Ala-Kart by CDW - FINISHED - AMT - 1:25 Scale - PLASTIC

[CDW]

One of the iconic mid-sixties hot rod customs was the Ala-Kart. AMT released a kit of it way back then, but a pristine unbuilt kit of the old vintage Ala-Kart would cost you a pretty penny if you could find one. When the kit was re popped by AMT in 2002, old modelers like me were excited as heck to lay our hands on a copy of it. I bought several of them, knowing that re-pops often are done only once and then it's a long dry spell before and if they're ever done again. 

At the same time in 2002, Fred Cady released a set of beautiful decals to replace the kit Ala-Kart ones, the kit decals being off-color and absent of a number of markings that should have been there. Of course, I had to have those decals as well.

Flash forward to today, and I still had not built the model nor used the decals. I decided it was high time I build this thing or else just sell the items on Ebay. It's been a while since the re-pop has been manufactured, and could probably get a pretty decent price for the set right about now. But I wanted some flashy custom paint to do this thing justice, so began doing some research to see what I might use. I settled in on using a Pearl White from the Createx 'Wicked' range of colors, along with a 2-part diamond finish clear coat.

To be totally honest and transparent about this, I have no experience with either of these two paints, so I must first spend some time testing and practicing to get the feel for the paints. All paints require a little different preparation and reducing, finding the right air pressure for the airbrush to handle the paint, and how much drying time to give between coats, masking, etc. 

I hope to do this model justice because it's likely the only one I will ever do of this particular classic street rod.

 

The Kit Box

 

The Fred Cady Decals and a Comparison to the Kit Decals

 

The Paint System 

 

  

[mtaylor]

One of the best cars ever built in my opinion.  There's a good article on Wikipedia.   The one thing I did learn that it was rebuilt after catching fire from a fuel line leak.  Memories and all that..... 

[popeye the sailor]

try this paint...

Gravity Colors | plastic scale model automotive airbrush paints

[popeye the sailor]

I have never seen this kit.........look really cool  

[mtaylor]

Denis,, you've lived a sheltered life.    I remember building it and also it getting destroyed when a bookcase fell off the wall.   

[CDW]

19 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

One of the best cars ever built in my opinion.  There's a good article on Wikipedia.   The one thing I did learn that it was rebuilt after catching fire from a fuel line leak.  Memories and all that..... 

 

Totally agree with you Mark.

 

 

[Canute]

I remember building it. Think I did it in candy apple red.

[CDW]

3 hours ago, Canute said:

I remember building it. Think I did it in candy apple red.

I'll bet it would look sharp in that color, but without the kit decals.

[CDW]

I wanted to make sure there were no major fit issues between the various major body parts. A dry fit indicates no serious issues. Just some prep work needed to remove a few mold lines and rough up the plastic a little for primer.

 

 

[CDW]

4 hours ago, popeye the sailor said:

try this paint...

Gravity Colors | plastic scale model automotive airbrush paints

I watched that comparison video between Gravity and Zero brands of paint. The Gravity paint did very well. However, I have also seen very professional results with Zero paints as well, from other modelers. When working with paint, "one size does not fit all". Certain paints have their own magic sweet spot for percentage of reducer, air pressure, needle size, etc. Finding that sweet spot is up to the individual modeler.

 

 

[CDW]

When building car models, I like to carefully examine the body/parts to identify any imperfections caused by mold separation lines. These will leave a raised line along the body that needs to be removed before priming. To help see what I'm doing, I'll first mark the lines with a sharpie permanent marker.

 

Then will use sanding sticks to sand away the imperfections. When the sharpie mark is removed, I know enough sanding has been done.

 

Next, I rescribe any panel lines that need to be a little deeper and wider to prevent the coats of paint from filling them. In this case, the doors.

Last, I will go over all the body parts with fine sand paper/sanding sponge to prep it for the primer.

 

[Old Collingwood]

Iv'e   got one of those  (The tool I mean)

 

OC.

[CDW]

6 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said:

Iv'e   got one of those  (The tool I mean)

 

OC.

