1/25 Dodge Ram VTS

[Dyno247365]

Alright, let's try this again. Round 2. Here's an 8.0 Liter Viper engine version of my current daily driver, the Dodge Ram 1500 318ci you see in my signature.



I plan to prime the body by tonight but I need to glue some extra parts on like the back of the bed, and the two rear fenders. I've taken my first foray into sanding with Flex-i-Grit 600 grit aluminum oxide (dry).



What I've learned is that it only takes care of smoothing out my screw-ups using a hobby knife. The most major mess up I made with the ALO was flattening the body line on the front left fender which I hope to cover up with the primer. It's way too small to use putty I think. I just finished gluing the rear bed on, and the first time I used liquid cement.



I wanted to get gray Tamiya primer but they were sold out. I bought Testors flat gray primer spray and the employee told me Tamiya spray will work on top of enamel if I let it dry for 24 hours. Any truth to this? I got TS-49 bright red to finish (no clear yet).

[KevHw]

I don't normally like trucks but this one looks interesting. I'd recommend getting higher grade abrasives which will come in handy particularly for the finishing stages of your painting job.

On a side note, I have the same keyboard and I hope mine doesn't end up as dusty as yours looks

[Dyno247365]

Originally Posted by KevHw

I don't normally like trucks but this one looks interesting. I'd recommend getting higher grade abrasives which will come in handy particularly for the finishing stages of your painting job.

On a side note, I have the same keyboard and I hope mine doesn't end up as dusty as yours looks

If you look at the picture, the second packet has micro fine sanding film. It goes from 800 to 100,00 grit...I don't know why. I will be sanding the primed body wet with the silicon carbide. Is 2,300 okay?

As for the keyboard, I swear that's all normal dust. I never let food get in my keyboards.

*Just glued bed lid together. And some more pieces, all of which will be assembled temporarily for priming.

[Dyno247365]

Here are the 3 primed guinea pigs. I wanted to prime, sand and paint these pieces before I got to the body. I definitely found a use for the 600 before painting though. I spilled some tube cement between the hood and the grill, so I sanded it off before it did more damage. Now you can still see it but I can fix this most when I wet sand the primed hood! I painted 2 "light" coats one hour apart. I see no bubbles!

[Dyno247365]

Well for some reason, the primer doesn't want to dry. Is that how it is with enamel?

Edit - I started wet sanding and had to spray some pieces again because the paint came off...can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong? I let the primer dry for 2 days and I'm using 800 grit SIL very lightly.

[bigbertha]

Interesting project. Looks fine so far. Not sure why the enamel primer isn't sticking, did you sand the plastic first for the paint to 'key' to? I know enamel does take much longer to dry hard than acrylics. My experience with acrylic sprayed over enamel is not good. I had a project where I sprayed humbrol enamel and had a disaster (runs, orange peel and stuff) so I sanded it back as much as I could then sprayed with acrylic and it reacted badly with the enamel. I found that I had to remove all the enamel by giving the body a long soak in brake fluid, then plenty of rinising in soapy water. The acrylic then worked ok. Maybe Testors enamel is different to Humbrol? . Just remembber that if it all goes pear shaped you can sort it by a good soak in automotive brake fluid! Good luck.

[Twowheelsrule]

There are many ways to skin a cat so, here is mine. I start by cleaning the body in HOT dawn liquid soap water overnight. This should get the mold grease off the model without harming the plastic. Then rinse with water making sure not to leave big drops on top of the body while it air dries.

Next, prime with Tamiya primer "second choice is Dupli-color Primer sealer found at Auto-zone" as it is the closest to Tamiya I have found. Dupli-color is just slightly thicker but it is about 90% like Tamiya.

Then, check body for flaws and dust spots and sand lightly with 1000 grit or better sand paper. Wash it to get dusts off and paint. If you want you can go one step better and try to polish your primer for the best possible results.


Mark

[Dyno247365]

Will a mix of hot water and windex work? Or Cascade/water? EDIT - went with the Windex mix.

[Dyno247365]

I got tired of priming the body and its panels day in and day out so I worked on the engine tonight. I tried my best but one side still came out messy. When I get the top part on, maybe it won't be noticed as much.




I learned 2 tricks too!

1. A little enamel thinner can be like a second chance, without ruining the embossing.
2. Don't paint over the spills, scrape it out with a hobby knife.

[drunken monkey]

Did you paint the script on the cam covers?
A lot of us cover this sort of thing with Bare Metal Foil, paint over it then remove the paint (once dried) with a little thinner on a coctail stick.

[Dyno247365]

Originally Posted by drunken monkey

Did you paint the script on the cam covers?
A lot of us cover this sort of thing with Bare Metal Foil, paint over it then remove the paint (once dried) with a little thinner on a coctail stick.

Yes. Maybe I'll add a bit more paint to the right side because it doesn't shine as much as the left.

Here's the top so far:



And I figured out why the left cam cover wasn't shining. It was probably from the tissue I wiped the thinner off with, so now I'm gonna wash it lightly and try again:



UPDATE - Top not glued, just testing the fit. Also I switched the cam covers to the rightful position.

[Dyno247365]

Not perfect but it looks MUCH better than last time. edit - I'm seriously used to automerging posts, sorry drunken.

[Wishieftrottle]

Nice car.....so powerful:-P

I am looking forward to your progres!

[Dyno247365]

Originally Posted by Wishieftrottle

Nice car.....so powerful:-P

I am looking forward to your progres!

You're in luck because I have made some!