68 Dodge Dart 440 Custom Finally Finished 3-29-17

[microwheel]

Very nice, indeed!  The grill sections looks like it is a pain in the butt with all of the contours.  

Tim

Oh it was a fun one Tim. I've used a lot of MCG detail kits over the years, and the grill inserts for this one was one of the more time consuming ones to do. But the photo-etched parts were nowhere near as time consuming as cutting open the areas for them in the grill itself. But It worked out in the end lol. 

 

[exesivefire]

Outstanding work so far, the attention to detail and execution really show here 

[microwheel]

I got the rear bumper assembly detailed and ready to go on the body this morning.

When I ordered the replacement decal sheet from Revell I also ordered another chrome parts tree and glass parts tree. I needed the glass because one headlight was missing in the kit. I ordered the chrome parts tree because I always like having a extra front grill assembly when im doing photo-etched inserts, just in case one messes up on me. I didnt need the extra grill since the first one went ok, so I decided to black wash it and mock it up. I'm presenting it here side by side with the one I did the photo-etched insert on. The black washed one is missing one head light. 

What I would like is for some of you guys to give me your opinions on whether I should use the black washed grill or go with the one I modified and added the photo-etched insert on. My concern, is, I didn't use ALclad Chrome on the photo-etched one, instead I used BMF to cover the areas that were damaged by opening up the grill. (I usually do the Alclad thing, but this time tried something different), I'm not 100% happy with it. So I wanted you all's opinion.

This is the black washed grill

This is the grill with the photo-etched insert

The next couple of pics are the 2 grills side by side

Let me know what you all think.

 

[taaron76]

Jim, I like the black washed grille.  I just thinks it give it more details to show and a little more attitude.  I love the PE grill, but I think it gets washed out a little without the black accents.  

Tim

[R. Thorne]

I like the black wash grill better.  How about the photo etch with molotow marker?   Ron.

[mecklm]

First reaction is to go with the black washed grille but I don't think your photos do the etched grille justice, no offense intended. Reason being, the black wash is designed to give the impression of a see-through part, with the black representing the darkness behind it. The etched grille, however, is truly open so it's letting all the light from the background pass through. If you want to be fair, place the etched grille on a black background and then do a side by side comparison. I bet the etched one ends up looking much sharper that way. 

[microwheel]

First reaction is to go with the black washed grille but I don't think your photos do the etched grille justice, no offense intended. Reason being, the black wash is designed to give the impression of a see-through part, with the black representing the darkness behind it. The etched grille, however, is truly open so it's letting all the light from the background pass through. If you want to be fair, place the etched grille on a black background and then do a side by side comparison. I bet the etched one ends up looking much sharper that way. 

Thanks guys.

And Mike thanks for the input. I use a pretty good DSL camera though I dont always use my tripod, and movement sometimes causes a little blurriness in the pics. The grill being see through isn't the problem. Its the chrome work itself. Had I worked the openings a little better and got the parking light buckets a little smoother and ALclad chromed the grill before installing the inserts it would have turned out a lot better. BMF tends to have tiny ripples in it when applied, which doesnt show so much on really thin areas like window trim, but you can really see it in the first grill shot I posted, and it looks even worse in person. It's my own fault for not taking more time to do it right, but after spending almost 3 days on just the grill trying to get it opened up, I got in a hurry and try to take short cuts. So bad on me. I have worked with many detail kits from the model car garage and almost all the grill inserts I've done in the past have turn out just fine, this is the first one that I have ever been really unhappy with how it's turned out. You can see just how bad BMF looks on a grill when you try to use it to re-chrome the whole grill. The first pic shows just how dull the grill looks compared the black washed one. That's why I prepped the second grill I had with black wash and posted it side by side with the photo-etched grill, to see if it were just me and my poor old eyes or if some of you guys saw it the same way.

 

 

[microwheel]

I like the black wash grill better.  How about the photo etch with molotow marker?   Ron.

Hi Ron Thanks. The markers would work great for fixing small chrome areas but not very well on a whole grill assembly.

[microwheel]

Well I tried spending some more time working on the photo-etched grill this evening, but It's still not working out very well.. Short of taking it back apart and doing it right which would take a lot more time, and I feel like I've spent enough time on just the grill, so for now I'm planning on using the black washed grill.

Thanks for all the input guys.

 

[microwheel]

update coming today, if I dont get the 404 error again. I already wrote out a full update once that took a good hour only to have it 404 error on me when I went to post it. So I'll try it again later.

