Speedfreak

Any news on this?

Here's some pics: The grill looks better 1:1 'cause you can't see all the imperfections unless you get 'really' close. The imperfections are places where I did not spray enough paint, so , there are little specks of black that show through. It turned out the way it did completely by accident, I was just spraying at an angle across the side of the grill and just enough paint was hitting the top of the grill insert. The white spot on the oil pan is where one of the drain plugs was, it interferes with the way the engine sits on the cross member. I love those fat black headers! Which I had to pin. I Alcladed the 'Injection Horns, (that's what the instructions call them!) and the alternator too.

That actually makes quit a difference, much better.

Good job, thanks for sharing John.

I decided to go the whole nine yards, well a lot of the nine anyway. I just got through Alclading the tail lights, wait till you see the grill. I'll try and take some pics of what I've done sometime today. I think this is a build thread now.

This is looking good JC.

Looking good Gerry.

Hey thanks Rob, Michael, and , Steven. I haven't checked this thread lately, glad I did, Acrylic sounds like the safe way to go.

Thanks Ace, I'm hanging in there, I'm gonna do the rear panel next I guess. I got the headers pinned and painted, and , I took the nurf bars off the front bumper and painted both bumpers with Tamiya Silver Leaf, looks better. The engine should be ready for assembly now as well. Oh ya, I de-chromed the grill and tail lights, gonna Alclad them I hope. What should i do about the front turn signal lights? Put a drop of silver in there to look like an aluminum cover?

Okay Ace, I'm gonna do what you suggest, sounds doable. I have a guru at my LHS who started to suggest something to this effect (using styrene strips) but I didn't really listen as I thought the new panel in the new kit would fit properly, duh. Okay, you guys are both right! I know I'll build another one of these cars because I love the body style, and , I know many of the kits pitfalls now, and , I have the color of the next one in my head, sort of, and, I now have one to build. It might even be more fun than the first one.

Or, I can go to my LHS in the morning and by this kit and do what I should have done in the first place. And here's the clincher, the rear lower body panel is too narrow thanks to some fine body work I did on the initial prep, so , it's gotta be replaced. Ace, maybe you can check to see how that panel fits in the kit you've been looking at? If I recall,.......that panel was 'just' wide enough to stay in place.

Is that stuff 'one part' , or , two part?

Thanks Steve, I've been wearing disposable plastic gloves when I handle it. I just don't want to screw it up using the wrong type of wash.

That chassis looks pretty good David, are you using polishing clothes on the body?

Just relax and have some fun, build a 50's early 60's custom! Thanks for checking in on this. I won't avoid dealing with an issue like the exhaust ports, and , bumpers and such, in my future builds. I knew I was making a mistake, but, I just didn't want to take the time, at the time, to fix it, so, it has now come back to bite me big time.

That grill looks good, as does the van, thanks for the input, I'll experiment.

Ace, ya I have got the decals in mind I'm going to use, they are from the kit sheet. You're right, I'm not gonna mess with those exhaust ports at this point, I'll leave them as is probably. I have Alclad chrome in the can. This car has not been a snap for me, but , I'm learning a bunch. I painted the front bumper red to match the body, rear bumper is dull silver, we'll see, I'm kind of winging it and having fun!

That chrome does look nice, especially those wheel covers.

I've got a grill that I'm gonna shoot Alclad chrome on and was wondering , (if there is one) , what kind of black wash should I use? Thanks.

Hey Ace, thanks for the reply. Ya, it's Tamiya Bright Red, it's almost orange, certain lighting really brings out the orange aspect, it is most certainly bright. I've got it now to where I think it sits okay, a little worried about making a mess when I glue the tub in. My next dilemma concerns the rear body pan, I didn't remove the factory exhaust ports, 'cause at the time I thought brilliantly, " I'm not gonna worry about that now, I just wanna see if I can get a good paint job, so , they remain. It's really gonna look silly if I leave them right? I know, sand, fill, and , re-paint. Bummer. Oh ya, do you know what I should use for a wash with Alclad II Chrome? It's for the grill.

Nice job Tulio! Some really nice detail on this car. Mopar to ya!

I'm on point and have a bead on the culprit. The paint is just paint in the photos, no clear, or , polish yet, unreal, spray can too! I'm gonna polish it with liquid LMG stuff I have. There are some flaws but I'm just gonna leave them. I think I first saw this color on your Falcon, you do make a difference. I think I may have located the final frontier as far as the fitment goes for this thing, I mean 'Stang, It's the back of the tub, drivers side, top edge, that curves up over the rear wheel well under the rear window, all the way to the square edge at the very back on that side. I think if I can sand some off those places it may sit square inside the body, I'll know soon. I did take some off the bottom drivers side dash tabs where it sits down inside the notch located on the tub sides, that helped. I keep plugging along. Thanks.

Phillip, when I recently tried to install the engine for the 'Pro Street' Nova, the engine would not go in with the headers already attached. And I don't recall seeing anything on the instructions I had with regards to this issue, (lucky you) , maybe I missed something.

I like the 'shift as you go' method. I did some work on the glass, (bottom of side vent window) , and snipped off that mounting ring from the back glass and those things helped. I worked the 'kick ridge' when I initially prepped things, there is however a little bit more I can take off the passenger side tab, (outside of tub/vent window area). It actually seems to be sliding from side to side on the edges of the bottom front glass, I'll try and sand some of that out as well. All these things should get us in the ball park of,............' still being able to see the edges of the rear chassis inside the rear wheel well of the body. I've seen that on at least one other build of this kit and couldn't understand why someone would leave it that way, now I know. I won't be addressing that issue on this round! It's a shelf model so I can live with it. Thanks Ace, you're the best.

Thanks Ace! I'll check all of those things.