Let me start a little off topic first. When I learned about discontinuation of Floquil and Polyscale paint lines I thought no biggie. I very rarely use Polyscale paints to paint my structures. I prefer craft acrylics instead. I find Floquil to be good for airbrushing. However, for my applications like painting Jordan cars any solvent based paint would do the job. It is worth to mention at this point that Testors is owned by Rust-Oleum. I've used Rust-Oleum automotive primers for a quite few years. I use black on everything that is painted black afterwards and at some point I used gray on everything else before I started using Camouflage paint on detail parts that represent wood. They aren't ideal primers especially gray. I don't know if it is temperature, humidity, quality or other factors but once in awhile I get orange skin looking surface. I have been looking into alternatives but so far I haven't made any steps in that direction. I guess, it is hard to break old habits. Anyway, I was low on both black and gray primers and it so happened I had to go to Home Depot. I thought I would pick up couple of spray cans there. To my surprise black primer wasn't available. A little disappointed I got home, got online to see who had it. When I did search on Rust-Oleum site for automotive primer I didn't get the results I expected. They didn't contain any of automotive primers I have been using. It looks like they either have been discontinued or relabeled/repackaged. Now that's a real bummer. Good thing I was passing another Home Depot yesterday where they had both colors available. I picked up 5 spray cans of each color. I wonder what their shelf life is. It doesn't seem they will sit on the shelf for a long though.
Now that I have left primer problem off of my chest I am ready to say few words about this new project I am working on. It is Tidewater Wharf by BiS. The kit itself looks like younger brother of FSM kits. It attempts to follow the steps of older brothers but still not quite there yet. That could be the reason why my build process is so chaotic. I have number of finished sub-assemblies but nothing in one piece yet. What is driving me crazy is pre-cut stripwood. Each piece has to be handled separately what is time consuming. Especially when I have to read the instructions to determine if particular piece has to be painted or stained. I am not sure if pre-cut stripwood is 90s fad or just over-thinking by manufacturer. I guess I'll find out when I build FSM kit from the same era. As for now below is the picture of few parts I found was worth taking photo of.
Campbell kits, the granddaddy of craftsman kits, are made up of pre-cut to size stripwood. Perhaps that's a factor.
ReplyDeleteJaime