Peter Lombardo

I am just watching the NY Giants on TV and started playing with the roadster body. I modified the rear wheel openings, added some Tamiya putty to the door area to begin healing the surgery to the body and added the styrene strips to the wheel well opening for the slight fender flairs. I like the “racy†look to the wheel wells, the make the car look like it is moving even though it is standing still…… I am really liking this version a lot.

The other day when I posted the final pictures of my version of the Dual Cowl Art Deco Roadster, I mentioned that I thought it would look pretty good as a 2 seat Roadster Runabout. So, this morning I took one of my extra bodies that I had laying around and cut two sections out of the center so I could shorten it into a 2 seater. Overall, I cut about ¾ of an inch from the car. I am thinking that a C5 Corvette chassis and engine that I have will make the proper chassis and running gear for this car. I plan on modifying the interior to fit into the rather narrow interior space. The reason I cut two slices out of the side was because there is a rather large gap in the width of the car from the front of the cut to the rear of the cut. I put a roughly ¼ inch slice in the center so I could control the angle from front to rear and thereby guarantee a smooth transition of the body shape. Obviously I have only glued together the car and not filled in the seams yet so you can see how it was done. I used the section that I removed, cut into two pieces as backing on the inside of the cuts to add support since they have the exact same contour and make for a perfect fit on the inside. The entire modification is glued together with Tenax 7R which works perfectly with the styrene. I roughly cut out the interior space and lowered the side’s ala MGA, Jaguar XK120, 140 and 150. The wheel well openings will have a slight flair on the outer edge. I plan on giving this car separate headlight pods on the inner side of the fenders, also ala Jaguar. I am really diggin’ this variation of the car. I think the proportions flow real well. Anyone who has this car and is not sure what to do with it, maybe this is a direction you should consider. Side by side, you can see the reduction in length. Like I said before, I think this works really well and the conversion is very easy to accomplish. I used my Dremel tool with a cutting wheel to make the cuts and the sanding drum to cut away the excess styrene.

Randy, I don't think so. The problem is that the black would overpower the copper and there would be very little copper flecks if any any at all. I think I added too much copper to the clear. I thought I only added a very little, but I guess not. As it turned out, I really like the brown look on the car. It is very reminiscent of the type of color that would have been used back in the 30's and 40's, but with a serious copper glow to it. So I think it fits the build....the design and the color are throwbacks to the original era but with a modern flair to it. And yes, I use the Jacquard pigments on many builds and love the stuff. It opens up so many more possibilities to you. I highly recommend them. They are so economical. For $4.00 or so you get a bottle of the powder. You only need about one twelfths of the bottle mixed with a half a bottle of clear lacquer or Tamiya clear and you can spray a car. I use it as a base sometimes and as an over coat to add depth and variety to the finish. I have been touting these pigments for years now and I still don't recall seeing anyone else using them. If you are not experimenting with these pigments, you are surely limiting your creative abilities.

When I am not building models, working, eating or sleeping, I love playing golf (currently a 3 handicap), reading....I enjoy a good thriller, but I have a nasty habit of jumping ahead and reading the last few pages prematurely, I really need to control that. Also I enjoy financial and political books. I also enjoy "fine art" oil painting and pen and ink drawing. I have taken numerous awards in regional competitions. Currently on my easel is a portrait of my daughter and her husband on their wedding day....I really need to finish it soon. On nice days (today being one of them) I enjoy taking out one of our two MG's (a B and an A) for a spin. Now that the trees a turning, it is a great ride with the top down. I know my way around the kitchen and cooking and creating new recipes. And lastly, in case I didn't mention it before...I love golfing, I should be out there today but can't, oh well.

