Steve H

Hi Joe! Off to a great start. I’ll definitely be watching yours come together. It will be a bit embarrassing if you finish before me, I better get going!! Cheers, Steve

Hi Mike, I use Tamiya Smoke. It can be tricky to get good results so practice first. What I have learned is light coats, and make sure the paint is warm.

Very crisp! That’s a great looking interior Luke, and nice work on the rear suspension. Looks like you are getting close… I definitely need to get one of these little trucks. I’ve seen a handful built, and like them all. Loving the low stance. Cheers, Steve

Danno! This is great news! Unfortunately, I won’t be down for this one, but I’m very optimistic for 2023. It would be great to meet you and the rest of your club members. I will miss the online show though…. Cheers, Steve

that smell like

Well, Mark is a VERY tough act to follow, Mark you have a knack for doing just enough, but not too much. Extremely difficult to do, you do very well sir. I’ll throw in a few pics. 33 Ford, (ZZ Top car) My first attempt at patina 57 Chev daily driver. 37 Ford truck. Cool to see all this beautiful rust in one spot.

This is the coolest coincidence!! I’m not a beer drinker (I like it, but it doesn’t like me) so I just accidentally stumbled on this. For my next build, I was planning on doing a custom tractor along this styling. I have the Porsche tractor, was going to use the tires from the Orange Blossom Special, and a big beast of a motor. Every once in a while I tend to build something obscure. My intent will be “custom tractor”, not “tractor puller”. I’m hoping to start in a few weeks, after I finish my Camaro. Maybe some of you beer drinkers will come along for the ride when I get the WIP started?? Thanks for sharing that Les, so cool.

Hey Bill! Thanks for the kind words. Not sure my craftsmanship is worthy of duplicating, but I certainly appreciate you thinking it is. I’m happy with the bodywork, but it’s not perfect. It is getting aggressive looking isn’t it. Thank you Anton! Those keys gave me fits, they’re tiny!! I learned a bit that will help me next time around, one lesson is I need the tools that are in transit… Francis my friend, I believe that you are the most humble human I know. Your craftsmanship is extraordinary. I think I have the hands, better files should be here Monday, sand paper is all good, what I could really use is some better eyes….🤪😜. That shifter would look exponentially cooler if machined from aluminum. Thanks for checking in, I truly do appreciate you having a look, and taking the time to comment.

I just about went cross eyed today. First time adding keys in the ignition. I drilled a small pilot hole, then a 1.2mm drill to create the recess, followed by Molotow marker. Man… these are some seriously small bits. Not perfect, but I’m happy with results. Once the wheel is on, and everything is assembled, it should add just a bit more interest to the interior. I also added the tilt wheel lever using a pin and some wire insulation. Had some issues with my gauge cluster, the 5 min epoxy I used for “glass” over the gauges erased almost all of the printed gauge detail…live and learn. So back to square one there. Cheers, Steve

I hope so Luke. Thanks again for following along mate. The Sunny pick up is fantastic by the way.

Well, I’ve had my faithful companion at my side for a couple of days. Otis had some dental surgery on Tuesday morning. The photo is just before we went to the vet. He loves hobby days, the vet…..not so much. As for the Camaro, started getting more of the interior bits painted. I fabbed-up a roll bar modifying parts from a pro sock kit and some styrene rod. (No photo yet..) The seats I wanted to use are a bit too tall, and didn’t look right. So I settled for the seats from the Hay’s T-Bird. I wasn’t in love with the head rests, so I cut them off and used some paper clip wire for the supports. While they were off I did a bit of subtle reshaping of the top of the seats, and the head rests. Before and after pics, before paint the head rests are not glued and obviously not quite straight… I have a photo etch Hurst shifter set, but thought I’d have a go at making my own to be “similar” to the 1:1 car. Next photo is seats painted, the shifter before assembly, and sub woofer painted. Second photo is 1:1 interior. I went with grey inserts on the seats, there will be a few hits of grey just to give some interest. You can sort of see the shifter, I was trying to get a similar look. This is when I wish I had some mad machining skills and a milling machine…..Francis!!! The dash is painted, the panel behind the gauges will be carbon fibre, the photo etch gauge bezel got a couple light coats of Tamiya smoke. I’m using thin white styrene sheet behind the photo etch to add some depth, and also as white background for the semi transparent gauges. Here the seat is fully assembled as is the shifter. Once I finish the dash face I will add some detail paint, a CD player where I blanked out the stock radio, paint the pedals, and maybe a a “Camaro” photo etch badge to the glove box. I’m not going quite as “race car” with my build as what the actual car is. The real car is a full on auto-cross beast! I will do some sort of seat belts, but haven’t decided on how they will look. It definitely won’t be the full 5 point race belts. Thinking about having a try at shoulder belts maybe, but haven’t actually fully thought that thru yet. That’s it for this edition, thanks for having a look. Cheers, Steve

Slam dunk, home run, mic drop! Love this one Luke, a low ‘62 GM, doesn’t get much better than that. That paint is spectacular sir. Cheers, Steve

That’s awesome! Very nice replica of her car. I would imagine that put a big smile on your daughters face when she saw it. I love these types of builds no matter what the subject car or truck is.

Perfect! That’s it… one word. I wanna go cruising in that thing! The black bumpers/chrome grill, very nice. Look forward to the glamour shots under glass. Beautiful work as always Luke.

