Snake45

Very nice, very clean! But then, that's what you do.

Last month, the Lovely Mrs. Snake went to visit her sister in Florida for a week. I lost no time in scheduling some days off I had coming, because you know what they say: “When the cat's away, the mice build model cars all over the dining room table.” So here’s what I got done in that week: *Revell Camaro Concept Snapper: This is actually the only built-completely-by-me-from-a-new-kit build in the group, though it wasn't all built in The Week, mainly just final detailing and assembly. I'd previously scribed out and darkened all the panel lines and polished the kit's pearly silver plastic. *’70 El Camino: Motormax Diecast (bought recently at Walmart) on which I worked maybe six or eight hours of Model-Fu—grille, wheels, taillights, white on the headlight stems requiring disassembly, Sharpie chrome trim, and so forth. Accomplished completely during The Week. *’65 Mustang 2+2 Pro Street (M2 diecast): Rework of a previous model-fu makeover. Removed the ugly black racing stripe with Walmart nail polish remover (thanks, MadHorseman!), which required some rubout/polish in the affected areas, which then required re-doing some of the chrome trim with my beloved Silver Sharpie. Also tried to improve the grille area a little. 3-4 hours. Accomplished completely during The Week. *’74 Charger Resto: Disassembled, cleaned, touched up finish, polished glass, detailed taillights and grille, Sharpied all chrome, reassembled. 6-10 hours. Accomplished completely during The Week. *Aston Martin DB4 Resto: Disassembled, cleaned, removed windshield, polished glue booger from inside of windshield, Reinstalled windshield, reassembled, detailed grille, touched up taillights and other details. 6-8 hours. Accomplished completely during The Week. *’72 Chevelle Street Freak Resto/Refurb: A recent Toy Show Rescue. Disassembled, fixed bent, near-broken left A-pillar with “fauxberglass,” replaced rear tires and all four wheels, polished body, polished glass, Silver Sharpied all window trim, painted taillights, detailed grille and front park lights, rigged up installation of Crower scoop. 8-10 hours. Accomplished completely during The Week. *Monkeemobile Resto: Been working on this restoration of my 1966-built Monkeemobile for a few weeks, but spent about 6-10 hours in final reassembly and whatnot (2 hand-brushed coats of Future). Glad to have this one OFF my workbench as I was getting tired of looking at it. I could have probably built a brand new one from a kit in the time I spent "restoring" this backbirth, but, ah shucks oh well. *’66 MPC Corvette Gasser Resto/Refurb: Been working off and on on this one for months, but the big “sticking point” was applying a couple decals, a job I was dreading and putting off because it was a one-shot, make-or-break deal. Got that done, so I should be able to Drive On from here and get this one finished up very shortly. Might not look like much to you, but to me, this step was HUGE—I was developing a darn-near phobia about it. *’68 El Camino Resto/Refurb: This is a gluebomb-ish builtup I’m working on Snakifying. It’s already painted a lovely shade of royal blue that I’m working with, but had to fill the sinkmarks in the roof, then mask off all the blue and airbrush the black vinyl top, lower body sides, and rear panel, another task I had been dreading. Got all that done, so should be able to drag this one across the finish line at some point in the foreseeable future. *'71 Cuda Glue Bomb-ish Resto (not shown): Disassembled, cleaned, stripped paint, scribed out all door and panel lines, began polishing the lovely black plastic. This might be the next thing I actually get finished. [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Snake45/media/Model%20Cars/WeeksWork03_zpsekgavvv8.jpg.html][/URL] [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Snake45/media/Model%20Cars/WeeksWork04_zps0qzjbdfz.jpg.html][/URL]

Dreading trying to install the windshield was my last obstacle to overcome with this project. The windshield frame resisted my best attempts to bend it back into shape under HOT running water. Several attempt sessions seemed to have little to no effect. So I taped the windshield firmly into place, superglued and clamped one side, let that dry, then superglued and clamped the other side. Seems to be holding so far—fingers crossed. [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Snake45/media/Model%20Cars/Monkeemobile/MonkeemobileA38_zpss9iziywz.jpg.html][/URL] The first issue of the kit included the correct Dean Jeffries Customs badge on the front fenders behind the fake exhausts; I don’t think it was on any of the reissues. Before hitting the emblem with Silver Sharpie and then Futuring the whole body, I took several foil impressions of it. I might get hit with the urge to build a “good” model of the car someday, and I’ll need these to do it right. [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Snake45/media/Model%20Cars/Monkeemobile/MonkeemobileA42_zps9vpd4ooh.jpg.html][/URL] Finished—Off to Under Glass. See you there soon! [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Snake45/media/Model%20Cars/Monkeemobile/MonkeemobileA43_zpsiaxudmbb.jpg.html][/URL]

I tried to get my Dad interested in Game of Thrones. He didn't get it. Finally I said, "It's about power and money and illicit sex and greed and lust and corruption and family and politics and treachery and betrayal. In other words, it's exactly like Dallas or The Sopranos or Deadwood or The Godfather or all your other favorite stories."

