Wednesday part 2
Posted by Dr Diecast at 11/15/2007 7:54 AM and is filed under uncategorized 
So since this blog started you have gotten some of the good, bad, fun and pain in the ass of this business. Now comes the boring...... yeah I said boring since there really is so much of the not to exciting, as much fun as watching paint dry kinda stuff I figure if I have to do it you guys get to read about it.
Here we go........ got your pop/beer and chips ready ? I also think you might want to bring a pillow with ya too, LOL....... no really its that boring.
First off..... I have this list of interiors that need to get painted and in some cases that means even with everything stripped out of them and there are built in consoles that have to be masked so I can attach the carpets fuzzys without getting it where its not needed. So... that being said I had to mask off some of a 67 Corvette interior and part of a Mazda Miata interior.
Lets talk about that Mazda for a sec. Anyone who followed along with this knows this was a real hard car to come by. Its a Gen2 car only made by Gate. Now, Gate is no longer in business and I can kinda see why. This car when released was about $35-40.00. For $40.00 back then (early 2000's) you were buying REAL nice higher detailed cars. This is NOT one of them. Though its done fairly nice its got that cheapo Maisto problem...... the missing paint inthe door jams, trunk jam and underhood and truck decease. Yeah...... some of these diecast get sickly.... thats probably why it died a quick death in the retail world.... LOL. On a car that had many little things going for it (nice chassis, wonderfully detailed engine, good attention to detail on the interior) its just so disappointing when you open the doors and see bare metal jams. I mean the car had to be painted with all the opening parts on it from what I can see. Hmmmm.... I wonder if I should do that... I could call it the Earl Shieb Special....they never painted door jams. Maybe I could do a in and out in 2 hours any car any color $49.99 no ups no extras, LOL. Ok, well thats a story for another day. No really there was a guy out of MI who was masking all the trim and shooting cars on just the outside. Again, I will elaborate another time.
So......the car came with a tan interior and it needs to be more beige so after all is ready I head outside...... yes outside to dust my interiors. Another great reason to live in AZ...... its nice 95% of the time. The method for this in my world is simple... I can of aerosol matte clear, one small jar of carpet fibers in the right color... or I can mix them to match. I have told a few people I have 46 colors to choose from.... but thats not true I recounted and not counting duplicates its actually 43 so im a liar, LOL. Well a nice spray coat of clear..... heavy dusting of fibers, shake shake shake, pour the excess back in the bottle and inspect. This is never a one time shot so spray and repeat. Then after that done and everything is covered one more light spray over the top to secure the fibers and boom were done. Done with that one...... then there are 2 blue and 3 red interiors to do.
So if you wonder why I do this outside its because these little dusty fibers blow everywhere. When I was living in OR I used to paint in my converted one car garage... had a bunch of tables set up, lots of lights and heaters. But.... because of the weather I had to do my interiors in there as it was still too cold outside. Well one time after doing a red interior I had a white car to paint.... ok, not paint but actually clear. It got cleared with other cars all at once like normal but when I inspected the car I noticed little bitty minut red fibers in the clear. I was pissed to say the least so after that there was no more carpeting in the paint area for me.
OK... well back the boring day... so next I had to retro fit some GMP torque Thrust wheels on an AA 62 Corvette. At first glance this looked rather simple.. HA !!!! I should know better. About an hour later with ALOT of trimming of the AA backing plates I finally got it done. What people never seem to understand is what it does take to do things and there is never a way to know for sure how long something will take. A much as guys have been modifying cars for years everything changes car to car and year to year almost. Technology in diecast is being updated all the time so simple wheel swaps from 1997 and far and few between. I think I had at least 20-30 minutes into removing the stock wheels on this Corvette and a few more to study how they were attached. So all im saying is its rare for something to be cut and dry.
Its time for me to go off on a little sidebar now. This is why I believe those in the modifying business should step up to the plate more. Expand your skills, try things out of your comfort zone and push forward. I say this since I have seen alot of changes since the simple 10 minute disassembly of an Ertl car and strip and paint time. Cars themselves take so much longer to break down. Heck I think it took me, yes me who does this for a living daily and for years, at least an hour to take the 62 Corvette apart. Heck the Miata probably took 40 minutes since it was a car I had never taken apart. What I don't want to see happen is guys backing away from cars and limiting themselves. Grow some balls !!! Do something you will fuck up !!!!!! yeah I typed that...... but thats the point. Get a pair.... working on old Ertl cars is like visiting your grandmother in the old folks home.... its really nice but nobody else gives a shit.
Back to boring, LOL. I have a few cars that need painted stripes so I got a couple of those lined up and one partially shot. Lined up are the 06 Shelby, 65 Plymouth and got the thicker stripes shot on the 70 Black Chevelle. I always shoot the wider stripes first then mask the little ones off as it always seems to work better that way. I will try to post a pic later when the sun comes out. We have a 10% chance a ran today here.... its such news it led the 10pm newscast, LOL. All for 10% chance... LOL.