Dual Cowl Roadster As I stated earlier, I always planned on building my version of this car in the direct manor that it was designed to be. I hoped, and that seems to be the case, that others who ordered the car would build different variations of the design. So in keeping with the original design, I can now show my finished Dual Cowl Art Deco Roadster. I will begin at the beginning and explain the design philosophy, working features and building techniques employed to produce this model. The Design Philosophy I began with a few design sketches that I worked up using the 1938 Buick Y-Job Concept, 1941 Chrysler Newport Dual Cowl and the newer 2004 Buick Blackhawk as inspiration. I boiled down the sketches to one design that I thought expressed my idea of what I attempting to create. That design incorporates a long low hood, large rounded fenders, a dual cowl design that separates the front and rear seating areas and a wide sloping trunk area. I think if you look at the three vehicles that I sighted above, you can see how they formed the inspiration for this cars design. I wanted a bold and flowing design that captured that 1930’s Art Deco look while utilizing more modern running gear and more advanced technology. Body Fabrication From the sketches I doodled, I created the shape in a piece of sign foam. Using my Dremel tool and a variety of grinding and sanding bits, I shaped the foam into the basic outline of the car I wanted to build. Once the basic shape was done, I sanded the “buck†smooth and added in the basic outline of the four doors and then vacuum formed a body. After the body was done I created two tops for the car, one hard and one soft along with the two windshield frames, and they were also vacuum formed. Somewhere along the way, I hatched the idea that maybe there would be some interest in this design by some of the more advanced and adventurous modelers on this forum and then the idea occurred to me that I should offer it up and see if there was any interest. And if so, maybe we could have a post where we could all present our builds together…..after all, that is one of the great things about this forum……we, from different parts of the country, continent and even world, can bring together our ideas and creations and view them in one place…..no travel or additional expense needed. Well, needless to say I was thrilled to see a daring group of modelers jump into this idea and take up the challenge, as it were, and begin building their version of this car. Again, I want to stress that I was hoping to see other takes on this design….,and I don’t care, Donk it, Tank tread it, chop it, shorten it, stretch it…..whatever floats your boat is fine. Anyway, enough on that, back to this build. Construction Starting with the basic plain vanilla body I opened up the grille area. I had always planned on a grille design that had a very “1930-1940 Buick†shape to it. I glued 22 vertical slots on to a backing of three horizontal crossbars. Once set, I grinded the outside edge into a shape that fit the contour of the nose and basically mimicked the shape of the front fenders. I wanted the grille to have a rounded “waterfall†effect to it and I wanted it to have a very slight bulge to it. Once contoured to my plan, I spray painted it with copper paint since, as I will explain later, I wanted a copper and black/brown palette of colors for this build. Next I cut out the area where the headlights were going on the front surface of the front fenders. I kind of borrowed the design of the hidden headlights from the early Cord autos. I fabricated a frame from styrene and hinged the covers. The “unit†was mounted behind the fender and the headlight is represented by an MU jewel designed to be used in HO Trains. Originally, I had a rod running between the two fenders linking the two covers together so if you opened one, the other opened too, but sadly, I was forced to cut the wire because it interfered with the radiator placement…..I could have designed the connection between the two covers better had I anticipated this conflict……oh well, I will know better for any other versions of this. Under the hood, the engine is a modified 1990’s Pontiac Firebird unit. I fabricated valve cover shields ala Corvette and covered them with aluminum bare metal foil just to dress up the engine a bit. The engine was painted copper along with the air intake funnel. On the fabricated firewall, I installed a Corvette brake bolster and a wired up battery on the passenger side. On the hood, I glued on 54 tiny ¼ round strips of styrene in four rows (10, 17, 17 and 10, from left to right). Once they were dry, I sanded the edges of them to give them a rounded appearance like a real louver would have….then I carefully grinded away the underside of the hood under the louvers so that I could open up area behind the louver with my knife to give them an open airy look. As a side note, as I grind away the plastic from underneath, I work very slowly. Every few seconds I hold the body up against a strong light so I can get a visual on how close I am to coming