Hi Francis! The colour does look tasty. It looks MUCH better in person than the photo. I just need to summon the paint gods and hope for a nice finish. Always appreciate you taking the time to comment my friend. Oh boy…. That is quite a warp. Going to need some heat and patience, but should be fixable. The pillars look straight, also looks like your headlights are similar to what I had. I will watch for your WIP! Thanks for checking in. Glad you like it Carl, as mentioned, it looks even better in person. Photos in natural light will help. Thanks Luke. She won’t be as glass smooth as your 62, but the colour should be enough of a distraction to hide the imperfections.😉 Thanks Jonathan. Hi Nigel, thanks for having a look. I will probably do a quick mock up when it has the black base coat, it should look pretty sinister… Thanks Greg, ya, I’m getting close for final paint. It should look quite sharp in colour….. as long as I get it right!

Thanks for sharing that Ken, makes me feel good about my purchase. The Dspaie one were on the short list of three. I never did have a good file for photo etch, so I’m looking forward to having the right tool for that now. I also bought some Xuron photo etch scissors, we’ll see how they work…

Krikey! It gets to Scotland quicker than Canada. We’re neighbours for goodness sake…. I only just received 210 about a week ago. Canada post is slooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww……..

I’m with Ray. This is definitely a great look for a Gremlin. Then again, I would expect nothing less from the house of Claude! I’m hungry now too! First the pizza truck, now this, I see a theme… you’re speaking my language. Styrene and great food!!! Cheers, Steve

Hi Luke, first… that ‘62 is outstanding sir. You really nailed it with just the right amount of chrome against the black. Of course it helps having an absolutely mirror smooth black paint job, I can’t believe how rich and smooth it is, top shelf. With the ‘57, if you go option #3 maybe just a pinch higher in the rear? (I can’t believe I just said that!) Or a pinch lower in the front? (That sounds better) Like a mil or less, just for a touch of rake. Just my 2cents, but that is my taste, obviously your build your way, and the end result will no doubt be stellar. You have to admit there is definitely some irony that it’s modded in black and you’re not going black. I will watch for the 62 under glass. Cheers, Steve

Hi Joe, I hope the headlight area on yours is better than mine was. It was a real mess. Have you started a WIP?

Thanks a bunch guys, I certainly appreciate you following along, gives me encouragement to get on with it. Bodywork is complete! All I need to do now is add some inner front fenders, likely from one of the pro stock models in the stash. The cowl hood is a slightly modified resin piece. I thinned the leading edge a fair bit to get it looking similar to the 1:1 car. Just a reminder, I’m not aiming for an exact replica, more of a tribute type of build with my own spin. You will see that I also added side skirts with a slot for the exhaust. I believe the actual car just has exhaust dumps under the car. The skirts give the illusion of another 2.5” drop, also brings the bottom of rocker panel skirts in line with bottom of splitter. I think I should finally, actually be assembling this beast very soon! Most of the “heavy lifting” is now done. I will do one more full test fit to confirm ride height and chassis/interior fit, but I think everything is super close. Need to fab up a partial roll cage too. Comments/suggestions always welcome.

Nice work as always Dennis. Great to see you back at the bench!

Hi Greg, I would suggest Micro Mark too. They had some on their website a couple of days ago. I can’t speak to the quality, as I do not have that type of drill. Maybe Sunward Hobbies?

Hi guys, just thought I would share some of what I found in my tool quest. For the files, I went with Glardon Vallorbe Swiss #2 cut, same as Luke’s at top of thread. A VERY close second was the Freidrich Dick files, they look amazing too. The “Grobet Vallorbe” files are “Swiss cut” but apparently not actually Swiss made files, whereas the Glardon are actually Swiss made. German cuts are not the same as Swiss cut, for example, a German #3 cut is equivalent to a Swiss #2 cut. There are many “Swiss cut” files that are not made it Switzerland. The files are expensive, but I personally don’t mind paying top dollar for top quality tools I use all the time. My current set of files are pretty good quality, but I believe they are about 35 years old!! Well past time to replace. Files should arrive tomorrow. I have some rifflers coming, and I also ordered the Tamiya diamond file for PE parts, yep, same as Luke! For nippers,I went with Godhand SPN 120. My current ones are fairly good quality but I’m wanting something better. Peter, the video in the link you posted was very helpful, thanks. They are also on the way. While searching for this information I stumbled upon all kinds of great tools. So…. I have a bunch of new stuff heading my way! What better way to spend money than on a wonderful hobby, and lifelong passion. It was time to invest on some better quality and new tools. This also led me to build a new shelf/desk organizer for my current and incoming tools. My desk is more organized then it has ever been….. now I just need to figure out where everything is!🤪😱 Thank you all for your input. I hope others find the information here helpful. thanks for sharing, and for taking the time to include photos. Luke, I always appreciate your feedback, and when it comes to hobby tools, you appear to have very good taste sir. Thanks mate! Greg, my Casio watch has a new home on the desk since I PM’d you. Cheers, Steve

I was hoping for a bit more hobby time today, but didn’t get quite as much as I hoped for. Here’s where I’m at…. Most of the suspension and chassis is painted. Lots of detail to do, but ride height is sorted out. I realized a couple of days ago that I did NOT have the air cleaners I need for this build, so I ordered them last night. I THINK I have all the major assembly stuff figured out, so hoping for no surprises when it starts coming together. I usually try to tie in various key colours on my builds, so the steering wheel, axle, oil pan, and driveshaft are painted with Tamiya gold then smoke to closely match the wheels. For the intake plenum I tried the “paint over foil” technique for the first time. I thought it turned out well, and will definitely use this again. The window cranks are a bit “chunky”, so ground them off and will add PE cranks. After a handful of test spoons, I am now happy with the body colour. GM medium Garnet Red (one of my favourite car colours) over gloss black, then Mr Hobby super smooth flat clear. The colour is quite a bit more vibrant in person, but you get the idea. Hmmmmm….. Ya…. The colour is very different than it looks here. Trust me, it looks fantastic! If things go as planned, the body will be in colour by this time next week. 🤞 Thanks for having a look. Cheers, Steve