It's an excellent tool for re scribing or deepening panel lines.

[Old Collingwood]

4 minutes ago, CDW said:

It's an excellent tool for re scribing or deepening panel lines.

And the rounded section for dowels  (like my yardarms on the pearl)   very useful tool.

 

OC.

[popeye the sailor]

look'in good so far    

[CDW]

After the body parts prep, sprayed on 3 coats of Tamiya white fine primer. Next, polished up the primer a bit and touched up a few spots.

Then it was time to spray on the Createx Wicked Pearl White paint. These are acrylic paints, water based. Pearl colors are not opaque, so it's important to choose the right colors for your primer depending on your finish coat. These paints are not going to do well over bare plastic, they must be primed first for the paint to have something to grab onto. Additionally, they must be sprayed on in multiple fine coats. Heavy coats would be a disaster. Because of the pearl color, I put down four light coats giving each coat about 5-10 minutes drying time in between coats. Just to stay on the safe side, I used the Createx proprietary primer, their stock number 4012. Although I have read others say you can use other acrylic primers as well, like Vallejo primer. But alcohol and other reducers that work with Tamiya and Mr Color paints will damage Createx paint and should be avoided altogether.

 

The following pictures are of the Pearl White painted body parts. I will wait a few days to apply the 2-part diamond clear coats. In the meantime, will probably start building and painting the sub assemblies.

 

[CDW]

Did a little additional investigation and learned I only needed to wait 60 minutes to apply the top clear coat, so it's now got 3 clear coats.

Will wait until tomorrow and polish it up a bit first, then apply the decals. Once the decals have had at least a day to dry, will top coat those as well to finish it off. 

 

[CDW]

Now that the light of day is here, I can clearly see that not enough pearl white was laid down on the hood, leaving it a lighter different shade of white (brighter) than the other body parts. Guess I need better lighting in my work shop area where I paint, 'cause I sure didn't notice it last night. Pearl colors along with metallics are notoriously hard to paint in the first place. It's all too easy to have your pearl/metal pigments segregate which will leave visible blemishes. This segregation often comes when varying amounts of paint get laid down. Consistency is key when spraying these paints.

I might be able to add some more pearl over the top-coated hood, then top coat again. Not sure how that would turn out though. It might make it worse. Then again, I could get the decals laid down and maybe the color difference will not be all that noticeable. All I know is, it's very noticeable to me, but you sure can't see it very well in pictures.

I am going to give this topcoat a full 72 hours to cure before I do anything else with it.

[hexnut]

Tamiya also makes a pearl clear (TS-65) that is pretty nice--helps even out coverage... https://www.amazon.com/Tamiya-85065-TS-65-Pearl-Clear/dp/B0006SG21C

[CDW]

23 minutes ago, hexnut said:

Tamiya also makes a pearl clear (TS-65) that is pretty nice--helps even out coverage... https://www.amazon.com/Tamiya-85065-TS-65-Pearl-Clear/dp/B0006SG21C

Where I went wrong: I should have had all the body parts sitting in line, in their proper order, when I was shooting the color with my airbrush. Instead, I had each individual part on a stick and I painted each, one by one rather than painting them all at the same time. Had I painted them all at the same time, sharing each stroke/pass of the airbrush, this one not have happened. The way I did it, I could have just as easily gotten a poor result with the Tamiya paint as well.

With the decals that are going on, and the fact the model will be displayed with the hood off, I am leaning toward leaving it alone, as-is. Another alternative would be to strip down just the hood and do it all over again. 

[popeye the sailor]

really nice finish in spite of the hood  

[CDW]

1 minute ago, popeye the sailor said:

really nice finish in spite of the hood  

You're right Denis. The finish came out beautiful. A little polish and it will look fantastic. I just wish I had paid closer attention and held the parts side-by-side to make sure the pearl on each part looked the same. Spraying white pearl on top of white primer makes it very hard to see how much paint is going down, but it's necessary to get the shade of white I was wanting. 

