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Monogram 1970 Challenger T/A Rebuild-Under Glass 03-13


mustang1989

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I came to this site about a year or so ago after chasing a 1990 Mustang LX build that I found searching through Yahoo, ended up looking around a bit and liking the good folks here, and decided to stay. I build primarily 1/48 scale aircraft and some of you have seen me "holing up" in the All the Rest section of this forum for a while. To wrap things up for the year and while I still have idle bench time in between builds I've decided to take on a car project.

I have a Monogram Challenger that I built 30 years ago when I was about 14 or so that is in the middle of repairs. I built it for my little brother back then and then as years went by and he moved from home, got married and had his own family it stayed at my parents house. I took it from my parents house years later and cleaned it up a bit and glued some parts that fell off over the years back on and gave it back to my brother around 5 years ago as a Christmas present. Long story short it ended up in the bedroom closet covered up by clothes and other stuff and got knocked off of the top shelf by my nephew. We ended up finding the hood and a wheel/tire assy that was lost for a little bit out of the fall and I pieced it back together. It's still missing the hood scoop from the hood and the rear spoiler but I managed to glue everything back on and repair everything else that was damaged during the fall. Now before I turn this into a "brother bashing session" let me tell you that my brother is a top notch guy. Its just that models aint his thing. Hes got a wife and two kids and he so busy he looks like a one legged man in a butt kicking contest. With that said, I took the model home and I bought another kit in which to replace the missing parts with. I am going to put this thing back to its unmodified original condition but here she sits proudly once again. Anyways I didn't paint it with anything more than a gloss coat when I originally built it and aside from the decals wrinkling a little the finish came out PERFECT! The gloss coat was applied from a can for cryin' out loud! One of my only regrets is how the decals all came out. The interior was detailed great for a 14 year old. All you have to do is put a visor on and you can read the gauges. Of course I didn't need glasses or a dang visor when I originally built it. LOL.

Anyhow here's the pic of what I'm working with as of now. I took this pic last year and really it's not in that bad of condition for being as old as it is. I've decided to retain all the parts due to the fact that this model is molded in the red you see here. I may ask for some help along the way because I don't know how all you guys get this "mirror " finish that I keep seeing and I haven't built a car model in YEARS. It'll be an OOB build....er.....rebuild, so I'm not going crazy on the budget.

Fromthestart_zpscdacdc2a.jpg

Edited by mustang1989
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I'm not going to mess with the interior much as I built it using 14 year old eyes and I could paint detail fairly well back then. I'll just be dusting this all off.

ChallengerTAtornapart002_zps6951b648.jpg

ChallengerTAtornapart003_zps0b453736.jpg

and then there's the IP. I'll need to re-glue the upper dash pad to the lower carrier assy and re-paint some of the areas where the red is bleeding through like on the steering wheel. Again all detail is through a 14 year old set of eyes...............without the visors that I need today. lol

ChallengerTAtornapart004_zps1cac048f.jpg

Edited by mustang1989
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I continued on with the decal removal this morning and spotted some runs that I hadn't ever seen in the clear coat at the door handle areas and on the lower areas of the body. I'll be smoothing all of this out as I go.

ChallengerTAdecalremoval003_zps3b51318f.

and finally, decals are removed............and ALOT of sanding and clean up to go.

ChallengerTAdecalremoval001_zpsa863ca51.

ChallengerTAdecalremoval002_zpsa520c612.

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I was searching around in my stash totes last night because I just knew I bought something that would help out with what I'm dong here. Yup , I found it!

PolishingKit_zps70f4f836.jpg

So this is what I started with using the 3200 grit sanding pad :

PolishingKitoutcome001_zps3239ac2b.jpg

and what I ended up with all the way through to the 12000 grit pad. That's more like it! A nice starting point.

PolishingKitoutcome005_zps7ff6285c.jpg

Edited by mustang1989
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This is a project that I appreciate and seems familiar and will make a nice display piece when done. The history is what makes some projects really special and you and this model obviously go back a lot of years. I, for one, am glad that it has found it's way back into your life and it is really cool to see it getting the love and appreciation that it deserves. The '70 Challenger is definitely one of Chrysler's crown jewels and I have liked them since they were new.

