restoman

Archeological dig... I like that! But actually, enamels appear that way due to the nature of enamels: the resin content is much higher than lacquer, allowing more resin to migrate to the top as drying/curing occurs. The resin does contain some colour, but not as much throughout the film build. The differences noted - the archeological dig - is just a result of exposing that film, like skimming the cream of the top of fresh milk. Old enamels do indeed cure, though not nearly as effectively as catalyzed products, but it takes a loonng time. Same thing happens with modern base/clear systems when burning through the protective clear while wet sanding... I hope I'm not stepping on toes here, just spouting off my over-abundance of knowledge of out-dated technologies.

I'm picking the nits here, but lacquer never cures. Dry, yes, and can be rock-hard, but it's never cured. A little soaking or scrubbing with lacquer thinner or acetone and it can be rubbed right off. I know you know it, but I've seen the "lacquer cure" thing a few times here in this thread and thought I'd throw in $.02 worth...

Nice work!

Just photography...

Back at it...

I'm on the other end of the province, in Sarnia.

All wrapped up and appearing in the Under Glass section. This is a pretty neat kit.

I had a good bit of fun building this, it's become one of my favourites. A fair bit of mods, such as the rear roll cage, adding some mesh behind and beneath the seat & headrest, adding the seat padding & headrest, protective shield around the QC rear, different steering wheel, accelerator pedal, frame gussets, plug wires, a scratch-built front axle, and substituting some Drag City Casting Halibrand wheels for the kit-supplied wheels. I had to shave some plastic off of the sides of the blower box and the intake pipes to squeeze the engine between the rails. Most of the chrome was sprayed with A-K Super Chrome. Not as nice as real chrome, but it looks good in it's display case. I used some cheap spray paint from Princess Auto. It's a very decent match from what I can see. Comments are always welcome.

In the staging lanes... Some touch ups to the chrome, and a few odds and ends here and there and then it's off for the photo ops.

Riverview as in Riverview Rural High in Coxheath, Cape Breton. Born & raised on the Island. Left in '84. Sister, Dad, loads of uncles, aunts & cousins still there. Brother lives in Bedford.

The first thing Lynn did when she landed the teaching job at Riverview High was to go car shopping. She really wanted something reliable & practical, but with a bit of sportiness. Her budget dictated a smaller car, preferably a six cylinder. An automatic transmission was a must, as was room for her friends and some trunk space. A brighter colour would be good, too. This Plymouth Duster ticked off those boxes, and then a few more. Powered by Mopar's rugged 225 six, it also came with a bench seat, column-shift automatic, a vinyl top, A/C, full carpet and a nifty AM radio. Perfect for her and her Springer, Dot. Her Dad even thought she got a heck of a deal! The faithful Duster carried Lynn & Dot through many years and countless adventures, proving that her choice of the slanty Duster was right for her! This started as the '71 Duster 340. I used Lindberg's slant six engine and trans, and kept the kit's A/C. A little modification to the valve cover made the engine look a bit more 70s, with an air breather from the parts box. The bench seat came from Hart's Parts, along with the grill. Tires and dog dish hub caps are Fireball pieces. I fashioned a reasonable facsimile of Chrysler's light duty 7.25" rear end to replace the kit's 8.75. Colour came from Scale Finishes, the vinyl top is eggshell black dry sprayed for a vinyl-look. The green interior is some custom mix green that I came up with. This is actually near-identical to a '71 I owned back in the early 80s. Mine had full wheel discs, a lot of rust, and the same funky colour combo. Comments always welcome!

Nice build. I did the FuzzBuster a few years ago, and had fun making it into a stock looking street warrior. I owned a '76 Runner back in '81. Silver and black with orange and grey stripes. The 360 ran pretty good for the time and place, clicking off regular mid-15s in the quarter. A spread bore intake, small valve 340 heads, a tuned Q-Jet, a mild cam, and some 2 1/4 duals made it perk up somewhat. I think it had 3.55s out back.

First mock-up with the front wheels on...

Slow, but it's going together...

Very cool builds. Love the dragster!

Very nice!!

I'm slower with the final clean-up than I am with the building. It probably won't make it to the pic stage for a week or two.

Going together...

A little bit of clean-up and this is ready for Under Glass pics.

A-K Super Chrome. It dulled slightly as it dried. Immediately after spraying it looked like chrome, then dulled a tick to look more like highly polished aluminum. But I'm happy with it.

A couple of crushed vertebrae made standing and slightly bending or leaning pretty tricky for quite some time. My bench was looking pretty lonely...

Been a minute... I sprayed the Drag City Halibrands, the headers and front axle & related with A-K Super Chrome. Pretty happy with how they all turned out. I should be able to put the wraps on this in the couple days. Hopefully.

AMT's '71 Duster, with a bench seat column shift interior, vinyl top, Lindberg slanty, A/C, and a 7.25 rear end. I owned a 1:1 Duster very much like this back in the day, right down to the light gold, black vinyl and green interior. A colour scheme that made you go "huh?!". This will be finished off with steelies and dog dishes & white side walls. Comments always welcome.

A Hobart Handler for those MIG welding duties...