Stef's 2020 Builds - HEAVEN ELEVEN

[Stef]

Hello everyone, and Happy New Year.

2020 was a crazy year, but I managed to complete eleven models.

Questions/comments/critiques most welcome.

2019 builds here.

2018 builds here.

 

AMT 77 Ford Pinto

Started December 2019 - Completed March 2020

This kit was built as a "what-if" muscle car, had the fuel crisis never happened. I started off by hacking away at the chassis and stuffing in the 429 from MPC's "The Cat" 73 Cougar. The engine was built mostly stock, with a parts box transmission, a modified air cleaner, and headers from Monogram's 70 Ford Torino GT.

Other chassis mods included creating a wider and beefier front subframe, all-new radiator and core support, and heavily-modified 70 Torino front suspension. While the rear suspension was left conspicuously stock, I did add a NASCAR oil cooler and fuel tank from Monogram's NASCAR Havoline T-Bird so this model doesn't explode on impact.

For the rolling stock, I wrapped ex-MPC 69 Dodge Charger Daytona wheels with Round2's Polyglas GT F60s up front, and slightly larger L60s in the rear.

The body was smoothed out and cleaned up a bit, and the menacing hood scoop from the 73 Cougar was added, along with foil-backed parts box headlights.

Lastly, I threw the kit's lone poverty cap into the trunk, just like HPI Guy did with his Pinto.

 

 

AMT 32 Ford Roadster

Started March 2020 - Completed March 2020

This is a kitbash of a bag of three vintage AMT 32 Ford builtups that I purchased from my LHS. Between two roadsters and one 5-window kit, I mixed and matched various parts to create this beast.

The ancient wheels were melted, so I came up with three sets of parts box steelies, and wrapped them with Round2's tampo printed wide whitewalls up front. For the rear, I doubled-up the vintage slicks, and painted whitewalls on them to match the fronts.

In addition, the windshield was chopped and laid back a bit, a roll bar was created from solder and styrene tube, I dropped in a parts box fire extinguisher, and created a shifter knob from a plastic bead.

Up front, I created a double moon tank by mating two Revell 32 Ford 5-Window tanks together, and a parts box radiator and hose were added.

 

 

MPC/AMT 88 Chevy C1500 Silverado Promo

Started March 2020 - Completed April 2020

This is a 99% stock MPC/AMT promo, with only the rolling stock updated. I used the wheels from AMT's 70 1/2 Chevy Camaro Z28, and wrapped them with Dragon's BMW M3 tires and wheel rings.

MORE BELOW...

[Stef]

 

Tamiya Renault 5 Turbo Rally

Started April 2020 - Completed May 2020

This was another builtup rescue purchased from my LHS, which was missing taillights and a few other bits. I wanted this car to sit really low, so I hogged-out the wheel wells, added side skirts made from styrene rectangle stock, and grafted on the front air dam from Revell's Porsche 928 Rally kit.

I replaced the kit's bald tires and minilite wheels with modified BBS wheels from Revell's 56 Ford F-100 HOT ROD kit, and wrapped them with parts box wheel rings and AMT Goodyear Eagle GSC tires. Also, the rear stance was seriously widened.

I did my usual body smoothing, and added a parts box fuel cap, scratchbuilt taillights from .020 styrene sheet, and created a fatter exhaust tip from styrene tubing. The same Porsche kit donated its rear wing, which was reinforced with styrene rods. There was a thin flange/fascia molded in below the rear bumper that was sliced off for a lighter look to the rear end.

 

 

AMT 76 AMC Gremlin

Started May 2020 - Completed June 2020

This drag version was built mostly box-stock, with a few minor changes. The headers hung down way too low, so I shortened them, then extended them back slightly with styrene tube.

A few slight engine compartment enhancements were made, including adding an electric fan, master cylinder, a simplified fan belt assembly, and the intake was upgraded with parts box carbs and velocity stacks.

