Dragfreak

Thank you Carl!

Thanks Mark L! Thank you Mark S, I don't know if it has what it will take to win (probably not) but I agree that it is a contender for sure! Thank you Al, it's been a while since I've completed anything, I haven't been able to spend much time on the board either, I have a little break from work and school right now, I hope to catch up upon some of the great builds I've been missing/missed. They sure will!

Thanks, they're good looking cars, I plan on building another as a traditional street rod with a metallic paint job next That is true, I did go back and tone it down a little, I used a few coats of black washes to bring down the brightness of the chrome while leaving a little yellow rust color on it. Thank you Jonathan, I couldn't believe how quick I finished it, I've been working full time over the summer since the school year ended which left me only about an hour a day to put some time in on it. All in all I think it came out good.

Thank you Brian, I'm very happy with the results being it was my first attempt at a weathered model, I'm sure that with more practice I can refine my skills some more Thank you Jason! I appreciate the feedback Sean, rather than use styrene for the rollcage like I usually do, I tried using aluminum tubing this time and I was very impressed with how much easier it was to form all of the bends and glue the structure together, I'll definitely use it again.

Thank you Lee, Ray, and Mike!

Thanks for the reminder, that's something I should have known, I should be able to take some wax and clean it up a little bit. The only stainless pieces should be the window trim, hubcap, grill, and windshield wipers, correct? the bumpers and door handles and mirror would be chrome on a 1:1 meaning they could pit, chip and rust with prolonged exposure to the elements I believe, please correct me if I'm wrong..

Looks good!

I recently finished my 2015 cannonball run project. I started off with the Revell 1964 Ford Fairlane thunderbolt street rod kit that I picked up for $10. I had to do quite a bit to tone down the "muscle car" feel it has. The first thing I did was order a stock flat resin hood for it, as the kit comes with a teardrop hood. When I was deciding upon a paint color, I didn't want something flashy so I chose Testors Hunter Green. I did some research on weathering and I decided to use the salt method, acrylic washes, and heat to add dents in the body. I decided to keep the interior pretty basic, I scratch built a roll cage out of K&S aluminum, went with a mostly black and some hints of the body color green on the seat inserts and dash. The rollcage was a struggle, I didn't really have to build one, but I wanted to challenge myself to build one that can't be seen from the outside. I hid all of the bars behind the A,B, and C pillars, and tucked it up real tight inside the roof. To help, I used automotive tint on the windows, 5% vlt limo tint. To be honest, I surprised myself with it, the roll cage came out much better than I thought it would. The chassis I also wanted to keep clean, I didn't want a whole lot of color so I went with a simple semi-gloss black. The ladder bars, leaf springs, 9" housing and third member are all semi gloss with "moroso" style coil over shocks, the front suspension is the same story, mostly semi-gloss black with a aftermarket style sway bar in which I weathered and some scratch built coil over shocks out of K&S aluminum wrapped in red wire. I wanted this thing to look like it underwent a frame off restoration, but they left the body alone. The engine and transmission are both kit pieces, On the 427, I just detailed what was already there. I added details like dipsticks on both the engine and transmission, battery cable to the starter and wiring to the alternator, a correctly wired to spec distributor and coil, throttle linkage and a return spring, as well as an aluminum fuel line including A/N fittings and braided hose. All together it came out pretty good, I think it makes a pretty good sleeper that would pass as just an 'old beater.' I know it isn't my most detailed or the best quality, I focused more on just getting the body to look good as this was my first stab at a weathered model. If you do have any suggestions or advice, let me know, I appreciate getting feedback. On to the pictures! Edit: I was reminded that Stainless doesn't rust (I didn't think about that DOH!) so I'll make it a point to clean up the window trim, hubcap, windshield wipers and the grill which would be stainless on a 1:1

Beautiful work, everything looks just right!

I'm fairly happy with how it turned out, especially for being my first weathered model. I found that it's much harder than I originally thought to make them look bad while still being convincing. I think I probably chose the wrong kit to try to do a sleeper though, there isn't much room in the engine bay and the suspension is quite finicky, I ran into some problems with engine and header clearances while still using a stock hood.

