FASTBACK340

First of all, anyone who thinks airbrushing is magic or requires the same power and stamina as running the 4 minute mile can drop that argument NOW. I dusted off a 20 yr. old compressor, found an old Pasche air brush, cleaned it out, loaded it, and dropped on a nice finish with little effort or exertion. It took all of 47 seconds to clean the brush…. add another 5 minutes to un-screw the needle and sink it in a small jar of thinners. And the paint….. If anyone that is a forum member is connected to Scale Finishes, nice product! I had bought a 2oz. bottle of the L1 Turquoise last year at NNL East. Found it on a shelf, shook it for about 20 minutes, and blew it on the car over white primer. Wow…. appears to match my 1:1 exactly. Beautiful. Once it's cleared it's going to be sweet. Yeah…. we got pictures.

That's a very odd vehicle done VERY well! Nice clean build and detailing.

Glad to hear you didn't step on it like SOME people do to their problem builds…. Hope to see some progress Bill.

OH NO !!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT SHRUNK !!!!!!!!!!!! I'm plugging in the compressor now. Wish me luck!

Yup…. kinda like paying $6.00 for a bottle of water at an amusement park: just because thats what they ask doesn't mean you have to pay it. I worked for dealerships…. believe me, none of them are doing you any favors. That's why they're called "Stealerships".

Funny story about Hilidebrandts…... In 2012 we saw an episode of DDD and Hilidebrandts was featured. My wife comments we should try it one day. A week later I had to gone out and got home about 9:30 when my wife suggests we go there. We drive up, enjoy our ice cream, and total our car coming home. Tow truck traveling the opposite direction lost an Acura off of the wheel lift. It hopped the divider and hit 6 cars, with us being #7 and caving in the cowl at my feet and sending us into a parked car. The car was an 8 yr. old VW GTI with 54K miles. My wives first "new car" we bought new in `04. Neither one of us ever mentions going "there" again……since we had ice cream in the freezer that night! And yes, the retro chrome dinner is STILL THERE. I miss that car…..

I managed to get everything ready for color. Tonight I got a late start, but fortunately didn't have much to do. I have to go into work for a few hours tomorrow morning and pick up out Easter Ham on the way home, but the afternoon is mine to spray on the color. The body looks really nice and smooth with level panels. Should look sweet! I can't wait!

I just stopped in there tonight on my way home from work ! It's one of the best general hobby shops around. They carry tons of ALL models, plus trains, All RC hobby's, crafts, educational build & use type kits, science related projects, etc…. Tamiya paints & putty, polishing kits, BMF, Parts Pack tire sets, some detail master stuff, brass, evergreen, die cast in 1/18 and the true collectors scale of 1/43. They now have a slot car track in the basement….. A really nice place to visit & wander. BTW: The train station is about a good 1/2 mile walk. Very nice area of Long Island, low key private home community with some business on the major roads. A safe environment if thats what you might be thinking. Be careful in Manhattan though….

Unfortunately I couldn't save the rear seat area on mine. I'm forced to glue the seat back folded down covering the "fix" to make the new chassis fit the ancient interior tub. Luckily, I do the same with my 1:1. I never fold up the back seat.

Deva Vue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Body is in final surfacer primer, hood is giving me a hard time. I also ran out of the Tamiya surfacer…. Hobby shop is open late on Fridays. Detour on my way home. Hood will be ready for paint on Saturday, Body is ready now….. As always, thanks for following. The next update should be color <fingers crossed>

Believe it or not, all pictures are taken with my I-phone. I also failed to mention all the exterior trim is from the Dart kit. Hopefully this will be painted by the weekend. That gives me a week to stuff it together.

OK, Wife is resting after having some work done. I managed to go sand primer, set up the trim with pins, and drill holes so I can test-fit. The body is going to get sanded out tomorrow night and hopefully I'll be dropping on the light grey primer. But here's another installment on tips-n-tricks…. Separate trim pieces that install after painting can be tricky. Gluing on a set of rear view door mirrors can turn a clean build into a mess. Here's a neat method of mounting them I learned years ago. Gather all the exterior trim that's to be mounted after all paint work is completed. Here are the door handles. Find a smooth, flat area with some meat that you can drill a shallow hole (size to be determined by what ever gauge wire/pins you have on hand) and glue in a short piece of wire (guitar string is used here). And do the wipers….. And the door mirrors. And drill some well measured receiving holes. And when your done you can install, and remove, all the trim. Once the car is finished I'll place a small dot of epoxy on the pins and slip everything in place. More sanding…. more inspecting….. tedious work.

NICE! Love the color & details! Build on!

I'm sitting at the Dentist waiting on my wife, more concerned about getting the priming done tonight..... :-o

6:30 this morning before work I was sanding & applying putty. Yeah.... I want to see it in paint soon!

After a thorough block sanding and leveling I got a good primer base coat. Now to drill the holes to pin the mirrors, door handles, and w/wipers. Another scuff and a coat of Tamiya very light grey surfacer. Then we break out the Scale Finishes bottle and squirt on some happiness…..

I washed the body last night, let it dry until about an hour ago, and I just blew on 2 coats of sand able primer. There's a gazillion sand marks and divots. The fun starts…..

Yes… plastic is being cut-up. Now we're cooking!

Cool read! But as already mentioned, why an Ambulance?!? Make's you wonder what the other suggestions were!

Here's another tool I make for scribing. If your REAL CAREFUL you can use something like this for the wheel wells, but on an open panel, you want a sharp, crisp definition. Here we're going to thin exposed panels. First I take a small scrap of angle shaped brass (or what ever scrap you can find…) and file two steps in it. The outside is the shoulder that will ride on the edge of the panel. The first inner step is the scraper. Pull it towards you in both directions. And this will give a thinner exposed edge, which makes an open hood, trunk, or door look more in scale. I just hit this lightly (the actual car has a thick lip) but you can see how the more you remove, the thinner the edge will be.

This update should be entitled what NOT to do……...Watch as I salvage the build due to my carelessness. I decided to drill out the molded in side marked lights and install 3/32" aluminum tubing w/ amber & red plastic lenses, front & rear respectively. The first one I drilled I attempt to do with my Dremel: BAD! NO! DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!!!! I hogged out a hole you could drop a header tube through. The others I did by hand with a pin vise, and they came out fine. What the ^%$# I was thinking I don't know…. Here's how I saved it. I was drilling 3/32" holes for the tubing. I found a piece of PlastiStruct tubing that was 5/64ths with a 3/32" hole in the center. So I went out in the garage and got the drill bit. Here's the tubing I used. And here's the repair after being fused in with Tenax 7. And this is how the tubing slips in….. And here's how the aluminum Marker Lamp bezels look. Neighbors are having a yard party which means I'm not going to bed anytime soon (life in the big city…..) so I guess I'll be sanding and priming later. More to come….

For both the car & yard! I just finished dinner, am watching Jeopardy, and afterwards will get to work on those side marker lights and some skim-coat on scratches.

I was scrolling through the album and what really struck me as amusing was seeing how ratty my yard was before we renovated the house & property.

I just installed a set of Hurst Lightning Rods shifter in the beast, and fabricated a metal dash w/ Autometer gauges. I also ordered the nitrous kit this afternoon…... I was so involved working on the Charger this afternoon (HUGE shipment from Speedway today. It was like Christmas) that it was 6:30 before I knew it. I also feel guilty collecting a paycheck. Almost…..