GeeBee

Not a great deal done today, found some more ejector pin marks, seems a lot of parts have them, got the rear axle and prop' shaft sorted, added the springs to the axle, but I will leave it off the chassis until both parts have been painted, got the plug holes drilled, this will be the first engine I have wired, so I have a bit to learn ... Sorted a few parts and labelled them, so there ready for primer and then their correct colours ...

Very nice ! you did a stunning job on this one, love the colour, really suits the old Renault, another one I have had in the stash for a number of year's

I have a couple to build, but haven't made a start yet, what info' do you need ?? I have plenty of reference photo's of the Routemaster bus, PM me your email address, and I'll get a load over to you, if I can answer any questions you have, I will ...

Since I started building this one, I have been trying to find a shade of paint close to the engine colour, but no luck, Testors is way too dark, as there shade is for the 70's onward's Chrysler, which had a totally different blue for the engine, the '68 was a lot lighter and more turquoise, plus it is impossible to find the Testors engine paints this side of the pond, VHT do the earlier shade in an aerosol, but they cost around £17.00, and I only needed enough to do a small engine, not 300mls of the stuff, I've been playing around since I opened the kit, but hopefully the stuff I mixed today will do the job, I used the photo I had printed out of the Charger I'm using for reference, this time I used BMC Surf blue, with a bit of Rover Henley Blue, a spot of Ford Polar grey and a spot of white primer, the paint will dry slightly flat, so will need a coat of clear lacquer,

Hi Sean, Welcome to MCM, haven't seen you posting on the other forums your on lately, what's your latest project ??? looking forward to seeing more of your work ...

Looking forward to seeing more of this build, I have this one in my stash to build, I also have the Hasegawa version

Chromed Parts Stripped ready for Alclad

Not a great deal done today, still got the chrome parts in caustic soda, the bleach got rid of the shiney stuff, but the lacquer underneath put up a bit of a fight, an overnight soak in Fairy power spray did a good job, but there was still a bit left, so there was nothing for it but a soak in good old caustic soda, so a trip to the local hardware store, left it soaking all afternoon, and all the lacquer has now gone, got the front seats and seat back glued, which left a seam line that needed filling, the centre console and the rear seat brace was fitted in at the same time ...

Not on this one, but I could be tempted to do it on the '68 Charger I have in model stash !!! although I do have my eye on the '69 version on eBay ...

Those photo's were not actually taken by me, but I do take a lot of photo's at classic car shows, and used to write for some of the classic car magazines here in England, I also build models and write for a military models magazine, for that I use my Nikon D70 digital SLR, luckily I also have a very nice Nikon macro lens .... but for website and forums I use my old Kodak digital camera, it got a good soaking in Turkey a few years ago, but still refuses to die on me ....

Just a little bit more done this afternoon, I noticed that the floorpan had a lot of ejector pin marks on it, and although it will be covered in either flocking or embossing powders, they still needed filling in, got the engine built up as much as I can before it needs painting, also got the gearbox together, once the cement had dried, the join line was removed with files and sanding sticks, it will be painted metallic silver

Love it !! I have the very same model to build (One Day !) and if it's o.k with you, I think I will pinch your idea on the engine cover, looks so much better than how it's supposed to be built ...

I did look into getting a subscription, but as you say it's not cheap to get it sent over, the only one I can get over here is Scale Auto, and I have do a 30 mile round trip to pick a copy up !!! there has been a few car model magazine produced over here, but strangely they have never lasted too long, military modelling is more popular this side of the pond ....

OUCH !! a year's subscription to TG over here is the equivalent to $56.00

I wish we could get this magazine in England ....

Only a little more done today, managed to sand down the putty that I put in earlier,

I must admit, I am a bit taken back with all the comments I am getting on this build, but I thank each and everyone who has left a comment, I really enjoyed this build, and I'm really so pleased that it turned out better than I had hoped for ....

I suppose it's just a personal thing, since I've been using Alclad, I now just have a dislike for kit chrome, for me, it just looks too new, plus they always seem to connect the parts on the chrome sprue that leaves a mark when there cut off, so they either need touching in with chrome silver paint or BMF, stripping the chrome and doing the parts in Alclad to me look better and worth the extra work needed ... You know, as soon as I'd popped the putty in the centre, I realized my mistake, but luckily it isn't too heavy, and should sand back out ...

Spent a little time scribing the shut lines on the door and boot (Trunk) as they were a bit on the thin side, and a couple of coats of paint would have seen them filled in, also went round all the parts that had ejector pin marks on them that will be seen, a little bit of Squadron green putty soon sorted them out, and test fitted a few parts,

With the '32 Chrysler Imperial finished, I thought I would make a start on the '68 Charger I bought off eBay, I'm still not sure why I bought it, as I usually only build classic British & European cars, oh well, it's too late to do anything about it now ! The body will be done in a genuine colour of Dodge, UU-1 Light blue Poly, which a friend in New York was kind enough to get it for me from Scale Finishes, and send it over, it's also the same paint that Dodge was using at the time in '68 to paint the Chargers, Acrylic enamel, something I haven't used before, so it will be interesting to see how it sprays. Luckily I have managed to get hold of plenty of reference materials, and had some photo's printed out so it will easy to look at them for reference, having to keep looking at the computer screen does my nut in !! This morning I opened the plastic bag the parts were in, the chrome has now gone into the stripper, as all the chrome will be done using chrome Alclad lacquers, but the body and most of the parts have a lot of work to be done to them, the rear quarters of the body, just by the roof gutter trim and by the front of the rear wheel wells need a lot of work, now I'm not 100% sure if the body tooling was modified from the '69 Charger, but there is remnants of the chrome trim that seperates the body and the vinyl roof, and a very heavy mold line just below it .... A chisel blade and sanding sticks should get them out, also the chassis has some copyright scripts that will need removing and other parts have a lot of sink marks and ejector pin marks, so this one isn't going to be a five minute build Body sorted ..

I did the same thing back in the late 90's, sold all my kits, trucks, cars, resin, etc, but for some reason kept hold of my tools, went off and did other things, but then a few years down the line wish I hadn't sold the kits, but it was too late to do anything, some of the Italeri truck kits I just can't replace, and when they do come on eBay, they go for silly money ... Would I sell up again ??? Never !!, keep hold of your stuff, and go off and try other hobbies, but one day, you'll be back building ....

Very nice build, I have a soft spot for the older V.W's, and you've done this one proud ....

It is indeed 1:25th scale, it was licenced to Airfix by MPC

Superb work, love the flawless black paint, the last two photo's make it look so realistic, love it !!

Plenty of tool places sell them, do a search for 24mm cotton polishing mops, you should find them.