Here's the final photos, sorry for not posting many updates, work had me so busy I just didn't have much time to do so. The paint color is Hunter Green with several coats of acrylic washes of different shades including mustard yellow, orange, brown, and black. I used automotive 5% vlt tint on the windows, and of course BMF on the trim. The kit is already pretty well detailed, but I added a custom 10 point rollcage which of course cannot be seen from outside the car, opened up the grill, removed the side trim, lowered the ride height front and rear, and added many details on the engine/transmission like dipsticks, throttle linkage, wire looms and a distributor wired in the correct firing order for the 427, wire to the alternator and starter, and an aluminum fuel line with braided hose and A/N fittings. Enough explaining, ill just let the pictures do the rest of the talking..

It's been a while since I have been able to post any progress due to my work schedule, but I wrapped it up yesterday. I'll post some updated and a few final pictures soon.

Looks like a great start!

I can gladly say I already own the car I'd buy if money were no object. Fortunately, it was pretty cheap for what it is. I do plan to change a few things in the near future though, a 4 inch cowl hood, early fiberglass front end, and spindle mount Weld Alumastar wheels to name a few. I'm sure its strange that somebody would want a vega of all things, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I didn't vote as I'd rather see something else produced rather than a couple cheesy "customs." It's cool that Chip is supporting revellogram, but they should produce some kits that would actually be desirable amongst most builders, because let's be honest, I can't see any of these kits being wildly popular. That's just my opinion, and you know what they say about those...

I bought my first Vega on my own when I was 8, I worked my butt off for months doing yard work for neighbors. My dad and I began to search for a cheap project car and we found a 1971 Vega panel delivery, 1 of only 7,800 ever made. It was sitting in a barn surrounded by several old Mercedes and bikes owned by a WW2 vet. He forgot he even had it, I believe he had dementia. We struggled to get a price out of him, after several hours of repeated war stories he told me $300 and it's mine. This is how we found it sitting in the barn. It had a poorly swapped corvette 283 in it when we found it when we got it home After cleaning the half inch of dust it had accumulated since it was parked in the late 70's I was slowly plugging away at it, buying things when I could, with a little help from my dad. Here's when I was putting in the 357 small block Finally when an opportunity to buy my current vega came up, I need cash quick, so I was forced to sell it. This is shortly before I sold it.

Besides the lack of room for them, the main reason I'm trying to sell some of them is I need some money, during the summer I work full time but during the school year I really struggle to get by. Between being 16 and having a 8 second drag car and daily driving a gas guzzling truck with only a part time job working whenever I can, it's not easy getting by, having a little cash in my pocket would really help out right now. I want to say thank you for all of the replies to my questions. There were several great points given, if I do decide to list on Ebay, I'll take your advice for shipping. For the value, I understand the sentimental attachment from all of the hours put into it, and I think its absolutely true that I shouldn't consider the hours spent in determining the value. I appreciate the responses, I'll probably leave them on craigslist and spread the word of what I do and what I'm asking for them. Schools out June 9th so I don't have much longer till I start working full time at $11.75 an hour. for being in high school and not working at a fast food joint, that's pretty dang good!

Looks sweet Stan!

As my shelves start to become overstuffed and crowded with models, I have decided maybe it's time to start selling off some of the nicer ones. I know it's quite obvious my builds are not professional, but I would say they're presentable. I've seen pro built models go for up to $300 I've posted one of my better builds on craigslist for $100 and after no interest I dropped it to $80 with still no interest. I figure with all the hours spent plus the materials ($25 kit, $15 in paint/clear, $10 aftermarket parts) my time and money has to be worth something. I'm scared to use ebay as I fear the model would get tossed around and beat up inside the box by careless UPS/FedEx workers (trust me, I know first hand how they handle boxes, especially if they're labeled fragile during the shipping process. For those of you who sell your models, how do you know their value? and how do you go by getting them to their customer?

Looks good!

If this is directed towards mine, let me know what else I can do, this is my first attempt at weathering.

I appreciate the offer Kris, There are a few other things I am in need of, I'll place an order in the near future. Thank again!

I played around with some acrylics today...

Scott, great update, as always.

Kris, how deep are they? What I'm looking for is pretty much the exact ones that come in the funny car/pro stock kits. They are real deep in the rear and very skinny in the front.