Doh! Why won't you work?

[Bernie]

This project has been vexing me for two or three weeks. I bought a Tootsietoy Graham towncar a few years ago. I've recently been working on this area of my collection so I got it out of storage and had a look. I was disappointed. The paint on the body was a fairly vivid shade of green and coverage was thin. The fenders were a similarly thin metallic green. This didn't look right for something built in 1933 and unlike the paint any of my dozens of other pre-war diecasts. It also was free of scratches and blemishes, unusual for an eighty year old toy. So I stripped it. I've since found two other examples on eBay that look remarkably like what I had seen and found that this particular color scheme was only available on that body style. This now leaves me two colors short of a complete collection, and the other color is easy to find. I'm still not sure whether what I had was correct, but it will cost me plenty to dig up another example. Turmoil.

So now I had a bare metal car in need of a custom paint job and I knew just what I wanted. In the 1970s, I had seen a 1932 Chrysler Imperial roadster that still sticks in my mind as one of the most beautiful cars ever. It was dark brown and light tan with orange wheels and striping. Something like this, but with tan. I've long since lost the Instamatic photograph and don't remember the exact scheme; whether the lighter color was on the top, on the sides, or the fenders.

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So I tried to recreate. My airbrush hasn't been working well, so it was up to the spray can. Which began more turmoil. The color charts they give you for paint are never accurate, and neither are the color of the caps. I was looking for a medium tan and a reddish chocolate brown. Spray paint is primarily made for military models or patio furniture. It's rare for me to find the colors that I'm picturing in my head, and custom paint begins at $25 US. I couldn't find the tan I wanted but upon reviewing the charts, I saw a nice golden-silver that would look nice on the hood and roof, and a cinnamon orange that would look great on the fenders. The brown was easy.

Or so I thought. The chart showed semi-sweet chocolate and the paint was milk chocolate. The champagne was just silver. The cinnamon was exceptional but didn't go well with the other colors. Firstly, I oversprayed the cinnamon with black cherry. I wanted more of a transparent effect, but the result was to my satisfaction and it matched the brown body much better. Several months ago, I had bought an odd shade of silver on clearance to restore a Corgi James Bond car. I haven't worked on that project yet, but it was exactly the yellowish-grey silver (argent maybe?) that I wanted for this project. Wonderful!

I sprayed the body with Tamiya white primer then sprayed the whole thing in silver. Next day I masked it with yellow Tamiya modeller's masking tape and sprayed the lower body. Wonderful! Then I pulled the masking tape off and large strips of silver paint came with it. Waited a day, masked and painted that again. Large strips of brown paint came off when I pulled the tape. Stripped the car again and sprayed with green self-etching primer. Repeated the process using blue painter's tape to mask. Large strips of silver paint came off.

The chassis looks great. the brown looks great. The silver leaves much to be desired. I'm going to relax, wait two weeks then try and paint the top again. I have no better ideas for masking material. I don't know how much silver is left in the can but it was clearance. I can't get it again and it is perfect. Plus, it's ideal for that James Bond Corgi. It's only a 5oz can and this HAS to work this time.

Graham 616 1934BN Tootsietoy.jpg (18.16 KiB) Viewed 2114 times

I'm not really happy with the color scheme. The colors aren't as compatible as they should be. But as I said, the samples you see are never correct and I could spend two hundred dollars trying to find something more pleasing that's still within what I had envisioned. I've got ten more lined up to try out other less radical ideas and I will be mixing the paint for those myself and using an airbrush. But I can''t do metallics with that yet and I wanted them for this toy. The model will be finished off with cinnamon (maybe) wheels and painted chauffeur's compartment (what color?). There will be sidemount wheels in each front fender and of course, a windshield.

The styling of the 1932 Graham was revolutionary for an American car. The first cars available from the factory with skirted fenders instead an open flying wing. A grille merged with the body instead of being surrounded by a chrome frame. Also one of the first with pearlescent paint; theirs made with fish scales. Roughed up badly by the depression, they bought up the body dies for the failed coffin-nosed Cord 810 in a last ditch effort to survive. A merger with Hupmobile was also called for. They didn't survive the war, but their assets were bought up by Henry J. Kaiser "father of modern American shipbuilding", who was flush with money from building Liberty ships. He used their designs and hardware to launch the Kaiser Frazer marque. A recession in the mid Fifties killed them off as well as Packard, Nash, Hudson, Edsel, DeSoto and eventually Studebaker.

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Hi Bernie.
Sorry to hear of your painting problems, but as a modeller myself, what you are experiencing is common. It seems you needed an etching primer first, Tamyia primer is probably for plastic surfaces more than metal surfaces and I would not expect it to work very well on the Tootsietoy metal which from the Thirties may be more supple than a modern Mazac (Zamac).

