geetee66

Phabulous! Very good looking in that shade of green and of course, the details are superb.

I'm a massive fan of flames and 49 Mercs, so this is right up my boulevard! Glad to see you had success with the flame mask. I bought some of these recently. Nice to know they're worth the dollars. Nice work mate. Diorama photoshoot works well too.

Cheers Mark. I encourage you to have a go at the salt technique. It yields good results and is so easy to do, I don't know why I haven't done it before.

Here are some more pics:

One of the most enjoyable builds to date. I think it was because I allowed my creativity to flow on this and ignored the instruction sheet! I've learnt a lot from this kit. I used the salt technique on the paint for the 1st time, did my 1st frame Z and scratchbuilt a new cab floor. I used wheels from the AMT 32 Ford Phaeton, engine from the AMT 49 Merc with upside-down headers with metal tips. Strombergs are from RMOM with alu velocity tubes. Front tires are parts box and the rears are M&H piecrust whitewall slicks from the AMT tyre set. I drilled the front axle and used a bit of PE mesh on the radiator grille. Headlights are parts box with yellow bulbs mounted on silver wire. The gearknob is made from solder, drilled and filed to a piston shape. I found some retro pin-up decals for inside the cab and weathered the whole thing with pastels. I'll post some engine and interior shots soon. Thanks for looking

Thanks for the encouragement. I did everything by eye. The markings are so feint on my steel rule, i gave up measuring and just went for it! The adjustment of the rear length was to compensate for the pieces I added. After I had glued it together, I realized I could've made things easier by cutting length from the frame before I added the Z pieces. I ended up cutting the rear crossmember off and shortened the rails that way. My previous joins were too strong to prise apart by then.

Thanks chaps. Rob, you're right. A bit of extra length in the chassis does help with the fit of the V8. In reply to your question Brendan, I bought a small adjustable square and set the angle by eye. This is a valuable tool to have when messing with the frame. It's easy to then copy the angles on all 4 cuts. I assembled the sections on a true surface with CA and some kicker. If I was going to build a more trad rod, I'd box the frame to hide the joins, but as this is intended to be rough and ready, I'm happy with the way it looks...! Here are sme mock-up pics showing the weathered paint: I couldn't figure out how to make the headers fit, until I saw a 1:1 car with a set-up like this: I've got to make new water pipes, as the radiator is going to be much lower. Hoping to get more done this weekend. cheers

I thought I was going to build this straight out of the box. When I got all the parts out on my bench, I decided to try a few new things. I've just done my first chop, so it seemed only natural that I should take the saw to this build and go a bit further. First up was tweaking the chassis: Then the roof got it's cut-line: Wheels and caps are from the AMT 32 Phaeton kit, with M&H piecrust whitewall slicks from the AMT tyre set and Firestone fronts with hand painted whitewalls. When I was prepping the tyres, I discovered that a soft brass brush in a motor tool takes out the shine from the recess in the tread pattern. It also scuffs the sidewalls nicely. Makes them look used. Some brass photoetch for the grille: The chrome surround will lose a bit of shine by the time I'm done. After some test fitting, I've now shortened the rear end a bit and moved the front axle forward, in front of the radiator: I've had a go at the salt technique for the paint weathering. I don't know why I didn't try it before. It works well. I'll shoehorn a V-8 in to the space usually occupied by the 4-banger. I've got a Mercury flathead with some nicely engraved Offenhauser bits. More pics soon. I'll take a few quick shots of the body once I've chipped all the salt off.

Fantastic! This is the benchmark...the level of skill I aspire to. So much detail.... I'm seriously considering crossing the Atlantic to see this, if you exhibit it. I am now frowning at my bench and feel a little disappointed with my own efforts....!

I'm digging this, immensely. Looking forward to seeing more pics soon.

Welcome to the forum! There's not many of us here, from this side of the pond. Good work on the R8. I love 'em too. By the way, Halfords spray paint is pretty good on model cars. Give it a go, then you wont have brush-marks upsetting your paint surface.

