78 Monaco Complete Build

Dropped in a fresh number 11 and cracked the seal on this Ole Cruiser. Sicced some rattlecans after it right away... Things are coming along...

Haven't done anything other than wave some spray paint at it so far, nevermind the lack of detail at the moment. Gonna bust out the brushes after I get the body primed and sprayed. This will be a part of a larger work. Hopefully will lead to my first Dio.

Where do y'all get your oven cleaner, or something easier to obtain to remove chrome plating?? I can't find any of the Caustic Easy Off recipe stuff anywhere. I'm guessing it's used in some extracurricular activities, otherwise it would be on the shelf still at the store like I remember....

The undercarriage is pretty well complete, it won't really be seen it its final form, so i'm not going for insane detail. Neither will the engine bay for that matter. I sloppily cut out what's left of this poor 440 plant, did some scratch work on the front end accessories. Got a ways to go in the bay before calling it good.

My guess is that the bottom end was knocking so it was parked and picked apart years ago. I cut out the radiator and used some Evergreen square to make up the difference.

I don't have the space for an airbrush setup, hopefully getting a bigger place in a couple months. Fingers crossed for a joint with a garage I'll be able to start learning more weathering techniques. Salt chipping, dry brushing and washes are getting me by for now.

I've had some sporadic bench time lately, so I have a glut to post. Enjoy...

Got the engine bay toned correctly. Manifolds shoved off to the side. A couple more details in here to go...



The interior is to a point. Needs some more detail, and I wished I had some Photo-etched bits for this, like window cranks, but I am settled on a few more brush strokes instead.
GROSS!

Got the base laid on the body and I started some topcoat.

One detail was making me crazy from the get on this kit, the fact that the grill and front end was molded so thick, I want the light to get through, I knew I had one shot being as it's styrene. I sanded the back of the grill down to the grate, cut away some strategic damage, and it worked out pretty well. I cut away the backing on the body and I think it looks alright so far...

Latest Mock Up

Are you making this a junkyard car? I only ask because you keep saying Easy-Off oven cleaner. But Castrol Super Clean does the job from what I've heard. I haven't used either one but I am looking to do it soon. I had hoped that this was going to be a "c;lean build" but I was wrong - I guess. So no plans for making a new car from this kit?

ArtChromer said:

Where do y'all get your oven cleaner, or something easier to obtain to remove chrome plating?? I can't find any of the Caustic Easy Off recipe stuff anywhere. I'm guessing it's used in some extracurricular activities, otherwise it would be on the shelf still at the store like I remember....

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Nuthin' better. Chrome. Paint. Grease. Grime.

"Doors, floors, halls, walls, white sidewall tires and old golf balls..."

I know that I said that I've used Brasso and Nver Dull in the past but if I can soak parts in this solution it would save a bit of elbow grease. I get good results but it takes too long to get what I want because of all the nooks and crannies. Even though we're talking about removing plating from parts I wish I could plate the ones that need it. Spaztix and Alclad II, and Alsacorp make great paints but they still look a little dull for what I hoped to do with them. It's too bad that vacuum plating is so expensive and no one wants to make a miniature machine to do this for small projects. In so doing I make parts from aluminum and stainless steel. I do this for accent parts that are supposed to be chromed but have no plating. It makes them look more realistic and a much more satisfying effect. Do any of you guys do this just for looks or for a better matched and accurate model?

Little Cutie said:

I know that I said that I've used Brasso and Nver Dull in the past but if I can soak parts in this solution it would save a bit of elbow grease...

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You can definitely soak pieces in SuperClean. I use it, too, and I use glass jars of different sizes as baths to soak pieces and remove paint.
It will also strip chrome from chromed sprues, if you want to. That was my first use for SC-I stripped the chrome from the chromed sprues in the old Monogram Tom Daniel Red Baron Hot Rod. I realized that I was going to have to clean up seams and sprue gates. That couldn't be done without damaging the chrome, so I stripped it then proceeded as usual on a build. I used Rustoleum's Bright Chrome to paint those parts, and it turned out looking more realistic than the original chrome from Monogram.

