Gray Smith

Man, when you get back to the bench, you mean it..lol. So far this one looks killer, are you going for an exact replica of the Dale Jr car or your own interpretation(similar to my Porsche and Sally from Cars)? If its your own interpretation, which wheels you gonna use? Gray

thats very interesting and different, and I LIKE IT!

I know what you mean Bob, I've learned a few steps for assembling the motor to help with lining everything up a little better. My next 911 build will be a 73 RS and its going to be a basic build just to look good on the shelf, no front trunk area which like you said helps with fit, and basic motor detail if any, I'm thinking curbside with flat black for the chassis so I can work solely on ride height, since these sit up so high, and are very hard to test fit to check. Thanks for the compliments guys...they are appreciated! Gray

Hey guys, I finally got some pics of Sally, for those who don't know this is my version of Sally from the Cars movie, if they used an older air cooled 911(the only true 911, imho)... First off, these kits rock!, they ain't easy to build, and I don't want to build another for a little while, but I feel good about how it looks now that its done, plus I've gained a good understanding for how these go together. Words of wisdom to those who wish to attempt one of these....test fit everything! then test fit it again, I though I had a good ride height on this until I put the glass in and found it pushed the body up on the interior parts more. Also I had sanded down the chassis walls on the front trunk area to improve fit, but I took too much off due to the windows adding thickness. I built this one mostly stock, mods include removal of the impact bumper moldings on the front and rear bumper, the addition of cooling vents where the taillight reflector usually goes, a 73 RS duckbill engine cover and "Carrera" logos. I also lowered it some front and rear, but I'd prefer it if it went a little lower still(will correct that on my next one ). I also modded the kit muffler to a center outlet type. I painted the body with a mix of nail polishes, a tint clear coat made of HOK Sg100, and Pearl Ex powders. I finished it off with a good couple of coats of HOK clear, and it was polished with micro mesh pads and hit with some Tamiya finish compound before wax was applied and it was done. I also made some custom license plates to tie in the "Cars" theme. The motor is stock, painted tamiya racing orange for contrast to the body, and the exhaust was my first attempt at using spaz stix chrome, and heat staining with various metalizers and tamiya clear blue, red and smoke(man I LOVE that spaz stix chrome) and I feel like the heat staining came out ok. Some will notice the muffler pipe doesn't meet up with the rest of the exhaust system, thats because I superglued the pipes together before paint to help simplify the process..and well they didn't quite line up. Overall I'm happy with this build and it meant alot to me to build it since it was built for her, and will go on display in her room. While she may not know what it is for a long time, eventually I hope she will like it and know that it was done for her, and maybe it will get her interested in building some models too. As always guys comments and critiques are always welcome.

Its a bit different than I'm used to, but its nice....only thing is when we update our build posts we can no longer edit the title to change the date(of course some may not have like that before....I was just noting a difference) Overall the new layout works well to me, no noticeable slow downs, I just wish all my model forums were this easy to navigate... Gray

Well guys she is done.... but all you get is the blurry teaser photo in the build thread to hold you over till our good camera comes back home, and I can take some proper pics of this one. I'll post a full thread then, hope you like the teaser!

Oh I like it! great finish with the bmf under black. Look forward to seeing more. Thanks Gray

okay guys time for an update.. I got the body done, decided against the modded front bumper(I actually did it, but my skills aren't up to par yet for that). I did smooth out the back bumper some, and I put the vents in the back like I did on the previous body. The paint came out pretty good, and close to the original, it was more of the color I mixed up from the pearlex powders than the nail polish that made the color what it was. It has been cleared with HOK clear from Black Gold. I'll do some polish work on it in a few days and bring the shine out some more. I plan to apply some blue "carrera" logos on the side as well. The engine is pretty much done, all thats left is to install the various exhaust parts and its fini'. The exhaust is my first attempt at heat staining and using spaz stix chrome airbrush paint(which is AWESOME!!!!!) I did the staining with a coat of chrome, then some metalizers, and finally with some tamiya clear red, blue, and smoke...its a bit heavy on the blue, but it looks good against the motor. The interior is done, all thats left is to glue it to the chassis pan. I sprayed some texture paint on the lower parts of the door, and onto the chassis pan to simulate the carpet. I then airbrushed testors flat sea blue over it and let it dry. Sorry about the crappy pics, my wife is gone for the week, and she took our good camera with her, and left me with the crappy one, so once she gets back i'll get some better pics of the parts before I do final assembly. All in all I've had fun with this kit, but the next one I do, i'm going a bit simple on it...no front trunk, basic motor pant detailing, plus i'm going to apply some of the building changes I've learned so far with this one to eliminate the "tolerance stack" that these kits have(as stated by someone on another board). I'll post some more in the finished thread once I get done with the kit...thanks for looking and as always comments and critiques are welcome.!! Gray