[microwheel]

Ok gonna try this again. I wrote a fully detailed update with pics earlier only to have it 404 error on me when I went to post it.

I started out by giving the entire interior tub a coat of Tamiya grey primer. Next the little insert trim sections in the center of the back seat was covered in BMF. Then the Tub was given a coat of Tamiya matt black. Once the matt black dried, the package self was masked off and the rest of the tub was given a coat of Tamiya semi-gloss black. once that dried, the rear seat, front floor mat and center console area were masked off, and the floor of the tub was again coated with Tamiya matt black, but this time before the paint dried it was dusted with black flocking. Once that dried, the seat, floor mat, and console areas masking were removed and a tooth pick dipped in lacquer thinner was used to remove the paint from the trim on the rear seat back. Then using the chrome kit supplied center console top, I lightly scraped the chrome plating from a little bit of the top of the chrome console top and CA+glued the MCG kit supplied center console insert into it. The center console top was then glued in place on top of the center console.

I like using a mix of semi-gloss and flat colors when I do interiors. It just makes the detail stand out better. If you cant find a semi-gloss color
for your interior and have to use a gloss color on things like the seats and dash pads, you can always apply a clear semi-gloss coat over it to dull down the shine and give it that vinyl or leather look. You can also use a clear flat over a gloss color to dull it down even further. In the below pic you can see the subtle change between the semi-gloss on the seat and the flat on the package self.

I set the tub aside to fully cure out and moved on to the interior side panels.

For the side panels, I gave them a coat of Tamiya grey primer, and then went to work with the BMF. I like doing my foil work on interior trim before I apply my color coats. I only do this on interiors. I always do my bodies after I clear coat and polish them out. After I got the foil work done. I masked off the center panels and gave the top and bottom of the side panels a coat of body color followed by a couple coats of clear gloss coat. Most of the 68 darts I saw in my youth had body color on these areas of the interior side panels, mostly because only the center areas had the door card panels. The top and bottom areas were metal. The only areas of the side panels I didnt apply BMF on was the trim line at the top of the panel cards. I just figured it would be just as easy to do this after the panels were painted. That way I wouldnt take a chance of the masking tape pulling the foil off.

I masked off the body color of the side panel and applied a couple coats of Tamiya matt black to the door panel cards. When that dried, I again used my tooth picks dipped in Lacquer thinner to remove the paint from all the BMF trim I did earlier. I then foil the trim on the top of the door card areas.

For the trim on the arm rest, I drilled a small hole on each side of the recessed area of the arm rests and using some very thin soft craft bead wire,  inserted it in the holes and pulled it through on the back side of the panels till it fit snugly into the grove in the centers of the arm rests. Then I CA glued it on the back side at the holes and cut off the excess. This is the first time trying this process and it worked out pretty good for the arm rest trim. I still got a few dust bunnies that need to get cleaned up, but I'll take care of that kind of stuff during the final assembly of the interior.

I mocked the side panel into place, in the pic below, just to give you an idea of how it will look.

More to come as I get it done.

 

 

Edited March 20, 2017 by microwheel

[taaron76]

Nice work, Jim!  I started on the interior on my '67 Shelby yesterday, but am waiting for the flocking material to arrive.  I use your flocking technique you showed me a few years back, but I just do it twice and it covers really, really good.  Those are some nice little details and accents you did on this one and I always get lots of ideas from your pics.  You will have this one wrapped up before too long, so what is next for the work bench?

Tim

[Geno]

Jim, just my 2 cents but I think the PE grille looks more realistic. Great build by the way.

[microwheel]

Nice work, Jim!  I started on the interior on my '67 Shelby yesterday, but am waiting for the flocking material to arrive.  I use your flocking technique you showed me a few years back, but I just do it twice and it covers really, really good.  Those are some nice little details and accents you did on this one and I always get lots of ideas from your pics.  You will have this one wrapped up before too long, so what is next for the work bench?

Tim

Thanks Tim, but I'm a long way from being done lol, and before I can start anything new I have a lot of spring work to do around the home front. We are hoping to sell the house before mid summer and I have lots of honey do stuff to take care of on it before then, as well as a a bunch of stuff to finish up on the motorhome.

Jim, just my 2 cents but I think the PE grille looks more realistic. Great build by the way.

