Custom Mike

Raul, I'm using the same rims on my Charger, and they come in two sizes, I believe 18" & 20". My rims measure 7/8" (2.3mm), with the tires it's 1 1/8" (2.9mm), and they're 1/2" (1.3mm) wide. Hope that helps, and those rims will look great on this baby!

Raul, you know too well what it takes to pull this stuff off, so I really appreciate having your opinion on things. I wish I could get that door panel perfect, but I just don't have the tools for it at this time. I need some bent riffer files to get it perfect, but I'm going to have to settle for the fact that the seat hides the flaws on this one. Here's a new pic for ya, I've started on the back seat panel, it's roughed into shape, and the filler will be applied in a minute, but here's where it starts!

Raul, I wouldn't do that to ya, that SSR looks great in pictures, but it's a disaster up-close. You can see where that PT Cruiser roof is mated to it all the way around, so it stays hidden in the back of the display case. As far as those rims, nah, not cool enough for it. I know what you're saying about all the huge, bling-bling rims that are out there, so why not go completely in the other direction. What do you think of something like this?

Raul, I'll take it off your hands! I'll even trade you one of my nightmare customs for it! Yours kills mine though, so I'll be getting over on ya big time! But getting back to the serious stuff, this baby looks great. Very subtle, and I hadn't noticed the lack of trim until you mentioned it. Now that is subtle. Get this baby finished, I've been working on my Charger for almost a year (Next month will be it's birthday! Whoo-Hoo!), and I don't even have any paint down yet!

Jeffbo, Raul, and Adalberto(Tito), thanks! Comments and opinions are encouraged, even if it is to say I'm nuts! Well, I have an interior panel done! Only three more to go, anyone want to do them for me? Since I have 3 of this kit, I took the stock panels, and chopped up the back one and attached it to the front. Way too much work, but it looks good. I started on this yesterday about 9pm, and I just finished it about an hour ago. Now I'm working on the panel next to the back seat, but the camera's batteries have died, so pics of that will have to wait. Here's the pics, this was a real pain to pull off, but I'm happy with the results!

John, I would love to see this brought back, but over here in Model Cars magazine. I'm sure I don't know all the reasons the "other" magazine dropped it, but to me it was the only opportunity I had to get anything I had done seen by anyone. Since I live in the middle of nowhere, have no fellow modelers nearby (And had no internet access at that time), it was the only way to find out if I was any good. I placed twice, and got an honorable mention once, then the contest went away. To have the opportunity to enter again (Now that I have 4 entries ready and one nearly ready!) and have Mark critique my new stuff would be awesome! Gregg, Jairus, I'll buy a year's subscription, maybe even two (If my new business takes off!), if this great contest could make it's new home in the pages of the only REAL model magazine on the stands!

And I also got some work done on my center tail light section too. I polished the new piece, applied the photo-etched "Charger" lettering to it, polished the mesh behind it to a chrome-like finish, and painted the inside of the receiver black. I am now officially in love with this piece. It looks so cool I may do the outer tail lights like this now!

Raul, you wouldn't happen to know someone in Detroit looking for help, would you? I'm good for at least one or two better ideas than what we've got to choose from now! I've got my engine compartment "gaps" tightened up now, so all that's left under the hood is intakes, detail painting, hood hinges, and filling those enormous slots in the cowl for the original hinge. Oh, and a firewall, gotta get one of those done too! From there I'll think about starting on the door panels, I really don't want to make them, but I have no choice. After all this work, it's going to have an interior, I'd feel like I cheated if I left that out. Here's the latest pics!

Nice work on chopping the top Adalberto, that's something I've never done. What about a White top half and a Pastel Orange bottom? I get weird color combos in my head all the time, and that one is stuck in there right now. Give us some more progress!

