MarkJ

Slowly getting the items fitted to the chassis. Turns out the fan was too far forward on the engine, so I had to cut it off and shorten the spacer between the fan and the pulley. Also been touching up the white where it meets the black on the chassis like the cage pads and the front suspension pieces. Vallejo makes a paint called cold white that does a great job doing this touch up work. It is a very opaque white. usually when you touch up black near white with regular white paint it just turns it gray because of the bleed through. The cold white takes longer to dry though.

Its wild how real that engine looks. Looks like you found a real engine out of a full sized one and shrunk it to scale. Thats scratch building, painting and weathering at the highest degree when you can get that done. Amazing work.

Even the plastic parts look like metal and the spark plug boots look real as well. I hope somebody at Lindberg gets to see this build when finished.

Looks like a fully functional master cylinder. Some more amazing work.

Ok, Andy. If you say so. But there is no plastic containers used in this build. I googled bl plastic. Apparently, glue will not stick to it.

You will have to help an old man, Andrew. I've been trying to figure out what bl plastic is but have no clue. But basically, the little stuff on the plates is not from the kit including all of the rear axle assembly and the front suspension. the engine is basically kit, but the valve covers and intake manifold and carb and air cleaner are not. the wheels and tires are ppp products, but the wheels have been highly modified. The body is kit, but the front and rear have been changed a lot. The rest of the chassis has had a lot of styrene square rods added to it and the gas tank is not kit. The roll cage is not kit either. I might have missed some stuff that is not kit. But thank you so much for stopping by and inquiring about the build. it is highly gratifying that a master modeler would be interested in my little old build.

Thank you, Edgar, for stopping by and commenting on the build. I appreciate the kind words. I'm starting to see light at the end of the tunnel.

Finally got some stuff painted. Will have some major touch ups to do after I get the parts installed. This always happens. It's just part of the process when you have to paint after you make an assembly like the rear axle assembly.

So, the mystery is solved. That is one awesome looking oil reservoir. Love the use of the balls to add realism. Those cuts around the reservoir are so crisp and clean. You've done it again oh master of the styrene and metal.

Excellent as always, Pierre. Those parts are so small but yet so detailed, if I could make something that small, I would probably lose it. Interesting engineering on these old vehicles. That steering rod is so long but the idler is also very long, I bet even with a huge steering wheel it would take Charles Atlas to drive one of these babies. Especially at racing speeds. I doubt if a guy like Tyler Reddick could even attempt to drive one.

Simply, WOW. You are one of those few master modelers who show up to make the rest of us feel unworthy to even try to build a model. This is as close to perfection as a human being can get. Chris, you are human, correct?

Nice save on the split decals. great color matching. Great save on the paint as well. You're a brave man to do a 1/32 scale build. I would not even attempt one at my age.

Looks awesome. I like your idea about BMF on the discs. I might borrow it for the little car I'm doing.

Makes sense that it could be some kind of oil cooler with a pump in the system somewhere down the line and also that it is cooled by coolant rather than the air. Looks like it has fins like a filter but it's not a filter but cooling fins. Very advanced design for its time for sure. Will be great when we finally find out what it is.

So, you couldn't give up modeling for a few days of sitting around with relatives trying to think about what to talk about. "You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din". Looking forward to more of the XKE. But will you have to buy another piece of luggage to get the stuff home?

I haven't got a clue but I'm going to enjoy watching you duplicate that maze of tubes and everything else in that yellow box. Can't wait to find out what it actually is.

Wow, Charles. It's almost sad you have to hide all that beautiful metal work with primer and paint. I hope everyone who sees the final photos goes back to this wip to fully appreciate this astounding build. I'm still in awe with every new update on the build. Those seats already look super comfortable.

You've done it again, oh great one. Removed something that wasn't supposed to be there and added the stuff that was. It's amazing how you find these fantastic ref pictures for something as old as this is. The assemblies you made look just like the ones in the picture. You're like a finely tuned parts making machine. Your right, this is definitely not OOB. But heck. There aint no fun in building OOB anyway.

Finally have some good weather today so I will prime the chassis mother ship and all the pieces that need to be individually painted and then install them to the chassis. Then I can finish the chassis completely, including sanding the treads off the tires. Then I just need to repaint the body, decal the body, put the finish up coat of future or whatever they call it nowadays and this baby will finally be finished. Hallelujah, brothers and sisters.

You are both doing fine jobs on these. I'm learning a lot of good stuff that I will never have to put into practice but I'm still enjoying the learning process.

Thanks, Pierre, Francis and Ken. Appreciate the kind words about the build. I'm finally to the primer section of the build.

Got the calipers finished. When you're working with parts this small, it's hard to get all 4 to look identical. When installed you can't really see them that well anyway, so it doesn't really matter. As long as there is something there to represent a caliper. I will put the best two on the rear axle because you can see them better than the front ones.

Andrew, looks like you've got your work cut out for you on this one. Will be watching intently as you take your journey and carry us with you.

Body is looking excellent and hard to believe how good the motor looks when you remember how it started with all the strings attached. This 3-d printing is amazing stuff. Someday I would love to purchase a kit and give it a go.

Did one of 4 calipers. Needs major cleanup and one more thing added to the side of it,