Andy Oldenburg

WOW, I am stunned! So many replies.... I feel flattered and greatly appreciate all of your positive feedback. ? Danke schön! (German for thanks?)

I came about this kit by chance as a cheap special offer (15€), and didn´t know from the start what to do with it. I didn´t want to build yet another stock pony car with rally stripes (no offense to you fans out there✌️). Then I saw some pics from car shows with heavy modifications. Well OK..... can I build wing doors and how to engineer them??? Those show cars have a hydraulic system that pushes the door outward first, then tips them upward. I was unable to manufacture that hydraulic system in 1:25?. But the solution was a single pivot point in the body. The doors are connected with a 1mm brass rod in an styrene tube. I pull the doors outward carefully and then tip them upright, voila! The paint is a self mixed orange with 30 % metallic fluid, Schmincke AERO Color Airbrush acrylic. 2 Layers of AK Crystal Varnish give it the proper shine. The wheels and some smaller parts like the carb are from Scale Production. I had to slice the front wheels to make them fit under the fenders and for a real look. The grill is cut open and replaced with metal mesh. The engine was modified for a power look, plus various details. I discarded the air filter box and attached the scoop right to the custom air filter. This is one of those builds when I dream of what a 1:1 would look like in front of my house??? I hope you like my ideas! More details are in my WIP thread. Thank you for watching! You can check out the video with this link: https://youtu.be/VhkiVH2p-vk

Hi Alan, Kyle, Robert and Andrew, and anyone I might have forgotten, thanks for your friendly response! That means a lot to me and gives me motivation for my next build. Which will be....?, haven´t decided yet?

I´ve finally crossed the finish line! Getting the last parts together went faster than I had expected. Fortunately no bad surprise came up and I wasn´t forced to any emergency surgery on the chassis or body?. The wedding was easy peasy. The undercarriage got a last treatment before I could assemble the exhaust system and the suspension. Since I wanted to drop the body as much as possible, the spring mounts were cut down as much as possible. It was a pinch assembly with a little tension on the exhaust pipes. So I clamped the parts until the glue dried. I was quite dismayed about the details of the engine bay. Battery, brake booster, washer tank etc are all molded on. I didn´t have the nerve on this model to chop up and rebuild the bay, so I chose to craft covers for the bay sides. First, the cables, lines and the cooling hose needed to be connected. The kit scoop was disconnected from the filter box. I attached it directly to my custom air filter and that looks quite aggressive now. The covers are fabricated from .5mm sheet styrene. I had a decal sheet for quite a while with a carbon/kevlar print and now I finally had a suitable use for that look. The upgraded grill needed a small amount of filing to fit correctly and the metal grid looks much cooler than the standard structure surface. The epoxy printed wheels are now jet black and glossy. I added disc brakes and calipers painted in orange to match the body. Originally I had planned to set the front wheels straight. But while the epoxy glue was drying I tipped them into a left steered position and just had to keep them that way. Unfortunately, now the steering wheel is positioned straight... well, I won´t tell anyone. I had to fill the gap on the rocker and between the rear bench and the body. The sheet styrene is sprayed in the anthracite interior tone. I added a thin stripe of BMF to the doorstep. Now comes the last step that I was nervous about: Connecting the gull wing doors. I had my plan how to glue them to the hinges. First I had to make sure, that they would not disconnect by slight force or my clumsyness any time later. I sanded the inside surface of the doors rough to make the epoxy glue stick better, then I worked the hinges in a similar way. I inserted the correct amount of glue into the door cavities, slipped the doors onto the hinges and then gently closed the doors. To make sure nothing would slip they were fixed with tape. While the glue was hardening, I attached the prepared door mirrors. I generally pin my mirrors to the doors. No more slipping off, no glue mess on a finished body. I can glue them with white glue and that leaves no mess or marks. And they don´t break off so easily any more. My hopes were not disappointed! I danced a pogo round my shop after opening the doors for the first time! The idea worked and the effect is stunning! I am in model builders heaven.... I now have to think about how to stage this build for the "Under Glass" forum and YouTube. Thanks to those that gave me support and watched my WIP thread. Best wishes!

