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'71 Hemi Cuda (Under Glass 2-Mar)


taaron76

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... and on to the next one, '71 Hemi Cuda. My wife wants it stock colors, but with different wheels. Of course the suspension has to be modified to sit the way I want, but that shouldn't be too bad on this kit. As long as she supports my habit, I'll keep building them for her. lol

Tim
Cuda-vi.jpg

CudaMockupStance-vi.jpg

Edited by taaron76
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The wheels look sharp on it Tim! I would put a little larger tire on the rears. The old Good Year Eagles from the Monogram kits (Vetagin, Alternomad, Mach III and a few others) will slide right on the Pegasus 19" wheels if you cut out the center rib. I built this kit some years ago with a stock color and Cragar wheels/wide rear tires. You got me wishing I had used the Pegasus wheels on it now. Here's what the Monogram GYE tires look like on the Pegasus 19" wheels.

e89bc97e-f218-40db-9bfc-e5291ee06f8f_zps

Edited by plowboy
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Roger,

I was digging through my boxes of unused tires and such, but couldn't find any GYE that fit. I would have been nice to have a slightly larger wheel or tire in the back, but I think I can pull it off and get the look I was hoping for. I do love the width of the Pegasus wheels though.

Tim

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I worked on the suspension today in order to get the stance correct. Luckily, there was lots of room to work underneath those big wheel wells, so not much modifying was needed to lower to get the stance right.

On the front suspension, I cut both spindles off and drilled new holes above where the old ones were. The new spindles/axles are mounted as shown through the frame in order to make it more durable.

CudaFS3-vi.jpg

CudaFS1-vi.jpg

I originally thought I was going to have to cut the springs off the rear axle and use lowering blocks, but I only had to cut the old axles off and drill in the new one so the Pegasus 19" wheels would fit. Not much to do on the rear to get the stance I was looking for.

CudaRS1-vi.jpg

CudaRS2-vi.jpg

Here's how she will sit once completed.

CudaStance4-vi.jpg

CudaStance3-vi.jpg

CudaStance2-vi.jpg

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Today I got the Cuda primed and painted. The base color is Testors Pearl Purple, followed up with 5 coats of Tamiya clear. I was going to go with just plain old Tamiya purple, but figured I'd give it a little more life. I also try to paint the body and body pieces right after I get the suspension modified and the wheels fit. My logic is that since I put a few coats of base coat/clear coat (ok, 8 total coats), I like to bake it for 24 hours and then let it "gas" out for 10-14 days. This will ensure that the surface is more than ready when I start wet sanding and buffing.

Tonight I tried something a little different from what I typically do with Tamiya paints. After the first 2 clear coats, I started to thin eat clear coat with .5ml more of clear per coat. So I started with 23ml of Tamiya clear, thinned with 8ml of denatured alcohol and ended up with 9.5-10ml of denatured alcohol total to let the last 2-3 coats of clear really lay down. So far, it has seemed to work great!

I got to try out my new compressor that my wonderful wife bought me for Valentine's day.

New compressor:

NewCompressor-vi.jpg

Everything was painted @ 40 PSI:

NewCompressor1-vi.jpg

3 Base coats of Testors Purple Pearl:

BaseCoat-vi.jpg

Clear coat 1:

ClearCoat1-vi.jpg

Clear coat 2:

ClearCoat2-vi.jpg

Clear coat 3:

ClearCoat3-vi.jpg

Clear coat 4:

ClearCoat4-vi.jpg

Clear coat 5: As soon as I put it in the dehydrator, the paint will lay down a little more, so there shouldn't be any orange peel. If there is, it won't be much, but this will wet sand and polish out nicely!

ClearCoat5-vi.jpg

Clear coat 5 on the hood:

HoodClearCoat5-vi.jpg

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Nice work on the paint Tim. I to like using Tamiya acrylics as well. I use them with a 50/50 mix of denatured Alcohol. Both base and clears. They dry fast, hard, and smooth that way, and I've never needed to dehydrate them with that mix. Most times they are ready for wet sanding and polishing with 24 to 48 hours. I spray with my airbrush and compressor set at between 18 and 22 psi when I paint that ratio and usually get very little orange peel if any. I also use Model Masters Enamels mixed 50/50 with hardware store cheap brand lacquer thinner and it too has been going on nice for me.. though I do let it gas out for about a week before wet sand and polish. The vette was done with that combo. Of couse I custom mixed the model masters colors to get the base color I wanted. Just thought I'd pass on another way of applying it. But your idea seem to work out outstanding as well.. May give it a shot myself on a future build. Minus the dehydrator (never been a fan of them).

