Custom Mike

Russ, they tried to beat the modeling out of me, but I'm just a little tougher than that. What was your name over there? I've been on another Forum for a while now, but finally decided to check back in over here, gotta spread my sickness to you guys too! Rod, believe it or not, I HATE doing BMF. It's a royal pain, but it just doesn't look right without it anymore!

Marc, you can post that here, it looks great so far, I'm glad I've inspired you to get yours done, I want to see the finished product! And I won't consider it hijacking until you get to the 6th picture, then we'll fight! Mark, I'm so used to the really nice exhaust manifolds in newer kits that actually look like the correct scale, with casting numbers and all, that these old ones look really sad. That, and all the flash on mine doesn't help any....I feel like it's a JoHan kit!

Thanks guys, I hope it comes out as well as my Fairlane did. Mark, this one looks to be the old Monogram tooling, flash and bad exhaust manifolds included! I've got lots of mold lines to clean up along the way, but what fun would it be without all the extra work?

Jon, I downloaded a ton of pics of this car, and completely missed that little detail. Of course, so did AMT, there's no line at the top of the A-pillar either. I'll slap some more foil on it and call it good!

And some shots of the painted chassis. I decided to go with Silver for the chassis (And engine) linking it with the body. The widened wheel wells aren't perfect, a couple of little pinholes and a very faint seam on one, but the tires will hide it all, so I'm not sweating it. Not like I'm building a Military model now, is it? I'm no rivet counter, I just enjoy building models! Last pics for the night, I gotta crash!

And for once, I'm thinking ahead, I actually laid out all my fuel and brake lines PRIOR to painting the chassis. Will wonders never cease? My fuel lines are on the top right, brake lines on the bottom, then some shots of the chassis with the holes for all the lines drilled out. I also removed the molded-in fuel line from the gas tank, and drilled a hole for the negative battery cable up front. Finally, a shot of the master cylinder assembly with the lines test-fitted to it.

Now onto the rest of this build. Since Hemi sent me some killer aftermarket rims, some modification was needed on the rear wheel wells to get them to fit right. I started by cutting the inside of the wheel wells loose from the chassis, and trimming the opening back to the frame rails. This gave me just enough room for the rims to fit perfectly. I re-glued the pieces I cut off onto the topside of the frame rails, then filled the openings with Acrylic Fingernail filler. A little Mr. Hobby white putty was used to fill in a few pinholes because it's a heck of a lot easier to sand than the Acrylic Filler! On with the pics!

Here's my latest project, this one will be a resto-mod, much like my '66 Fairlane. A friend of mine (Hemi) and I are doing this as part of a Forum Project on another board, it involves painting a model and sending it on to your partner for assembly. I did a '70 Torino Cobra for him, and he sent me this Talledega with an incredibly cool paint job and some killer aftermarket rims, which will set it off very nicely! Here's some shots of the painted body, everyone give Hemi a big round of applause!

Thanks for the compliments guys. James, slowing down does help out big time. The road is some stair anti-skid I picked up at Lowes, it comes with the yellow reflective stripe about 1 inch from the edge. I grabbed two of 'em, got some 1/8th plywood scrap I had, and laid it out. I added some model railroad ballast to the edges to simulate dirt, and nailed some 1x2's along the bottom edges to keep it nice and flat. I made one prior to this one using foam board, but wanted one a little more sturdy, so this one came into being. All totaled, it's in the $25 range, and made in about 3 hours. The hardest part is trimming the edges so the double yellow line is even, and sticking it to the board. You've got to be really careful aligning the cut edges, this stuff sticks really well, and is very hard to pull up once it is stuck down. As for the trees in the background, I just set the road up on my trash can, and set the aperature on my camera for 8.0, it causes the trees to blur out enough where the background fits just right!

Nice start Marcos, I'm waiting for more! Any problems with this kit so far, other than what you've listed?

Here's my latest one to go in the display case, AMT's 1966 Fairlane GT/GTA. This is a great kit, with a few minor flaws, but I'm looking forward to building another so I can fix them a little better the second time. My biggest problem is with the hood, it's got too much of a gap at the front end, but it's too late to fix now, so I'll correct it next time around. I painted this with a nail polish (Neon Burst), and the white fogging was a happy accident. It was going to be blue down the side, thankfully it looked horrible. After stripping the bad paint, I re-created this paint scheme, wired up the engine, fuel line, brake lines, and battery cables. Dupli-Color Fabric and Interior paints was use inside, carpeting is flocked, and Detail Master Krome Foil was applied inside and out. A Revell Viper GTS gave up it's rims and disc brakes, and some aftermarket tires were swapped out for the Revell units. I got the decals from Keith Marks, but messed up the driver's side Fairlane script while waxing it. Enjoy the pics, and follow the links below for the WIP and more completed pics! '66 Fairlane WIP Completed pics

That's why I made it, I love Mopars, had a 1:1 '72 Charger, and cannot stand the new Charger. It's about the ugliest excuse for a car you could make, and throwing the Charger name on a 4-door was just too much for me. So I set out to make one I'd buy, and be proud to drive. Now if I could just get someone to make a real one for me......