I´m finished with the interior tub. The floor is flocked in anthracite and seat belts are added. I was unsure if the blue kit floor mats would match to the orange seats, but they do harmonize well. The mats have received a flocking on the edges too. I drilled holes into the steering wheel sprockets and added a key with a hanger. A pair of sun visors will enhance the interior. I have expressed before, that the level of detail and complexity on this kit does not match the level 4 classification. The rear suspension/transmission and the exhaust system come as one part. And that part isn´t very detailed. So I deconstructed the whole thing with the aim to get more wow to the undercarriage. A new axle was connected to the differential and then to the springs. For more detail I added a sway bar made of .5mm brass wire. The springs received clamps made of thin florist wire. To this point, the differential was still loose on the axle for the orange paint job. Now I could spray the spring/transmission setup with anthracite grey. I attached the brake lines and the fuel line to the floor part. I drill small holes and loop the thin cables with a thin wire and then pull the wire tight onto the top side. The wires are twiddled a bit and bent down to be fixed with a drop of super glue. After the glue is dried, I cut off the excess. The parking brake cable needed a bit more effort. for this I use a very thin coated cable I get from a crafts store for fashion jewelry. The setup on the 1:1 Firebird was not too difficult to duplicate. On the side the body work was moving on too. After the first clear coat and a grit 6000 sanding, the bare metal and my selection of decals were attached. I had to wait a few days for the final clear finish, because we had a very high humidity here. I wanted to avoid having to polish much afterwards. I warmed my can of Molotow Crystal Varnish to make the paint flow better and the result was great. My wheels are from Scale Production, fine printed and with rubber wheels. But all four have the same width and they don´t fit under the front fenders, would not look good either. I sliced the front wheels by about 20% to make them fit and give them a realistic appearance. The kit grill needed some treatment for more detail also. I cut off and opened the back side, so I could fit in a fine metal mesh. in addition, the kit headlamps were replaced with metal/epoxy lamps. There is not much work left on this kit. I´m putting the major parts together now and am exited about how the looks will be! I am still a bit nervous about fitting the doors. That will be the very last step. Crossing my fingers...?? Thanks for watching!

First of all thanks guys for your friendly response! I finally found time to get into my shop again! Making progress with the body, engine and interior. This is the body after the first clear coat. The orange is self mixed with Schmincke AERO Color acrylic airbrush paint, with about 25% metallic fluid. I really like using AERO Color, but due to a very high humidity, it took longer than usual to dry. Since it is water based, you have to apply and add up very thin layers to get the final rich color. I speed it up a bit with a heat gun, held at a safe distance?. The first layer Molotov crystal clear already looks good. Next step is 6000 grit wet sanding and the next layer clear. You can see that the hood is slightly warped and does not close perfectly. I have corrected that before painting with heat 3 times already but it keeps coming back, yet less serious than before. Must use my heat gun again a last time. The engine is just about finished. I wont bother you with the first steps. I discarded the kit carb. Generally I was expecting more and better details in a level 4 Revell kit. This carb is from Scale Production and does the job much better. Sorry for the fuzzy image... As always, I built the distributor myself for more detail. The messy paint on the cables will be removed later. Fuel lines, spark lines and the throttle are attached. I will not use the standard air filter box in the kit. For this 4 barrel carb I built an air filter that will be connected to the scoop, which I cut off the filter box. The filter is foam rubber wrapped around a styrene tube. Cooling hose connected. I pull the thin copper filaments out of a vinyl wire and fill the space with a 1mm aluminum wire. It is now bendable in every direction and shape. I like to deconstruct the pulley/belt part so I can set up "real" rubber belts. The wheels get some working with thin styrene slices and photo etched nuts. The belts are cut off a 1mm rubber mat. Getting 2 belts on the pulley wheels took some weaving, but it ended up in line. The air filter received a mesh metal cover. For the interior I chose a dark grey called stealth. I don´t often use a heavy black. If you look at a car or any other item, it is hardly ever a deep black, unless it has a high gloss finish. Typically matte surfaces appear anthracite or, if aged, very dark grey. Imho a black also neutralizes many fine details. Anyway, after 2 coats of stealth I masked the seats for a 2-tone upgrading. After a silver base coat I airbrushed the orange body paint. The dashboard received the same color and fortunately this kit has good decals. As so often, the open areas for the gauges didn´t quite fit perfectly. With a round nose pliers I bent rings of .4mm silver wire to enhance the gauges. Hm... magnified this big, now I see that the rings are a bit wonky? Thanks for watching!