I recently unearthed a '70 Challenger convertible that I started and almost completed almost twenty years ago and I want to do basically what you are doing. Mine is painted in automotive urethane in Panther Pink with a white interior and it is a replica of a built kit that I lost when our home was destroyed by fire in 1988. I was side tracked from building for many years and only recently have I found my way back to the hobby and rediscovered the relaxation and peace of mind that creating something brings. I want to get another decal set for it, remove the old ones and get rid of several specks of dust in the paint which means sanding and polishing, just like you. I'll be watching your progress.

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Now THAT'S a story you got there Gary. I'll be looking for the re-build of yours and thanks for the good word on mine.

I'm like you and alot of others on that relaxation bit. My wife thinks I'm half crazy sometimes as I deal mostly in 48th scale builds but I've got some idle time on my hands until Jan 1st and got "the bug" to work with a car........................finally. I have a 90 Mustang LX coupe I want to build but that's going to involve alot of resin and PE parts and would take longer than the time I have right now. I just got finished with a Corsair in the "All the Rest" section and will be moving on to two Bf109 builds on the 1st of January so I've got just enough time to go a little slow and do a decent job on it.

I, like you, was gone from the model building scene for a long while and found my way back to it in 2012 only this time I got in with the forums and find myself at home in them amongst "birds of a feather". Alot of folks just dont get how rewarding this hobby really is and it's nice to be able to come to places like this and converse with others who share the interest and get better at building along the way.

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Thank you Carl!

Bring em on Jeff. I'm lookin' forward to those.

Ok gang! I got this thing decaled yesterday and glossed this morning. The roof is not as good as I wanted to to be but I think I'm going to get one of those polishing kits that folks keep talking about and see if I can work any magic there. Other than that it turned out ok. I still have to pick out details like door handles, the Mopar medallion and side marker lights. I also can't forget stuff like the drip railing , front chrome trim, rear chrome trim and window trim thats gonna get the ol' BMF treatment.

DecaledandClearCoated_zpsfed4f425.jpg

One of the things that's cool about building cars is that there's no shortage of reference pics and this car is no exception. I found a slew of pics on this car. I just had to weed out some of the more non O.E.M looks and get fairly close to stock.

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That means this:

Whatwas_zps2e785c54.jpg

Has to be changed up somewhat. So................................

Whatsgonnabe_zpsa2fa72b7.jpg

We start fresh.sSig_Muahaha_zps56835599.gif

Edited by mustang1989
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Thanks Joe! It took me a long while to get used to painting large areas but after some time it I tended to get a little braver as well as more curious in pushing new boundaries. Anxious to see your work.

Good ol' Monogram engine blocks with the oil pan molded in. Ah well it just modeling. Got a gap to take care of on the bottom side.

Engineoilpanseam_zps0b5d23b2.jpg

Edited by mustang1989
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Alright. I filled the gaps on this jewel and primed it in black to bring out the shadows in the nooks and crannys and to dull the effect of the orange MM acrylic paint I bought the other day at HL that I thought was entirely too bright once I opened the bottle. Oh well, we'll deal with it.

Primered black engine..............

EngineinBlackprimer_zps1e36089a.jpg

Another reason for the darker color is that I'm building this one with a few miles on it and I remembered after all of my real life engine builds had some mileage on it , the paint finish seemed to darken a bit from oils and heat. The valve covers will be a tad brighter and the air cleaner a little more bright. Still got some touch up to do on that oil pan looks like. The benefit of close up pics.............they never lie.

Enginepaintingphose_zps411245a8.jpg

and the comparison pics from before and after. Man the original engine is almost florescent in color.

Enginepaintingphose-orange_zpsc030e282.j

What was cool through 14 year old eyes: A near chrome oil pan, exhaust manifolds and gearbox. Hey, I was having fun. I went with a little more realistic look for this build. I've gotta watch it because I've seen this color on Chevy engines a time or two. lol

Enginepaintingphose-orange001_zps8e84eec

Seems like with each new pic I find something else I missed. That seam line at the front of the oil pan is sticking out like a sore thumb The gaps on the front of the engine I can live with as those are getting covered up but that oil pan. Welp! It looks like its back to the drawing board to take care of that. lol

Edited by mustang1989
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