Some modest body smoothing was done, and the rear wheelwells were radiused to fit bigger Round2 parts pack MH Racemaster slicks. Up front, I upgraded to Round2's Polyglas GT F60 tires. Parts box wheels were used; pretty sure they came from an AMT 90s pro street kit. Can anyone name the source?

During final assembly, a new brand of latex gloves I tried reacted with the paint and caused permanent melty damage to the passenger rear quarter!

 

 

Revell Cadillac Lowrider

Started June 2020 - Completed July 2020

Built 99% box stock, I merely removed the door handles, hood and trunk ornaments, shaved off the side roof lights, and removed the hood and trunk center creases. In addition, I brushed a thin coat of Tamiya clear orange over the gold-plated wheels for a bit more colour.

MORE BELOW...

[Stef]

 

AMT 66 Chevy Modified Stocker

Started June 2020 - Completed August 2020

This was a pretty intense build. I started with the interior, trimming down the door sill height and removing the package shelf and rear wall, to lower the body over the chassis.

More interior changes included adding additional roll bars down into the trunk, and a crossbar down into the passenger footwell. Added in a parts box tach, headrest, shoulder harness, and a few Monogram NASCAR Havoline T-Bird bits, including window net, fire extinguisher, and fuel canister thingie.

The T-Bird also donated its rear spoiler and exhaust dumps. Parts box header bits mated the T-Bird exhaust to the kit-supplied headers. Also, a few missing floor areas were filled in with sheet styrene.

To get the car lower with a mild rake, I radiused the front wheel wells and used comparatively smaller front tires from MPC's Rat Trap Vega.

I did tons of body mods, including smoothing, deleting the front, side, and rear body bars and mouldings, removing the hood's center ridge, hacking away the rear lower body work and bumper, and creating a recessed side fuel filler.

Up front, a lightly-modified front spoiler from AMT's 70 1/2 Chevy Camaro Z28 fit surprisingly well. And a cute little tow hook was scratchbuilt.

Had to raise the engine up considerably to get sufficient exhaust system-to-ground clearance, and in the process, I no longer had enough hood clearance to use the beautiful kit-supplied cowl induction air cleaner. Had to settle for a thin parts box unit instead.

During final assembly, the tampo printed "mesh" windscreen was seriously damaged, and it broke my heart. That mesh was the coolest part of the kit, and early mockups looked sensational!

 

 

Revell 97 Ford Expedition

Started August 2020 - Completed September 2020

Another quick and dirty curbside build, this one included body smoothing, the removal of the roof rack, and radiusing of the rear wheelwells to fit Lindberg's 1/20 93 Chevy Camaro rear tires and wheel rings. Up front, Monogram's 92 Chevy Corvette ZR1 Goodyear ZR35 tires and wheel rings were used. Both sets of tires and rings wrapped around the kit-supplied custom wheels. Other changes include cutting out the drivers-side rear passenger window, and creating a fattie exhaust tip.

 

 

AMT 25 Ford Chopped T

Started September 2020 - Completed October 2020

I started this one by opening up the roof to show off the interior. I added rollbar downtubes, a parts box battery, fire extinguisher, visors, and the gauge panel insert was deleted.

The engine was built stock, except I chose to mount the blower unit more rearward for an overall better visual balance. Also added twin sets of sandwiched tri-carb air cleaners (a custom unit from the ex-MPC 69 Olds 442, and a parts box unit), to each side.

Parts box Cragar wheels were used all around, with deep dish parts box wheel rings added to the rears.

As I seem want to do, a horizontal strip of the lower rear bodywork was cut away, and a couple minor details included the creation of a trunk floor, and the addition of one extra frame crossmember.

For lighting, the kit headlights were replaced with Revell's 32 Ford 5-Window coupe's large headlights. Out back, a taillight strip was created from a section of a Revell 67 Dodge Charger red clear lens.

MORE BELOW...

