bill-e-boy

A good start to your project. It is not easy to open the doors on a 40 Coupe and then fight the battle to keep it all together. And you chopped the top to boot.

Love a little flat motor porn🤪

A while since I posted on this build - last post July last year - my how time flies. The Charger was put on the back burner whilst I was side tracked by a couple of other projects, an overseas holiday and life in general. Well it is time to get back to the Charger I had completed the foiling just after the last post and have recently polished out the body. I have been slowly getting all of the little details done prior to final assembly I fitted up the chassis to the body and as not happy with the fit around the front area so puled apart and finessed the firewall and dash areas so it should now fit up better. Time to wait for glue to set up A tray full of detailed goodies. The build theme is a box stock replica stock. Man there is a lot of time spent paint detailing all the little parts and on research to get the right colours and textures. Who said box stock is an easy build A couple of shots of the motor in the chassis with a completed wheel ready to go and a shot of the interior and motor mounted up ready to go into the body which is in the background Thanks for looking

Kool collection of Dueces - good luck with the show

For the small amounts of paint required I use a concave shaped freeze (frost) plug. Just wipe it off when done - or got it wrong and you need to start over

I appreciate the comments Steve as I know you build mostly replica stock kits. The carb colours you have shown are spot on. I too have built the occasional replica stock models and it is a challenge to get all of the different colours correct. Lots of time doing research and taking photos of real cars when the opportunity arises. One of my current builds is Revell 68 Charger being built with a theme of as a recent restoration. Lots of time spent mixing colours to get the correct sheen and/or shade for the smaller components

Steve - your attention to detail is phenomenal. I recently bought for my full size car an Edlybrok carb and it is all bright ally (the Holy I had was giving me lots of grief). Then I bought a BluePrint crate motor for it and it has a big rrs Holy that is all shiny ally in colour - I wonder if I have to ditch it for an Edlybrok when I get it into the car. I appreciate to effort to get original carb colours right but us (kit) Rodders like things on the blingy side of the colour spectrum

Testors jar paint fine. I have used them for years but now mostly use lacquers. In the video above he is using a big tip #2 and he can get away with 1:1 thinning. I use a Badger 200 with a finer tip and I need to thin the paint 1:1.5-2 paint to thinner ratio so that it will spray through the airbrush. I have used lacquer thinners, lighter fluid (clear spirit) and Testors - but that's a bit thin on the ground these days (pun intended) . I have also used a product called two-way thinners which can be used a a slower drying thinner for lacquers and enamel - PPG 4ltr code 0146/4L which you may not be able to get everywhere. By type: Lacquer thinners - speed up dry time and can produce a harder surface Lighter fluid - again speeds up dry time and paint flows well Testors - my go to for Testors enamels but down to last 1/2 can Turps (mineral sprits, mineral turpentine) - I avoid and used to use for clean up (I now use lacqer thinners for this) Two-way - like lacquer thinners but dry time is a little slower I have not tried any of the Tamiya or Mr products with Testors so cannot comment on them General - enamels take a long time to cure - weeks - so allow plenty of time if you want to colour sand and polish. A tip here - do the first colour sand grit and then leave the model to allow the paint to gas out some more then move onto finer grits until the last then leave for another day or two before applying polish. That is why I use lacquers these days as you do not have to wait so long between steps

I did it on this 56 Dodge resin kit. Interior was a bit dire and so hard to mask for the three different colours on the sides esecially so cut the sides out by a combination of cutting with a razor saw and scribing And the results - not as in depth a Steve's but certainly a (naughty word removed) load better than before

A good start on an iconic car You could mordorise the tudor with your skills

Thanks Mathias

Thanks haps Paul. I am happy with paint at the moment so fingers crossed it works out OK when I polish it out. Choosing colours and colour combos is an agonizing process when building a model and can make or break a model. In the process of all the little things to get it across the line

Dont forget when you make up a Mopar starter solenoid you will need to make left handed - Mopars are on the other side of the car🤪