I also....are ya asleep yet ?? WAKE UP!!!!! im almost done...dry fit a couple painted cars. Basically the 05 Mustang GT, 62 Corvette, 67 Corvette, and the 70 Chevelle. I alway do that to make sure color on all panels matches.
On a parting note... im working on a 69 Coronet.... nothing major but it does get a stock hood, something nobody has done in diecast as of yet. But that leads me to another project im working on. Its a 68 Coronet, yes 68... a car not made in the industry. I took this project on over a year ago and I think its come to a dead spot. Not because of me but the customer. They signed the contract, paid the deposit and I started the car. I basically have the front end down pat... and know what I need to do for the back. Ive made the bodymods for the marker lights and such but I have repeatedly contacted her for the pictures of the real car. Something she was to forward within weeks of starting the project. Im starting to believe she/they are having some kind of problems since she wont respond to my emails or phone calls. Was going to be a cool car...... and maybe it will someday but I have to decide how long to let it sit until I void her contract. Which brings me to another customer and the last im talking about today. I had a nice woman contact me about doing her boyfriends VW.... yes VW, as in 67 Bug. Its really a cool car...... kinda Dub Citied out. Big wheels, 2 tone paint, trick interior, cloth sunroof. Well before I left OR she got me all the paperwork and deposit but again NO pics.... which were to follow. After moving here I contacted her again and asked for pics. She lives in Tuscon... 60 miles from me. She didn't respond......emailed, she didn't respond..... 1, 2, 3 months go by then about 6 weeks ago she contacts me by email. Says she was avoiding me because she broke up with the guy and wasn't going to have the car finished but now they are engaged and everything is fine. I respond with, I will need the balance paid at this time to finish the car. See I had of course already started the car. Did the bodywork we had written on the contract, got the interior ready for paint and have the roof marked off to cut. So for me.... I don't feel comfortable finishing this car without the balance being paid. Am I wrong ? I mean what if I finish the car and they break up again. Then im stuck with a custom VW worth NOTHING to me that I will have at least $400.00 into thats worth maybe $50.00 on Ebay. See what most don't know is I have been burned in the past. I had a guy in Vegas not pay the $800.00 balance owed on 4, 69 Chargers a couple years go. Another guy not pay on a Corvette and one the Mercedes 500K I modified thats on the website. So in all these cars I got a deposit but the profit (I am a business remember and you have to make a profit) never happened. That and the balance of course which is where the profit lies. So...... upon telling this women (VW) she needed to pay the balance first I was told ok, give me a week or so. As of today its been another 6 weeks of nothing. So.... when you think the diecast modifier charges too much remember there is always more to the story and my prices tho not based on who screwed me and how can I make it up are just what I think is fair and without that I like anyone else working could probably not survive.
Enough, time for work..... im out.......
Here we go........ got your pop/beer and chips ready ? I also think you might want to bring a pillow with ya too, LOL....... no really its that boring.
First off..... I have this list of interiors that need to get painted and in some cases that means even with everything stripped out of them and there are built in consoles that have to be masked so I can attach the carpets fuzzys without getting it where its not needed. So... that being said I had to mask off some of a 67 Corvette interior and part of a Mazda Miata interior.
Lets talk about that Mazda for a sec. Anyone who followed along with this knows this was a real hard car to come by. Its a Gen2 car only made by Gate. Now, Gate is no longer in business and I can kinda see why. This car when released was about $35-40.00. For $40.00 back then (early 2000's) you were buying REAL nice higher detailed cars. This is NOT one of them. Though its done fairly nice its got that cheapo Maisto problem...... the missing paint inthe door jams, trunk jam and underhood and truck decease. Yeah...... some of these diecast get sickly.... thats probably why it died a quick death in the retail world.... LOL. On a car that had many little things going for it (nice chassis, wonderfully detailed engine, good attention to detail on the interior) its just so disappointing when you open the doors and see bare metal jams. I mean the car had to be painted with all the opening parts on it from what I can see. Hmmmm.... I wonder if I should do that... I could call it the Earl Shieb Special....they never painted door jams. Maybe I could do a in and out in 2 hours any car any color $49.99 no ups no extras, LOL. Ok, well thats a story for another day. No really there was a guy out of MI who was masking all the trim and shooting cars on just the outside. Again, I will elaborate another time.
So......the car came with a tan interior and it needs to be more beige so after all is ready I head outside...... yes outside to dust my interiors. Another great reason to live in AZ...... its nice 95% of the time. The method for this in my world is simple... I can of aerosol matte clear, one small jar of carpet fibers in the right color... or I can mix them to match. I have told a few people I have 46 colors to choose from.... but thats not true I recounted and not counting duplicates its actually 43 so im a liar, LOL. Well a nice spray coat of clear..... heavy dusting of fibers, shake shake shake, pour the excess back in the bottle and inspect. This is never a one time shot so spray and repeat. Then after that done and everything is covered one more light spray over the top to secure the fibers and boom were done. Done with that one...... then there are 2 blue and 3 red interiors to do.
