R. Thorne

I guess I just don’t get it. I always paint with the hood on (attached with a tiny bit of adhesive or tape) . Why make painting harder? I have painted 1:1 cars in the past and would have never dreamt of painting them with the hood off. Yes, on a lot of cars, it would not show up, but why take the chance when all you have to do is take 5 minutes to fasten it on.?

Thank you, kind sir. Open that box and have some fun with it.

Threw the hemi engine together that came in the kit and trimmed some of the sprues down.

Trial body fit, painted on some license plate (or backup, not sure) lights, super glued rear taillights, rear grille, and bumper. Succeeded in touching wet white pain and smudging rear bumper (will remove later with lacquer thinner). Decided to walk away from bench for a while before I screw something else up.

Well, the side windows that came with the kit didn’t turn out very well, so, I popped them out with my handy dandy tool. Thanks, Carl & Will. Taped in the interior for a trial fit and so more engine compartment stuff.

Nice work and good thinking.

Like this.

Made the mistake (there’s that word again) of not trial fitting the wheels on the axle stubs before installing the rear and front suspension. Took a lot more time fitting them on and finally glued them on with my high tech alignment jig (Testors bottles and finger nail files because the center of the wheel hit the side of the “jigs”). Dipped the windows in floor polish, used a chrome pen on the trim with less than spectacular results, installed master cylinder and wiper motor, Testors turn signal amber on front turn signals ( kinda redundant, huh?), some black wash on front and rear grill (will need another coat). Installed windows with Mod Podge (gonna let them sit overnight. Getting close to the finish line, that’s all tonight.

Looking for something in 1/24 and/or 1/25 scale 1963 ish Dodge with swing out fenders.

Not much done lately. Couple interior pics . Semi gloss black with some chrome highlights. Spent a lot of time trying to clean up this goopy mess of silicone mold that would not harden after a week. Got most of the parts cleaned up, but threw the silicone pad away.

Still another pic of an early Lakewood bellhousing I believe on John Barkley’s D/S 57 Chevy (circa 1968) with the bolt on inspection cover.

Further research has disclosed that the color was a metallic color used on Chevy trucks. My brother got the vehicles painted while I was working for Uncle Sam, so I was not involved in the color choice. Again, deepest thanks to all who responded with possible colors. I have ordered (from MCW) Laurel green and yellow green metallic colors. We shall see which one looks the best. Thanks again. You guys are the best.

Whoops, almost forgot, some of the early Lakewoods were also 2 piece with an inspection cover

The Revell parts pack looks similar to a Lakewood Bellhousing/scattershield. I don’t have a picture but I am 99 percent sure I used one on this P/S 55 Nomad. Of course, in the early 60’s, the cast iron Ansen scattershield with the bolt on cover (had to weigh 50 lbs) was an option. The Chevelle pro street is somewhat similar to a Lakewood (no bolts, of course). Just another one of those head scratchers in the modeling industry as every tech man in the country checked all the cars coming in for a scattershield.

Weld Drag Lites. Very popular on older drag cars.

Assembled interior, painted gas tank flat aluminum with my cheapo 1/4” camel hair brush (looks glossy here, but still wet) . Best way I have found to clean up brush after painting with testors enamel is the testors thinner (better than lacquer thinner). Painted master cylinder with one of the micro brushes that I don’t know what I would do without.

Exhaust system installed and made smaller diameter rod for the steering wheel as the kit supplied one would not fit the dash. Also, could not find any rear arm rests that instructions called out.

Couple more engine pics with exhaust manifolds on and installed in chassis.

Thank you all for your kind comments. Since this was an out of the box build, I used the carb that came in the kit. Well, it certainly doesn’t resemble an afb, nor a Holley either, so the color is a moot point. As for the black brackets?? On the valley cover ends, this is a steel shim type of intake gasket with bolts on the ends. While the cover that I made is not great by any means, I couldn’t bring myself to build a model with an open crankcase.

Please use modeling specific types of paint (Tamiya has the best spray can nozzle ). Your dunk tank will thank you.

Little more progress on engine and rear suspension.

Did some more painting and made a valley pan out of .010” styrene. I like these thinny sanding sticks to clean off paint in tight areas.

As others have said, strong isopropyl alcohol is the only way to fly. Tamiya ts series are great, but errors do happen.

Oh, almost forgot, used a strip of 1/16” wide double sided scotch tape fastened to the inner fender to hold the hood in place during delivery to Mike.

Finally got the car tied down and ready to be wrapped for a late Christmas present. Thanks again, Roger.