Olle F

If you ever come to TN, you need to come and look in my back yard then. Bet you would be able to find shells of any available caliber out there.

It's difficult to find firearms in 1:25, but I think the Joker Goon car comes with an M16 and some other miscellaneous hardware that could be used. Anyway, that's a cool rod right there. Is that a .223 shell on the carbs?

Thanks, I'll check it out. I believe they have that at the LHS as well.

BTW: Here's something that I found out when I was bored the other day: If you have small parts that you want to paint with Metalizer, you can actually dip them instead of airbrushing or brush painting them. Just dip the part in the paint, shake off the excess and let it dry. Repeat if you want a heavier coat, then polish as usual. It sounds crazy, but the Metalizer is so thin that it won't build up to a blob like other paints would.

Hey, that's a neat idea! I don't know what Mr. Sealer is (some kind of primer?), but I would think that any semi-dry paint, the sludge from the bottom of a can of primer or something like that can be dabbed on to create the texture. The texture will probably make the color look different too, so I'm going to have another look at our LHS's assortment of Metalizers and see if there's any of them that can be used.

This thread is quite intimidating to me... don't think I want to open it again.

Cool, I sure appreciate the forensic work! I found the manual (the Fisher manual, right?) and started to download it, but it's a bit slow so I can't read it yet. I'll check it out later, it's time to pack my bags. Have to get on the road again tomorrow.

Yep, I suspect that it could be a vacuum canister for a cruise control. I haven't found any pictures of a linkage that would indicate this though, and I don't have a manual either. I don't really think it's an aftermarket item, as it's included on the original firewall in this kit. But of course, the model kit manufacturers don't always do their homework, so it can probably depend a lot on the car they used for reference when they made the kit. I found parts of this on a '65 at a local junk yard (together with what seems to be factory wiring) and have seen it in other pictures, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to find some reference pictures somewhere. If not, I'll just build something, cross my fingers and hope that no one else will be able to tell either.

Lots of great advice here, I might have to save this thread to my hard drive for reference. Here is another one (for darker woods like mahogany etc) that I haven't tried, but I have seen it used on 1:1 cars and you should be able to replicate it in 1:25 as well: Brush or spray the base color. Take a piece of plexiglass and set it on fire. This will generate a black, "greasy" smoke. Hold your work piece at a safe distance over the burning plexiglass and let the smoke blacken it. Then use a stiff brush to create the wood grain in the smoke deposits, and airbrush some clear coat to protect it when you're done. I have also seen people use an acetylene torch (using acetylene only) on 1:1 cars to create a burly wood pattern.

If you want to drive yourself crazy, you can always try to scratchbuild a wiper motor. It's a great relief that it's done, and I have drilled a few holes as I might add some wires and hoses later. Now I have two problems that need to be solved: 1: There is a wire protector (a plastic sleeve, screwed to the firewall on the 1:1 car) located at the top edge of the firewall, and I don't have a clue how to make one. I tried to glue a piece of rod to a piece of sheet styrene, but it looks a bit out of scale so I think it would be better to use some kind of thin and flexible material and fold it to the right shape. It would be great if this material also was the right color. I was thinking about using aluminium from a TV-dinner tray or similar, but it would probably be much easier to make it look nice and clean if I don't have to paint it. 2: I have found a cylinder shaped mystery item on the firewall (see picture below) and I don't have a clue what this could be. Does anyone know what it is and what it's supposed to look like?

Hey, that's neat! And they even come with a nice container to store them in. Gotta get me some of those!

Thanks guys, i sure appreciate the information! Seems like the PE set has everything I need, down to the 307 emblems. Gotta think about how to build it though, I think a curbside will be enough work. AMT's '69 Chevelle is such a turd that anything else will turn into a 2 year project...

Thanks, that was just too obvious for me to realize. I can't believe I didn't think of that, as I went through the same thing a while ago trying to find the correct Chevy engine orange. The answer (after spending days looking for suitable model paint) was a $3 rattle can from the car parts store. I might just get a can of cast iron restoration paint next time I order from Summit or Year One.

Now if I could find a resin bench seat and some PE Malibu emblems to go with that hood, I could build a replica of my '69... That would actually be pretty cool.