Raul, I'm just doing what I think looks good, if it's stylish, then I'm getting better at this game! Well, I said I'd have more updates tonight, so here ya go! I got my radiator and core support finished off tonight, then ran into an issue with it. There was no way to support it, so it was time to make something. Out came the sheet styrene, and I boxed out the areas around my body/chassis mounting bosses in the nose. This now gives me an area to put the air filter/intakes in neatly, so it solved another issue at the same time. But there's still some work to be done, the kit fender wells don't quite fill the new nose up right, I can see the tires, and that's not good! So tomorrow night I'll make up something for that little issue. On with the pictures!

Jairus, I have no choice but finish this one, I'll never forgive myself if I don't. Did you ever have one of those builds that just goes way too smoothly? Well, this is that one for me. It's kind of scary at times, because it's just happening with little or no effort, almost like someone else is doing all the work. I know I've been building models for a long time, but when did I get this good? I still see myself as the kid making glue bombs, so this one is like watching someone else work. I wake up in the morning, and some other cool thing has been done to it by the Model Fairies! My biggest worry is that I'll never top this, but it won't be for a lack of trying!

Hopefully later tonight I'll have some fresh progress, I'm working on the inner fender wells and radiator as I type, so stay tuned! Here's a few "just for fun" pics to gawk at while you wait for the new stuff!

Thanks for the praise guys, buy you haven't seen anything yet, this baby is coming together nicely! Sorry for the lack of updates, there's been a lot going on in my world lately, and it may get worse before it gets better. But I'm still breathing, and there has been a ton of progress on this since my last update. I may have a color picked out (We'll see if that sticks ), House Of Kolors Tangelo with a White base is the current choice. As far as progress, I've got my receiver for the center section of the tail light done, a new 3-piece spoiler has been made from acrylic filler, the passenger door was glued in place and the new door shape added, the wheel wells were tightened up, and my chassis plate has been extended and painted. Beyond that, the engine is completed, most of my body work has been cleaned up to a fairly smooth level, a rear window has been made, and my entire tail light area has been smoothed out. Enough of the words, on with the pictures! EDIT: If you want to see all that has gone one since my last update, click on this link for all the other pics I haven't posted here!

Thanks Tooltime, I appreciate it. I got some time to work tonight, so I worked on the hood some more. I have it better than it was, but I've still got some work to do on it. Then I decided it was time to start thinning out the hood and trunk openings so I could add a lip to hold the hood and trunk. Next up for that area is adding the lip with some strip styrene, hopefully I can get that done tomorrow. Other than that, I mocked up the engine and found the radiator and core support from AMT's '71 Charger were a nice fit, so they'll be used on this. Troy (Dropped Yellow Ranger) is going to supply me with an electric fan, so let's hear it for him! I also split the air box from the Viper kit, and checked it for clearance in front of the fender wells, and it should be a perfect fit. Now I need to make some hoses to connect them to the intake. Enough words for now, here's the latest pictures.

Nice color, what is it? I see you added a body kit to the front and rear too, did you make it or buy it?

Then stop posting and get building, I know you've got a ton of F-Bodies just waiting to be rolled out!

Thanks Gregg, where's your ragtop at? Get that baby posted!

Thanks Jonathan, I wish I could get more time to work on this. Between 3 daughters and work, building time is severely limited, but I hope to have some more posted tomorrow night. I'm trying to figure out a radiator setup now, and I've got to add some to the top of the hood so it meets the fenders, so look for that in the next day or so!

Dub, see if you can scare up some of the Dupli-Color Mirage paints at a supplier, AutoZone still has some occasionally. The Purple/Green is by far the best, Silver/Green is a close second, followed by Red/Blue. Avoid the one labeled "Ice", it's just a silver holographic color that doesn't really work well at this scale. They're really easy to get a stunning result with, just use a good sealer, since they're lacquers. Rick, thank you very much, that's some pretty high praise, I'm not sure I deserve it! This is the first model I've done that I feel came out "clean", even though I've had issues with the BMF in a few spots. Now I want to do one in Hugger Orange just to ruin it for you!

