Reeves Racing

Thanks guys, The basic kit is pretty good, it just has a few production flaws like super thick door glass that had sink holes, chrome plated headlights and the wheels were good but not as good as the Fujimi offering. A good parts box or two to find upgrades to the lights and stuff helps out.

Finished up this week. Monogram kit. Fujuimi kit wheels, parts box tires, metal velocity stacks, wired and throttle linkage. Duplicolor Victory Red and Metallic Silver. Parts box decals.

Great job. Very clean. Did you fab up the strut braces or is that part of the kit? A tire upgrade would really improve its overall look.

Here are the pictures and description of what I did to lower this one Smokey. Like most model kits the ride height on this one is way too high. An easy enough fix for the front end. I cut the spindle portion off of the steering knuckle assembly and glued it back on around 4mm higher or toward the top of the knuckle. The rear end is another story. The Esprit has inboard rear disc brakes. The rear swing arms/bearing carriers are located mainly by the coil over spring assemblies. I guess a person could just cut off the molded on coilovers, shorten them and glue them back on.... but if you have to rework them anyway, why not improve the whole sub-assembly? You can also see that if you put it together out of the box, the coil overs are too long from the get go.In the mock up you can see that the rear wheels are way too far out of the wheel opening with almost a 5 mm gap between the arch and the tire... not good, and this causes some negative camber and some wicked toe out. The rear tires would be bald in 5 miles of driving and not just because this little car is so light and has a turbo... Not to mention the car would look drunk...I do like how they engineered the mounting of the rear wheels. The outer CV joint and boot are a separate part and act as a retainer to hold the wheel center shaft into the swing arm bearing carrier. It separates the half shaft into two parts but I think it's a smart and sturdy way to mount the wheel to the swing arm and still let the tire spin. I found that the red plug wire stock I have looks the right diameter or gauge for the rear springs of the coil overs and I wouldn't have to paint it. I tried a couple of different sizes of dowel until I found a diameter that looked good. I used a 3 or 4 mm stick. Next I cut the coil overs off just below the top spring perch. I drilled everything so it could be reinforced inside with wire and to allow me to adjust some angles on final assembly. If I use a slow CA I have time to tweak the angles a little before it sets up. You have to cut off more than 4mm from the length of the shock. More like 6 to 7mm, so the end result is they are just fuzz over half as long as before.Instead of using new stock for the shocks I just whittled and sanded off the molded on springs. It all fits correctly now and I have some fudge room when I put it all together. Just in case they are a fuzz too short.

It was easy for the front. The rear took a couple adjustments. I will post up the pictures and description about what I did tomorrow evening.

Those are museum quality. Thanks for posting.

Yes they are JC, surprisingly enough. They are some of the best I've seen especially in a Revelogram offering. I almost always use Dupli-Color James.

Monogram Lotus Sport 300 with a Revell 600bhp Audi R8 V10 swapped for the 300bph Lotus 2.2 turbo four cylinder. Solder exhaust headers with heat shrink collectors and candle heated and reshaped final exhaust from the Audi kit and aluminum tips. Box stock other than the drive train and adjusted ride height both front and rear. Next to some other super cars build in the past. (the kit decals registration is terrible. even worse on close up)

Great clean and crisp work as always JC. I like them both.

Beautiful paint work Curt, still not fond of the zombie faces but thank goodness we all aren't the same!

One of the best builds of this kit I've seen.

Yep. That's the one I knew about. There were probably others too.

Not true, Bob Glidden also ran a EXP which was the "sportier" model of the Escort.

Thanks Jeff Not really Pete. I only moved the leading edge of the rear opening and that put the wheelbase spot on. They are resin copies I got off of eBay. I have the kit you're talking about and yes the are the same. I agree, Revell should have used them in more kits.

New Revell Hurst Olds with a Monogram pro stock STP Firebird donor chasis. Resin wheels and Slixx decals.

That picture of the real yellow one looks awesome. You need to widen the rear wheel openings on your build to match the tire like they did.

Thanks! It actually measures 5-3/4" nose to tail. No, they should show up on most all browsers.

lol, I'll take the extra credit... gotta paint them orange so the Tech Guys can see them easy when they look under the car. Thanks JC, You might remember that you traded me this kit for one of the Moebius Comets. You and John are two of my favorite builders. I consider your comments to be high praise indeed! John, see my comment above to JC,. Thanks to all you other guys for the nice comments too.

It's DupliColor Brian Ford Silver Frost BFM0341 aerosol, right from the can. Thanks for the props gents.

AMT kit, Jo-Han engine, Revell 57 gasser wagon front suspension and traction bars, parts box wheels and tires, custom decals. Model master ultra violet pearl and DupliColor white and Krylon plum interior. Solder headers with styrene tube collectors. Resin Hilborn injection and scoop. BMF and Molotow trim. Scratch made side windows.

I haven't been on the site in ages. Nice to see you still at it on this one JC. What texturing method did you use on the cinder blocks? I have a pair of those and want to paint them up too.

No those are the kit taillights actually. The the kit head lights were a big chrome disk with faint headlight prism markings and a big pin mark right in the middle... Thanks, the wheels and tires and the headlights are the worst with this kit. The flash was terrible too. The Fujimi parts make all the difference, the kit engine is basic but with a little love looks pretty good. And you always have to make the seatbelts nice on a roadster...

Thanks guys. I wish there was a Tamiya or Fujimi full detail kit of this car. One of my favorites.

Revell kit with Fujimi/Testors wheels and tires, and headlights and rock guards. Scratch made exhaust and the rear wheel openings put back to OEM shape (the kit comes with them radiused). Engine wired and detailed up.

Jimmy Flintstone basic resin kit with a Testors/Fujimi 356B/C doner kit and lots of parts box and scratch built items. I was going to make it a race car but I just love these little cars and thought I would enjoy this more a street car that can double as a track day car.