[Stef]

 

AMT 25 Ford T Pickup

Started October 2020 - Completed October 2020

This kit was built 99% box stock. The license plates were deleted, the taillight housing was moved to the side of the bed, and a small red clear lens from AMT's Mack R685ST was added. The windshield accidentally got raked back a bit too much, but I like the effect.

I decided to "fix" the wheelbase, so I extended the frame, exhaust, and driveshaft slightly in order to center the rear wheels within the fender openings. This was a purely aesthetic choice, as the proper rear axle location has always annoyed me.

During final painting, my can of flat black spit all over the hood. After wet-sanding it and getting ready to re-prime, I decided to leave the hood as-is, cuz it looks kinda neat, like there was an engine fire.

 

 

MPC 82 Dodge Van

Started June 2020 - Completed December 2020

Every once in awhile, I like to do a "joke build". This was a bash between Japanese DAJIBAN culture, and the infamous FREE CANDY internet van memes. This was my most ambitious build of the year, hands down.

I started by deleting about 60% of the kit's parts. Engine, chassis, suspension, exhaust, wheels, tires, details, and more, were all sent to the spares box.

I started with the interior, by moving the front seats and bulkhead forward, to clear the massive sunroof.

All four interior bucket wheelwells were massively hogged out, and new wheelwells were built up. In real life, this van would be impossible to drive, cuz there's no legroom/footroom whatsoever. The interior was mated to a thick .080 chassis plate, trimmed to fit flush inside the body.

For the "candy", I purchased a squillion translucent beads, then brushed them with Tamiya coloured clears to taste the rainbow. Each bead was glued into position with Tamiya clear clear. Hundreds of beads went into this thing, and it took forever.

Interior finishing touches include the addition of a parts box CB radio, shotgun, racing steering wheel, shifter, and a scratchbuilt locking screen door.

Wheels and tires are from Monogram's NASCAR Havoline T-Bird. Painting the tire lettering really made my eyes bug out!

The classic FREE CANDY artwork was scaled and printed out. Graphite was rubbed onto the back of the printouts, then the design was transferred to the model by tracing over them with pencil. The printouts were removed, and the etching was retraced with a white pencil crayon.

After hogging out the body's wheelwells, the front bumper was nudged up a bit, so a scratchbuilt splitter could be made from the kit-supplied air dam and styrene sheet and rod. A fuel cap from the ex-Monogram 70 Dodge Challenger T/A was added. The finishing touch was the addition of a bent/damaged antenna from Revell's California Roller VW Van to look extra "sus".

Thanks everyone; do hope you cats enjoyed these.

Every Christmas, I look forward to see everything you guys built during the year, and 2020 did not disappoint. It was the strongest turnout I've seen in many years. Thank you for inspiring me to continue building!

[robertw]

Someone else that keeps a record of when they started and finished the build, I thought I was probably the only one who did that. What inspired you to do all your models in matte black, for many of these builds it is clearly the right colour choice but others might be open to other colour choices. Well done and some very interesting modifications to some of these kits.

[PappyD340]

Very nice!

[Danno]

4 hours ago, robertw said:

What inspired you to do all your models in matte black . . . ?

 

One of three likely answers:

1.  He got a killer deal on a train car load of matte black paint after a derailment.

2.  He likes matte black.

3.  Stef Marcinkowski is his alias;  he's actually Joe Black's brother Matt.

 

Not sure which is the right answer, but I gotta say the matte black thing he's got going WORKS!  You wouldn't think so, but it does.

??

 

 

[cobraman]

That's some crazy and wild models you assembled.

[Stef]

5 hours ago, robertw said:

Someone else that keeps a record of when they started and finished the build, I thought I was probably the only one who did that. What inspired you to do all your models in matte black, for many of these builds it is clearly the right colour choice but others might be open to other colour choices. Well done and some very interesting modifications to some of these kits.

Hello @robertw, and thank you, great minds must think alike! It was someone here who posted their start and finish dates (maybe it was you), and I thought it was a neat idea, especially to catalogue those extra long projects that go dormant for long periods of time.