through the plastic. You must take great care so as to not grind through the plastic….it can really ruin your day. Then, using a piece from another body I molded for “parts†I created the under hood framework that would be necessary on the real car to support the hood. Next I built up a support to hold a magnet at the back end of the opening, on the firewall and installed a corresponding magnet under the hood……these are slightly bigger magnets then I usually use and man do they hold the hood down tight….almost too tight. For the front windshield I began with the piece I molded and cut away all of the excess so that I was left with a piece that resembled a basket handle. I made two triangle shaped supports to attach to the back end of the frame and used a piece of the ¼ round molding, softened with liquid glue to form the leading edge of the windshield molding on the front cowl. I wanted a very low windshield to heighten the look of a “chopped†top. I love the look of custom cars from the 40’s and 50’s that have severely chopped tops, like the Carson tops and I wanted that “flavor†on this one. I also wanted the windshield to extend forward with a rounded look to match the curves and soft bulges of the fenders. I used a piece of acetate, just like the one I supplied with the body and tops, to make the two windshields. Learning from Curt’s mistake, I added photo etched wiper blades and two rear view mirrors (actually, I had planned them all along). The rear window frame also came from the part I molded….it was cut down and glued to the car between the front and rear seating areas. The rear windshield is cut in a sweeping curve to fit under the roof when it is in the up position. They are glued in place with Future clear acrylic floor “stuffâ€. I cut open the four doors and created hinges out of brass rod and aluminum tubing. Once I glued on the inner door panel which is later to be covered, I filled in the area between the outer and inner door panels with Bondo putty which was later contoured to surround and fill the door jam area. I left the door to slightly “slide†on the hinge so that it opens out to clear the heavily bulging lower contour line on the body. That contour line was put there to mimic the contour line on the Chrysler Newport. Also, I wanted to visually follow the front fender line into the rear fender beginning without really having the fender protrude that far. The line serves to flow the front of the design into the rear so they feel connected. On each lower fender side I added four pieces of molding which is paying homage to the 1938 Y-Job which had many smaller moldings. I lengthened them and widened them to give a more 1950’s look to them reminding viewers of the golden days of the chrome maidens of that era. These molding were covered with bare metal foil (I bought a package of copper foil from the hobby shop from BMF and it is pure junk….it would not stick to anything so I scraped that idea) then I painted on a center line of copper to break up the chrome as I thought it was too much. I placed the front turn signal between the middle two moldings and spaced out the rear turn signal, rear brake light and the back up light, in that order top to bottom, between the top three moldings wrapping them around the back of the car and the fender to allow viewing from the side and back. The lens were made from pieces of sprue that was grinded down and painted (clear red or amber, depending on the light) and glued in to place also with Future. In the center of the lower rear deck I cut out the opening for the license plate and then fabricated the inner walls so that the plate is recessed into the rear deck. The rear deck opens up to the rear on a double hinge, meaning that the hinge pivots at both ends which is necessary to allow a big enough opening for the top to lift out of the trunk area. The other reason for the double hinge is to allow the truck lid to slide under the lower rear of the roof once the roof is up and in the closed position. The roof is hinged under the rear seat and has a reverse hinge in the center allowing it to fold up into itself like a clam shell. The rear window is also made of acetate glued in. The bottom of the trunk is covered with black leather to provide a soft landing for the top which has the top side down when the top is stored away. The idea for the retractable top is lifted from the Buick Blackhawk concept. Clearly, that was not the first time that, that feature was installed in a real car, but it was always in the back of my mind when I was designing the rear of the car and it is a feature of one of my “inspiration carsâ€, the Buick Blackhawk…..I was aware that a little wider was better than not because I thinking about having a top retract on this car. On to the interior where I accomplished a few “firsts†for myself. I have said many times that I want to push myself to try new things and new ideas….how else do you grow, if not with new techniques and personal challenges? This is the first interior I have done that incorporates real wood and leather in it. I know, maybe not