Custom Mike

And now, my completed interior, and some mock-up shots in the body. I'm going to get started on the foiling and engine tomorrow night, and hopefully have this one wrapped up by the weekend.

And finally the seats get some Purple. I masked 'em both up real quick, fired up the airbrush, and sprayed away. I now have some killer Purple and Silver seats! The best 15 minutes of work I've ever had!

I added some Purple nail polish to the tops of the door panels, the package tray, and repainted the dash in Purple just for fun. The bottoms of the door panels got a little flocking, along with the floor pan. I decided to add the Purple to bring all the body colors into the interior....not exactly what Ol' Henry would have done, but I ain't afraid of no ghost!

I painted the seats, but need to find a good flat Silver or Gray to use for the inserts, since they're fabric and not vinyl. I painted the floor mat and pedals Semi-Gloss Black, the speakers Flat Black, and the outer edges of the speakers got some Aluminum Plate, which was buffed out. The door panels got some Flat Black on the inserts, then they were given a finger rubbing to give them a satin sheen. BMF was applied to the window cranks and trim at the top of the door panels, then I painted the window crank handles with some Semi-Gloss Black and called it good....

I found some Dupli-Color Vinyl & Fabric paint in Sliver, so it'll used on this baby, bringing the Silver on the body in to the interior. Black accents, some BMF on the door panels, and some Gray flocking will be used. I painted the rings on the gauge cluster with some Metalizer Aluminum Plate, the gauge faces were given some Flat Black, then the center of the gauges was painted with Metalizer Steel and buffed out with a Q-Tip. A little dry brushing of Flat Black, and that's where the dash sits now. The steering column and steering wheel were painted. Here's the pics, more in a minute!

And some close-ups of the rims, and the body on the chassis. The interior is up to bat next......

I've got all four rims in place, my brake lines are connected, and the chassis is complete. I did have one snag though, since I'm too "manly" to use those wimpy instructions, I ended up with my leaf springs on the wrong sides. No big deal until you try to mount the shocks, then you realize why the instructions are there. I fixed it, but my shocks are super-glued to my leaf springs now. Yeah, I'm a world-class screw up sometimes, all this work and a stupid mistake had to bite me on the butt. Here's the best shots I could get of the lines attached to the rotors, enjoy the view, because you'll never be able to see 'em once the body's on this baby!

And some mock-ups of the disc brake rotor on the rim, front suspension, and the painted disc brake, I used Metalizer Aluminum Plate and Tamiya Clear Red for the rotor.... http://images56.fotki.com/v1598/photos/1/879761/8524615/1969Talledega0067-vi.jpg[/img

Thanks guys, it's not 100% accurate (Flexible lines out to the brakes on the back axle? Not in the 1:1 world unless you've got steerable back wheels or IRS), but it looks good enough to make me happy, and that's all I shoot for. Now onto an update or six, I've got a ton of progress to show since I've been away. Here's where I show just how much work goes into getting these Aoshima rims onto a Revell kit like they were meant to be on it. I take the original Revell wheel backers, some snips, and a whole lot of time shaping with a bunch of sanding sticks until they fit inside the Aoshima rims nice and snug. Yup, it's tedious, time consuming, and aggravating, but totally worth it. This time, I'm going to try casting all four of the modified backers so I can use them again just by pouring some resin into a mold, hopefully saving me a ton of time on the next set I use. Here's the pics, the original backer is on the left, the finished one is on the right, and the middle two are the stages between start and finish. I also threw in a pair of pics of the Pegasus Hobbies disc brakes I'm using, the original is on the left, modified on the right. The center has to be opened up to slide onto the Aoshima rims, and the tube on the front side needs to be removed so it'll go far enough onto the rim to look right.

Here's another update, I have my front brake line in place, my block is ready for the feed from the master cylinder, and all is good on the brake system. And a buddy of mine on another Forum has a Boss 429 heading my way, so I'll have the engine I want in this one after all! Here's the new pics, enjoy!

Thanks for taking it the way it was intended James, and I fully understand how you feel about it. If everyone on Forums would take the time to read replies and not blow up, we wouldn't have flame-wars all the time. See, some of us can act our ages, even if we do play with Model Cars! Now my update for the night. I completed my rear brake lines on the back axle, and the line that connects it to the chassis. It came out way better than I had expected, so count me as a very happy camper! I used 24 gauge beading wire on the axle, then I stripped the jacket from some 22 gauge wire for the flexible parts out to the brakes and up to the chassis. The final part will be drilling out my brake calipers for the flexible line, and it'll be completed!

