Custom Mike

A black base coat will definitely darken the final color, try it out on a plastic spoon or some scrap you've got laying around first though!

Another great looking Skyline!

Tomo, if you had said nothing about the paint, I wouldn't have known it was an issue. The weathering covers any flaws and makes it look like it was in a tough fight the entire race!

This should be another cool build Bill, I'm hopping on for the ride!

Wayne, I've got one I'd like to join with, but I need your approval first. I did the bodywork and paint on this for a buddy back in 2007, and sent it to him but he never got the time to build it. So I got it back and just started in on it on the first of this month. It's getting the Pro Street treatment, I'm still up in the air on the engine, either the kit 340/Six Pack or a 440 from the '71 Charger kit. Your call, can I join in?

I'd love to see pics of yours Tom, bring 'em on! OK, small update time, the chassis has been removed from the body and Acrylic Filler was added to the top side of the joints. Once it's cured fully, I'll work on getting the driveshaft tunnel to match between the front and middle sections, then I can move on to the rest of the build!

The Cordvette is still one of my favorite builds Ira, that thing is just too cool!

Don, this should be wicked! Are you going to run both engines in it?

The Bengals may make some noise this year, if they can get past Houston (Who is falling apart at the wrong time), then they could scare some teams. They've got a great D-line, and Houston is ripe for the picking...that, and after being beat by Houston in the Wild Card game last year, you can bet the Bengals really want this one bad!

I can't wait to see that color on it Tomo, it should look great! I love the McDonald's straw exhaust too, great use of whatever you can find!

Kevin, go build something already, I know you've got a ton of new stuff, so get to it son! Mark, I was impressed by how well it fit myself, almost like it belongs there! And the color is House Of Kolors Tangerine, I wish I had more of it, I love that color! Thanks Russ, i hope the rest of it comes out as well as the bodywork did all those years ago!

Nah, only here and Scale Avenue, I don't hang out on any other forums these days...well, I may drop it on Kustom Kemps, but not tonight, gotta work in the morning!

More chassis work? Of course, you didn't thing this was gonna be quick, did ya? Here's the cleaned up and prepped section of the Pro Street chassis... And it's soon to be mate, the front section of the Duster chassis! Now here's where I got smart for once. The Pro Street wheel wells will not fit in the Duster body, they're too wide and straight. So I took the wheel well section of the Duster chassis and "painted" the edges with a Black Sharpie, then set it in the Pro Street wheel wells. Now I'll start sanding the Pro Street wheel wells until they match the curvature of the Duster wheel wells. When the Sharpie is gone, I've sanded far enough... Look at that, it worked! No sign of the Pro Street wheel wells anywhere! Not too bad, huh? A bit more sanding was needed, mainly because of the height of the Pro Street wheel wells, but it fits perfectly now! Now comes the fun part, making sure my wheels line up in the wheel wells. I taped the sections of the chassis together, built the rear axle, and front suspension temporarily, and checked out my work... Since we look good and lined up, a bit of Tamiya glue was applied to the joints between the different sections. Once it's dried well (Tomorrow night), I'll pop the chassis loose, and apply some Acrylic Filler to the top sides of the joints to strengthen it all!

Oh, and Sam wanted it to have a Pro Street chassis too, so I've got to make that happen too, more fun for me! Now onto the real work, making the AMT '70 Super Bee Pro-Street chassis play nice with the '71 Duster chassis. This will be my 3rd or 4th time doing this, so I've gotten pretty good at it I hope. I started with the Pro Street chassis, I cut the rear section off so I could mate it to the Duster chassis, then removed the front section so I could use the front of the Duster chassis. Hacking the rear of the Duster chassis loose so I can attach to the body easily with the new, modified chassis... Next up, removing the rear wheel well area from the Duster chassis. I left the two side "rails" so I could make sure I had proper alignment with the original chassis location to make assembly of the modified chassis easier... Once the rear section of the Duster chassis was removed, I needed to fill in the holes for the kit exhaust, and fill in the holes left by the original frame rails...

This one stretches way back in history to my BMC days, Sam (Sam I Am over here on MCM) and a couple of other guys had tossed this idea around prior to my joining, but nothing ever came of it. I arrived, and it popped up again somehow, and I volunteered my services to make it a reality. So Sam sent me an AMT '71 Duster kit, and the nose and wing from AMT's horrible '69 Daytona kit, and I made them magically come together. If Fotki wasn't being such a pain, I'd post some of the pics of what it took to get it looking the way it does, but nooooo! 95% of the progress pics are missing at the moment, so we'll just have to start with current pics, if the original pics ever come back, I'll post a few. This one has large amounts of Acrylic Filler around the nose, and it shows zero signs of shrinkage, even though it was completed back in 2007! Here's some pics of how she looks right now, let the completion of this long suffering build commence! When you see this, it means I did it! Otherwise, I'm completely innocent unless you have witnesses! And the nasty little chip in the paint...it wasn't like this when I sent it to Sam, so give him grief for it, it's gonna be a bear to fix! And a few close-ups of the nose. I took build this on for Sam mainly because I wasn't happy with my '71 Daytona's bodywork around the nose, so this one allowed me to fix my mistakes. It's also where I learned that you could cut a perfect panel line in Acrylic Filler, along with character lines from the existing body.! The underside of the nose has the lower pan from AMT's '71 Charger molded in, this was done to cover the front suspension and K-member that was clearly visible from the front.

But think of the cute little baby glue bombs he'll have around the house soon!

Alyn, I spent a good chunk of this morning drooling over Bill's Aluminum Hemi, I want to know what's in the water out there, all of you guys are just sick...maybe I should have stayed in the Midwest. Nah, I like warm weather and the beach too much!

Un-freaking-believable Frank, 8 Hours and Testors paint? And it looks that good? Yeah, you're some kind of mutant, ain't ya? Awesome work my man, I need some of that build-speed to knock a hole in my stash!

I've got a pair of 'em that have been waiting for a loooong time... This one had it's bodywork and paint completed back in 2007, and it was sent off to the guy I did it for. I finally conned him into sending it back to me so I could build it for him. It's AMT's '71 Duster with a Daytona nose and wing, and it'll get a Pro-Street rear end stuffed under it when it's all said and done. I'm calling it the Superduster, Sam will have to live with it!! And The Momad, I'm still waiting on some custom script decals, and I am just not happy with the side windows, tail lights, and hood, so it's getting some more work sometime soon.

Looks like a good start Andy, any ideas on colors yet?

Bill, I just went through this entire thread, what you have done is unreal on so many levels! If you have those rims cast, I'll definitely grab a couple of sets, and it's too bad you didn't have the engine cast, it is a true work of art! Just when you think you've gotten good at this stuff...I am in awe...what is it that you and Alyn drink out there?

Albie, that is one clean build! I love the color, the foil work is perfect, and it's slammed, what's not to like?

Beautiful Charger Raoul, killer paint, and perfect stance. I hope my '72 comes out half as nice as this one!

Here she is, the Panthers and Cam may have had a bad year, but at least Cam gets a cool car to drive in the off-season! Thanks again to Ricky over on Scale Avenue for the great Panthers decals he made for me years ago, and thanks to all who followed the WIP!

Ira, you come up with the most twisted designs, and pull 'em off making it look simple! You are a true artist, and I am always in awe of your skills!