Here’s a car I finished a few months ago, but just today got some decent photos. It’s AMT’s 62 Pontiac Catalina painted in nail polish. The Color is Sally Hansen “Hard to Get”, but I’ll call it burnt orange. The top is Model Masters AMC Sterling Silver. Tamiya rattle can clear tops it off.
The top is chopped an inch and a half. the grille is scratch built from a bunch of straight pin heads.
The engine is the 421 Super Duty V8 from the kit, but the 4-barrel carbs were replaced with a scratch built Hilborn fuel injection system; ~140 hand made parts including various under hood details
Sweet tea and cookies, that’s an amazing build! I have a question on the nail polish, did you shoot it straight over primer, or did you lay down a basecoat of silver or gold as if painting a candy color?
thanks Minimag, I appreciate the generous comments.
thanks, Glenn. I shot the whole car in the Model Masters Sterling Silver, then masked the top and air brushed the burnt orange (nail polish). I goofed up by slightly scuffing the roof to knock off a couple of specs and provide some bite for the clear coats.
My plan was to scuff the roof, then after shooting the burnt orange, I would remove the masking and shoot several coats of clear over the whole body (both colors at the same time). Unfortunately after the clear coats, you could still see some sanding scratches in the silver. This forced me to wet sand the roof and repaint it in silver and then more clear.
Problem number two; I masked off the orange to repaint the silver roof and the solvents bled through the masking paper and ruined the orange finish on the trunk. This forced me to sand out the blemishes on the trunk and repaint it in orange followed by clear coats. Luckily, I was able to recover from my two goof ups. The trunk came out just fine; the color matches the rest of the body and there’s no evidence of the repaint. I was careful to keep track of the number of coats of nail polish on the original paint job and made sure to match this on the trunk repaint.
This is, by the way, my first nail polish and first airbrush paint job. Up to this point, I had only used my airbrush to paint parts. I really like the results, so there will be more to come in the future.
The paint job looks good, and I especially like the engine compartment. What I don’t like is the look of the headlights, though. But overall I would like to congratulate you on a job well done! Keep ‘em comin’! What’s next in your plans? Good luck with your projects and have a nice day
Pawel, this style of headlight was a poplular customizing treatment back in the 50’s and 60’s. These lights came with the AMT kit as an option for the customer version of the car (2 in 1 kit). I scratch built a 1:25 scale gokart a while back and am now scratchbuilding a trailer to haul it on (really to display it). Lot’s of projects on deck including a Chevy Cameo pickup, Ford heavy commercial flat bed truck and a salt flats streamliner based on a late model Ford pickup. You know how modelers are, I could put them all aside and start something new on a whim
Well, Alyn, I didn’t know that customizing style - have to keep my eyes open. Still, I would prefer nice clear lamps - but that doesn’t matter on your model, does it? [:D] That Chevy and Ford sound interesting to me. Yeah, I have my surprise projects too! Good luck and have a nice day
NOTE: The manufacturer of the most common nail polish make their own thinner for the “paint”. Most of these paints are enamels and some are lacquers. A good “barrier”, such as Floquil’s, or a lacquer primer, will protect the plastic from the harsh paint including these nail polishes. These paints are sprayed on a daily basis in nail shops and advice, such as mix ratios and spray pressures, can be obtained from these professionals. I would suggest that you go to a shop with a female friend, sister, daughter, or wife, so as not to get “funny looks”. Said with tongue planted firmly in cheek and a bit cheeky to boot. I once did an “Elvis” 59 pink Caddy with nail polish, as well as a 32 Ford 5 window in a blue metal flake. As stated in the above there are a plethora of colors and they are much less expensive, as well as safer, than real auto paint.