Little Cutie said:

Are you making this a junkyard car? I only ask because you keep saying Easy-Off oven cleaner. But Castrol Super Clean does the job from what I've heard. I haven't used either one but I am looking to do it soon. I had hoped that this was going to be a "c;lean build" but I was wrong - I guess. So no plans for making a new car from this kit?

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I found some stuff at a Dollar Tree called "Amazing." Strips the chrome off just fine, but leaves a Yellow tint, possibly a release agent from manufacturing. Hard to beat on costs. I am curious of the results with these products mentioned though, thanks for the information.

As for what I am building here? - Yes, indeed a major pile of junk.

However,

Tune into my latest Mustang build, the SN95 thread. There I plan to build one factory-stock 94 cobra coupe that I do not believe has been kitted. This will be my entry into competition building, to prove I am capable of such quality. Upon the completion of which, I will return to making unique, one-off pieces of junk. Wish me luck

Little Cutie said:

Are you making this a junkyard car? I only ask because you keep saying Easy-Off oven cleaner. But Castrol Super Clean does the job from what I've heard. I haven't used either one but I am looking to do it soon. I had hoped that this was going to be a "c;lean build" but I was wrong - I guess. So no plans for making a new car from this kit?

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EasyOff and other oven cleaners will do the job-once. A big advantage of SuperClean over oven cleaners is that you spray the oven cleaner, and that's it for that batch. With SuperClean, you can fill a jar and use a batch over and over.
SuperClean is also not quite as caustic as EasyOff. You should have good ventilation with either product, but EasyOff is definitely more volatile and more caustic than SuperClean. SuperClean doesn't fill my cellar with fumes as EasyOff will. It's interesting because the active ingredient in both is lye.
Using one or the other really isn't related to the subject you want to build.

I used the Easy-Off. It works but as you said it is only a "one and done" type of solution. I used purple power but nothing happened. Some people say you can use it but that's not Castrol or Super Clean. When I used it nothing happened. Purple power is basically just a household cleaner like Mean Green or Simple Green. also the Easy-Off takes the paint off and leaves a white residue. I don't know if it's crazing of the plastic or if it's damage to the surface. I have yet to sand to see if it removes this discolouration.

the Baron said:

You can definitely soak pieces in SuperClean. I use it, too, and I use glass jars of different sizes as baths to soak pieces and remove paint.
It will also strip chrome from chromed sprues, if you want to. That was my first use for SC-I stripped the chrome from the chromed sprues in the old Monogram Tom Daniel Red Baron Hot Rod. I realized that I was going to have to clean up seams and sprue gates. That couldn't be done without damaging the chrome, so I stripped it then proceeded as usual on a build. I used Rustoleum's Bright Chrome to paint those parts, and it turned out looking more realistic than the original chrome from Monogram.

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Ok. With that I also have sanded parts in the past before I knew that it could be done with Super Clean. I've also heard that caramel colas have the same effect of removing chrome. I did this but one time over twenty years ago I tried to paint the inside of my bumpers with black paint only to remove the excess from a Monogram '59 Cadillac only to remove the chrome as well. I did this with what I thought was regular mineral spirits. I just got new bumpers from Monogram at the time by sending away for them. However to keep from having this same thing happen again I painted them with water based paints in the past. But I don't remember where I saw this but instead of painting the bumpers sanding away the inside of the bumpers so that you can expose the grill on model cars. I did this on the Cadillac. Only I scraped it. One part I accidentally scraped too far and it took away one tiny part of the grill on one edge. Now I have to figure out who I'm going to fix it. I wouldn't suggest this with all models but it can be done with this car. I did this with two different models. The first is a convertible and the second is a solid top that needs some real work to bring it back from the dead. The last photo is the best shot I could get with the cheap digital camera that I have (Nikon Cool Pix). It makes my hand look disproportionate and creepy as it slightly distorts things at different angles. But you get the main idea. I only wish it could get much clearer and more resolute photos.