Starsky & Hutch Ford Torino: Finished

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

For those who have been following along in the WIP section (here's a link if you're interested), this is Day Fourteen of my self-imposed Seven Day Challenge. For those of you seeing this for the first time, a brief explanation is in order.

This is a challenge that I came up with for myself. The idea is to completely build a model from start to finish in seven days. They don't need to be consecutive days but there must be only seven of them.

The reason for coming up with the challenge was my desire to finish a build. I have several build projects that have stalled for various reasons and I felt the need to complete something... anything. The idea was to select a fairly simple kit (Revell's Starsky & Hutch Torino) that I could stand a reasonable chance of completing within the prescribed time.

It took me fourteen days to complete the build with a total of approximately 33.5 hours invested. So yeah, if I had pushed a little more and committed to building five hours per day, I could have met my deadline. That's kind of the way I planned it but it didn't quite work out that way.

So, it's done and here it is.

 

One of Television's iconic cars of the Seventies, the 1975 Ford Gran Torino. Otherwise affectionately known as the "Striped Tomato".

 

The decals were a lot easier to work with that I thought they'd be, credit to Revell. They were a bit on the thick side but still thin enough to conform adequately. the thickness made them a little easier to work with.

 

I know that the stance on this one is a little too tall but my plan was to build it OOB and not to fuss with such details. At least Revell gave it that classic 70s rake.

 

Revell provided the gumball machine. I added a tab-shaped peice from chrome sprue inside it to give it some depth and made a wire for it.

Revell thoughtfully provided some excellent looking decals to spice up what would have been an otherwise bland interior. The police radio and wire for the gumball machine can also be seen.

 

A nicely detailed engine. I'm not sure it it's the correct one but it looks good to me.

 

I hope you enjoy the photos at least as much as I enjoyed the build. Thanks to those of you who followed along and supported me during "The Challenge". Having your feedback helped inspire me to complete it.

David G. 

[Tom99]

Nice.

[TooOld]

Well done David , great looking car ! 

[Nacho Z]

I think it turned out great, David!  I like your thought process regarding this build.  I have some buddies who basically never finish anything because they want to correct every flaw or add every detail and so on. They get bogged down and never finish, (and that is fine if that is what your into).  I think it is great that you set a goal and saw it through.  Onto the next one!

[cobraman]

Turned out great, it really looks the part.

[espo]

Looks just like the TV car to me. I like the details you added like the wire for the red light. 

[Classicgas]

Well done.

[Plastheniker]

Beautiful work, great result!

[Dragonhawk1066]

Nice work! Great detailing on the light and with the wire. The decal was a bit of a bugger for me, but like you said, it held together nicely while being moved around.

[ea0863]

It came out great, and it took me down memory lane. Two birds with one stone, as it were!  

[Toys4Don2]

I think you nailed it!!

[charger74]

Very nice 

[ChrisR]

Very nice!

[Captain Spaulding]

Looks really good, great job David.

[David G.]

On 5/29/2022 at 4:22 AM, Tom99 said:

Nice.

Thanks Tom.

On 5/29/2022 at 4:25 AM, TooOld said:

Well done David , great looking car ! 

Thank you Bob, I appreciate that.

23 hours ago, Nacho Z said:

I think it turned out great, David!  I like your thought process regarding this build.  I have some buddies who basically never finish anything because they want to correct every flaw or add every detail and so on. They get bogged down and never finish, (and that is fine if that is what your into).  I think it is great that you set a goal and saw it through.  Onto the next one!

Thanks for your comment John. I have some experience in that realm too, wanting to add so much detail that it got in the way of my enjoyment of the hobby. I think I've found a balance between that and just slapping them together to get them done.

22 hours ago, cobraman said:

Turned out great, it really looks the part.

Thank you Ray.

19 hours ago, espo said:

Looks just like the TV car to me. I like the details you added like the wire for the red light. 

Thanks David, I'm fond that bit myself. Sometimes little details can have a big impact.

17 hours ago, Classicgas said:

Well done.

Thanks Lee.

15 hours ago, Plastheniker said:

Beautiful work, great result!

Thank you for your kind words Jürgen.

13 hours ago, Dragonhawk1066 said:

Nice work! Great detailing on the light and with the wire. The decal was a bit of a bugger for me, but like you said, it held together nicely while being moved around.

Thanks Craig. Given its size, it was actually one of the easier decals that I worked with. It was a little thicker than I would have liked it to be. I think that thickness may have been responsible for the two small wrinkles that I ended up with. But overall, I'm pleased with the way they came out.

13 hours ago, ea0863 said:

It came out great, and it took me down memory lane. Two birds with one stone, as it were!  

