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kustombuilder1

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  1. My modeling time is ate up with Bad weather too. I have to paint outside, and when it's 21 degF with wind averaging 10 mph, my paint likes to orange peel, fog up, and generally I cant get a smooth set of coats. So, I'm stuck inside bouncing from kit to kit. I have about 10 right now that need spray work before I can continue.
  2. That looks great!!! I'm doing the same thing to AMT's '55 pickup kit. No painting done, just fitting in the interior. I have a problem with the kit's windows too. the windshield just falls right through the opening. It has very rough edges, and not much frame, so I think it's mis-molded.
  3. Anything that happens to be happening around the house at the time. TV, it's Law & Order, or Cold Case, or the news. Music varies depending on mood. Then there's the rythym of the washing machine, or dish wahser. Then there's the puppy playing.
  4. I'd like to see somethings we don't ever see kitted. Yeah, we can have 100 Porsches, Ferarris, Lambos, 'Vettes, Mustangs, Camaros, and any number of muscle cars you can mention. But........... I'd like to see------- A Decent '00s Crown Vic. A 1st Gen Chrysler LHS, '94-'96. An STS-V that doesn't have Boeing 747 wheels on it. ANY new or re-release pick-up models. How 'Bout a 2006 F-150? An '02-up Ram? An '06 or '07 Silverado Classic (old body style). A Nissan Titan? A Toyota Camry or Avalon? And I'd also like to see----For Gosh sakes Revell, pop for the right to letter the sides of your tires. Thanks
  5. Any Parts store that sells Duplicolor can get it. My favorite happens to be O'Reilly Auto Parts, but I'm sure Autozone or Advance would have it too. the Duplicolor # is DSGM380. Thanks for the good words folks, they mean a lot to me. I'd build big rigs more, but they usually cost more than my budget allows, and I'm strapped for time a lot too.
  6. Yeah, Joe's right the L-bodies were in production 3 years before the K-car hit the market, but the basic layout was pretty much the same. Just none of the parts will interchange. Yeah, DUB it is the 1.7, but like I said, MPC didn't give a whole lot of thought to the powertrain when they tooled the kit. "Close approximation" is exactly the right term. novadose71 is correct on the "S". They told us at Chrysler school when I worked for the dealership it officially stood for "Goes Like Hell- Shelby style".
  7. I've got a unique way of doing it too. What I do, is start with a very light tan, or almond color Krylon enamel. After the color is solid, I let it cure until almost no smell is left in the paint. Then, I take some craft acrylic, usually something around a cocoa, or chocolate color, and dry brush the molded-in highlights of the woodgrain. After several hours of letting the acrylic dry, I take actual MinWax stain for real wood, and apply it over the entire surface very lightly on the first coat.. I let this dry about 4 hours, and if it's not dark enough I give it another one. The solvents in the actual wood stain are cool enough they wont lift the enamel. Here's the result.:
  8. Howdy folks, here's a project I really enjoy, from one of my favorite kits of all time. AMT's Datsun 280ZX, mixed up with parts from MPC's Pontica GTA. The engine is the TPI 350, and the seats are from the GTA as well. The wheels and tires are from AMT's '50 Chevy stepside kit, and the tires are the nice Good-Year Eagle VR 50s. The subwoofer is from AMT's Dodge D-50 kit. I shaved off the factory side marker lamps for a smoother body line on the sides. I also haad to modify the transmission tunnel on the chassis, and interior, enlarging it to allow for a THM350 automatic transmission. Painted Duplicolor GM medium Garnet Pearl, and polished using Micro-Mark's polishing pads, finished with 3M #39007 Imperial Hand glaze. The trim is Bare Metal foil on the window frames and wipers. The gauges are white faced, and printed from a photo on decal paper with my Lexmark. The rear hatch window and rear quarter windows are tinted with actual 50% auto tint film. real auto tint film works well on semi-flat windows in scale, but is rather tricky on steep curves, like an F-body GM would have. The hardest part was scratchbuilding the air intake hose. I had to route it around behind the A/C compressor and up to the factory air cleaner housing in front of the radiator support. This was for hood clearance. The air cleaner is painted Testors MM Duck Egg blue, almost a perfect match for Datsun's air cleaner housing covers at the time. It's not nearly as bright as the flash of my camera made it seem. Hope you like.
  9. I don't build many big rigs, but here's one that caught my eye for shear low price. Turns out, it's worth it. The detail is very good considering the relatively low parts count. I built it out of the box using the kit supplied decals. It's painted Duplicolor GM Medium Garnet Pearl. Didn't have any purple as it is shown on the box art. If United Trucking is a real company, I hope they don't mind I painted one of their trucks red instead of purple . The engine is painted Rustoleum's "American Accents" enamel, a color called Honey, which is fairly close to Cat yellow. Hope you like it.
  10. Howdy!! Here's the MPC 1986 Dodge Shelby Charger. Painted with 2 coats Testors Sapphire Blue Metalflake, and the 1 coat of Testors "Colors by Boyd" True Blue Pearl. This kit has an amazing decal sheet in it, everything you see in the silver trim is decals, except for the bottom ground effects which is Duplicolor Honda Arctic Silver. After decals, it got Testors High gloss clear polished with the Novus system. If you want a decal adventure to rival any NASCAR kit, just get one of these. But be careful. The newest of these kits is 20 years old, so there's no telling how the decals will behave. Decal solvent and setting solution is a must! The decals arent the only tricky part. I'll explain. When MPC first did this kit, it was around 1980, as the Omni 024. At the time, Chrysler's only engine option for the L-body platform was VW's reliable, but weak 1.7 adapted from the Rabbit. As the car ran through production, and was re-named Charger, it was offered with the 2.2 liter in both carb and turbo forms. MPC updated the body and interior, but never touched the drivetrain. Still has the 1.7 in the kit, with some creative turbo plumbing. The engine in this one is donated from AMT's current release Dodge Daytona kit, and is the 2.2 litre TurboII with intercooler. Anyone who has opened the hood on one of these knows it's a tight fit, and it was on the model as well. It's wired and plumbed, the only thing missing in this picture is the upper radiator hose which I hadn't made yet, as the intercooler required moving and slightly shortening the radiator. The plug wires are made from the windings of an old electric motor. Thanks for listening, and hope you enjoyed!! Darrin
  11. Looks great!!! MPC did do a full detail version of this car, it pops up on e-bay once in a while, and some places that deal in vintage kits like www.modelexpress.net, Fred's and so forth. Found a neat way to search on ebay for particular manufacturers. Say you did want to find just MPC kits of a certain decade, just type "MPC 198*" without the quotes in the search field. That'll get you anything MPC with the mention of 1980-1989 in the description. Works with any brand and decade.
  12. Howdy folks. Thought I'd introduce myself by showing my only large scale project, the Monogram 1/8 IROC-Z. I started her in Oct. 1986, and I still don't consider it finished. I'm always finding something to do to it. It's painted with Dupont Centari 99A Acrylic Enamel. I weathered somethings to reflect actual daily driver use, like the tread wear on the tires, and other things have weathered themselves with her shear 21 years of age. I helped things along a little by adding some paint swirls like you'd find on a black car with older paint. This was pretty easy to do, I just didn't do an extra fine polish job the last few times. About once a year, she gets a real soap and water bath. The only thing I have to be careful of here is the decal in the instrument panel for the gauges. She's held up pretty well over the years. I plan on having her till the day my maker calls me home. Thanks for looking, and have a gerat day!!
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