First, repeated trips into a brake fluid bath will cause pinholes, but will not remove it. I found this out after stripping my Concept Charger 7 times, the first 5 trips just removed the paint, trips 6 & 7 caused pinholes. I haven't tried acetone yet myself, I'll have to give that a shot someday. Second, it holds edges incredibly well, you can make gentle curves, sharp curves, or near knife-edge panels with it. Here's a couple of pics to show how well it holds panel lines, the first shows the area prior to the lines being cut (With the filler appearing as the translucent area), and after the line has been cut, with primer applied. The third is a shot of the panel I cut into the rear of my Concept Firebird, it's the lower line on the hatch.

Brett, I am hypercritical of my own stuff, but that being said, I know this one's not up to contest standards. It had some fissures in the paint (After 7 paint jobs, I just said heck with 'em!), the door panel lines are not uniform enough, etc, etc. But, each one of these I do teaches me what not to do the next time around, so it's all good. I am proud of it, but not as much as if it had come out better.

Peter, I completely forgot about them, and noticed it well after I had finished it. This thing was so long and drawn out that I completely overlooked the side mirrors, let's say it's got tiny side-view cameras in the A-pillars! The other major flaw, and I always seem to have one on my customs, is the "droop" from the cowl forward. I did a similar thing with my Camaro, it's got a stubby nose. I guess I really need to have an objective viewer look at my next one prior to paint being laid down, just to catch things like that. I get so wrapped up in the process that I lose sight of things like that. Oh, and I also forgot the "VIPR PWR" license plate.....

Clay, I ran out of the House of Kolors Tangerine, and wasn't going to drop another $60 for a quart of it just for the hood and that panel. Both had minor problems in the paint, and rather than buy more (And spend more money on this beast), I went for the easy way out. This one has a lot of little flaws in it, and I just finally got to the point where I was either going to destroy it, or just make it look good enough for pictures and call it finished. This one is nowhere near good enough for a contest, but it got the idea out of my head, and it takes a good picture, so I'm satisfied.

Wow, coming from you Alyn, that means a lot. You're one of the most gifted scratch-builders I've ever seen, so consider me completely flattered! Kevin, it got completed, and now it's buried in the mess left in the wake of this one. I'll dig around for it and let you know when I stumble across it.

Both are about $7 each in the sizes pictured, and the powder will last for quite a while. It took me almost 3 years to use up the powder, but the liquid goes much quicker, about a bottle a year depending on usage. Don't leave it uncapped for long, it's just like Ambroid Pro-Weld or Tenax 7R, it'll evaporate really quick.

16) Here's the finished results prior to primer. Once you've roughed it in with the 80 grit, move up to the 100/180, and then the 240/400. You can use 600 grit sandpaper to get it really smooth at this point if you'd like..... 17) And the completed area after the first coat of primer/sealer. Notice the "ghost" area where the filler is. This can usually be taken care of with a second coat of primer. Once the second coat cures, if the "ghost" is still visible, get some 600 grit sandpaper, sand the area, then re-prime. This should eliminate any signs of your work. After years of trying to do this one with various putties, Bondo, and just about everything else I could find, this one may actually get completed someday.....

10) I'm going to apply a light "skim" coat over this low spot..... 11) Once you've applied the filler, you can "thin" it out by applying more liquid before the filler hardens. Clean your brush, or have a second brush handy before doing this. Simply "paint" over the filler with more Acrylic liquid to get it smoothed out..... 12) This part is now finished, and ready for sanding..... 13) Here I'm filling in a seam in the license plate area.... 14) And the finished results.... 15) Now we're ready for some sanding, starting with the 80 grit sanding stick. This is one of the big advantages of Acrylic filler, it can be sanded in 15 - 30 minutes, depending of the thickness of the filled areas.....