Hey guys, no pics tonight, but I did end up getting another Carrera kit and it should be here tomorrow(this was before JB posted about his kit). It was a bit of a blessing for the body to get destroyed, since I was able to redo the front and rear bumpers.. The back bumper was rough, and just needed a general overall smoothing and some more putty. The front bumper looked a bit plain to me, so I spiced it up some with an rsr style oil cooler vent added to the center of the bumper(also to give Sally a "mouth"). My plan is to spend all day Sunday working on this and some other cars that are in major need of bodywork, I'll post pics then and hopefully i'll have a mostly complete chassis, and interior to show you guys as well. Thanks for the support and comments guys!, they are appreciated. Gray

Man, I was moving some stuff around and the body and kit was in its box, and it fell, face first on the floor...opened up the box and the body had shattered, way beyond any hope of repair, the front and rear bumpers are ok, but the body is toast...posted in the wanted section for a body or another kit if anyone has one..i'll get pics of the carnage eventually...man i'm upset now I gotta see if I can match that color again......darn Gray

my way of getting past a slump is to do a quick build, or go completely off in some wild tangent and build something ultimately more complex....the last 2 kits that have gotten most of my attention are fujimi enthusiast kits!!! My thing is I go head first into a project, not knowing completely how I want to finish it, and I get these big plans and do a lot of work, then I just flat loose steam. Case in point - my Dohc Duece and the 68 Camaro i've done major work to, but they got to a point of being too much and i've totally lost interest because there is a ton of work left to do just to get each ready for paint, and the time I have to do that kind of work is extremely limited these days, with buying a house, having a kid, working a full time job(soon to be 2 again) and still doing the honey-do's around the house. But thats what the hobby is to me, what I do to relax, when my wife and daughter go away for a week to see her parents, I do nothing but relax and build! They usually head out about every month and a half. Anyway good luck to getting out of your slump...we've all been there. Gray

looking good Bob, You captured the look of the "Big Lexie" well. Darker metallic colors always seemed to suite these cars..good job on the bmf as well. Gray

Man, you just can't build something out of the box can you? just kidding, the bike-ette looks great with the additional "care" it received. Gray

I agree...the flames look great!

I love it. I know color change paint may be passe' today, but i'll always love it, be it pearls or just all out color shift. I've got this kit sitting somewhere waiting to be built and this one makes me wanna drag it out and start on it. Great paint work, and overall the kit looks great. Gray

Hey guys, I've gone nuts over air cooled 911's recently and went on a spending spree of Fujimi Enthusiast Porsche kits, this is the first one i'm working on as a sort of dry run to see how they build and to build something cool for my daughter(gotta get her on my side so one day I can own a real 911..lol). This one is a sort of "what if" Sally Carrera from Cars was based off the older air cooled models from the 80's. Mods so far have been removing the nasty impact bumper moldings, and cutting some air cooling vents into the rear reflector area. I also modded the exhaust from side exit to a center exit design. The paint is my first time using nail polish and for it to not be cleared I think it looks ok. My wife hooked me up with some old colors she wasn't going to use anymore and I started out with a pale blue, and promptly ran out of it (these paints are thin). I also planned on an over coat that had purple pearl in it...so I sprayed it on....car looked ok, but I could see thin spots. I found another bottle close to the original blue and added some pearl ex powder interference blue to it. Then the paint looked good, but still was missing the "Sally" look. I shot some HOK sg100 intercoat clear with some pearl ex duo blue/green, interference blue, and a small amount of interference violet in it and shot that and its where it is now which you can pick out some of the green and blue in the flash(i'll have outside pics when she's finished). I've got some hok clear mixed up and one day this week she'll get cleared. Stance and wheels will be box stock, but the wheels will be finished differently. The motor is stock with aluminum plate and stainless steel metalizer, and some tamiya comp. orange for some contrast to the blue body color. I"ll add some blue "carrera" side stripes and Sally's tattoo on the back, and some cf on the front bumper lip spoiler. These fujimi kits are fun to build, not easy but challenging in a good way(plus i'm finding out about all the fit problems before I get geared up for the other 5 kits i've got to build). Anyway comments and critiques are always welcome. p.s I just noticed the paint looks kinda thin in the front trunk area..most of that will be covered with gas tank and some detail painting(plus a possible wash) Thanks Gray

looking good man, I like the color alot, I've got a JDM Integra I painted that color. Also congrats on the matching new 1/1 ride Gray

I like it, you took a mediocre kit and built it into something look in my eyes looks wonderful, and its a Porsche to boot! Nice job Izzy Gray

awesome job, captures the "patina" of an old rod very well, I really like the addition of the rb25, a modern engine in an old rod appeals to me alot. Great job man. Gray

the R33 is my favorite body style Skyline, yours looks great, and I love the color...great job! Gray

great job on this one Izzy, i'm a big fan of Caymans, and you did this one right. Gray

Oh i wish that Honda sold that version of the Odyssey here, I'd be driving that instead of the Voyager I just bought not too long ago..lol good choice! Also I really dig the boxystyle Hiace...looking forward to seeing that one built. thanks for posting, and lets see some progress on them! Gray

great color man, good shine on it too. Whenever I get around to doing the body work needed on the poor fitting MSM tk I installed on mine, its going to be painted this color as well. Keep up the great work. Gray

ahhh..another Nissan that I like, I've recently ordered the HKS s15 from HLJ and i'll give building it a try....great job on this one, the flocking added alot to the interior. Thanks Gray