ICM: Model T 1912 --- TRASHED

Tom ...
Can it be....

Chris Greathouse
Awesome! Are you back from the fields of RC flying fun for the summer? Watching your T!

Bob Hall
Going back in the way back machine with this one Mr Peabody !

Tom ...
Finally got some modeling time in. A lot of clipping and scraping but some glueing as well. The interesting part has been figuring out which parts should be cemented together before painting. At least most everything is black so that simplifies things too.

Have to say the fit of the pieces is very very good so far.

Tom ...
Pic #3 shows a weird effect from de-chroming with Super Clean. Usually with Super Clean the de-chroming happens very quickly, within minutes. With this kit it took a whole day and a lot of the pieces look like they are covered in cellophane.

Unfortunately effect does not peel off at all easily so I'm not sure how to proceed. I'm going to put some pieces back in Super Clean and see if that will fix it.... annoying...

Chris Greathouse
I had the same kind of issue with the Paddy Wagon. The Dechroming took overnight and left some grime. Thankfully the grime brushed away with a small brush. Good Luck!

Bob Hall
It's that funky Chernobyl chrome and those funky kits from Russia ! have to soak it in Vodka ! LOL !!

Bill Newcomer
Westley's Bleach White (for cleaning white wall tires) works great for dechromeing. I also heard old school caustic oven cleaner works well too. Super Clean is better at actual paint removal.

Tom ...
For the typical type of chrome Super Clean is great. However I've had two kits now that used different chroming techniques and it struggled greatly with them. In both cases there seemed to be an extra layer of clear plastic that is cellophane like. Maybe in future I'll split up the chrome pieces and try the different methods. Might be worth it in the long run.

Then again it'd be great if kit makers included a non-chromed version of the sprue. I'd pay a little more for that.

Tom ...
Needing to do a lot of scraping and sanding to get rid of seams and joints. Nothing terrible except for the roof.

Chaz Gordon
What's the issue with the roof?

Tom ...
The roof is in four pieces and has a significant "ledge" between two of the joins. Had to sand them down. Should have done a before pic too.

Chaz Gordon
That's gotta be a pain if you want to keep the canvas texture

bughunter
The reason for the strange dechroming is the golden color: it is chromed and then painted with a clear yellow. So the clear paint protect the chrome against your Super Clean.
Wondering why ICM uses chrome again. Build 3 of those T's (see my projects) and only the first one has chromed parts. The newer kit included normal grey sprues.
Do a careful dry fitting with the front parts (engine, axle, engine cover). There are fit issues which I avoided with different mounting order.

Tom ...
Thx, bughunter. Good to know. I think also with the Super Clean I just needed to let it soak for much longer (and with more liquid) and it would have dissolved the clear coat fully too.

Chris Greathouse
I threw half a bottle of Super Clean in a gallon ziplock, then put the whole sprue in flat overnight, it wasn't bad in the AM, these were chrome painted gold pieces like yours. Then I put the Super Clean in another container for reuse.. You can reuse it until you can't. Works great.

Bob Hall
I'M going to put this one on the trading block, but I'll give you first dibs since your doing the oldie but goodie cars. PM me if interested.

'28 Lincoln (MPC 6173, 1:25)

Tom ...
@bughunter: Resoaking in Super Clean didn't have any effect. I have two more Model T kits arriving and fingers crossed there's no chrome on them

bughunter
I removed the clear yellow with a paint remover, followed by removing the chrome with oven cleaning spray. I guess this specific T has common sprues with the first kits 24001 and 24002, so they used remaining chromed sprues for your kit. My newer variants Delivery and Speedster had no chrome.

Tom ...
Good result with the sanding. No more seam.

Chris Greathouse
What is that sorcery? You took great care! How did you kill the seam without botching the texture?

Tom ...
ah no magic, Chris. There wasn't really any texture to begin with. A small amount on the side pieces but the middle section was completely flat. If anything I added texture with the sanding. Also I'm going to try and paint in some shading/texture for the roof and the seats. I've been trying out Vallejo Model paints and they are amazing for brushing. Tamiya are super hard compared to them, even with retarder.

Chris Greathouse
I like Vallejo for brushing too since it is water-based, the brush flows smoothly. Tamiya is an alcohol based acrylic, it gets dry and weird to paint with kind of quickly.

Tom ...
@bughunter - Yay, my new (model T) kits have no chrome. If only all kits where like this!

bughunter
At least they learned from the comments in internet 👍 To use remaining sprues for a new kit is comprehensible.

Tom ...
Making progress but in masking hell right now.

Chris Greathouse
Just close your eyes and spray, masking is 0% part of the result, I swear, you don't even need it. JOKES! Looking sharp 😄

bughunter
Tom, are you sure about a black floor? Rubber used to be black much later (addition of carbon black), so the tyres and thr floor rubber was very bright.
See this picture on macsautoparts.com, still available today [img1]

David Andrs
following...

Tom ...
ah bughunter that's good to know. However I'm not going for accuracy for this build so the paint scheme is more fantasy than anything else. Was planning on giving the rear floor a wooden texture... but chickened out last minute.

Tom ...
Pulling the plug on this one. Tried to get fancy with the body panel lines and made a pig's ear of it. There was a bunch of things I was not happy with and this last one was just one too many. Meh....

Chris Greathouse
Sorry to hear that! 🙁

Valters Orlovskis
The best way to paint gold panel lines on this kit is gold marker:
Progress | Album by Angelos (1:24)

Chaz Gordon
I've experimented with Sharpie Metallic markers under Clear coats. So far, the Tamiya Solvent based acrylic clears do not harm the sharpie, haven't tried water based, but I'd guess a fairly safe bet

Tom ...
Excellent build Valters! After I messed up the first panel line I did the others free hand with the sharpie and go mixed results. I think I need to find a sharpie with a fine tip, preferably a chisel, rather then the big fat tip I have now. My next build will be the fire truck so I'm going to be asking you how you did your lights. They are perfect.

Also I don't care for the Alclad Gold Plate colour. I think for the fire truck I'm going to try some other paints out first. The Alclad is too dark for my liking. I'd like something a bit brighter.

Valters Orlovskis
Thanks, Tom! 🙂
The Centropen Gold marker I use has a quite sharp tip. It was cheapest Gold color marker in shop but I chose it because of size of tip. Color is a bit dark but it works nice.
About lights - if You mean side lights then ring in front of light is made from copper wire, connection point was soldered and sanded, and then glued to plastic with clear Epoxy, which at the same time fills external perimeter between ring and plastic. The tricky internal parts for all lights was reflectors, actually it is very easy to make them, but hard to explain all in words (especially because my english is not very good 🙂 I'll make a picture of process later and then post a link here. And important step is good planning of gluing / filling / sanding / masking / painting sequence.
About painting - I use AK Interactive Xtreme Metal Brass color but made a mistake when choose black base instead of some light color. The black base gives good "volume" effect for surface but at the same time final color appears too dark.
If I remember correctly the painting sequence for side lights was following: some metallic color (inside of clear parts), Black primer (Vallejo), Black base (AK or Alclad), Brass (AK), Tamiya Clear, Light Grey wash (Vallejo) and finally one or two coats of Tamiya Clear.

Tom ...
Good point Hans. I hadn't thought of that.

Tom ...
Valters, thank you for the info. I look forward to the how-to pictures. Good to know about the AK metal brass too. I love Alclad's chrome and aluminum, (though I might someday try using Molotow's liquid chrome) so I feel good about those colours. Just need to figure out a good brass and I'll be really happy... for now 🙂