AMT/ERTL 1/24 Chevy Stepside Street Machine by Brad Huskinson

AMT/ERTL 1/24 scale
Chevy Stepside
Street Machine

by Brad Huskinson

Hobby Boss' 1/72 P-61A Black Widow is available online from Squadron.com

The Rusty Finish

Before painting any of the kit body or parts, I tested this process on several pieces of styrene.

After a normal cleanup of panel lines, flashing, sink holes etc, all exterior body parts were sprayed with Mr. Surfacer 1500 (black) from the can. Several light coats were applied to achieve total coverage. The resulting finish was semi-gloss black. Since the final truck was to be a weathered patina, I only lightly sanded away any obvious crud in the paint. I did not polish, sand, or smooth the finish.

The next step was to apply a very light dusting of “rust paint.” Outdoors, I held all of the body parts (not at the same time!) at arms length and sprayed them with Krylon ColorMaster Ultra Flat Red Oxide Primer. Testing to gauge the distance of the spray can from the kit parts really helped here. I only misted over the black. Some parts needed more than one misting based on coverage. Do not totally cover the black paint; just so specks of rust are obtained.

I then mixed a combination of Tamiya blue, white and green acrylic bottle paints to replicate the color of the original 1:1 truck.

Next I very lightly airbrushed the areas of the body and associated parts where I actually wanted the blue paint; thicker in some places than others. No blue paint at all in other areas.

Next came the very delicate process of wet sanding. From what I had learned from testing, different grits of sanding pads and paper were used to achieve the patina. I used anywhere from a well-used piece of 400 wet/dry paper to 4000 grit pads and Micro-Mesh sheets. All wet; all the time.

This is a real test of patience. Since the rust primer was an enamel-based paint, I could also lightly rub areas with Mona Lisa paint thinner on a cotton swab to blend layers more than others. This is what gives depth and dimension to the finish. The black base and acrylic blue weren’t affected by a light pass of paint thinner. Be careful. Be patient. It’s very difficult to go back!