Why does everyone assume that evolution is a good thing?

That Metallic Blue looks a lot like Chev Nassau Blue but it's almost impossible to get a good read from the bottom of the bottle. I love Arctic Blue! I use it generically for any automotive dark blue metallic. As for the True Blue Pearl--I put some on a spoon and it seems to be a little bluer and a little deeper than any color I can think of from the '60s. Pretty though. I might have to find some kind of custom project to use it on.

Just got back from HL. They didn't have 2768 Metallic Blue, but they did have the True Blue Pearl, which might turn out to be a reasonable approximation of '60s Marina Blue, LeMans Blue, and so forth. Will get some on a spoon and tell you what I think.

I'm going to do that on one or two sometime soon. Those things were ALWAYS sloppily molded on the AMT Vettes. And it's not mold wear--original annual '63s are just as bad as any of the reissues. AMT never quite got those things to line up.

Offer him a deal. A DEAL deal! Maybe he's a Republican! So long, Crapgame. You'll be missed.

I think you can buy aluminum ones from the aftermarket (or you can make your own from aluminum tubing, a file, and some patience) and color them red and blue with Sharpies.

Testor Wood is very light in color, about like balsa (I've used it for Flesh on occasion). They have the Leather in enamel too. It has a nice walnut-brown color. But why not check out your local craft vendors for craft paints in browns? There will be dozens of shades available and these things are CHEAP compared to model paints. A wood wheel would seem to be just about an idea way to use these readily available, CHEAP paints.

I vote YES on the idea.

Wow, that looks great! I usually just use Testor MM Leather over black, but then again I don't usually get all that anal about steering wheels.

I took another look last night. BOTH the AMT and MPC hoods have rounded corners at both ends--as I said, they're darn close to perfectly interchangeable. But I took a look at the Revell '67 and THAT one has "pointed corners" at the back (cowl) end. Could you have possibly been thinking of that?

Very nice!

I believe you're right on both counts! I could work with that, if I were interested in the basic subject matter, which I don't think I am. What is it under there, some kind of early '60s Mercury? I honestly don't know.

Wow, what a difference! You gave the old crock a whole new look! Well done and model on!

If you don't want to strip the paint, just clean them up, disassemble as much as possible, then clean all parts with dishwashing soap and warm water. A large soft paintbrush or old toothbrush will work well for this. After everything's cleaned up, it's just a matter of IRAN (Inspect & Repair As Necessary) and reassemble. This '67 Corvette I recently restored is a good illustration of what a little TLC can accomplish. And, it's a lot of FUN!

George: Can't spare a hard top, but the offer is good for a fresh softie and its glass. Here's my "Cousin of Danger" project, which I acquired not long ago in a deal with GTX6970. The body (I've since stripped it) is beautiful, BUT that hard top is REALLY glued on there. If it would come off, I could get it off, but it's going nowhere. I could separate it but I could only save the top OR the body, but not both. That's how solid it's on there! I'm gonna restore it with the top in place. I did manage to get the back glass out, so I can paint the rear deck through the open window. The windshield was as glue-bombed as the back glass but I managed to polish it out to 95%+ perfection. The back glass isn't savable, but that's okay, many reissues of the '63 roadster come with extra hard top glass for no apparent reason. Is the Snake And George '65 Corvette Roadster Challenge still on?

There seems to be some "discussion" in this thread and the other one as to exactly what a "glue bomb" is. Just for the sake of discussion, is this Corvette a glue bomb or a desirable restorable? If it were a common reissue AMT '63, I'd say it's a glue bomb, and virtually worthless. But it's a semi-rare original MPC '66.

I suspected as much. Thanks for the confirmation.

I've got plenty of soft uptops and glass if you need new. Just holler. Hard tops are a different story. I have a few, but I'm hoarding them jealously and have plans for each and every one.

Thin it with lacquer thinner and it airbrushes quite nicely. I've done several rocker panel trims that way, even "replated" an old glue bomb's bumpers. Come to think of it, look at my blue '68 Javelin currently on page 1 of Under Glass--both the rocker trim and the rear bumper were done this way on that one.

I thought Harry Guardino was a cool choice, too.

I've taken "breaks" from the hobby for weeks, months, even years at a time. I always come back. I suspect I always will.