This kit was on special sale and out of an impulse I bought it, without really knowing what to do with it. I am not THAT fond of the Firebird, but it seemed to call my name and send wishes to make something special out of it. After brooding about the possibilities I decided to turn it into a show car. But a show car needs something special for the show, so it had to be the doors. Simple hinges were not enough... How about gull wings! Tricky, hard to build and: I had no idea how to get the engineering to work. But eventually I did come up with solution that could make the show. First I had to cut out the doors. And keeping in mind where I was going and thinking at least three steps ahead. Meaning, not forgetting the tub with the door panels. I had to figure out the sweet spot for the hinges. The doors should move out and swivel up. I saw how this worked on a 1:1, but of course with much more hydraulic mechanism. So the open doors shall look like this: That spot on the tub: That´s my sweet spot. And with those special wheels from scale production I like the looks and the stance. After cutting out the door panels I attached a 3mm styrene tube for the "hinges". I will reinforce the tub in a later step. The panels have to fit at a precise spot, making the doors close correctly, but also giving them a natural look when opened. Here I have the front part of the tub reinforced with an extra layer of 1mm styrene. That hinge tube will be hidden completely by the dashboard. Now it´s time for the door lips. Having made a bad experience with my first door jobs I have come to add another slice of 0.5mm styrene to the body before I attach the actual lips. This way, the paint layers building up won´t prevent the doors from closing correctly. Seems to fit very well. A bit of fine sanding is necessary, but the looks are going into the right direction. A base coat in silver is applied and the body is ready for color. It did take some small amounts of putty to smooth out a few cuts on and around the door made during the door cutting process. Here you can see how the hinge is supposed to work. Thanks for watching!

Just had the time to check out the WIP forum again and discovered this thread. Jeremy, a great idea to invest this effort to make your dad happy. And a bit emotional to see everyone go along with all that advice and inspiration! Like mentioned before, your dad will be a very happy person, whatever your decisions made. But getting it close to stock and with a dark blue finish looks like a very fine option. Looking forward to the progress! Good luck!

Thank you everybody! Great motivation for my next build.... which will NOT be a barnfind?

Hi guys, thanks for your friendly response! I'm happy you like my build?

Great details and your trunk looks wonderful! The color fits well to that iconic body!

What a cooool build! Looks fantastic!

Hi Brock, beautiful job! I love the Starliner, a very underestimated car. Your paint job is great and the stance on those wheels looks cool!

I was inspired to build a rusty old barn find by a story in a classic car magazine. Being my first rust job, I had to dig up some old painting skills I used to use during my arts and crafts era. At the start I thought I might get done a bit faster than building a flashy glossy body finish. But I soon found out that a real rust and patina job means attention to every part of the build to make it look old. And I had a wonderful time doing so! Kept thinking about what part might need more dirt or rust or just get a broken look. I will skip all of the details about the building and painting process on this build. Those interested are invited to check out my WIP thread. A big part of the fun was deliberately breaking parts for the sake of the effect: Grinding holes into the body, melting big dents with a lighter, ripping up the benches, flattening tires with a heat gun.... I sure will do something like this again! Thank you for taking a look! If you want to see the video please check out this link: https://youtu.be/Cs66DjiWCQY

