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71 Charger 440


Quicksilver15

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Finished this AMT 71 Charger R/T with a 440 recently.  My wife gave me this model three years ago after a 25 year absence from the hobby.  This was my 3rd model (yeah, one per year is about what I can do, although this one took only 4 months).

Updates and mods include:

- Wiring and plumbing, including brake lines, emerg brake lines, fuel lines and filter, vacuum lines, A/C lines, battery cables (including scratchbuilt terminals), washer fluid line

- Seatbelts and buckles

- Photoetch details (emblems)

- Tire decals from Fireball Models

- Black flocking for carpets

- Vinyl top (made with masking tape) and new chrome trim around the top

- Scratchbuilt washer fluid bottle

- BMF for chrome trim.  I sanded and polished the trim areas, then masked for doing body paint.  When the masking came off, the plastic was smooth enough around the trim that the BMF looks fairly smooth.  Way better than when I put BMF over painted surfaces.

- Replacement decals from Firebird Designs

- Corner lights made by drilling out where the lenses go, gluing in a BMF backing, and filling with Tamiya clear red and orange.

- Air cleaner is removable to see details

- Bigger rear tires (from parts bin)

- Paint is Citron Yella with 2-part clear coat, both from Gravity Colors.  Inteior is Mr. Color Tyre Black, which to my eyes is a very convincing black leather (has that lightish hue that leather always seems to have).  Other paints are Testors, Mr. Color, and Alclad II metallics.  All chrome parts were stripped and re-chromed with Alclad II.

- Yes, the wiper motor is missing.  I lost it and didn't get around to building a new one.  I'll do that before I bring the car to model shows next spring...

The biggest lesson from this build:  I must've gotten a bad batch of black gloss from Alclad, because it never really dried and thus the chrome never dried and wore off easily.  I've read there have been bad batches of the black.  That's why the chrome doesn't look so good.  I'm going to try the Molotow Liquid Chrome on my next build... and not use the Alclad black anymore.  Also, I sprayed flat finish on the inner rims, and it ate through the Alclad chrome and made it look bubbly.  Every build teaches me something!

Thanks for looking.

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All of the extra effort on detailing the mechanics of the model really paid off. I think that after you use the pen on your chrome you'll start using it on everything. I'm going back and redoing all the models where the chrome comes off every time you touch the bumpers.

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