such a big deal, but none the less, they are firsts for me. To start with, I built up a number of inner frame work supports under the outer skin because the body styrene is relatively thin which is closer to real thickness. Part of the frame work provides the barrier between the front and rear seating areas. Next I dug through my parts box and found a front and rear sear that I did not use from the AMT Phantom Vickie Roadster from a few years ago. Since I going to cover them, and modify the sides and backs, I made vacuum formed copies of the seats, saving the originals for another use. I cut down the sides and rounded the backs to better fit the contours of the interior openings. Then I realized that I did not have any leather to use, save for a single old black glove that my wife had lying around in a closet. I wanted brown leather to go along with my paint scheme so I thought about it awhile. Then one day while traveling to a client I went past a Goodwill store and I got an idea. The following Sunday I stopped by and sure enough I found two leather wrapped ladies bags, one in brown and one in cream. They were both marked $2.99. Such a deal! But when I got to the checkout counter I found out that they were both half price…that was crazy, I got two leather ladies bags for three bucks! Now I remember old Treehugger (where is he these days?), explained how easy using the leather was and he is right. A little care, a sharp knife blade and glue and you are in business. As for the wood, I searched the internet for mini, micro veneer wood. I found plenty of suppliers but none willing to sell small amounts to us stupid hobbyists. Fine. I am almost ashamed to say what I ended up doing because it was so easy. I took some balsa wood and cut it down to small thin pieces. I sanded it smooth and stained it and then applied 5 coats of clear lacquer. The first few coats of clear get absorbed into the wood so you need to apply many. The gauges are from one of the photo etch guys, I can’t remember who now. I figured the rear passengers may want to know the speed and vital engine signs so they got a few gauges back there too. I omitted a radio, but we all know there would be one in there somewhere if this was the real deal. The chassis of this car is from the same Firebird that donated the engine. I stretched it out about 3/4 of an inch just aft of the engine and it fit pretty well. You can’t tell because of the low fender wheel openings, but the front wheels turn even thought there is very little room up there. The wheels came from one of the reissues of the AMT 1966 Nova….the wheels are huge, but mostly covered up. I painted the spoke area of each wheel copper but it is hardly visible….but I know its there. I also set the car down pretty close to the weeds too….long and low…I love that kind of stance. There is one muffler in the back and dual exhaust outlets with angled tips. The body color is not exactly what I wanted but I now love it. The original plan, as I stated before in an on the workbench post, was to have a black body with copper trim, like the motorcycle that my brother worked on. I painted the body black and was very happy with it. I then got the bright idea to mix a little Jacquard copper pigment powder with clear and over spray the car to give it a high light of a copper glow. Good idea I thought, but when I sprayed on the thinned out copper clear, it turned the body into a chocolate brown with a deep copper glow. In some light it looks almost black, but in the sun light it looks like a cross between light and dark chocolate with a million sparkles going off. I love how it contrasts with the copper trim and the little bits of chrome. I especially like how the brown and black leather seats along with the wood trim and dash looks with the body color. So even though this is not exactly what the plan called for, I like it so much it is staying the way it is. Once the copper overcoat that I applied dried, it was clear coated. Once that was dry, it was lightly sanded and rubbed out. As for the final product, I am very pleased. I know this is self serving, but I would sure love to see this as a real car. I could just see this at the Pebble Beach Concours. I think, again, I know, self serving, that it is a very interesting design that would make a neat retro touring car. I am looking at this car and thinking that if I shortened one of the bodies cutting out the rear seats and making a two door runabout, it might look really cool. I may just have to build a little brother for this bad boy. OK, all you guys out there with one of these bodies, let’s see what you got! You can’t do the wrong thing with it….let yourselves go and build something unlike your normal builds. Stretch your imagination….get out of your comfort zone…..break some glass…it’s only cheap styrene that is easily replaceable. Ok, thanks for looking, congratulations if you made it through the entire description, and as always, comments, up or down, are always welcome. Just one last note, it looks a thousand times better in the flesh than in these pictures.