Thanks Gene, I always appreciate input on my builds, but to be honest, the grill photographed better than it actually looked. Almost all the chrome plating had worn off from opening it up and I tried to quick fix it with BMF which really looked crappy in person. I tried several ways to work with it and non worked out. I even completely disassembled it and d-chromed it and tried ALclad chroming it, and when reassembling it, the ca glue fogged the alclad. So I just gave up on it. I've done alot of PE grills and never had one fight me as much as that one. We'll see on the final assembly how the black washed on ends up looking. I still have the PE one that I can spend more time with if I need to.

 

[mustang1989]

Man the attention to detail you put into your builds pays off in multitudes Jim! Your interior work is always a shining example of it!! BTW......I like the black washed grille as well as it really brings out the most in all the detail. Fine work there my friend.

[slusher]

Interior is really looking good Jim, but I have to agree that the black wash grill looks better...

[Zoom]

Nice work on this!

[Geno]

Thanks Tim, but I'm a long way from being done lol, and before I can start anything new I have a lot of spring work to do around the home front. We are hoping to sell the house before mid summer and I have lots of honey do stuff to take care of on it before then, as well as a a bunch of stuff to finish up on the motorhome.

Thanks Gene, I always appreciate input on my builds, but to be honest, the grill photographed better than it actually looked. Almost all the chrome plating had worn off from opening it up and I tried to quick fix it with BMF which really looked crappy in person. I tried several ways to work with it and non worked out. I even completely disassembled it and d-chromed it and tried ALclad chroming it, and when reassembling it, the ca glue fogged the alclad. So I just gave up on it. I've done alot of PE grills and never had one fight me as much as that one. We'll see on the final assembly how the black washed on ends up looking. I still have the PE one that I can spend more time with if I need to.

 

I understand Jim, any pointers will help me as I'm wanting to do a PE grille on my '66 Chevelle. Your build is going to be phenomenal regardless. Keep up the grand work. Geno.

[microwheel]

I understand Jim, any pointers will help me as I'm wanting to do a PE grille on my '66 Chevelle. Your build is going to be phenomenal regardless. Keep up the grand work. Geno.

Hi Gene, thanks my friend.  As far as the PE grills from the MCG go, there is no specific right or wrong way to do them. I will suggest you check out ebay and try to find someone either parting out a kit or who list a extra kit grill for your build so you have a back up one on hand. I always do that, just makes you feel safer about things when you get ready to cut you grill open for the PE insert. Also, try to pre-bend or shape the PE grill inset to the current grill before cutting into the kit grill so you have a better idea on where to cut, and when you do finally get it cut open, just tack the PE insert into place with super glue, and when that dries finish cementing it into place with 30 minute 2 part epoxy. The epoxy will hold it much stronger, the super glue allows you to tack it in place in just a very few spots, so you can work with the epoxy. When you cut your kit grill open for the PE insert, use a new exacto blade,and be gentle and take your time cutting open the kit grill. I sometimes will drill a few holes in the kit grill away from the edges so I can cut the kit grill out easier.

Hope the info helps.

[Geno]

Thanks Jim, that helps a ton, this will be my first shot at doing a PE grille so I'm hoping for the best LOL. Again, thank you.

[microwheel]

Morning guys. It was a late night working on the Dart interior last night, but I finally got the interior finished. 

Started out by getting the dash painted and detailed out. I cut the center of the kit steering wheel out and replaced it with the photo-etched steering wheel part from the MCG detail kit. Added photo-etched ignition and keys from the detail kit and for the glove box lock. I was really disappointed revell's detail on the dash. Most of it was ok but the heater detail was wrong. the heater controls should be inset into the dash, not sticking out the way revell molded it. Had I payed more attention to it before I got to far along with the detail and BMF work on the dash, I would have attempted to correct it. But it is what it is now.

Once I got the dash finished up, I went to work getting the front seats assembled and painted then made the seat belts using the MCG photo-etched seat belt hardware and their seat belt material then added them to the seats, I cemented the front seats in place and then attached the interior side panels

.

Next I mounted the dash in place.

Got a little bit of basic clean-up work to do, but the interior is finally finished and ready to go in the car.

Next project on the Dart is to work on getting the glass in the body and a few other things to prep the body for installing the interionr.

I'll post more as I get it done.

Thanks for looking and comments are always welcome.

 

 

[taaron76]

That's a killer looking interior, Jim.  I can't wait to see this one finished up.  You set a standard most of us can only dream of.  Nice work!

Tim

[Codi]

That is VERY impressive looking Jim.  Cheers, Tim

[R. Thorne]

WOW!!!

[microwheel]

update coming sometime in the morning guys. Just waiting on a few things to cure.