bh1701

My latest completion is this 2022 Corvette Stingray. The exterior color is Rapid Blue (from Scale Finishes). It was a well engineered kit, but I did run into my share of challenges building this kit (some of these were unfortunately self inflicted!). Painting the taillights and headlights was one of those challenges. The biggest challenge was getting the front of the interior and cowl to fit snugly to the body. I followed the instructions and glued the cowl piece (where the windshield wipers are) to the dashboard. When I tried to glue the interior in, I could not get the cowl piece to fit flush with the underside of the hood. There was quite a gap visible! I made some adjustments and finally got it to fit pretty much as it should. After watching a couple of "build" videos, I learned that it was better to glue to cowl separately to the underside of the body first, and then the interior will fit perfectly when you glue it in. There is a raised line under the hood that the cowl fits up against. If you follow the instructions and glue the cowl to the dashboard, there isn't anything to indicate exactly where it fits - so you are basically making a guess on where to glue it. I obviously guessed wrong. I also glued the rear hatch into place. I had one corner that did not want to sit flush with the body. It was also going to be very hard to open the hatch since it fit very tightly into the body. You really can't see much of the engine when the hatch is open; you can see the same amount of engine through the window in the hatch. I made a few other tweaks to the kit to get parts to fit together better. I think I won most of the battles and the completed model looks very good. Bart The almost completed engine. The engine cover has not been attached yet. Tiny little decals on the brake pads!

Thanks, Jeremy! I was looking at some of Tamiya's Yellows and the Pearl Yellow looked nice. Good to see a photo of a model in the sunshine with this color on it! With your Camaro, did you use a white primer under the yellow? Bart

Did some more research and found out that Accelerate Yellow and Competition Yellow are 2 different colors. Here is a shot of Corvettes in each color - the Competition Yellow is on the left, Accelerate Yellow is on the right. Bart

Was Accelerate Yellow a previous name for the Competition Yellow Metallic color? Here is a picture from the internet of a Corvette in Competition Yellow. Looks a lot different than my 1st photo that I pulled from the Corvette configurator on the Chevy website. The yellow is nice, but I kind of like the gold color in the first image I posted. Thanks, Bart

Any suggestions on duplicating (or even coming close) to the Competition Yellow shown below that is used on the new Corvettes. Scale Finishes does not have this color available. Wondering if there were any cars in the past that offered something close to this that Scale Finishes might have. I'm open to any paint manufacturer's products. Thanks, Bart

If it's lacquer or acrylic paint, I use cigarette lighter fluid ( such as Ronsonol ) to remove it. I apply just a little to a Kleenex or cotton swab and rub that on the residue to remove it. Note: The lighter fluid cannot be used on enamels since that will affect the paint. Bart

Looks really nice! Bart

Jesse, Hopefully you can find some way to restore the one you have and to fix your missing side exhaust tube (that's the official name of that item per the instruction sheet!) The 2 parts were identical. Maybe you'd be able to make a mold/casting using the one you have? I am not experienced in doing this, but I am sure there are folks who are knowledgeable about that process on the forum. I was lucky enough to find a pristine unbuilt kit at a price I was willing to pay. It wasn't cheap, but it was in the range I was willing to pay. Good luck with your LevaCar. Bart

An excellent build. Interior looks great! Bart

You might try here - some of the brochures may show dimensions, and some owners manuals can also be found with their specifications. https://www.oldcarbrochures.com/ Bart

Very nice work on both models! Bart

Everything about this one looks great! Bart

Looks fantastic! I liked your build of it so much that I went online today and I bought one myself. Hope mine turns out as good as yours did. Bart

An interesting subject. You did a great job capturing the look and feel of the real car.

Looks great - good work!

...and now for something completely different! The Ford Levacar Mach 1 Around 1959, Ford developed this concept car that was basically a hovercar that blew air out of vents on its bottom to lift it up about 1/4" to 1/2" off the ground. When it was displayed, it was on the outside a circular platform and was tethered to the center of the circle. It would glide around the outside edge of the circle. AMT made a model of it at that time, and it came with a rubber hose you could attach to the back. When you blew into the tube, the model would rise up off the ground. I remember building this kit back around 1960, and was lucky enough to find an unbuilt kit recently on an auction site. The color is Tamiya TS-95 Pure Metallic Red. The decals for the rear fin were unusable, so i created my own replacement decals. When it sits on the display base, there is a small clear plastic block under the center of the model that lifts it up from the base. Thanks for checking out this blast from the past! Bart

I don't know if any kits ever had them. I think Ford started using the Blue Oval on their cars until around the 90's on Taurus, Tempo and the like. I think there was a Taurus kit made at one time, but don't know if the Ford Ovals were decals or just molded into the body. Bart

Thanks, but they'd also be a bit too big. I need them to fit the size of the Ford Oval in the grill opening on the Explorer Sport Trac. The size of the oval in that grill is 3/16" - so these would be much larger than the oval shape I am trying to fill. Thanks again for searching for these. Bart

Thanks for looking for them. They'd be too big for me to use. I'll let you keep them in case you ever might need them yourself. Bart

Thanks, Melvin! Keep in mind that I need ovals that are about 3/16" wide. Bart

Thanks - those look really nice. Thanks for letting me know about them! Bart

Thanks! And hoping all goes well with the kidney stones! I have had a couple and they are definitely no fun. Bart

I would need them to be around 3/16" wide (.1875"). They are being used on the front grill and rear tailgate of a 1/25 Ford Explorer Sport Trac. Bart

Does anyone have any 1/25 scale Ford Blue Oval decals? I just need 2 for a model I am working on. But a couple extra would be good in case I would mess something up! Thanks, Bart

Does anyone have a source for 1/25 scale Ford Blue Oval decals? I just need 2 for a model I am working on. Thanks, Bart