So if you wonder why I do this outside its because these little dusty fibers blow everywhere. When I was living in OR I used to paint in my converted one car garage... had a bunch of tables set up, lots of lights and heaters. But.... because of the weather I had to do my interiors in there as it was still too cold outside. Well one time after doing a red interior I had a white car to paint.... ok, not paint but actually clear. It got cleared with other cars all at once like normal but when I inspected the car I noticed little bitty minut red fibers in the clear. I was pissed to say the least so after that there was no more carpeting in the paint area for me.
OK... well back the boring day... so next I had to retro fit some GMP torque Thrust wheels on an AA 62 Corvette. At first glance this looked rather simple.. HA !!!! I should know better. About an hour later with ALOT of trimming of the AA backing plates I finally got it done. What people never seem to understand is what it does take to do things and there is never a way to know for sure how long something will take. A much as guys have been modifying cars for years everything changes car to car and year to year almost. Technology in diecast is being updated all the time so simple wheel swaps from 1997 and far and few between. I think I had at least 20-30 minutes into removing the stock wheels on this Corvette and a few more to study how they were attached. So all im saying is its rare for something to be cut and dry.
Its time for me to go off on a little sidebar now. This is why I believe those in the modifying business should step up to the plate more. Expand your skills, try things out of your comfort zone and push forward. I say this since I have seen alot of changes since the simple 10 minute disassembly of an Ertl car and strip and paint time. Cars themselves take so much longer to break down. Heck I think it took me, yes me who does this for a living daily and for years, at least an hour to take the 62 Corvette apart. Heck the Miata probably took 40 minutes since it was a car I had never taken apart. What I don't want to see happen is guys backing away from cars and limiting themselves. Grow some balls !!! Do something you will fuck up !!!!!! yeah I typed that...... but thats the point. Get a pair.... working on old Ertl cars is like visiting your grandmother in the old folks home.... its really nice but nobody else gives a shit.
Back to boring, LOL. I have a few cars that need painted stripes so I got a couple of those lined up and one partially shot. Lined up are the 06 Shelby, 65 Plymouth and got the thicker stripes shot on the 70 Black Chevelle. I always shoot the wider stripes first then mask the little ones off as it always seems to work better that way. I will try to post a pic later when the sun comes out. We have a 10% chance a ran today here.... its such news it led the 10pm newscast, LOL. All for 10% chance... LOL.
I also....are ya asleep yet ?? WAKE UP!!!!! im almost done...dry fit a couple painted cars. Basically the 05 Mustang GT, 62 Corvette, 67 Corvette, and the 70 Chevelle. I alway do that to make sure color on all panels matches.
On a parting note... im working on a 69 Coronet.... nothing major but it does get a stock hood, something nobody has done in diecast as of yet. But that leads me to another project im working on. Its a 68 Coronet, yes 68... a car not made in the industry. I took this project on over a year ago and I think its come to a dead spot. Not because of me but the customer. They signed the contract, paid the deposit and I started the car. I basically have the front end down pat... and know what I need to do for the back. Ive made the bodymods for the marker lights and such but I have repeatedly contacted her for the pictures of the real car. Something she was to forward within weeks of starting the project. Im starting to believe she/they are having some kind of problems since she wont respond to my emails or phone calls. Was going to be a cool car...... and maybe it will someday but I have to decide how long to let it sit until I void her contract. Which brings me to another customer and the last im talking about today. I had a nice woman contact me about doing her boyfriends VW.... yes VW, as in 67 Bug. Its really a cool car...... kinda Dub Citied out. Big wheels, 2 tone paint, trick interior, cloth sunroof. Well before I left OR she got me all the paperwork and deposit but again NO pics.... which were to follow. After moving here I contacted her again and asked for pics. She lives in Tuscon... 60 miles from me. She didn't respond......emailed, she didn't respond..... 1, 2, 3 months go by then about 6 weeks ago she contacts me by email. Says she was avoiding me because she broke up with the guy and wasn't going to have the car finished but now they are engaged and everything is fine. I respond with, I will need the balance paid at this time to finish the car. See I had of course already started the car. Did the bodywork we had written on the contract, got the interior ready for paint and have the roof marked off to cut. So for me.... I don't feel comfortable finishing this car without the balance being paid. Am I wrong ? I mean what if I finish the car and they break up again. Then im stuck with a custom VW worth NOTHING to me that I will have at least $400.00 into thats worth maybe $50.00 on Ebay. See what most don't know is I have been burned in the past. I had a guy in Vegas not pay the $800.00 balance owed on 4, 69 Chargers a couple years go. Another guy not pay on a Corvette and one the Mercedes 500K I modified thats on the website. So in all these cars I got a deposit but the profit (I am a business remember and you have to make a profit) never happened. That and the balance of course which is where the profit lies. So...... upon telling this women (VW) she needed to pay the balance first I was told ok, give me a week or so. As of today its been another 6 weeks of nothing. So.... when you think the diecast modifier charges too much remember there is always more to the story and my prices tho not based on who screwed me and how can I make it up are just what I think is fair and without that I like anyone else working could probably not survive.
Enough, time for work..... im out.......
I can agree 100% about not completing a project until all contractual obligations are met.
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