Spottedlaurel

Very clever work on the boot. And everything else!

Monogram 1987 Thunderbird Turbo arrived today. Haven't got much interest in building it standard, but the accessory wheels will be good for another project, I might have a home for the 2.3 '4' and then I'm wondering how well the chassis (with a slight stretch) and engine from the Tamiya Mustang Cobra R would fit under there?..........

An interesting read, good to see how you're moving on with it after all these years. I've seen them crop up for sale here every so often, but never really took much notice of them. I suppose the Land Rover is a bit too familiar here as a 1:1. The wheels and tyres do look a bit chunky compared to the standard items, but like any off-roader they do get upgraded. I was also trying to work out why the headlights on the built examples above look different to standard, in reality they're set slightly behind the surround, which can be either body-coloured or painted silver: 1974 Land Rover 88" 2.2 petrol by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1974 Land Rover 88" Petrol by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1982 Land Rover 88" Diesel by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

It certainly did! Looks great against that blue.

Thanks for your kind words David, and advice on how you applied the smoke paint. I think I will go that way, it feels like what an owner would have done back then and it should be a good contrast to the paintwork. Thanks Randy ? Thank you Craig, I'm pleased with how it's going. My first time at attempting any sort of carpet, will be useful on some of the Japanese kits I have that don't have a proper floor moulding. I think I used a bit of 80- or 120-grit wet-and-dry. I must admit is does look quite orange outside, I think it was just the strong sunlight and how my camera is picking it up. I used it over white primer and basecoat, even then I can see a hint of that in one or two places but I put as much paint on as I dared without losing detail. I can imagine grey would be an issue. More progress: 1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr A bit more work required on the grille, but going for the gunmetal seemed more appropriate than keeping it chrome and just adding a black wash. I've seen a photo of a 300 with grille in a similar colour and it looks 'right', though I havent got a clue which is correct as I've seen other 300s with all chrome. The fitment of that chrome strip on the bonnet edge is the main issue I've found so far, it doesn't seem to fix very positively nor marry up nicely with the grille below. 1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Bonnet (hood!) is assembled, inside of the bodyshell is painted as necessary including light grey to the headlining to try and lighten it up a bit in there (which I'll then cancel out with the smoked glass!). The side profile is my favourite aspect of the styling, love a wagon with hint of Coke bottle to the rear quarters. 1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Made a start on the foil work.

This one has fought me a bit over the last week. The blue went down really well, I should probably have left it at that, but I decided to go over with Tamiya Clear TS-13. I tried it one of the smaller parts, it was fine and gave a great shine, so I did everything else. It was OK initially, but after a minute or two, the finish went matt. I realised it was happening on all the parts I'd previously painted from another can of blue paint, which was bleeding through the stuff I put on more recently. Luckily it didn't wrinkle up or anything too dramatic, it just meant I had more polishing to do than I'd hoped and I think I've just about rescued it: The bootlid seems to be worst of all, I can live with that. Finally got round to snipping the mouldings out of the front and rear window openings - they attach where I'll be placing BMF, so I left them in place for as long as possible to give the shell some strength when painting and polishing. At last I'm on the home straight with this one. I'm not rushing to finish it after 25+ years, it might be one to work on when I have some leave next month, but it's good to know I've got another stage ticked off the list.

Thanks guys! No, I want to keep it clean and simple. BMF work will be quite limited, photos I've found online show varying amounts of brightwork on the 300 model that I'm sort of replicating, I'll probably do just the front and rear glass surrounds and the roof guttering. I have some Tamiya Smoke in an aerosol. I've used it once to do a sunroof on something more modern, it worked well. Father's Day means I can indulge myself and get some building time in. I elected to polish the Chevelle, figuring that it would be easy to touch up if I went through to the basecoat. In the end it was fine: Might now start on a bit of BMF work, maybe even panel lines if I'm feeling really keen, plus I have the grille, lights etc to paint.

Wow! A lot of someone's history there, and a great record of the looks of the day. You have some work to do, but it'll be great to see them resurrected.

Bluto sitting at the back there doesn't like to get his hands dirty does he? Great progress, and interesting to hear about your friend's 1:1 (although a shame to know what happened to it).

It really doesn't sound like you enjoy foiling! Looking at the quality of the rest of your build I'm sure it'll be fine and will set that paintwork off beautifully.

That's got a great look to it, nice work.

That sounds like a lot of work, it's come out really well.

Very clean, I'm sure your friend will be very pleased with it! Why not go pro street with the next one? Will be good to do something different, and use your experience from this fine example.

Looks very effective. I'd just have brush-painted it with flat aluminum, and it wouldn't have looked as good.....

It's coming together very nicely, the extra detailing you've put into the engine looks the part.

Another stunner from you!

Your mod's work really well, I look forward to seeing it progress. Looks as if some delicate sanding was required for the filler on the door/roof pillars?

Thanks! Bill, it'd be great to see something on yours. On the basis of my experience with this kit I'd happily give the El Camino a go one day. Got the final coats of Camel Yellow sprayed during the week, after a couple of days in the airing cupboard I'm pleased with how it's turned out: 1:25 Revell Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:25 Revell Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr My infill of the Malibu trims seems to have worked OK. 1:25 Revell Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr Interior is complete, I'll take a better shot at some point - it's not too exciting, I've painted the seats to represent black leather with grey cloth inserts which is the kind of thing people were doing back then to modernise these old things (much as it might pain us nowadays). Thanks to TimJ for the bucket seats! It's a sunny day here, so what does it look like outside? 1:25 Revell Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr 1:25 Revell Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr It's as bright and smooth as I was hoping, with the shaved handles and badges, trim removal etc. At this stage I'm undecided about polishing it - usually I'd go through varying grades of Micromesh, then T-Cut and finally a resin polish, but I'm so close to what I want to achieve I'd hate to spoil it by polishing through to basecoat. I am also not sure about smoking the side and rear glass. I might mock it up with a bit of old film strip or even spray some smoke on a spare bit of clear acetate and see how it looks. 1:25 Revell Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

What a transformation! You've done a great job there.

Excellent progress! I really like the look of the frame with the wheels and engine fitted.

Great to see such a nice job being done on this. It's one of those kits I've seen on my regular trawls through eBay, but always assumed wouldn't be much fun to build. Your tweaks and attention to detail have nicely captured the look of the real thing.

Nice one, interior looks very inviting!

It's looking good! The lowering and wheels have worked well. Does the nose have to be fixed on after the body and chassis are fixed to each other? I've just 'accidentally' got one of these off eBay and I'm thinking about what to do do with it (eventually). Some very useful build info in this thread.

That's very cool! Fantastic paint, in the first shot or two I wondered if it was some kind of flip colour. The wheels are familiar to me from a few Japanese kits and accessory sets, but where did the whitewalls come from? I just bought this kit, mainly for the wheels to use on another project but it's also good to get a C110 with chrome bumpers and standard arches (not GT-R or the really wide flares on some other Liberty Walk/racing versions).

Latest progress on the bodyshell and underside looks excellent!