I agree with Harry on the Windex....but I have also had great success using the model car wax called "the treatment" or the "final detail". It cleans off the residue and shines the paint at the same time. Either way...they both work.

Curt, what can I say...that I didn't say before?????? I love it! I am not surprised at all that you were first to the barn with this build....I swear, you must build cars in your sleep. I averaged out your builds from the past few years, you know, when you post "your class of 20XX" and it worked out to a finished model every eleven days.....crazy, and on top of the speed you have, your workmanship never suffers for your speed....amazing. I love what you did with the basic shape of the car....this is exactly what I was hoping for with this little exercise....I wanted you guys to stretch your imagination and do something different and unique. Maybe try a build style that is alien to your standard fare. Anyway, great job...I do love it....the two doors and the color...and that huge power plant....so cool. My build of the car is very traditional, in that I am building it the way I designed it...a dual cowl roadster.....but my variations are coming from the variety techniques I am employing in the build. I will be posting the finished product in a few.... Again, Curt....thanks...I am proud of what you did to it.

Romell, this is looking great. I have used those tiny LED's and you are right, they are incredibly bright for their size. I have some different colored ones that my son got and plan on using them one of these days. These big trucks are not my "cup of tea", but you are sure knocking this one out of the park. I love the 4 front wheel set up. I built two of the 6 wheel Tyrrell F1 cars and fabricated the working linkages and they look so cool when they turn together....this will look great on this truck. I look forward to the completion on this.

Steve, that engine is great!!!! It would make a terrific presentation model on its own. The fine details are beautiful. The entire car is impressive, but the motor really takes this to another level......very cool. I have a couple of Camaro's laying around...I just may have to build something like this because yours is so killer, I want one too. ;)

Curt...all I can say is....I am impressed! This is looking great. I love the interior you have come up with. I just got some paint on my version, so I will have to post an update, but man, you are really making me proud. :D

Wow John....I followed along with your build and if I hadn't seen it come together for myself, I would find it impossible to think that these photo's were not the real thing. Just incredible!!!! Beautifully executed, as usual. i am in awe of the workmanship.....not a flaw anywhere. Congratulations. B)

I also just noticed that I did not see the "Back to the Future" DeLorean....did I miss seeing it? That is pretty famous in the movie ranks.

I am surprised that I didn't see the Munster Koach and the Drag-u-la on this list. After the Monkeymobile, I think these two are the most well know......well ok, Kitt was pretty well known too. I know I am dating myself (I am 61) but how about Ed "Kookie" Burns Rod?.....The Grabowski (spelling?) Rod.

Thanks Guys!!! I have, copied to my hard drive, just about every picture taken of the R8 GT3's, but I can always use more. I noticed when looking at the variants of the race cars, almost all of them look a little different. They seem to all have unique features....so I am incorporating the design que's that I like into mine since it is a phantom version.

Thanks....I used two putty's on this one. The gray is the Worlds Best Putty, Tamiya....very hard to find in the USA any more.....a friend in Japan gets it for me, and the green is Squadron Green putty. It is also available in white too. They are the same, as far as I can tell....I only got the green tube, because last time I used the white putty and I just felt like using the green stuff. It works fine, but remember, it shrinks up as it hardens so you need to allow for that. The Tamiya stuff does too, but not so much. I generally use Bondo, two part body filler for the bigger stuff. It does not shrink and it dries very quickly and is easy to grind and sand. I did not need to use it here because I was not doing large modifications to this car. I use all of the putty types for different uses. Bondo for big stuff, Squadron, or a similar putty for medium size jobs because it is inexpensive and easy to find. and Tamiya for only the "fine tuning" and small areas because it is very fine grain and difficult to get.

Yesterday, I finished up just about all of the body modifications to the Audi R8 GT3. I still need a little fine sanding and of course a fine coat of primer… especially the doors which are still virgin. The door hinges will be a little tricky on this because there is such little space just ahead of the doors on the fender. My standard style hinge will not work here….but that is no biggy. On the grille, where those two holes which are meant to hold the license plate are, two road lights will be recessed there. I drilled out the tiny projector light in the headlight housing. That will be replaced with a small HO train MU jewel light. The headlight covers on the factory run GT3’s are yellow for the Le Mans race….they look pretty cool like that so this will get that treatment too. Behind the front and rear air inlets and outlets there will be a black mesh. The engine radiators go under the headlight fixtures and the engine oil cooler goes in the center behind the lower part of the center grille. Next up on this is the chassis and the interior and a full roll cage. I have to semi-gut the interior because, in the street version that the kit represents, there is too much “plush†and as a race car that just won’t do. Now, I want to congratulate my beautiful and wonderfully understanding wife, Sue. Today she has put up with me for 35 years! 35 years ago we were married and I have to say that marrying Sue was the best thing I ever did. This shot was taken a few years ago at WDW. That is our daughter Melissa, now married and just gave us a beautiful grand son 6 months ago, Sue, Jonathan, our son and me on the right. 35 wonderful years….Sue allows me my hobbies and golf…what more could a guy ask for. She is even working while I am playing on the computer…..what a wonderful woman. I sure choose wisely…..Sue, maybe not so much! Anyway, since 35 years is a bit of a milestone, I wanted to congratulate my Sue and I.