A quick mock up to take the local MPH group (Miniature Petrol Heads) meeting. When fitting the drivers side guards I had an awful lot of trouble to get them to fit - found the cause - the lower radiator hose clashes with the front guard. I will now have to alter this to fit. I am annal and made a list of things left to do - comes from being a Project Manager in a past life The next big effort is to colour sand and polish out the body. Pix are as it came from the paint shop Thanks for looking

Paint sorted and has been in hot box for a while so dug body out to fit up the windscreen surround. Test fitted - what gives here? Does not even look close to fitting. Checked fit on a 5W body I have in the modelling room and nope doesn't fit that either. Then I looked at the chrome tree I cut it from - it is the same as the 3W tree without the Hemi parts. Looked again and found the correct surround on another tree and compared - the less rounded one is for the sedan...... DOH!! I cut the bottom rail out with vertical cuts along the sides and cut back the sides to suit the gap Mocked up and now looks much betterer And glued up - somewhere under the tape is a chopped windscreen surround Thanks for looking

If you have Time

Luckily we don't have those varmints down this end of the planet (NZ)

I particularly like the 5W in the first post with the zee'd frame. I am about to start a 5W project and you are giving me brain worms You have a few deuces to get done - no sleep for a while

Looking good. I know no better so was the Petty car a real race car or fictional?

The 32 is in the paint shop (still). Had an oops with the clear coat running and causing a dark patch on the roof. Sanded back and shot a coat of colour on the roof and now in the process of clear coating again. Below is a shot of the oops but is very hard to see but in real life it was very visible and being on the top even more so. you can see a dark smudge in the closeup pix. The top has been sanded in the pix. Onward we go, thanks for looking

My 32 Sedan chassis under a 32 5W coupe I chopped for a friend that has found its way back to me after he passed away last year. The chop was done about 12 years ago.

The last time I used MM enamel I thinned with cheap lacquer thinners and the result was very bad orange peel finish. I may not have used enough thinners but not too sure of that. Anyway I sanded it down and repainted with MM thinned with Testers thinners in the red tin - and it does not smell like mineral spirits. I have about enough Testors thinners left for one model and about 40 jars of MM so I need to revisit what thinners I will use in the future. Mineral spirits works but is slow drying so I avoid it. OK for clean up but lacquer thinners is better for that. Lighter fluid works well too. I think lighter fluid is clear spirit that I have used with success. And I believe a product called Two Way thinners works too. This can be used on enamels and some lacquers. I suspect this is what Testors thinners is - the stuff I have is a PPG product and I must give them a sniff test. It is not as hot as lacquer thinners. A little confusing but I think erring on the side of caution is best when you do not have a lot of raw product avaialble. The problem is that I have mostly moved away from MM enamels to Tamiya acrylic enamels and now Tamiya (and others) lacquers. There were some cool colours in the MM range that are not readily available elsewhere.

We made the pilgrimage (from New Zealand) last October and the Petersen was one the highlights for me. The main display was low riders. Not quite my cup of tea but cool all the same. The Hirohata Merc must be in the current revolving display as I would not have missed if it was there. Saw the others in the pix above though. The Vault was cool - so many cars to drool over such as the Aluma Coupe, Lil' John's 26 T, the XR6 that Tx Smith built and won AMBR and other AMBR winners. Just too many cool as cars. I took a zillion pix to remember the visit by.

Saw this today on or monthly Gold Cruisers run. Gold Card - retiree - we get one when we turn 65 in NZ. An excellent starting point for some wide five wheels and lots of patina. The Willy's has wide fives front and back. A 327 up front with an open banjo rear. Not sure of gear box but more than likely a Muncie. The car has a history dating back to 1958 as a circuit racer by a guy by the name of Rod Coppins who was big down this way. Also in the collection is a Camaro that Rod raced. Looks like the car may have had some strip action too with remains od A/GAS lettering on the roof A cool old racer using what was to hand back in the day and may have started out race career with a flat motor using some left-over bits from other race cars. As could be expected for the day the car would have evolved over time

Thats a bold move Paul. It's going to look cool too