Thanks Emre, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

10 hours ago, Toys4Don2 said:

I think you nailed it!!

Thank you Don, I'm glad to hear that.

9 hours ago, charger74 said:

Very nice 

Thanks Eric.

3 hours ago, ChrisR said:

Very nice!

Thank you Chris.

2 hours ago, Captain Spaulding said:

Looks really good, great job David.

Thanks Jason, It's kind of you to say so.

 

David G.

[happy grumpy]

Nice build, when I built mine, the decals were easy to put on, the only thing is that the red shows thru a little. I don't know if Revell fixed this but yours doesn't seem to have that problem. Great work.

[grodudulle77]

Very nice build David !! All my childhood !! 👍😀

[PappyD340]

Looks great!

[bobthehobbyguy]

 Very nicely done. It came out great. You definitely achieved your TV goal with a fine looking model.

If you decide to do another challenge I would suggest setting the goal in hours. I suggest forty hours. If you complete in a shorter time frame great.  Record the hours and sessions for the build.

[Bainford]

Nice Torino. Turned out great. Nothing at all wrong with a fourteen day build. Congrats on getting one done. That will look great on the shelf.

[Steve H]

 Very nice build as usual David. 14 DAYS!!!! Heck, I’m lucky if I can finish one in 14 weeks! I did look in your WIP a couple of times, but definitely need to go back and have a closer look. In particular, I want to see the exhaust manifold treatment and the wire for the gumball. Both of those details really add a lot to this build. Thanks for sharing, and congratulations on finishing a beautiful model in what I would consider a very short time.

Cheers, Steve

[89AKurt]

I never start and never finish a model, ever.  🤥  I banged out two models at the end of 2021, just to add to my pathetic finish count.  This came out great, doesn't take many details to add interest.

[FLHCAHZ]

Looks great!

[David G.]

18 hours ago, happy grumpy said:

Nice build, when I built mine, the decals were easy to put on, the only thing is that the red shows thru a little. I don't know if Revell fixed this but yours doesn't seem to have that problem. Great work.

Thank you Mario. For the decals, it seems that Revell found a thickness that provides enough opacity while still being workable. These decals definitely cover very well.

17 hours ago, grodudulle77 said:

Very nice build David !! All my childhood !! 👍😀

Thank you Philippe, I'm glad you like it.

16 hours ago, PappyD340 said:

Looks great!

Thanks Larry.

12 hours ago, bobthehobbyguy said:

 Very nicely done. It came out great. You definitely achieved your TV goal with a fine looking model.

If you decide to do another challenge I would suggest setting the goal in hours. I suggest forty hours. If you complete in a shorter time frame great.  Record the hours and sessions for the build.

Thank you for your kind comment Bob.

I did consider calling it the 40 Hour Challenge but 7 Day Challenge  just had a better ring to it. 
When I was planning this challenge, I thought I could complete it in less than thirty hours- maybe even twenty-four if all things went extremely well. So I planned to commit to four to five hours per day which would put me right on target between 28 to 35 hours. Where I fell short is in how much time I could commit to each build session. 

I do record my hours worked on an Excel Spread Sheet that I knocked together. Having it helps tremendously in keeping after myself.

 

9 hours ago, Bainford said:

Nice Torino. Turned out great. Nothing at all wrong with a fourteen day build. Congrats on getting one done. That will look great on the shelf.

Thank you Trevor and you're right. It does look good on the shelf.

9 hours ago, Steve H said:

 Very nice build as usual David. 14 DAYS!!!! Heck, I’m lucky if I can finish one in 14 weeks! I did look in your WIP a couple of times, but definitely need to go back and have a closer look. In particular, I want to see the exhaust manifold treatment and the wire for the gumball. Both of those details really add a lot to this build. Thanks for sharing, and congratulations on finishing a beautiful model in what I would consider a very short time.

Cheers, Steve

Thanks for your comment Steve. Often, it's the little details that add the most to a build.

The wire for the gumball machine is beading wire that I coined around the shaft of a T-pin. For the manifolds there's a technique I use. I start with base coat of Oxide Red Primer with a light misting of black primer followed by another very light misting of some sort of silver or steel color, whatever I happen to have available. All this is done using spray cans at my outdoor paint bench.

8 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

I never start and never finish a model, ever.  🤥  I banged out two models at the end of 2021, just to add to my pathetic finish count.  This came out great, doesn't take many details to add interest.

Thank you Kurt. I too have many unfinished builds. So many, that I came up with a spread sheet to track them all. 

 

41 minutes ago, FLHCAHZ said:

Looks great!

Thank you Chaz.

 

Again, thanks to everyone for all the kind comments.

David G.

[TNT]

Looks chase ready. I have this in the box waiting for me to finish some i have started.