As for the flat black, it just kinda happened. When I came back to the hobby in 2017, my eyes weren't as sharp as they used to be, and I built a couple crazy MAD MAX-esque models, and sprayed 'em flat black. They looked pretty decent, and I saved A LOT of time and eye strain, so I decided to just kept the theme going from there!

Would love to see your 2020 builds, please share a link incase I missed it!

[Stef]

5 hours ago, PappyD340 said:

Very nice!

Hello, @PappyD340, thank you very much! Have you posted any 2020 builds? Would love to see and comment, thanks!

[Stef]

1 hour ago, Danno said:

One of three likely answers:

1.  He got a killer deal on a train car load of matte black paint after a derailment.

2.  He likes matte black.

3.  Stef Marcinkowski is his alias;  he's actually Joe Black's brother Matt.

 

Not sure which is the right answer, but I gotta say the matte black thing he's got going WORKS!  You wouldn't think so, but it does.

??

 

 

Ha ha, @Danno, that's hilarious! As it turns out, you're right on all three counts! Not only did I derail a train and meet Joe Black, but also met Jack Black, and his brothers Blackie and Red. And we drink alone. Yeaaaaaaahhhhh, with nobody else. I have the sudden urge to listen to some George Thorogood.

And I agree about the whole flat black aesthetic. I was super uncertain how my 32 Packard would turn out a few years back, but it ended up looking kinda gansta! If my eyes were better, and I had more time and money, I'd love to get back into superdetailing, factory colours, and keeping hundreds of paints on hand!

Not sure if I've seen your class of 2020 pics; post a link if you have one, cuz I'd love to check 'em out!

 

[Erik Smith]

Oh, those are all pretty cool. Great photography also. You did great job focusing on some critical aesthetics and composition in both the models and photos. I really like the attention to wheel placement and ride height, makes for a very pleasing look.

[Stef]

47 minutes ago, cobraman said:

That's some crazy and wild models you assembled.

Thank you so much, @cobraman! You've been putting out great stuff for years (ski-track Cobra, primer Cobra in a crate, etc.), and I'm certain you posted your 2020s recently, yes? I'm looking for them now using search, and I'm about 12 pages deep in Under Glass, and can't find. Post a link if you can!

[89AKurt]

Love your imagination!  FREE CANDY is a riot!   I was thinking of painting my current WIP flat black, but I tend to mess up the finish, and after seeing yours I'm changing my mind. ?

[doorsovdoon]

Nice! I like the flat black theme. They look like prototype builds made for a meeting where the CEOs discus the various parts and changes before production.

[Stef]

12 hours ago, Erik Smith said:

Oh, those are all pretty cool. Great photography also. You did great job focusing on some critical aesthetics and composition in both the models and photos. I really like the attention to wheel placement and ride height, makes for a very pleasing look.

Hello, @Erik Smith, thank you very much. I just used my iPhone for pics, and I wish I knew how to get a really good depth of field like many of you cats are able to! I've got a Canon SLR around here somewhere, but I never use it cuz, I don't know what do to with it, ha ha!

If you've posted your 2020 builds, please do post a link here, thanks!

[Stef]

11 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

Love your imagination!  FREE CANDY is a riot!   I was thinking of painting my current WIP flat black, but I tend to mess up the finish, and after seeing yours I'm changing my mind. ?

Hello, @89AKurt, and thank you for your kind words! FREE CANDY was a really fun build, though I did have a beast of a time making four wheel tubs. It was like making a DOUBLE PRO STREET, ha ha.

And yes, flat black can be challenging to work with, for me, as the paint is super sensitive, and just LOOKING at it can cause a scratch. Each one of my models have some minor blemishes here and there, and I try hard to resist the temptation to rip them all apart and respray 'em!

Would love to make sure I haven't missed your 2020 builds, if you've posted them, so feel free to post a link here. And dying to see your current WIP, too! Thanks!

