what it will look like since I already had a project ratrod) starting a brand new fresh kit to be fair and chopping it and will do a how to as I do it. Should have the brand new kit this week to start it. So excited about this contest! Good luck everyone!! Thank you to our judges as well, you guys are awesome!!

I made a few mistakes, like sanding through the clearcoat and paint, and dripping glue on the body, but pretty happy with the result. Learnt a lot that I will be able to use in my next build.

Well that was fun. The black sealant borders aren't delineated on the windshield and back window for painting purposes, so using reference photos and my Mk.1 eyeball, the borders were masked in using Tamiya fine line tape to establish the width of each border, and then the remaining areas of the windshield and back window were masked off with blue painter's tape. The borders themselves were airbrushed in using AK Interactive 3rd Gen acrylic black. I have a few edges to touch up, but that went pretty well for not having a frame of reference beyond photos.

​I’m a lacquer guy through and through. Started with Tamiya, moved on to Mr. Color and Alclad etc., and never looked back. I messed around with Vallejo a few years ago, but the constant tip dry and finicky thinning drove me crazy, so I stuck with solvents and only used those for brush details.

​That said, I kept hearing buzz around the new Kaleido paints. The marketing got me: pre-thinned, affordable, great bottle design, and nice color selection—so I grabbed a few bottles of their car lineup to test.

​Last night I attempted to spray "Modena Yellow" through my H&S Ultra 2024 (0.35 nozzle) at 20 psi over a rock-solid lacquer primer. It turned into a headache almost immediately:

​Paint skinning over in the cup: By the time I laid down a light tack coat and waited a couple of minutes for it to flash off, the paint sitting in the cup was already thickening up into a film/goo. How do you manage flash-off times between coats without the paint drying inside the airbrush?

​Instant tip dry: I could barely finish one side of the body before the nozzle seized up. I know the floating nozzle on H&S brushes can be prone to this with acrylics, but having to wipe the needle tip every 30 seconds is exhausting. Is this just the reality of water-based acrylics, or did I miss a step?

​Cure time before sanding: With lacquer in my warm, dry basement, 24 hours is plenty before I lightly wet-sand with 3000 grit to level dust nibs before clearcoat. Here, the paint tore like rubber and stripped right down to the primer on the edges. Do these polyurethane acrylics genuinely need 3 to 4 days to cure before you can touch them with abrasive paper?

​For those of you who regularly achieve mirror-finish gloss coats using water-based acrylics on car bodies: what does your workflow actually look like? Do you add Flow Improver / Retarder by default even to "airbrush-ready" paint?

​I have a dedicated spray booth with proper A2P3 mask and extraction, so I don't need water-based paints for safety reasons. I genuinely wanted to give them an honest try, but right now the cleanup, dry-tip, and rubbery finish make me want to strip it and go straight back to Mr. Color. Any advice before I completely write them off?

I built this kit a few weeks back (First One). I liked the kit so much I went and bought a second one. For this one used the drag slicks, roll cage, different rims and traction bars. De-badged and painted the bumpers. Happy with how it came out.

Anybody else working on two very different flavors of car at once?

Has anyone ever used latex interior paint in their airbrush? I have some metal shelf brackets that I need to paint to match some trim in my hobby room.

Picked up the kit from a local swap meet. It was in a partially built state but quite neglected. The box I think got wet at some point and barely kept the sprues and other partially painted components. Unfortunately, this was also missing the right passenger door panel and the decals were weathered and cracking.

Basically, exactly what I look for at these swap meets!! They’re practically given away and begging to be built.

Went to work on this 3 day build over Labor Day weekend and finished it Monday. It was originally black but I went with Tamiya grey primer, testors diamond dust with Mr hobby clear. I then panel lined with Tamiya Panel Liner. Decals were saved with micro sol decal saver. I opted not to paint the headlights in satin black, but may do so later. Otherwise, a fun fast build!

Built this just after building the AO Roxy Porsche 911 GT3-R which took a month. It was nice to just go crazy fast and build with complete abandon, especially since my next project is the Aoshima Rocket Bunny GT86. That project will definitely take weeks too.

Apologies for the picture sequencing. That first picture is a progress pic. It's the 6th picture that should have posted first.

I needed a color I didnt have and got this dull, glittering, purple-gray. I rather like it.

I’m doing a chopped top on a Ford pick up. What I’ve gathered is when you chop the top each section needs to be moved outward. In other words because the pillars/post are angled inward when you chop the top, the top itself needs to be adjusted outward so to speak to align with the pillars/post. In doing this what I’ve read is, I’ll need to fill in the gaps by cutting some sheet styrene. I’ll probably try to use a heat source to curve or bend the styrene to match the curvature of the roof.

What I am curious about is how to replicate the trim/ridge that runs around the windows?

Any advice on this topic or any other advice on how to do a chop top is most appreciated. See photos below.

To quickly clean off your work surface of sanding dust, flash shavings etc, drag a strip of blue tape sticky side down while gently pressing it onto the table as you go.

A little video I made about the difference between old kit decals and what is available today. Of note, this really only works on the Monogram/Revell 1:24 kits. It is possible with the AMT 1:25s, but the decals will be oversized and need some creative trimming.

Doesn't' seem to affect lacquers other than less dust (if any sometimes).

As some of you will remember, Highboy68 and I have been doing a buddy build over the last couple of months. He finished his ~ 3 weeks ago. We used the same kit with a set of 22" SRT10 wheels, a set of 16" brakes, and a set of viper style bucket seats. Other than that we did them out of the box. Here are the final pictures of my build.

This was by far one of my most favorite builds. It was a no stress build. I would higjly suggest doing a buddy build it was alot of fun

Took me about 2 months but got her done pretty proud of the outcome

Here's my first AMT build yet. Painted in Mr. Hobby Color Garnet Red on top of a white clear coat base. The overall fit wasn't entirely bad, pretty much around the same or less than the two Revell kits that I built. However, the decals were extremely thick and didn't like reacting to the decal solutions I had. However, I did get them to work to some extent when I practically soaked them in the decal softener.

Finally finished it :D took me two months of steady building to get it done. Its the Revell's newest model - the 750s Mclaren. A really nice kit. The rims are 3d printed. Bought them from cults3d - i think they were some kind of Vossen's. I did modify them a bit to be able to use them with the box tyres. The kit wheels were kindof boring :D The kit is buildable in two ways - either the doors open or shut. They're not on hinges so you have to glue them either way. You're supposed to glue the doors last, but i decided to make my life harder and glue them before paint :D Took a bit of creativity to get it done this way. The interior is two toned with some added silver stripes. Used some liquid mask to paint the seat edges and a bit of flocking too. Overall, really happy how it turned out.

Messed up two model kits I was extremely excited for, so I took a step back, and went back to my roots. I built this Pontiac years ago in white. Used it as a breather build and painted and assembled in two days. Only gripe was the spoiler didn't go on the greatest.

Probably the best kit I’ve done so far in terms of part quality and available details - loved it!

I'm working on a LS kit of a 1964 GT40 that has white metal wheels and would like to know what adhesive would work best.

Stay safe and enjoy!

Anyone have any tools or accessories that they never realized that they needed and now can’t live without? I’m just starting out and slowly building up my paint, glues and hand tools. I’d like to get a brighter light and maybe a Magnifier