Very nice...it is different to see a full blown Willy's drag car without all of the sponsor decals. Nice job. The paint looks great.

I love it....that is exactly my memory the horrible stint that Michael had in F1. I always thought that his turn at the wheel as more about his fathers past and the desire to get an American born driver in F1. I never thought it was due to skill....of course he can drive circles around me, so who am I to judge? Any way, great job on the build....I really like it. I have a 1/20 scale version of that car and of course I will do the Senna version with him at the wheel.

Window cleaner with Ammonia. Sorry to all of the "save the earth" crowd, but the Ammonia does the trick and the plastic is not harmed.

Jeff, One little point I noticed upon going back to the pictures. This is a little something that Bill Geary pointed out a few years ago, and it really makes a difference. If you grind away the outer edge of the inside surface of the door a bit after you cut it free from the body, the door thickness has a more realistic look to it. The average thickness of the plastic molded body would scale out to about an inch and a half thick. By grinding or sanding it away the thickness will be appropriate for the scale.....with that beautiful door jam detail, this could be that little bit that makes a huge difference. Just saying.....

Great color for that car....that green or white or blue works for me. Exceptional build on a kit that I think is less than great. Clean and sharp. I also like the little extra touch of the door jam lock, it looks terrific.

Curt, for some completely unknown reason, I have the same problem some times with the measuring. You know, measure twice, cut once? Some times I measure thirty five times and it still comes out to be just a little off. Very strange. Anyway, I honestly prefer the look with the rear skirts. To my eye, the rear wheels, exposed, just didn't look as nice as it does now. It looks more "period correct" to me. Anyway, beautiful job as always. I'm enjoying this, big time!

I found a little time this afternoon to do a little more work on the GT3 Conversion. Here the air scoop is attached to the roof…. Once the putty is dry, it will be smoothed into the roof. Here the rear window and engine cover are in place You can see where the rear window is marked. It will be removed here, under the roof scoop so that the engine cover will open and the scoop will have the air intake hoses attached leading to the intake plenum. You can also see the small rear spoiler molded on to the rear just being the engine cover. There will also be a larger rear wing mounted above the rear deck. Here is the nose with the lower fascia in its beginning stage…. You can also see the three vent vanes on the two fender air vents. These just need a final filing to be complete. Here you can see down through the vents. Here the grille is in place. I used the Dremel tool with a sanding drum to grind away the backing on the grille and open up the egg crate grille. Once the glue is fully set up on the lower fascia pieces I will grind them down and adjust all of the edges. Then a lower plate gets attached and the front end will be just off the ground. The section just below the headlight opening will be reworked with new angled slots, rather than the standard lateral bars.