No offence taken, Jason. Yes, it's a horrible kit, but I kinda felt sorry for it and wanted to give it a good home! I did wonder about the tail lights...but as I had no alternative, I used what I could. As for the roofrack supports, I know the majority of racks have 6 legs, but some do not: I'd like to do a similar treatment of either the Hasegawa or Tamiya kits. When I do, I promise to give the rack 6 legs!

Man, that gloss is a MILE deep! This ticks all the boxes for me. Sweeter than a sugar cube dipped in honey!

Another quality build, Jim. This is the level of skill I aspire to. Totally delicious.

What can I say that hasn't already been said? You nailed it. Stance and weathering are bang-on. A very good looking model.

Another fine build, Mario. Nice details and clean build. I like it.

Hi Phil, glad to see more builds coming from our rainy little island. I use rattle can paint from Halfords, colour and clear. Build up the colour coats slowly with thin coats. Don't expect to cover it with the first two coats. Give it a light spray, wait ten minutes, then give it another coat, wait again, then another coat. (I usually do about 4 or 5 colour coats and about the same for the clear) This helps the paint build up gradually and prevents runs. Do the same for the clear. I have found that if I let the colour coat 'gas-out' for a week before I bung on the clear coat, it works well. Especially if I'm using a metallic paint. If you put the clear onto a metallic paint before the colour is dry, the meatlflake dissolves into the clear and you get pooling of metallic particles in the recesses and low-spots. Build up the clear with thin coats. Don't get impatient or get too heavy with it. Wait about ten minutes between coats, depending on atmospheric conditions, then after you've put about 4 or 5 light coats of clear on it, hit it with about 2 fairly wet coats. Don't get too close with the can, but not too far, either. You don't want the clear to start drying on its way from the nozzle to the paint surface. IMPORTANT TIP: warm the paint can in a jug of warm (not boiling) water. Keep it warm as it flows better and stops the metallic paints from having a rough finish. Same with the clear. Keep it warm and shake your rattle cans hard, for 2 minutes, minimum. After spraying every coat, invert the aerosol and give the nozzle a couple of paint-free blasts to clear the nozzle. This will help the next coat from spluttering or gobbing drops of paint onto the model. To finish the paint, after it has dried and hardened for a week or so, I use Maguires Scratch X, followed by some good quality auto polish. I used to wet-sand the clear, but I don't need to now I have adopted this technique. If I want the interior/exterior colour to match, I simply hold the spray can further away from the interior parts. The added distance allows the paint to dry slightly on its way from the nozzle to the surface. If you want to simulate leather with a slight sheen to it, either give it a little rub with a cloth, or touch your face with your finger and then wipe your finger over the leather surface. I have found that the natural oil in my skin is perfect for adding a tiny bit of shine. It's also easy to wipe off again if you don't like the look of it. Here is an example of Halford's paint and clear (which I painted at night, in my back yard, holding the model at arms length) I hope you find this helpful. keep building and showing us your work.

Another quality build. Nice work. I bet the decals were fun?!!

Nice to see a modern camper getting some attention. Looks good, Jared. Very believeable, if you know what I mean...

Another build to be proud of. Good work, fella.

Nice job, mate. Good paint, clean build. I particularly like the seatbelts.

You have a lot of skill. This looks awesome. Very realistic and lifelike. I love the addition of tools behind the seat. Paint is lovely, too.

Great work! I like the details that you included (shotgun, hat, shattered glass, busted turn signal with little bits of glass left in the opening...) Couldn't help but smile when I saw this. I watched the Dukes on TV when I was a young 'un.

Very crisp looking build. Nicely done chrome-work, too.

Glad you like it! I made it using the Acme Licence Plate Maker (http://www.acme.com/licensemaker/), printed onto photo paper and stuck onto the kit part with a bit of Future floor polish. I chose a 62 Iowa plate, purely because it was black on white and this matched my color scheme.