1974 Bobby Unser IROC Camaro

[Maineboy]

Mark,

Great piece of work. Lots of fabrication in that one.  I never paid much attention to the IROC racing as it was after I had a family and didn't have much time to think about race cars anymore.  I just finished reading a book 2 weeks ago. "Unfair Advantage" by former race car driver Mark Donahue. Donahue worked for/partnered with Penske for many years. Mark had a degree in Mechanical Engineering and was extremely valuable to Penske as he knew how the cars were built and how everything worked and could fine tune it just from driving the car a bit. The amazing difference just a very minor change in the camber of the front wheels could make was just astounding. He had a close relationship with Chevrolet for a long time and used the Chevrolet engineering people to design lots of different things especially the engines.  He drove in the IROC series and raced with Bobby Unser a lot, and thought he was a fine gentleman and great driver. They were team mates often. That book is a great read if you can find one, I learned more about IROC there than anyplace else before. Sadly Donahue was killed in a race car accident not too long after that book was published in 1975.

Again great job on a very special car.

MB

[Maineboy]

Mark,

Some questions re acrylic paints. I have been following a guy on you tube who paints exclusively with acrylic paints, using an air brush mostly. His user name is "Scaled Down Customs".  You can see one of his videos at the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrXV0kT1G1M&ab_channel=ScaledDownCustoms

I am particularly interested in acrylic paints as my wife has an immune system disease that can be triggered by strong odors. I have been painting with spray bombs but can't do that in the house. So I am interested in working more with the acrylics.  I did the entire interior of my 56 Chevy with acrylics. One nice thing is I can easily mix paints to get the color I want.

The man in the Youtube vids uses Vallejo paints a lot.

How do you get the good finish?    Do you wet sand?  Do you use any sort of glossy finish other than the furniture polish?  Where do you buy Vallejo paints?

MB

[MarkJ]

Mark,

Some questions re acrylic paints. I have been following a guy on you tube who paints exclusively with acrylic paints, using an air brush mostly. His user name is "Scaled Down Customs".  You can see one of his videos at the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrXV0kT1G1M&ab_channel=ScaledDownCustoms

I am particularly interested in acrylic paints as my wife has an immune system disease that can be triggered by strong odors. I have been painting with spray bombs but can't do that in the house. So I am interested in working more with the acrylics.  I did the entire interior of my 56 Chevy with acrylics. One nice thing is I can easily mix paints to get the color I want.

The man in the Youtube vids uses Vallejo paints a lot.

How do you get the good finish?    Do you wet sand?  Do you use any sort of glossy finish other than the furniture polish?  Where do you buy Vallejo paints?

MB

MB. I use Vallejo paint that you can purchase at hobby lobby. It comes in dropper bottles that you put into a pallet to mix it with thinner and retarder to make it flow better so when you use a brush the brush marks lie down before the paint dries, If you have ever used pledge floor care with a brush you will see that right out of the bottle you can apply it and the brush marks fade away and you are  left with a mirror like shine, what your trying to do with the paint is use enough thinner and retarder to make it act like the pledge floor care works. I mix the paint one part paint to two parts thinner. that would be like 5 drops paint and ten drops thinner then I add 1 drop retarder to each 5 drops of paint . you might want to experiment on an old  scrap body first. Always prime with white primer because the paint is not that opaque and a dark primer will make your paint darker. Another plus to using brush paint is you can paint where you build. you don't have to go outside or make some kind of spraying booth.

[Maineboy]

Mark,

Thanks for all of that. Being able to paint in the house would be a great gift to me. Plus I am tired of rattle cans that put on too much paint also. I have been experimenting on small pieces of styrene with some cheap acrylics and can make that look pretty good just by thinning it out and sanding with some really fine paper. I see guys wet sanding with 3000 grit and higher on Youtube vids.  I think this is definitely the way ahead for me.

MB

[MarkJ]

Mark,

Thanks for all of that. Being able to paint in the house would be a great gift to me. Plus I am tired of rattle cans that put on too much paint also. I have been experimenting on small pieces of styrene with some cheap acrylics and can make that look pretty good just by thinning it out and sanding with some really fine paper. I see guys wet sanding with 3000 grit and higher on Youtube vids.  I think this is definitely the way ahead for me.

MB

Yes I forgot to mention you have to sand with 4000,6000.8000 and 12000 grit polishing cloths between coats to get really good results.