mustang1989

Remember that partially built model I bought in the beginning that has helped me out so far with the build? Best 20 bucks I ever spent..... Here's the frame assy: Zoomed in a little closer are resin blocks with holes drilled in them as makeshift locations for the master cylinder and proportioning/ distribution valve/ block. Which is paving the way for me fabricating the brake lines. Here is the L/H front brake line. Later I'll paint this metallic silver and touch up the hose section at the end for the rubber brake hose. I'll be gone for the next two days.......again....... but will be back on Sunday with another update.

The flame set I purchased is for 55-57 Chevy cars After I get the masks on I'm looking at going with the same colors for the flames as the decals were. Here they are applied but you get the picture...

Lookin' forward to the Alclad work there Dan! Great work so far bud.

Ok. Some progress this morning. I didn't like how the brake lines looked being black and all so I removed them and shot them with a coat of aluminum and reinstalled them. Upon reinstallation I got a nasty glue boo-boo on the L/H frame rail so I fabricated an aluminized shield to go over the lines. It was either this or remove the lines, sand down the frame and repaint it so I chose a route which I thought would do the trick, look decent and still cover the mishap up. I still have to fabricate some stand off clamps holding the lines to the frame but here we are so far...

LOL. . My wife is fairly supportive of my hobby. I usually build WWII aviation stuff but within the last year I have re-discovered automotive modeling and have gotten more kits this year than the all of the last three years. I've gotten just about all of the scale kits that I had as a kid and then some is all. I dare say I've purchased 25+ kits in the last 6 months. lol. Now this one's on the radar screen. At a rate of no more than two builds a year (and sometimes just one) I've got enough to keep me busy for a while.

Frank: Thanks man!! Jim: Thank you as well bud! I've got a lot going on here besides modeling to.....................dangit!!

My wife supports my hobby but I think even she would get a little upset after that one. lol. My stash has gotten pretty big just this year and it makes it a little more difficult in acquiring additions to it. I guess I'd better get busy building.

Normally I'd say blue but don't know the history behind this car.

Gotcha!

This is awesome!! Go for it Kevin!! I'll be lookin' in on this one pal!

That's what I'm talkin' about Kevin!! Go for it buddy!!!

I've been eyeballing this kit on the internet and have really been thinking about getting one. I might wait just a bit though. I swear if my wife see's one more kit in the mail I'm gonna get it! Great progress so far!

Looks like you're getting there Dan!!! It's really starting to come together it looks like.

Thanks Carl buddy. Man I've gotta say I'm really bummed over the decals but I hope to turn it all around with the masks that are coming. I'll be sticking with the same colors for the flames.

Thanks Dan! I'm really trying to be finished with this bad boy by the end of July. With set backs like this it's gonna be close .

Even from a distance the hood decals show the problems I was having but besides that it's what I'm after regarding "the look". But when you get a lot closer it's painfully evident that this.........aint gonna cut it! So................I stripped the hood of decals. I'm going to have to do some paint work as well but that's no biggie. I'll probably just strip it and start over rather than touch it up. Oh well.......that's modeling folks. Thankfully, I did manage to make some forward progress today in the way of brake lines. It's not much but its a start:

Oh I'll get 'em off of there but I aint sure just how yet. Usually I love working with decals and have had some tuffies in the past that I was able to get laid down with a little elbow grease and patience. I've worked on these hood decals now for about 5-6 hours so I feel like I've given them a fair shot. I'll get through this ok though. It's just a momentary distraction is all.

Man I'll tell you guys, I am NOT happy with the way these have turned out so far. First off , I'm using 32 year old decals. Even after working them all into position and smoothing them out I've still got silvering like crazy.....even air pockets that popped up out of freekin' no where!!!!! I have most of the hood done now to include the hood scoop and from a little ways away it looks just awesome. A little closer up and they look terrible. Before I do anything further I've ordered a flame mask set from Lazy Modeler. I see stripping the decals from the hood in my near future!!! I can take a blemish dang near anywhere but on this hood or anywhere on the front of the vehicle it's a different story. Being the showcase of the entire exterior , a blemish here would be like a "bloody nose" on the whole build. The squirrel on the squeaky conveyor belt is working hard in my head right now......

Ok folks I've got an update...............FINALLY!!!! I took a break from the suspension/ brake system build up to concentrate all my efforts on what I dreaded the most....the flame decals. As I was applying the decals I suddenly remembered back 30+ years ago when I built this kit for the first time my experience with them. You see, there so much clear carrier film intermixed with the flames that they don't conform too well to all the contours of the hood...................AT ALL! Large bubbles and air pockets everywhere!! My first thought was to do what I did 30 years ago and pull 'em off and say screw it! I bought myself a little time to think by removing the decal from the hood and leaving in a bowl of water overnight. Last night I laid the decal out on a paper towel to dry somewhat and began cutting out the clear carrier film from the flames (BTW these decals are as tough as a boot!! Especially for being 32 years old!!!!!) . This morning I re-applied the decal with ALOT of Microsol. It took me the better part of 3 hours of smoothing and cutting the clear carrier from the edges of the flames to get this result. I've got my procedure down now and the other side won't be half this much work. I've still got a little work to do on it in the way of tidying up and applying a small area of flames on this side but I had to take a dang break!!

Lookin' good Kevin!!

Thank you Rich! It's funny the stuff we did to these things as not only kids, but newcomers into the hobby. Mix not knowing a whole lot about cars with next to no modeling skills at that time and there was no end to what the outcome would be like. lol

Nice build. I'm really fond of these trucks.

Glenn: That's one cool Dodge you've got there and thank you bud! Dennis: I've given thought to buying another one and building it up right. Thanks for the comments.

Those are some sharp snap-tite builds there Wayne and Dave! My 11 year old son's Snap-Tite 1/32 Mack