[Stef]

40 minutes ago, doorsovdoon said:

Nice! I like the flat black theme. They look like prototype builds made for a meeting where the CEOs discus the various parts and changes before production.

Helllo, @doorsovdoon, that's exactly right! I've been seeing a few here posting unpainted prototypes they've collected, sometimes molded in crazy colours. I find them aesthetically charming from a pure simplicity perspective, and from a historical perspective, they're worthy of being in a museum.

Upon returning to the hobby a few years back, to save time, money, and my eyesight, I did toy with the idea of building my models simply as grey primer queens, but my first few MAD MAX-esque builds looked pretty good in flat black, so I just decided to keep running with it.

Not sure I've seen your 2020 builds yet, so please do post a link here if you have, thanks!

[89AKurt]

4 hours ago, Stef said:

Hello, @89AKurt, and thank you for your kind words! FREE CANDY was a really fun build, though I did have a beast of a time making four wheel tubs. It was like making a DOUBLE PRO STREET, ha ha.

And yes, flat black can be challenging to work with, for me, as the paint is super sensitive, and just LOOKING at it can cause a scratch. Each one of my models have some minor blemishes here and there, and I try hard to resist the temptation to rip them all apart and respray 'em!

Would love to make sure I haven't missed your 2020 builds, if you've posted them, so feel free to post a link here. And dying to see your current WIP, too! Thanks!

Thanks for asking.
89AKurt 2020 stash reduction mitigation of 6
Current WIP:  Tamiya Subaru Impreza (not WRC but Cannonball Ruse) with Hobby Design engine
Here is the last flat black, but technically it's semi-gloss, car that I did.  Got a nasty sandpaper scratch on the fender.

I sometimes weather to hide blemishes.

Anyway, hope the best for the 2021.

[Dragonhawk1066]

I'm sensing a theme here, lol. But seriously, those are some great looking matte black paint jobs!!

[Bills72sj]

You definitely have your own style. I really like the 66 Chevy.

[Stef]

19 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

Thanks for asking.
89AKurt 2020 stash reduction mitigation of 6
Current WIP:  Tamiya Subaru Impreza (not WRC but Cannonball Ruse) with Hobby Design engine
Here is the last flat black, but technically it's semi-gloss, car that I did.  Got a nasty sandpaper scratch on the fender.

I sometimes weather to hide blemishes.

Anyway, hope the best for the 2021.

Oh me oh my, I'm bad with names, @89AKurt; but I've been following your builds eagerly for years now. I lurk here daily, and your insane WIP builds inspire me to slowly take on bigger risks and bigger projects. Particularly love how you plan your year ahead of time, and go back to reassess. Everything you touch turns to gold, and your Celexus is gold-pressed latinum. And that Mercedes 666 truck of yours is going to be sinister wicked once complete. GIT ER DONE!

[Stef]

15 hours ago, Dragonhawk1066 said:

I'm sensing a theme here, lol. But seriously, those are some great looking matte black paint jobs!!

Thank you, @Dragonhawk1066, I'm BACK IN BLACK like AC/DC, ha ha! Have you posted your 2020 builds? Post a link here, and I'll be sure to comment, thanks!

[Stef]

11 hours ago, Bills72sj said:

You definitely have your own style. I really like the 66 Chevy.

Thanks, @Bills72sj! As soon as I saw @hpiguy's insane apocolypto build of his 66 Chevy:

 

I wanted to get one so bad, and it was months before my LHS got one. Must've watched Chris' video a dozen times, thinking of what I wanted to do with mine. It's a fun kit; if you haven't built one, you'll enjoy it for sure!

If you've posted your 2020 builds, drop a link here, and I'll be sure to check 'em out, thanks!

[larman]

I really like these. It's almost more like they are art pieces. The flat black technique really emphasizes the shapes, proportion and cleanliness of your builds. I also think it is very clever how you add just a little color here and there so the black does not over power. It truly is a great concept. I could see this type of thing in a gallery setting.