It looks like it is too late now for a full etch primer application, unless you want to strip off what you have already managed to paint on the model, so your options are limited. I myself would hand paint the rest of the model without any masking as I am lucky in still having a steady hand. If you could do this yourself but don't take the Silver right up to the edge of the Brown because maybe you are not steady enough to get a level edge, leave a narrow strip of unpainted body, you could then cover the gap with some fine line tape designed for trimming body sides and this will cover the two edges and make the colour split look much tidyier.

Practice on a another less important model first with different widths of trimming tape.

GHOSTHUNTER.

[Tinman]

Peeling up your finished work with even the best of painters tapes, even when using etching primer can be a problem with certain paints. Acrylics and acrylic hybrids seem to be the worst offenders.

When you have to use such paints (for whatever reason), I've had luck with this method: Cut strips of paper and glue these onto the surface in place of tape. Use Elmer's school glue which can later be removed by soaking in water. Clean any excess that may have pushed out beyond the "tape" line. To prevent bleeding, apply another coat of the base color along the "tape" seam. Clear top coat can also be used (if you were planning to topcoat with clear). You can tape off the rest of the model by placing real tape on the paper and keeping it off the masked area of the model.

Once the model has dried and you allow the recommended time for the paint to cure, remove the tape from the paper. Next, dunk the model in warm water and let it soak for ten or fifteen minutes and then carefully remove the paper "tape." any residue that might remain can be cleaned off with a cotton bud and warm soapy water.

[Bernie]

It seems you needed an etching primer first, Tamyia primer is probably for plastic surfaces more than metal surfaces and I would not expect it to work very well on the Tootsietoy metal which from the Thirties may be more supple than a modern Mazac (Zamac).GHOSTHUNTER.

Paragraph 5. " Stripped the car again and sprayed with green self-etching primer."

[Bernie]

Peeling up your finished work with even the best of painters tapes, even when using etching primer can be a problem with certain paints. Acrylics and acrylic hybrids seem to be the worst offenders.

When you have to use such paints (for whatever reason), I've had luck with this method: Cut strips of paper and glue these onto the surface in place of tape. Use Elmer's school glue which can later be removed by soaking in water. Clean any excess that may have pushed out beyond the "tape" line. To prevent bleeding, apply another coat of the base color along the "tape" seam. Clear top coat can also be used (if you were planning to topcoat with clear). You can tape off the rest of the model by placing real tape on the paper and keeping it off the masked area of the model.

Once the model has dried and you allow the recommended time for the paint to cure, remove the tape from the paper. Next, dunk the model in warm water and let it soak for ten or fifteen minutes and then carefully remove the paper "tape." any residue that might remain can be cleaned off with a cotton bud and warm soapy water.

I like this idea. In fact, I bought some glue for this very purpose a few months ago to do a two-tone Bentley Continental. My plan was to use thin clear styrene sheet like one used to use with overhead projectors. But that job was to be done with the airbrush to replicate the original process more closely and get a less sharp transition. When the airbrush ran into problems, the project was put aside and I never got to find out how it would work.

The silver is an off brand and is not marked but I assume it's enamel since most spray paints are. The brown is Testor's lacquer. In general I try to use acrylics because it's easier to clean the airgun. Among rattlecans, I also prefer Tamiya acrylics because they go on smooth and thin while still giving a good coat. I had a lot of problems with enamel paints this past Summer which I associated with high humidity. Also, the mass market paints weren't designed to put down an automotive quality finish, while the modeller's paints are designed for plastic. I've tried gray primer, red primer and green primer without significant difference in their performance so now I usually stick with green etching primer. If I'm worried that the color layer will be too transparent, I cover the etching primer with a lighter color first. I was in a hurry the other night and forgot all these points, just laying down the white primer.

Your masking idea is a good one and I will use it. But I think I also have a preparation problem and the surface is too smooth. I'm going to try running a red Scotchbrite pad over it tomorrow to scuff it up. This is proper procedure when painting an automobile but I avoid heavy abrasives on models because it's so easy to sand away casting details. I have been using 600 grit and higher. I've used green Scotchbrite (for pots and pans) but that made no apparent difference on other models. I've also been lax about wearing gloves and skin oils may be interfering with the bond. It isn't necessary to practice on a less important model because I can strip this one to bare metal endless times. The critical factor in this case is the supply of argent paint, which is an ideal color and may not be replaceable. I'll search the web tonight for a source.

[misterpop]

This is the one I cant get off..-------Oh and 971