camaro69

Signed in with my email and my current password and it worked fine. Thanks to the background guys for all the time and work here. Rico

Hi Anton, count me in. Will try to do something completely different for this year... Heller Renault Estafette. Will do the 1964's version and try to replicate the box art as good as possible. For me too I will try to detail it a bit more. Here's the picture of the kit. Happy modeling to everyone and a healthy new year. Rico

Hi Steve, I love reading your build threads. There is so much information for any modeler and your skills are awesome. Still so much to learn for me I think. The softtop looks top notch. Can´t wait to see more.

Really looking great so far. I really like that it isn´t yellow.

And here it is... Part 2 - more body corrections The kit comes with one simple chrome plated part with a rectangular formed survey one each side for the headlight housings and a single clear part for the lenses. Found this a cheap solution even for a former Diecast kit. So I started to scratchbuild my own headlight housings as I already did on my Corvette C4. For those who are interested I started with a piece of 0.125 x 0.156 Evergreen which I filed the reflectors in. Its one piece per side but with a vertical groove to show the two separate headlights. After I was happy with the shape of the reflectors I sanded them to the correct height so I could glue a small piece of 0.010 x 0.156 Evergreen to the bottom and the top of each reflector as separate pieces and get the correct height overall. At last I testfitted them with a photoetched piece of hexagonal mesh beside them. After the first housings were done I thought it would be time to correct the sidewalls. As Andy (Sledsel) mentioned in his thread in the reviews section they are completely wrong shaped. You can already see this in the pic above where the orange line is drawn in and also in the next one shown by the orange arrow. Everytime I´m at the model kit building day of our modeling group I hear: "Simply do it." So after a short time of thinking how this could be done I started scraping a groove where the wrong body line is molded. Additionally I cutted in the rear wheel spoiler flare directly beside the molding up to the height of the groove. After the groove was deep enough I simply could bend the lower sidewall into the new shape as you can see here. Because of the new soft plastic nothings broken in this stage. This was a simple step but the improvement is unbelievabe. When I was happy with the shape I filled the groove with some 0.025 Evergreen rod. The triangular opening on the flare I closed with a little piece of flat styrene. Next step after the glue has been dried was sanding down the rod to match the sidewalls shape and the flat styrene to the flare. Here you can also see the added grooves on the front and rear bottom of the door. This was the correction I have done first only forgot to mention it in the first post. passenger side... drivers side... front view... To take away anyones fear the chassis still fits without any modifications. You can also see the opened headlight mounting support panel. As already mentioned: questions, suggestions and critisms are much apprecciated. Thank you all for taking a look. Rico P.S.: Preview... Next part will include opening the sidemarkers, scraping the groove around them and scratchbuild the second headlight housing unit. So stay tuned.

Thank you Andy. It´s definitiv not a quick build but in my opinion the corrections are mostly simple to realize even for not so experienced modelers like me. Next update comes soon.

Thanks Mike, I really apprecciate your feedback. The body issues are very pronounced and if you want to get this body right there is a lot of work. I want to update this thread this evening because I´ve done much more already.

Thanks Mike, I really apprecciate your feedback. The body issues are very pronounced and if you want to get this body right there is a lot of work. I want to update this thread this evening because I´ve done much more already.

Hello fellow modelers, as posted in Car Kit News & Reviews section nearly a month ago that I tried to correct most of the body issues this kit came with (because it was a kit with a metal body before) I thought it would be time to start this WIP thread. Started this one already on November 5th. I noticed the most issues without having seen the thread from sledsel before. Now lets start with it... Part 1 - first body corrections First of all I flattened the rear spoiler because it´s much to high (sorry no pic from that). Then I noticed the incorrect window openings and shape of the hood. So I marked the areas on the doors and B-pillars that have to be removed and started with cutting and filing these away. Important notice: "If you´ll try to do this to you have to change the inner door panels too because they won´t fit anymore." Marked areas here... Passengers side window opening done... Here you can see the difference between the done passenger side and the undone drivers side... The A-pillars are also to wide and the windshield opening to small in heigth so I filed away the windshield molding first on the passengers side... then on the drivers side too... then I scribed in the new windshield surround moulding... The rear window surround is also wrong shaped on the bottom of the B-pillar. I added small styrene pieces and rounded the corners. Because of removing nearly 1mm from the top of the doors the door handles looked like they are wrong placed. Looked on many photos before changing the position for the door handle recesses. Before... After... Next were the T-top glasses. Without modifications they look horrible as you can see here... After filing some material away from the bottom and adding some small styrene pieces to the roof where they sit it looks much better... Here a complete view from the left front and back corner. The shape of the outsides of the hood are already corrected. Photos from November 19th... As you can see I started opening the grille. Will add photoeched parts here. Because I´ve seen many T/A´s without chrome molding on the hood I removed the groove by adding styrene and grinding it down to the hoods shape. That´s for today. More coming soon. Hope you´ll enjoy this. Any questions, comments and critisms are much apprecciated. Rico

