Pierre Rivard

Since joining the hobby 5 years ago I had only built Nascar from the dark side i.e. lots of carving, sanding and scratch building I decided I needed a change so I decided to go for this one. Fujimi kit and I kept it a simple OOB with only seat belts added. I just followed the instructions with the only change of color being the exposed frame bits done in silver + weathering to replicate the magnesium frame which was unique to this specific car. Remember the little high school experiments with burning magnesium? No surprise Porsche never informed the drivers but luckily they are still around. (Helmut Marko is the grumpy one in the Red Bull F1 garage) All finishes have been brush painted. Vallejo primer, sanded and polished, Vallejo base color, Tamiya acrylic clear, polished with 6000-8000-12000 cloths, decals and a coat of Future to seal them. This was my first non-Nascar project and I learned a lot. I would do a few things differently but I am still pretty happy with it.

This build was completed 6 monts ago and posted on another site but I was unhappy with the photography. kit.I have reworked my setup before posting on this forum, so here it is. Fireball Robert's 63 Galaxie based on the AMT road car kit. Livery is my best estimate of Fireball's last win at the Augusta 510 (Nov 1963) I did not have a nice Starliner chassis so I had to manage with the basic one piece kit chassis. Chassis mods: chiseled out molded exhaust and built in dumps with 4mm Evergreen, Removed rear passenger footwell tubs, built fuel tank tub, Added front suspension from spares and extra rear shocks. Chassis painted black with some metalizers here and there, brushed in pigments for weathering effects. Underhood/engine area dressed up a bit: fabricated Holman Moody oil filter/cooler combo, race style air cleaner & some wiring/blumbing Interior: modified seat, IP and door panels. Scratch built roll cage with Evergreen tubes Gauges made with craft wire, PS decals and Krystal Klear. Safety belts scratch built from Evergreen and craft wire. Body: sanded down all moldings and emblems, built rear close out panel, windshield clips, rear window straps, fuel filler, lamp covers. All finishing brush painted: Vallejo light gray primer, 3 thin coats, 6-8-12k polished Vallejo color coat is my own mix of violet, dark blue and metal medium 2 step clear process: first 2 coats Tamiya with thinner and retarder, 6-8-12k polished, then one Future coat, decals and a final Future coat. Bumpers recoated with Metal Color, dry brushed + washes for weathered effect. Excellent ACE decals, 64 livery rearranged to reflect late 63 theme. Thank you again to all the collaborators helping with research and advice.

Wow, that's a tight fit. The mechanics must have loved working on this one. Are you going straight OOB on the front end / motor comps or adding some eye candy like extra shocks, oil cooler etc. You know where my vote is going right? ?

The mods make it work much better than the original. Beautiful!

Talk about making something great starting with a most basic kit. Exquisite work sir!

Giovanni, è bellissima, è assolutamente stupenda. I don't have these kinds of skills so when I see such a beautifully detailed and finished replica like your's I can only admire and maybe learn a little from you. Thank you for the detailed explanations. This is art at the highest level. Magnifique, félicitations!

Wow! Daniel, this is a most impressive build. The aluminums roof wing with all the rivets is formidable but most impressive is the engine detailing. Awesome in so many ways. Scratch building extraordinaire. Félicitations!

Nice to see an update on this great build. Beautiful job on the engine.

Thank you Gerald and Bob. I have posted pics of the finished model in the Underclass Nascar section.

Beautiful race car and your representation looks so lifelike. I never purchased a Hasegawa kit. How does it compare to Tamiya or Fujimi?

Looks super nice and will be great with decals. Looking forward to the chassis work. Does the kit provide a nice starting point for the chassis?

Thanks James. When I got in the hobby 5 years ago that car was at the top of my list and I am happy I finally got to do it. I hope we'll get to see your's soon. Sharing and learning from each other is always so helpful.

Beautiful work as always JC. I did not realize that in the MCM astrology calendar 2022 is the year of the Mustang. Keep'em coming. Love it!

Merci John. Can't blame the driver. Best all time driver in my book but it would be a close fight with Bobby A.

I like it too. I used a cheap cork tile from the dollar store and painted it flat black, then a few light dry brushed coats of various earth and gray tones.

This is the photo setup concept, done quickly to see if I can get a better color representation. I would need a bigger road surface (only had a 12x12 cork tile available) and the full lighting setup but I like the way it is going.

Thanks Mark, happy to get this one finished. I'm still struggling with the photos. The blue background needs to go. Working on a new setup.

Thank you all for the nice feedback. After all the mods on this one I'm ready for a nice OOB.

This is GTO Pearson drove for 6 races in 1971. Livery represents as raced at the Motor State 400 All details of the build in the w.i.p. section. Thank you for looking.

I would say about 50% clear, 30% thinner and 20% retarder. I put a bit more retarder on my GTO and it seems like it was a bit more fragile when polishing. Suggest you experiment on a scrap body first. You may want slightly different ratios.

Miss Body please meet Mr Chassis. Last elements needed to complete this build will be fabrication of the rad shroud and carb inlet duct. I will get these done tomorrow and then post the finished project in the under glass section.

Moving on to finishing the interior. I made a jig to do a net using #12 sewing thread and tape. Thanks MarkJ for the tip on how to do this. Dash built with addition of scratch built gauges using metal wires for bezels and Krystal Klear for the glass Assembly of all parts completed

The body was finished with the installation of grilles, bumpers, glass etc. The fab of rear window straps and windshield clips with guide pins has worked well. No more dealing with shaky hands trying to glue these in the right spot.

Going sidetrack a bit. I mix my colors using Vallejo acrylics. Purples are hard because on top of doing a metallic effect and balancing darkness there is also the delicate balancing of red vs. blue tones. Using the same base colors I developed two very different tones of purple as shown here.

Yes, Tamiya X22 acrylic clear with some X22A thinner and Retarder for acrylic.