Another old build from the display case for you to check out. This one is one of my personal favorites, it's Revell's '69 Camaro with rims and tires from their Acura Integra thrown on just to be different. The paint is Dupli-Color's "Mirage" Silver-Green, a really great paint if you can find it still. Engine was wired using a resin distributor from Detail Master and wrapping wire from Radio Shack, and a fuel filter was added, which is a switching diode, also from Radio Shack. The air cleaner snorkel and exhaust were drilled out, and various shades of Metalizer were used under the hood and on the exhaust. This one has been entered in 3 contests, and brought home a 3rd, 2nd, and finally a 1st, so now it will stay in the display case, never to be entered again!

And now some work on the hood. A member of another forum suggested I open the scoop up, so it was done, and I really like the look of it now. Then I did something I've never done before, I decided to make the underside of the hood look more like a hood and less like something that was all filler at the front end. So I drew some openings on the filler, broke out the Dremel, and slowly removed the offending filler. Then I sanded a ton of it off to get the hood to the same thickness all the way around. I still need to find a way to sand the new openings and smooth out the edges of the openings, but it's pretty good for now. Not too bad for my first attempt, let's see if I can screw it up trying to sand it! Here's the pictures, enjoy!

Here's some more work for you to check out. I did a little more fine sanding of the chin spoiler, and added some to the front wheel well to even it out. Once that was done, I laid another coat of primer and found that the front end looks good, but my driver side door had a nice little "up sweep' at the bottom rear. So I straightened out the opening, added some to the bottom of the door, and re-primed. Here's some pictures, more to follow.

Harry, your take looks great, maybe if Chrysler had asked you, we wouldn't be doing all this chopping right now. I personally can't stand the looks of the thing, but I'm biased because I owned a 1:1 '72 Charger. Chargers need two doors, and the truck nose they slapped on it is just plain ugly. For a while there Chrysler had the best looking cars on the road, then some Germans got involved, and it all went downhill from there! Brent, good to see you over here too! Guys, this man is a scratch building master, don't let him say he isn't! As soon as you figure out how to post some pictures, drop that Camaro and '55 Pro Street on these guys! Erik, this baby is getting a Viper V-10 from a Revell kit, and I finally figured out how to get it to fit right in this "promo" style chassis. Thank God you'll never see most of it, because this baby got hacked up just so it would fit. I did some fine sanding on the new chin spoiler tonight, then shot some primer to check my progress. I have a few spots that need a little help, but I'm happy with it for the most part. I mocked up the chassis and engine also, and realized I need to add some strip styrene to the front of the wheel wells to tighten them up. The engine now sits right where I want it to, so now I can take it all apart again and get further along with the body work. Enough with the words, here are the pictures!

Jairus, that is the $64,000 question right now. I made a small receiver for it, but it got pitched, so now I'm setting that part aside until I figure out which way to go. Any ideas, I've got no clue at the moment, so any and all ideas will be considered. Since I'm stuck on that part of this build, I moved back to the front end to make my chin spoiler. Once again, AMT's S-10 Xtreme kit gave up it's front bumper, poor piece of styrene didn't even see me coming! I cut the chin spoiler loose, attached it to this one, then added some Acrylic Fingernail filler to the seam. Yes, that is my secret weapon when it comes to body work. I graduated from Squadron Green, to Evercoat Eurosoft, and now I use Acrylic Fingernail filler for all my body work. Stinks like mad, a real pain to sand, but it strengthens any joint you apply it to, won't shrink, is impervious to lacquers, and flexes without popping out of the seams. Of course, you'll get some really strange looks buying it at your local Sally Beauty Supply, but who cares! Enough of my praise for my filler of choice, here's a few new pictures to make you happy

Nag, Nag, nag, you sound like my girlfriend! I'm getting it done, don't be so bossy!