I tried to correct most of these issues. Will post this in the WIP section next days.

Thank you guys for the kind words. They´re much aprecciated.

Hey guys, thank you all for the kind words. Three months since the last update and so much happened meanwhile so here´s the next one. Part 11 - More bodywork, finishing interior and engine compartment Sorry, I don´t have pics of every step I made since the last update but here´s what I have... Because I hinged the tonneau cover I thought there must be some detail on the inside. Studied many pics to make it mostly correct to the 1/1 piece. Everything is made out of styrene and the cables out of 0.4mm aluminium wire. Some masking tape 1mm to hold the wires in the correct position. BTW I did the 3rd brake light, the reverse driving lights and the headlights. All lenses are made out of a plane windshield I found in my spare parts box. Housings are made out of styrene covered with mirroring self adhesive foil. The headlight bulbs are small pins. Now on to the interior. I scratchbuilt a new pedal assembly, a parkingbrake lever with housing and a shifter knob. Before assembling I flocked the dedicated areas. I dechromed the rim rings because the color from the rattle can I used rubbed down. I used some silver bronze for the second try. Here is one of the assembled wheels. Next was one of the most challenging parts of this build... Getting the body, interior and chassis mated was so tricky especially with all the body mods which strengthened the body. That´s why no pic here. Next was doing some heat shields for the transmission area before finally mounting the engine. The next horrible thing comes with the next step. Because I wanted to use the TwinTurbo-setup I had to mount the hood first. I hadn´t thought of checking the hood with the different air intake. Problem here was that this kits hood has a continuous rod between the hinges and the Callaway speedster hood has two pins showing to the outside of the hinges. After this I installed the engine and completed the underhood detailing. Here you can see my support for the bonnet while doing all the underhood pieces made out of electrical wire. Next was the undercarriage. I scratchbuild the two catalysts out of different styrene stripes and the hoses from the air intake to the turbos. The whole exhaust piping left of the orange line in the next pic is scratchbuilt. Here´s the whole exhaust system in color with two flanges added before. The exhaust tips are made of ferrules. I added the lines for the lambda sensor as well. On this pic you can see that I cutted the complete rear axle assembly into pieces. This was necessary to get the correct ride height. Here the first step of this operation. Next the completed engine compartment. Mounting the windshield wasn´t that tricky but the sun visors were. I used Revell Contacta clear and after that I even putted some satin black on the mounting area. And the horror is never ending. The new front needed a lot of glue and patience to finally stay in the dedicated place. Here two mockup pics, still not finished. Although still some things are left to do she was on her first meeting and became a lot of positive feedback from more experienced modelers. Goal is to get her finally done for the next meeting in March 2024. Thank you all for watching and stay tuned for the final update, Rico

Hi Steve, after a little research I can tell you that its thickness is about 0.06mm. If you can find some of the Oracal 631 it´s a little bit thicker round about 0.075mm. My offer for sending you some leftover pieces for at least much more then one model still stands. Here 2 samples... On the Cuda i did the Hockey stripes with this nearly 20 years ago now and clearcoated right out of a rattlecan... and on the NSX the white stripes over the body. Cheers, Rico

Hi Steve, I think Orafol cutted into the width you need could be a possible option. It´s mainly used by advertising companies and even on 1:1 cars for foiling so it should stick well. With a little warming you can lay it smooth on the areas you want to have it and with some water underneath it you even have time to bring it into the right position. I already used this to create the seams for vinyl tops and it worked very well. Rico P. S.: I can send you some leftover pieces if you want. If so feel free to send me a PM.

Thanks a lot again.