Custom Mike

Next up was cleaning up the frame, lots of little problems existed on this part, but all were easily handled with some sanding stick work. It's hard to see in this pic, but there is a very large piece of excess plastic along the inside edge of the frame rail...again, the same on both sides More weird excess plastic for no apparent reason... This was probably the hardest part to clean up, the diagonal line on the inside of the frame rails. Again, both sides, and it really doesn't serve any purpose that I can think of! The area around the A-frames was fun, lots of time was spent on this area to get it flattened back out. I really hope it's just my kit that's this bad, or maybe I just can't stand it not being right...who knows! Out at the back end of the frame, another messy area. It wasn't nearly as hard as the front end to clean up though. The left side is how it comes out of the box, the right side is all cleaned up and ready to go. Big difference once it's all cleaned up! ]This time the left side is all cleaned up, and the right side is waiting it's turn...

Now the bed is gonna take some work. I don't know what happened with it, but the top rails on the bed are a total mess! I'm probably just gonna cut 'em off and replace 'em with some fresh strip styrene glued together to match the thickness. And I am considering making a wood bed for it like my AMT '50 Chevy has, we'll see how much of a fight these top rails are first!

I started on the 4-piece hood. I know it had to be done this way due to the shape of the hood, but it would have been easier just to make it two pieces, that way it'll line up better! I got it lined up pretty well, but I've got a nice seam to remove. The lower side pieces and lower front didn't line up perfectly, but at least the hood fits right on the cab. And the great set of custom rims and tires that come with the kit, they look great, and it's a set of big & littles to boot! Next up was cleaning up the mold lines on the cab. There are some bad ones at the front edge (Below the hood), in front of the doors, and all across the bottom of the cab. I also have a gouge on the lower front edge of the area where the bumper goes, I'll do a test-fit to see if the bumper will cover it, if not, a bit of filler will be applied!

A little background on this one is in order before we start. A dear friend of mine and fellow member of Scale Avenue lost his battle with cancer on July 14th, 2014. Toney was a great guy and a close friend, and a great builder too. When I got the news of his passing, I felt the need to do something to show our love for him and all he had done while a member of the Avenue. So our final Forum Project of the year (And the first Forum project this year) were tribute builds for Toney. We all selected one of his builds, and set out replicating it in our own ways. I had the '65 Chevy Pickup, and another member sent me the Hemi Hydro kit so I could replicate one of his last builds. Here's a picture of Toney's build, let the tribute begin!

Great tutorial Jim, I for one loved it! Thanks for all the extra work you put in doing it too!

Man, that camera on the iPhone is sweet, great pics! She's looking good, hurry up and finish it off!

Great color choice Shane, I've got a can of that set aside for a '74 Javelin one day! If you can nail that stance, this is gonna be one wicked 442, bring it on!

Jim, those door panels look incredible, so does the console and seats! I thought I was pretty good at interiors, but you are Da Man! I'm gonna start doing things your way, that's some sweet work!

Great color Tim, and awesome shine! And yes, you MUST have at least one Mirror pic or it's not right!

Great color combo on the interior, and great masking too!

Dale, that sounds cool, how did it come out?

And the hood, rear hatch , front fascia and rear bumper are done too. I've got a few tiny problems, but nothing remotely earth shattering, thank God!

Rising from the ashes of restyled side windows, hood and front fascia, I present to you the Momad, back in color! This is a different nail polish, but you couldn't tell, it's almost a perfect match for the original color! I'll give her a few days to cure, lay down some clear, and get the foil, decals, and windows back in place!

Jim, that dash is beautiful! I tried the photoetched keys once....ONCE!!!! I will never do that again, they drove me insane, I kept loosing them and finally just gave up and let the carpet have 'em!

Tim, I'm no better than anyone else, I've just been at it longer. The couplings came from my LHS, they're Detail Master #6...or maybe #7, I don't remember, I'll find the package someday!

Tim, I've got one that's even better than the Beadalon, but you've gotta search for it from an Electronics supplier. It's a tiny coaxial cable (like your cable TV coax but much smaller), the part number is RG-174/U, and once you slice the jacketing, you have actual braided wire...and it even fits Detail Master's fittings pretty well! So far I've only used it once, but I'm hooked on it for radiator hoses! There's a coax that's even smaller that will work great for fuel lines, but I don't have the number for it yet....

Mike, I discovered them around 1996, since I work in the electronics field, I'm always finding goodies to use on models! Tim, what are you using for the e-brake lines?

Man, you sound just like me! I get obsessed with getting one thing just right and the whole build comes to a screeching halt...and many times it's been just what you're doing, trying to match a hood to the body! Good luck with it, that wagon looks awesome, the hood just has to give in! Great work on both of these, I'm waiting for the engines to get built!

Tim, this is gorgeous model so far, love the added suspension details, the paint is gorgeous, and the engine details are just right! It's nice to see someone other than myself using a switching diode for a fuel filter, I though I was all alone with those!

Thanks Cliff, I hope I can finish it off by the 28th, I want to get it in the Custom Clinic Photo Contest this year! OK, we've got the silver base coats down. I went with Dupli-Color Candy Silver, mainly because I've got a ton of it, and it looks good. I had to sand a bit on the hood due to some garbage in it, so it'll get re-sprayed tomorrow night. The plan is to lay down some color Thursday, Friday at the latest depending on work!

And the last update for tonight. This part has bugged me for a while, so I did something about it. The coil pack covers (Mounts/whatever they call 'em these days) had the "HEMI 6.1L" lettering molded in, but the decals were bigger than the letters, which really looked crappy to me. So I popped 'em off the engine, sanded 'em smooth, stripped and repainted 'em, and applied two of the Momad decals to 'em! These pics were taken when the Micro-Sol was still doing it's magic, so ignore the looks, they look much better now! The original look with the too-big kit decals over the lettering...blech! And the new look with the Speedway Decals in place, much better!

The hood in primer prior to any filler, this one was a bear to get looking right! The front fascia and hood, all ready for their silver base coat!

Martin, I took your suggestion and ran with it. After cracking the upper and lower surrounds trying to clean them up, I simply glued them in place and molded them into the front fascia and hood. Not the look I originally wanted, but I'll live with it, because I just don't have the time to make new ones. Glued in place and waiting for some putty... Glued in place and putty applied.... A bit of sanding.... And a quick mock-up with the lower grille in place... Cleaned up and first coat of primer applied...

I had Thomas over at Speedway Decals make up some scripts for a custom I'm working on, and he did incredible work! http://www.speedwaydecals.com/

Thanks everyone! Andre, I had no idea AMT made this kit either, but it looks like they made at least two more versions of it, the short-bed and the Flare Side...I want one of the Flare Sides to play with now!