I have several of the Testors Metalizers, but none of them has that greyish shade I'm looking for. I have actually found one of them that could work, but it's still a tad too dark. The neat thing about the Humbrol #53 is that you can take the thick sludge from the bottom of the can and stipple it on for a nice, textured finish that looks just like cast iron and also hides minor imperfections. The Metalizers are very thin, and don't work all that well for brush painting. One option would be to mix my own, but there must be other paints that work straight out of the can. I'm sure that the military guys and the railroaders would know. Surely enough, cast iron should be a useful color for a lot of different model builders. My hobby store has a pretty limited assortment, but will order anything as long as it's available. I just need to know what to order.

So it finally happened: My 10 year old can of Humbrol #53 "Gun Metal" enamel has dried up, and now I can't find it anywhere. IMO, this paint is as close to cast iron as it gets, and I use it for exhaust manifolds, master cylinders, suspension parts and other things that were unpainted cast iron on real cars. Now I don't know what to get. I have tried a few different varieties, but most paints that are supposed to resemble bare metals are either too light or too dark. The dark grey "Gun Metal" was perfect so does anyone know where to get it, or is there a good substiute for it that's easier to find?

Great build, would love to see this in person one day to check out the details. I'm sure even the poop stains on the seat are there.

Ausgeseichnet! It's great to see something different than the usual "in your face" muscle car colors, and it's also interesting to see how a muted color actually can set off a model and make it more realistic. This is good inspiration for my next build, for sure. And how about the engine compartment... Any pics?

I agree, I love the understated look of the COPOs and will be really interesting to see how these builds turn out. So far, I like it a lot! I have got one of the Yenko kit on the shelf, so I guess it's about time...

A quick build I completed a couple of months ago:

If you use Evergreen, you can make it real easy on yourself. Evergreen (and other manufacturers) print the metric size on the bags, and as 1" = 25 mm (roughly), a 1" tube in 1:1 will be a 1 mm rod in 1:25, 2" tube will be 2 mm and so on. Then you get a metric ruler, calipers etc. and you're ready to convert anything to 1:25 scale the easy way.

Bill, I use Testors "Black Chrome" enamel for mostly everything black on a car. If you airbrush it without thinning it too much and spray a heavy coat, you'll get a nice, "greasy" semi-gloss finish that works well for vinyl interiors. You can highlight it by just rubbing it with a little bit of grease on your fingers (I usually use chap stick). You can get a lower sheen if you thin it with laquer thinner: The more thinner you use, the flatter it gets. That engine compartment has a heavy coat of unthinned paint, so it's about as glossy as this paint gets. The engine was dusted with some diluted clear coat, which is my favorite way to get a lower sheen.

Time to resurrect this thread... I have been out of town (actually out of state) on jobs the last 2 months, but this weekend I finally had some time to sit down with this project again. The master cylinder looked a bit out of round after I glued the halves together, so I just turned a new cap instead of trying to file or sand it to the correct shape. This assembly isn't 100% as the original, but I hope it looks convincing enough. Then I applied some wash to various parts like grille and hub caps. I have been thinking about using other wheels, but the wash revealed that R/M did an excellent job on the hub cap detail, so these will definitely be used! Also worked some on the engine. 3 months after placing the order, I still don't have my aluminum pulleys from Arrowhead ( ) so I just had to bite the bullet and use he original setup. I have also experimented a bit with the sheen on the engine. For some reason, engines and engine bays look more realistic to me if you use duller finishes. I decided to try that theory on this build, so I airbrushed a light coat of dull clearcoat over the whole thing. We'll see what the end result looks like. And yes, the fuel line is not attached to the right location on the carb, I just slapped it on there as it will be hidden by the air cleaner anyway. Added some screws to the inner structure of the fenders to add some detail, and dry fitted the front end just for fun:

Maybe this will inspire someone who hasn't yet decided what to do with Revell's Mercury: Chopped Merc with Alston chassis and Donovan 706 c.i. Big Block... http://www.awesome50.com/default.asp Make sure to check out the videos.

Not a bit, I'm just surprised. But it all confirms what I saw when I was searching for pictures. The taller and more rounded roof line on the post sedans and 4-door HT's is perfectly logical, and is in line with how other manufacturers designed their cars as well. What threw me off was that they used one roof for the HT, and another one for the Crown Vic (which, just as you say, basically is built like a HT). I have never noticed that difference before. Thanks for the information, you learn something new every day!