Audi R8 GT3 Now that I have completed my Viper ACRX club racer, I wanted to begin the second car in my planned 3 phantom race car set. By phantom, I am referring to the fact that these are cars that physically exist, but not exactly in the configuration and paint scheme I am doing. The second car I am doing is an Audi R8, converted, more or less, into a GT3 variant. And, as I mentioned before, the 3rd car is a phantom race version of the Corvette ZR1. Back to the Audi, I am beginning with the stock street version on the car. It, obviously, is the Revell 1/24 scale offering. Basically, I like the look of the car, but, and I know this will sound strange; it just doesn’t look mean or tough enough for me. It gives me a feeling of “softnessâ€, you know, maybe too refined…..just a little too smooth. I know this vehicle is anything but too smooth. From all of the reports I have read, it is a great super car with tremendous power and tons of handling…..but in its stock form I just don’t feel it in the pit of my stomach. Also, I have never been fond of that carbon fiber panel behind the door. Yeah, I am into the carbon fiber look on spoilers and hoods and interior panels….but those two panels just don’t work for me. I mean, why are they there? What is the purpose? Sure they save weight, but I think they look strangely out of place there. But when this car is converted into the GT3 variant, I think it becomes all that it can be. The once benign and rather tepid looking coupe now has wheel wells that are widen to cover some serious meat on a set of BBS race rims. The ground effect lower side rails channel the air flow below the car out the back through a set of diffusers. The front hood is now opened up to vent air flowing through the oil radiators behind the massive center grille. There are new vents over the front wheels to channel out the air flow through the two engine radiators which sit under the headlights. Below the headlight will be additional air inlets and a front air splitter to restrict excess air from getting down below the car chassis. The two air intakes behind the doors are extended outward to bring more cooling air into the engine compartment to aid reducing the ambient air temperature in the engine compartment. There is a new roof scoop on top of the interior cabin that runs down the back replacing a section of the rear window which will open around the inlet. This air intake brings cool fresh air which is channeled into the engine intake. Around back, there is a slight rear spoiler added to the rear panel just over the taillights. A large wing is mounted on the rear panel also to create additional down force to hold the rear down to the track. Ok, I got a little dramatic here, but you get the point. I am really enjoying the conversion of the stock car into my version of the GT3. The first thing I set about doing was to open the doors. Here you can see the “back†of a #11 blade scoring the outside of the door edge. Here the inside of the door is worked with the knife blade. I tend to work back and forth between the inside and outside, holding the car up to a light to be sure I am scribing the correct spot on the panel. Here the door is worked free…it is only held by the tiny area by the window frame…which was carefully cut away by using the front of the knife blade. Next, I wanted to build up the wheel well bulge. I began by gluing a stripe of styrene inside the wheel well with liquid glue. This was repeated on all four wheels. I over allow the amount of plastic that sticks out of the well. Excess can be cut away later. Next I applied putty to all four of the fender side of the wheel well extensions, which will be sanded smooth later. Here one of the bulges has be sanded and the extension boxed off at the outer end. To the rear of the front wheel wells you can see the flat fender extension I added that will parallel the front edge of the door. In this shot you can see the hood opened up to form the vent at the front and beginning to be curved back. To the sides of it, you can see the triangular fender openings that will have 3 angled vanes in them to direct air out. This is the addition that I glued onto the rear top fender that will be puttied in to show a small bump of a rear spoiler. Here you can see the two air intakes behind the doors being enlarged. I cut the upper and lower edges with a saw and using a small pliers I bent them outward. Then I glued plastic sheets in the gaps. Once the glue was dry, I grinded them down and sanded them smooth. Later I added putty to smooth it out and sanded it all smooth. Here, I began the fabrication of the roof scoop. I cut out the top and bottom and then cut small silts along the bottom and bent everything with a gentle bend to match the curve of the roof. This was all glued and puttied. Here the scoop in nearing completion and resting on the roof. Next I cut out the front grille and grinded down the back of the grille face. I will post pictures later of that and the other modifications I am making. In my research of the car, I found about 10 different versions and designs of the car. Some are real and actually driving on tracks around the world. And others are nothing more than computer generated want-to-be’s. I looked at many of the versions and kind of picked and chose the features and design ques that I liked and have incorporated into my build. I basically always knew the design I was going to build; I just wasn’t sure what paint and sponsorship scheme I was going to use. Because this is an Audi, I know that silver and/or charcoal silver are a must. Ok, but what else. I spent some time on JHL.com and scanned through what felt like a few thousand sets of decals. You know, it would sure make more sense if they listed them by scale….but no, they have them all jumbled up with no set pattern, 1/43, 1/24, 1/20 and 1/12 scale decals all mixed up…..it makes no sense. Anyway, after an eternity of looking I found a neat sheet of Jagermeister decals designed for use on a 1/24 scale BMW….BMW, Audi, BMW, Audi….why not? With a little creative painting and a nice new paint scheme of silver, charcoal and orange, this could look pretty cool. I always loved the look of the Jagermeister cars. I have the 1/12 Tamiya Porsche, the 1/24 Alfa Romeo and the 1/24 BMW 3 series, all with the orange livery and the neat Reindeer head. So, this will be a version of the GT3, the main difference is that the real GT3 has a V10, this is currently a V8 and the GT3 rules don’t allow all-wheel drive, so I think the front drive mechanicals will have to be omitted. I will have to see if I can convert the engine into a 10 from an 8. I don’t know how that will play out.

I went through this with my Dad many years ago...I know it can be hard on you. It will be ok. Keep the faith. She is in our hopes and prayers.