Brendan

Not bad for your first attempt. Another way that I've done welds is to use Milliput and make a snake out of it and lay it on the seam. Then I take a toothpick and make slashes into the snake shape. Then it can be rounded over to look like a bead weld. I usually use water on my finger and blend it into the seam. It seems to work pretty good.

I will be there again. As of now, I have about 12 models I'm going to bring. Mainly race cars, ranging from Le Mans Prototypes to GT's. And of course, the street Cheetah. But I have 2 more that I'm working on right now that I am going to try to have done for the show.

Paint job looks really great. Is this the Testors Lacquer new one-coat system or is it the two-coat? Hope you get this done in time for the NNL. I have run into the same problem with the Alclad. The polished aluminum is sometimes brighter than the chrome. The trick that I have found to get the chrome really bright is to do several really light dust coats and let it slowly build up. After it's cured, take a terry cloth and do a light buffing. Then the chrome will really shine.

If it's the orange on the Repsol kit, Tamiya had it in their PS line. If you decant it and shoot it through an airbrush, it will stick to primer or paint just fine. A lot of times I use that line of paint for their florescent colors. Tamiya is known for coming out with a special color and say it's a limited production, but if you wait within a year it usually comes out in their TS line of paint under a different name. They did that with the Suburu color and a couple of other cars' colors that I can't think of off hand. It bugs me that they do this. They should just make it part of their paint line. They've already paid for the paint to be made.

I don't believe that they make a Flying Lizard version. But DMC made a Flying Lizard decal for a Daytona car. Here's some picutres of what it looks like. This is the Renaissance and the Tamiya kit combined and DMC decals. I did hear someone saying that there are Flying Lizard decals out for the 997 but I don't know who's making them. If I find out, I'll let you know.

My next kit is going to be a Profil24 Porsche 997, the IMSA Performance GT2 Le Mans Winner 2007. I'm planning to do it box stock; maybe adding some small detail, but I'll see as I got along. As for the kit, it looks a lot better than my previous experience with the K8 Porsche done by Profil24. Some small pinholes and flashing in areas that were easily cleaned up. The kit has been washed and getting prepped for priming. This kit has a pretty simple paint job considering that everything is white. So hopefully it will move right along. But the luck I've had, I'll run into some problems along the way. I'll keep you posted.

Looks pretty darn good from what you have so far. I was looking at the Hasegawa kit; perhaps buying it. What are your impressions of the kit?

Please let me know what he thinks of it. I was hoping someone would show him.

jbwelda, I bought both my kits through Strada Sports. There are two versions of the kit. One with louvres and one without. The louvred kit would have to be a special order. The kit is definitely worth the price. dub, I'm not real sure what the curb weight was for the actual car, but it's pretty light. It probably is the same or somewhat lighter than the Cobras. The car was built to be a "Cobra Killer" but unfortunately they never got GM's backing. So they had to race in a class that was for prototypes. Most of the cars were made of aluminum. Some of the cars had aluminum bodies, but they switched to fiberglass later on. They were all powered by Corvette motors, either fuel injected or carborated. Some of the cars were even set up to drag race. The actual car that I did the kit for is either the last or the second-to-last Cheetah produced. There's no information about it. He came up with his car to where I live because the person who built the cars lives about 30 miles away from me. He confirmed it to be one of the last Cheetahs ever made. You'll probably see more of them at Historic Races because a company is now making a kit version of them.

Beautiful job on the model. Are you going to take this to the NNLWest? I would like to see in up close.

For ease of use for rattle cans, the best bet would be Tamiya since it is a one coat system. But if you're trying to match a color up with a factory color, the Model Masters Lacquers would be better. But you have to shoot a clear over the paint since it is a two-part system. Nowadays you really can't go wrong with any of the paints because they are all pretty easy to use. It just depends on which company makes the color you want. Just my 2 cents.

The kit is a curbside kit. The transmission is the only thing visible off the rear end.

Thanks for the comments. This is a kit that is not going to be hard to part with since I have another one already built of the racing version of the car. I'm hoping when I deliver the car that he'll let me get into the real one and take it for a spin. As for my next project, I have quite a few. The one I'm starting on now is a Profil24 Porsche 997 Race Car and being built along side of it is going to be Studio 27 Peugeot 908. I'll keep you posted.

This is the kit I just finished for a customer. It's a replica of his car. Started off with Historic Racing Miniatures kit and did several modifications, such as putting in the bumps in the hood. Also putting in four tail lights instead of two and some other small things. I enjoyed the process of building it. Feel free to comment. If you get a chance, look at the build up on the "Work Bench" section. Thanks for looking.