OK, here's my first attempt at a tutorial here on MCM's forum, let's see what you guys think. This will be in three posts, due to picture uploading restrictions, here's the first post! I use Acrylic fingernail filler almost exclusively for my custom work, for a multitude of reasons. It's incredibly strong, versatile, and impervious to stripping methods we use, unlike putties and Bondo. It strengthens the joints made when mating dissimilar parts together, can be used to create small parts, and after 5 years on my Concept Camaro (See my avatar), it shows no sign of shrinkage. The downsides are the smell, and it's very hard to sand compared to putties and Bondo. But with some practice on a scrap body, once you get used to it's application and sanding, you'll be hooked! This is a "beginner" tutorial on the use of Acrylic filler, hopefully I'll have an "advanced" tutorial someday! 1) Here's the basic supplies. You'll need Acrylic powder, Acrylic liquid, a real Camel hair brush, a bottle of Lacquer thinner (For cleaning the brush between applications), and some food coloring. Put a few drops of the food coloring into the Acrylic liquid to tint it, since this stuff is nearly transparent when it dries. The food coloring pictured works the best, but if you can't find this specific one, experiment for yourself. You'll also need some sanding sticks, 80 grit, 100/180 grit, and 240/400 grit work fine. All of these supplies are available at Sally Beauty supply (Or any other Beauty Supply store) with the exception of the food coloring. 2) Here's an old body I couldn't get right using putties or Bondo, so let's apply some Acrylic filler to this troublesome old custom. That big gap and the seams will be taken care of with ease..... 3) Apply some of the Acrylic liquid to the area you want the filler on to "prime" the area..... 4) Dip the brush in the Acrylic liquid again, and then dip it lightly into the Acrylic powder. The size of the filler ball can be regulated by how long you leave it in the powder. The longer you leave it in the powder, the thicker (And larger) the ball of filler will be..... 5) This is a medium sized ball of filler, ready to be applied to the body..... 6) "Paint" the filler onto the area you want to fill in, getting it roughed in as best you can. You can always add more , but this stuff is a bear to sand, so you want as little excess as possible. 7) Clean your brush immediately after applying the filler. Do this between every application, because if you put a brush with filler back in the bottle of Acrylic liquid, you'll end up with a bottle full of very thick, useless Acrylic liquid. This will also save you a lot of money when it comes to brushes, because if the filler hardens in the brush, you'll never get it out. 8) Here's how the "tinted" filler looks after it dries. If you don't tint it, it's very hard to see, so unless you like eye-strain, tint this stuff! 9) Our second application is done, now to do some filling of low spots....

After starting this one on another forum, restarting it here, and finishing it on a third forum, it's finally done, and a it only took nearly two full years. I'm not 100% satisfied with the results (Who ever is?), but I'm done fighting with it. This model started life as Revell's Uptown Charger kit (2006), and changed drastically from there. I started by removing the original roof, and adding one from AMT's 1971 Charger, along with the door shapes from the '71. A new back window opening was made, along with a piece of clear styrene to go into the new opening. Then I stretched the back end out a bit, changed the side window openings to look more like a '73-'74 Charger, and added a grille opening from AMT's 1969 Charger, with a grille from Revell's '69 Charger. An AMT S-10 Xtreme kit gave up it's chin spoiler, and I made the entire center tail light from a piece of my 1997 Grand Prix's busted tail light. This was to give the back end the "look" of the 1966-67 Chargers. A spoiler was made from acrylic filler, and the wheel openings were shrunk down. Then a Revell Viper kit sacrificed it's engine, a pair of Shelby Series One kits gave up their cone air filters, and custom tubing was bent for the intakes from solder. After the 7th attempt at painting it Kustom Kolors Purple Passion, I gave up and painted it House Of Kolors Shimrins Tangerine, with a flat black hood and nose. Pegasus Hobbies supplied the rims and disc brakes, new interior panels had to be made for the new two-door configuration, and the chassis plate was stretched out front and rear to fit the new body. New mounting bosses were made to attach the chassis to the body, and photo-etched Charger and R/T scripts, along with the CHARGER lettering on the tail light was added from the Model Car Garage 1967 Charger photo-etched set. To top it all off, I took the side mirror from the '67 photo-etched set, placed it on the quarter panel in front of the spoiler, and called it a gas cap! Enjoy the pictures, and the complete WIP (All 378 pictures - sheesh!) and more completed pics are on my Fotki page! Concept Charger WIP pictures Concept Charger completed pics

Dave, I can see where Karmodeler is coming from here, I was a member of another forum which had one "Master" builder on it, and he was an arrogant as hell guy. Nothing wrong with blowing your own horn, but you've got to remember, the harder you blow that horn, the more people want to shove that horn up the other end. We all started out as glue-bombers, and as long as we remember that little fact, we can pass on our hard-earned knowledge and skills without looking like we're better than anyone else. I personally love your work, and wish I was half as good as you are, but don't consider you to be arrogant about it. But you know how people are, some take boasting as a sign that you think you're better than them, then people start hating you because of it. I'm waiting for your tutorial on this, I'd love to be able to add it to my arsenal of tricks!

Raul, that interior is beautiful, I'm still trying to get to that level of cleanliness on my stuff. I've got the body work down pat, paint jobs are a breeze now, but that kind of work still eludes me. I'll get there someday too, I just need to slow down and be a little more patient and I'll get there. then my head will swell and you'll all hate me! My passenger side panels are done, the dash is painted and decals were applied, and the floor pan and seats are painted, So it's on to the driver's side panels tonight, and they will take much more work than the passenger side due to the opening door. I need to make filler pieces for the edges, and the door panel itself will need to be perfect, since it will be fully visible. No using the seat to hide flaws this time, so this will be fun. Here's the latest pics, more tomorrow night!