Bills72sj

I respectfully disagree. It seems it is YOUR goal to build realistic models. For many, that is admirable. I am a very detail oriented person nonetheless I build for the artfulness of the project. My available build time does not permit me the luxury of perfection even if I barely have the skills to obtain it. My goal is to simply have a case of colorful completed builds that I can admire from time to time.

I hear ya brother. My 30 year old enamels come back to life with thinner. I only have 1 bottle of accidental purchase acrylic and it is silver. (the jar was bigger)

I agree. The only thing that tops a perfect application of BMF is a perfect paint job. I consider BMF one of my FAVORITE tasks.

Minor update. Was going to paint the frame black, but my choice of paint refused to dry. Changed my mind and decided to go red. Started brush painting the red and found the coverage less than pleasing. Went to Wal*mart and picked up a new container and 2 gallons of purple power. Frame soaking.

You are correct. Trailer loading may be an issue too.

There is actually a story behind their purchase on the 1:1. My buddy was getting the car painted by his sister's baby daddy. We were in his dining room and he was looking through newspaper flyers from tire stores looking for wheels to choose. Solid disc Centerline wheels were popular during that time but were spendy. American Racing Wheels made knock offs that were similar in both with, and without round holes. He asked my opinion on which ones he should get. I looked at them and said get the holes for the front and get the solids for the rear. I argued it makes the rear look racy and the fronts brakes get cooling. He liked the idea so he bought them. 15x7 front and 15x8.5 rear. Like a piece of artwork, it compels you to move your eyes checking out front then back to determine the difference. He got a lot of compliments from his choice.

I have once on the individual block letters on my Grand Prix restoration.

This is a model of a car I thought a lot about of years ago. It was what I dreamt of giving my daughter if I had one. (I didn’t. I have 3 boys) Anyway, The kit was AMT’s 70 ½ Baldwin-Motion Camaro. I loved the L-88 style hood and spoilers but didn’t like the graphics. To replace them, I had Keith Marks make me up a set of metallic magenta SS stripes. A few of them got rubbed through in the mail so he kindly made me two more sets (for free no less!) As it turned out I’m glad I had all the spares. I had a hell of a time laying them on the curvaceous hood bulge. I ended up using 8-10 pieces to get it fairly decent. The rear stripes were just as bad. It took 5 stripes to get two right. I am really pleased how all the lights turned out especially the front turn signals. I BMF’d the buckets, then yellow Sharpie’d the clear lenses. I knew they would be too yellow, so I orange markered the BMF inside the buckets. That gave me that amber color I was shooting for. I then silver dotted the nipples. The headlight buckets were also BMF’d then, I blue dotted the lenses before gluing them in with Testor’s clear window maker. The interior was a challenge. Most all of my model’s interiors, are basic black. This time I wanted to try something different. I thought gray would be good but by itself it was too plain. I started painting the inserts with metallic burgundy but it wasn’t covering very well. I stopped and painted a silver base coat then applied the burgundy. I used a red Ultra-fine point Sharpie to draw the piping. The dash and package tray in gray still did not look right, so I changed them to semi gloss black. I also did the console and the armrests to tie it all together. As much as I dread doing interiors, at least it turned out halfway decent. I was going to put gauge water slide decals on, but after the 3 hour ordeal with the hood, I just wasn’t up for it. At least the glove box got a “Camaro” script.

I watched the movie yesterday. I don't know enough to nit pick any inaccuracies but I did find the old cars in the background fun to identify. There should have been more older cars, as many were still daily transportation in the mid-60's. However, overall I felt I got more than my money's worth in entertainment. The race scenes were well filmed however the passing sequences were a bit optimistic as far as closing rate. I HIGHLY recommend it.

Beautiful work!

Excellent skills evident on the details from front to back.

Nice job! They look great!

Krylon Fusion for plastic "Textured Shimmer"

The trailer was my first build after a year away from the hobby due to a move, I decided to start back up with something easy. I cannot remember where I got this kit but it has always been homeless and loose in its sealed bag. It is supposed to have the typical racing tire carrier up high on the front but I wanted to represent a more conventional trailer. I made the 'tool box' and tongue deck from parts box pieces. I didn't like the stock rims so I selected the chrome directionals as I had enough to add a spare.

This Chevelle was built specifically for a themed model contest. The subject was 'Race Cars Past and Present'. I did not have any race cars built to show so, I made this one. It has a resin "Outlaw" cowl induction hood on a basic AMT body. The "502" hood emblems are photoetch items. I didn't go all the way and put in a roll cage but I did install a fire extinguisher on the console and relocated the battery to the trunk. I built a big block Chevy and selected the induction system based on it fitting under the hood. Normally, real race cars have a single 4bbl but, I wanted some flash thus the Weber setup. The chrome on all four wheels were messed up so I stripped them and painted them with rattle can chrome. The rear rims were opened up to fully highlight the spokes. The slicks were fitted by slightly clearancing the frame rails. I did scratch build the distributor and wires.

Thank you all for your compliments.?

I was unaware.

Future floor wax does not bother Sharpie. It simply seals it.

Have you done a 1956 Olds? I saw on at a local car show and was awestruck by it. I picked up a resin version but it hasn't made it into the queue yet.

My Dad used to drag race '34 Plymouth Hemi coupe in the 60's and 70's. I got to hang around the pits when I was little. As a teen, my group of friends and I were all into Muscle cars. we helped each other work on them to keep them running on little to no money. I built model cars first then built semis when the "Movin' On" show was on TV. Over the years I have worked on my own cars and very rarely had a pro work on them. My working career has been mostly hands on mechanical/electrical/electronics industrial type work so I am pretty handy at troubleshooting and repair. Even so, I really don't get to caught up in the accuracy of my builds. I do it mostly for the aesthetics because I like Day Two versions of most cars. I modify stuff to make things work better so I can't leave much of anything "stock". Below is a link to recent build that is actually a representation of a real 1:1.

I only have about 35 builts so far. My "parts" stash is not very big so all of it fits in a dresser drawer. I mostly use the bottom of model boxes and baggies inside of those. Since I can see right into the boxes I have not gotten into labeling anything yet. Directions in one box, decals in another, engines in another box etc. I guess I have accidentally performed the split not duplicate method regarding tires. It does make for very quick searches. My box tops I fold and keep under the dresser. I have all my unbuilts and stalled projects in one of those Ikea wardrobe cabinets. It hides them when closed and shows all the ones in front when open. Completes are in a recently acquired display cabinet to keep the kitty away from them.

In wish you the best. At the time of the build I had a few 70 Challengers so just using the roof was the path of least resistance.

Keep them in the fenders. Mini-tub it if you have to.

Missing mirror? That is done on purpose on all my builds. I handle them from time to time and got tired of the little buggers getting lost and leaving glue spots on my doors. So, I simply leave them all off. I have a whole little baggie of virgin mirrors.

Option 1: Use an ultra fine Sharpie using pin stripe tape simply as a removable straight edge. Option 2: Make decals from scratch. Option 3: Find decals from other kits that have such stripes.