Thanks for your kind comment.

I should also mention that the suggestion Hexnut made to use Tamiya rattle can paint is good, too. I have gotten some beautiful finishes using their rattle can paint. The down side to rattle cans is a lack of control for how much paint comes out, which can sometimes obliterate small details. Airbrush allows us to regulate the spray pattern so much more so fine coats can be achieved.

[Old Collingwood]

Looking really nice - it will be a Stunner when its finished.

 

OC.

[CDW]

Just now, Old Collingwood said:

Looking really nice - it will be a Stunner when its finished.

 

OC.

Thanks OC!

[kurtvd19]

On 5/28/2019 at 8:48 PM, CDW said:

I should also mention that the suggestion Hexnut made to use Tamiya rattle can paint is good, too. I have gotten some beautiful finishes using their rattle can paint. The down side to rattle cans is a lack of control for how much paint comes out, which can sometimes obliterate small details. Airbrush allows us to regulate the spray pattern so much more so fine coats can be achieved.

I routinely use rattle can paints in my airbrushes.   The trick is getting the paint into a jar w/o getting paint all over the shop.  Usually a tin foil sort of closed shield can be formed around the top of the jar and the spray nozzle of the spray can.  Use exam gloves and push down the nozzle through the tin foil and 90%+ gets into the jar.  Let it outgas for a few minutes and then use in the airbrush.  Get to use some colors that just are not available except in a rattle can but with the ultimate control in application - the airbrush.

Kurt

 

[CDW]

All the body parts got the clear coat buffed down with a 3000 grit sanding sponge to prepare for decals. The hood got a couple of shots of pearl white in hopes of getting it matched with the other body parts. After the decals are all down, the body parts including the hood will get a coat of clear, the hood a couple of coats. 

All the decals are in place on the body parts with the exception of the hood. It will take a couple more days to decal the hood after it's clear coated.

While the Ala-Kart was Hemi powered, the kit engine looks small.....because it was small. The engine was just a 241 cubic inch Hemi, much smaller than the "elephant engine" Hemi's we are accustomed to seeing in drag racing. 

 

 

[CDW]

3 hours ago, kurtvd19 said:

I routinely use rattle can paints in my airbrushes.

Using aluminum foil to help direct the paint into a bottle is a great idea. Will have to try that.

The whole reason I wanted to try the Createx Wicked line of acrylic paints (top coated with a solvent based clear coat) was because of the vast array of colors they offer at a low cost with the convenience of acrylic. As an added bonus, a local vendor is a distributor.

Edited May 30, 2019 by CDW

[popeye the sailor]

here's how I decant paint:

https://wenzelswharftips.wordpress.com/2013/01/23/decanting-paint/

 

Kurt is so right........some of the colors only can be found in rattle cans.     really nice finish on the model......I'd get some of the Gravity pearl colors,  but I don't do enough cars {strange what a blast from the past will get you}.  are the running boards decals as well?  very well done!

[CDW]

2 minutes ago, popeye the sailor said:

here's how I decant paint:

https://wenzelswharftips.wordpress.com/2013/01/23/decanting-paint/

 

Kurt is so right........some of the colors only can be found in rattle cans.     really nice finish on the model......I'd get some of the Gravity pearl colors,  but I don't do enough cars {strange what a blast from the past will get you}.  are the running boards decals as well?  very well done!

My distributor carries a line of solvent based paints very similar to the Gravity line, called Splash. Lots and lots of auto-based colors. I ordered some last night. I have a lot of car models that need to be finished.

Yes, the running boards have decals.

[hexnut]

17 hours ago, kurtvd19 said:

I routinely use rattle can paints in my airbrushes.   The trick is getting the paint into a jar w/o getting paint all over the shop.  Usually a tin foil sort of closed shield can be formed around the top of the jar and the spray nozzle of the spray can.  Use exam gloves and push down the nozzle through the tin foil and 90%+ gets into the jar. 

 

I tape a cut length of plastic straw to the nozzle to decant into the airbrush...