James, Monty, to be perfectly honest, I don't sweat things like that. I used to, but being a "Rivet Counter" broke me of it. I got tired of it when I built Military stuff, and now I'll do it if I feel the urge, but if it's obscured by another assembly (Like the rear axle in this case), I leave it alone. I did remove the Revell-Monogram info from the driver's side of the gas tank area because it was plainly visible. Yes, if you're looking for that printing under the axle, it'll be visible, but I'm not looking to build a showpiece, just something I can look at and say, look how cool it is! I build to relax, and enjoy what I was gifted with. Obsessing over tiny things is what caused me to stop building my beloved A-10's. Well, that and building over 50 of 'em in 8 years for Crew Chiefs! I occasionally will "geek-out" and go to extremes to make sure every little detail is as perfect as I can get 'em, but those really burn me out. I think that's why I love doing customs so much, no one can say it's wrong if it came from my head, eliminating the need to be so worried over small stuff. Like they say, to each his own. You do what makes you happy, and I appreciate your input guys! Oh, and I'm feeling much better Monty, just in time for the massive "Run To The Sun XXII" Car Show in Myrtle Beach, SC this weekend!

Bill, I've had very little experience with resin, so thanks for that little tidbit of information, you'd probably lose all the resin around the area you filled, so using it on resin would be a no-no! Pete, I add about three drops to the liquid, shake it up, and it's good to go. I have tried another brand of food coloring, but it didn't seem to mix with the liquid as well, I had to shake it every time I used it. The McCormick "Neon" food coloring mixes perfectly, shake it one time and it stays mixed until the bottle is empty!

I plan on it, I knew this stuff was versatile, but never thought of casting parts with it, time to start experimenting!

My final update for tonight, I finished off my fuel and brake lines on the chassis, now I need to get the front suspension lines done, and the back axle. I'm going to use some black wire for the flexible parts from each tire back to the hard lines, and another piece from the block on the chassis to a block on the top of the rear axle, feeding the hard lines out to the ends of the axle. But all that will wait for another night.

And some work on the chassis. I got a "block" made up for my rear brake line, and ran the first half of the rear brake line to it. The fuel line got re-routed through the floorboard, because there was no room for it with the brake line in place. Not too accurate, but I'm no perfectionist anyhow, so I'm not sweating it. Here's the pics, enjoy!

And a friend of mine on another forum came up with this little detailing trick, what a pain in the butt to pull off! It took me nearly 2 hours to get this right! Here's my master cylinder/brake booster assembly, first with the retainer on it and no paint, then painted with some Metalizers.

Update time! I've got the 428 that comes with the kit cleaned up and painted. I'm looking for the 429 from the '70 Boss 429, but in case I can't find one I might as well be prepared, right? Unfortunately, the engine in the 2007 GT500 won't fit without some major surgery on the cross member, so I scratched that idea. But the 428 is now Light Ford Blue, and I have an aluminum distributor wired and ready for paint. Here's the pics, more stuff to follow!

Charlie, since this stuff is similar to a superglue, I'd imagine it could be used on resin, but I've never tried it myself. Dan, I've made parts like the spoiler, and the entire panel between the fenders up front on my Concept Charger, but never tried casting parts with it, I've gotta give that a shot!

Tristan, I'd love to see your fix for the windshield, I'm not much of a "perfectionist" when it comes to kits, as long as they look good, I'm happy. but now you've got me wondering what's wrong with the windshield on this one. Show me some pictures, I'm dying to know now, I plan on doing this one again...

Update time, this is a simple one, I painted my frame rails semi-gloss Black, picked out the emergency brake cable with some Silver, painted the gas tank Metalizer Aluminum Plate, added the exhaust (Metalizer Stainless Steel), and painted my front suspension and rear end semi-Gloss Black. that's it for now, I feel like death warmed over, so I'm gonna knock myself out with some Ny-Quil and crash.

Hey Kevin, nice to see ya here too, now get back to work on the kit-bashed pickup and the Cobra! Everyone, this is the guy responsible for my 1969 Torino Tallagega's killer paint job. My current partner in crime, he got this Torino Cobra from me, now if he could find the time to finish it.....

Virgil, that engine is just beautiful, that is a work of art! Now about that paint job, I am in awe of it! That is simply stunning! I'm gonna hide in the corner and suck my thumb now...and just when I thought I was getting good at this stuff!

John, those rims are from Revell's Viper GTS kit, and the tires are from a set of aftermarket rims I had, they just happened to fit perfectly!

If you were the one posting all the "updated" General Lee pics, then yeah, I remember you. Seems like this one had a ton of followers, I guess that's what happens when it drags on for 2 YEARS!!!!!