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Jim - I think it was you that actually sent me down the path of shooting Tamiya acrylics with denatured alcohol, if I remember correctly, so I owe you a big THANKS! :) I'd rather strictly use Tamiya, but they have a limited set of acrylic colors to choose from, unfortunately. This was the first time I've ever used Testors as a base coat and Tamiya as the clear coat. I liked the way it turned out and I will definitely do it again in the future, especially considering Testors has a pretty good selection of acrylic colors available. I'm definitely going to try lacquer thinner in my next attempt with Testors acrylic.

As far as the dehydrator goes, I started using it when I let one gas out and cure for about 10 days and noticed it wasn't ready to be wet sanded after I had already started. Granted, I wasn't using Tamiya with denatured alcohol yet, so that may have been the issue. I've had great success with the dehydrator and have noticed that it helps flatten out the paint even more if you let it air dry for 10-15 prior to sticking it in. I typically am not very bashful when it comes to laying down the clear, but I do that because I've sanded through to the base coat before on a metallic base coat and as you probably already know, once you hit the metallic base coat, it's time to strip it and start over again.

Tim

Edited by taaron76
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... continuation since I am having issues posting.

Jim - Every time I start a new build, I try and push the envelope a little more each time. So far, my trials have turned out for me to be successes, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to pass the knowledge on to others... just as you have done with all of your builds. Hopefully, someone can take something away from it and improve their builds. Thanks for passing your knowledge down to us "newbs". :lol:

Joe - Thanks, bro!

Tim

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Jim - I'm definitely going to try lacquer thinner in my next attempt with Testors acrylic.

Tim

Tim Dont use lacquer thinner with Testors acrylic. It will mess up the paint big time! I should have stated use lacquer thinner with Model Masters regular Enamels only. NOT THEIR ACRYLIC ENAMELS.

Edited by microwheel
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... continuation since I am having issues posting.

Jim - Every time I start a new build, I try and push the envelope a little more each time. So far, my trials have turned out for me to be successes, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to pass the knowledge on to others... just as you have done with all of your builds. Hopefully, someone can take something away from it and improve their builds. Thanks for passing your knowledge down to us "newbs". :lol:

Joe - Thanks, bro!

Tim

I'm glad I am able to offer whatever I can to help fellow modelers. So many have helped me over the years, and back in the day when I started learning seriously about model building, the internet was very young and almost no info about model building floating around on it. But I was lucky enough to have alot of local builders that visited the local hobby shop pass their help, tips, and knowledge on to me. So if I can do the same for others, I'm only too glad to help.

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Tim,

The paint looks great. It's going to be a beauty for sure.

The rear wheelwells do look a little large for that wheels and tire combo.

Have a look at Jason Osborns's site and you'll find some of the nicest resin wheel/tires combos availaable IMHO, only as a buyer.

http://www.fireballmodels.info/

Keep it up!

Sorry, that should read Joseph Osborn...

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Tim,

The paint looks great. It's going to be a beauty for sure.

The rear wheelwells do look a little large for that wheels and tire combo.

Have a look at Jason Osborns's site and you'll find some of the nicest resin wheel/tires combos availaable IMHO, only as a buyer.

http://www.fireballmodels.info/

Keep it up!

Roger, Tom - I think I found the fix for filling up the back wheelwells, but I ordered the 23" Pegasus to see what it looks like. I "borrowed" these off of my daughters Lambo snap-tite kit. They fit perfectly and they are a little wider. Thanks for the suggestions!

Tim

24446181804409-vi.jpg

Edited by taaron76
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That looks good Tim! I think you'll like that combo better than the 23's on the rear. I tried using the 19 and 23 inch TT 2 combo once. But, I didn't care for the look. That's when I went to searching for bigger tires for the rear.

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