Got the rest of the kit done tonight. All that is left is to put on the hood. I decided not to do the plumbing. Pictures of the windows being put in. The tape is there to hold them in place till the glue dries as they are a really tight fit. I was afraid they might move. The panel I had fixed is now in place with the overflow can. The four tail light bezels (sp) are in place. I think it looks pretty good with the four tail lights instead of the regular two. Side mirrors, gas cap and window wiper attached. The hood waiting to be attached. Some parts are still a little bit wet from touching up some paint. Next time you see this car it will be in the "Underglass" section. Thanks to everyone who followed along with the build. And thanks to the people who made comments and had questions. This was a fun build and would highly recommend this kit to anyone who is thinking about building it.

Tony, I bought the polyester putty (two-part) 10 years ago when I lived in California. It is no longer being made. It was a generic brand, but I don't know the name of it. What I like about the putty is that it could be thinned with alcohol or lacquer. The other putty I like is Evercoat (sp). It's a two-part putty that has to be mixed up. It dries in under 12 hours and sands smooth. It can be found in most good automotive stores.

Thought I'd have the car done by now. Ran into a little setback. Had some glue on one of my fingers and didn't notice it until after I put a nice fingerprint on the right hand panel above the right suspension. That's why that side is off in the photos. I'm in the process of repainting that piece. Radiator in place with the support brace. Also got the front headlights that are on this particular car and only for this car. On the real car they're actually running lights for an airplane. As the factory headlights don't put enough light out to drive at night. A couple of shots of the engine. You can also see the A-Pillar roll bar. These are a pain to get into place. Just a really odd shape and having to hold it in position while the glue dried. Scratch built dual oil filters and fuel filter. I'm not going to plumb the kit besides the ignition wires. The person I'm building for did not want this done. I might plumb some though. I haven't decided yet. Hopefully I'll have my mistake fixed in a day or so. Then it should be finished.

Scale Productions is the company that's making the Saleen S7GTR. It will be a race version of the car, not the street version. I believe it's going to be one of the cars that ran in the FIA GT and ELMS. Quick Skins is not making the Saleen. He is producing a BMW M3GTR.

Got this done last night...and this morning. Body, frame rails and foot boxes attached to the chassis. This is an important step so I had to make sure everything was square. Magneto attached to the engine and mounted. Exhaust, headers, and side pipes were put in place along with the steering rack and front frame rails. Not much more left to do. Place the radiator, get the tires on, and some small touch ups and it will be done.

Got some more work done last night. The pictures of the body with the dashboard in place. The body was rubbed out but not thoroughly. The actual car has quite a bit of orange peel to it. It somewhat matches. Pictures of the interior into the body. A very tight fitting. Must be put into the right position or other parts will be misfitting on the rest of the build. Picture of the body ready to be put on the chassis. Hope to have this done and most of the front frame rails in place by tonight.

Got some more work done before the weekend and before the storm hit. Lot of wind and a lot of rain. Got to love Oregon! Here's the Cheetah with the white base coat. And followed by five coats of red. Here's pictures after four coats of clear. The body has not yet been rubbed out. The actual car doesn't really have a smooth paint job, so I was not going to rub the paint out all the way to match the texture of the car. Now that the body is done, the build should go rather quickly.

Any primer will work. I prefer Tamiya's primers and automotive lacquer-type primers. Just make sure they're completely dry first before spraying the acrylic.

A little more work done. Finished puttying in the bump for the magneto and primered. Polyester putty makes it real easy to get the shapes you want. Love this stuff. Just need to do light sanding and get the paint on. It will be pretty much done. Below are some pictures of the hood.

Don, Love the Cheetah Roadster. That's a car I've been thinking about doing. Jim, The kit is a fairly easy-assembling kit, once you get used to his instruction style. The instructions are all written (no diagrams at all). This is the second kit I've done of the Cheetah so I'm now aware of all the areas that I had confusion with from the first one. It was mainly in the way he worded the instructions that confused me. I ended up looking on the internet for pictures of the car and found quite a few of people's private cars. There's a couple of sites that have a lot of misinformation and a lot of good information, so be careful when researching. For example, they say some cars have been destroyed, but I've seen the cars and talked to the owners. (It's some of the more popular sites.) I've done his Daytona Coupe as well and the instructions are similar in style. No real fit issues with the kit; just make sure everything is square before putting it together. You might need to readjust the hinges on the front to make the hood lay down tightly to the body. The hardest thing that I had to do was what would be the A-Pillar roll bar in place. That's just because it's in a tight area and it is an awkward shaped piece. When you start building and have any questions, just drop me a line. I'll try to explain if I can.

Got a little more work done. I'm being held up by not being able to paint. It's been too cold and too damp here in Oregon to get any good painting done. Here are the pictures of the finished rear end and the rear attached to the chassis. Some pictures of the front suspension attached to the frame rails. This is being held in place by white glue until I get the stance right. Hopefully more will be coming soon if and when it warms up around here. That's one of the problems of living in Oregon on the coast.