So I´m finally finished with this build. Although this is my first rust job, I am not a newcomer to special paint effects. I have been crafting and painting all of my life, so I was able to employ some techniques that I was accustomed to. Plus many techniques that I have learned here on MCMF. Applying those things to a model was a VERY fun adventure and I had a wonderful time. I feel really happy with my worn out Hornet. After installing the engine I added the radiator and connected the hoses. What really took time on this build was often weathering each part in a 2-3 step process. A rust streak alone won´t give a good enough effect, so an extra dab of grime or interior streak (or both) would usually follow. The tires look quite new on the still visible top, but since they would be covered soon, I just sanded the bottom side. The rats nest received a bit more volume. The bumpers received several layers of different paint. After sanding the edges and molding lines I started with a flat metallic, went on to rust streaks, to grime and back to rust again. I apply the paint with an old bristle brush, only applying a very small amount with a dabbing technique. Then I work the paint with Q-Tips, dabbing but mostly rolling the stick between my fingers. When the paint is almost dry, you can carefully work the surface again with a dry Q-Tip to get it rough. What I love about Moebius kits is that you can really rely on that the "big parts" engine, chassis and body will FIT. I had no problem with slipping the body over the interior and clicking it onto the chassis. No cutting or sanding necessary. The bumpers, headlamps and taillights also fit perfectly. The cables and lines in the engine bay got their final connection and the I added the latch for the hood. After taking these photos I drilled and blackened the exhaust tip. The gap on the rocker and the beside the rear bench were filled with thin styrene, painted and weathered to match the body and interior. The dashboard was inserted after the body and chassis were connected. I reworked the sun visors with wire so that I could attach them in a lowered position. And yes, each part received some weathering and dirt. Last thing to be done was "dusting" the build. A barn find may well be a rusty mess, but being untouched for decades also means that a certain amount of dust will have added up on every horizontal surface. I solved this step with a carefully sprayed thin layer of AERO color acrylic airbrush paint. I could have messed it, but I took my time and stopped at the right moment. Now I have to build an appropriate diorama for my junk pile?. I am out of this thread and will present my Hornet on the "Under Glass" forum on a platform asap. Thanks to everyone for watching and your kind remarks and input!

Thanks guys for your positive response! Been moving on and everything is getting structure, but since I´m going on an holiday for a week I thought I might send the last images of my progress. The undercarriage has received some heavy rust and weathering. On a rust colored base coat I dabbed matte anthracite and smudge with a worn out bristle brush and a rough sponge. On the side the various suspension and steering parts have also been weathered. The transmission, suspension and the steering are attached. And yes, the exhaust pipe is broken in two. Must have been too much rust... I wanted the tires flat on the drivers side. After pushing them on a wooden peg I heat treated them with a hot air gun for about 20 seconds and flattened them on the table top. One wheel is "wrong" also, with no hub cap. This is the "stance" after connecting to the chassis. The interior floor is flocked with a dirty mix of grey and black. In the end the bottom received a treatment with "dirt". Again with the old bristle brush I added a slight sprinkle of light brown for some realness. Also the brake and parking brake lines are attached and weathered. A shout out here to Espo, who proposed that I add a rats nest to my build! Great idea, which I executed to the front floor. The nest is a ripped sponge shaded in different grey and brown tones. The rats butt is the end of a Q-Tip with a wire tail. The benches were too clean so I added foot prints and rat-sh.. The windshield is a broken mess. After drilling a small hole I just scratched the cracks with a scalpel and sanded the window to make it dull. Bare metal foil is applied, weathered and rusted. I had enough time to attach the engine and had to halt my building. My fingers are itching to move on and I can´t wait to get back from the Netherlands...? Thanks for watching!

Come to say, I am still thinking about something like that... First though was a birds nest on the bench. Have to check what a rats nest looks like!

Hi everyone, thanks for your kind replies! Building something "dirty" is almost more fun than making a shiny build!

Hi David, naaaah, don´t worry about overstepping! Since this is my first rust job, I had to figure out everything by myself or apply techniques I was familiar with from former crafting hobbies. So I grinded from the out- and inside. But I really appreciate your advice! And will remember it on my next rust build.

Being my first Barn find, I had to think about how heavy the "damage" and weathering should turn out. I did want my build to show some heart braking patina, if it were an 1:1. I started with making some major dents, heating body parts with a lighter and then pressing a tool to the surface. I made a test on an old model with a hot air pistol but the result was a too big area of soft plastic. This denting came after I opened the drivers door for hinging. Next I worked several areas of the body with the grinding tip of my micro tool. Because the styrene has a reasonable thickness I grinded from the inside as well. Makes the holes look more like sheet metal. After smoothening out the grinded areas the body received a first paint coat in a rust brown. It is quite refreshing not to going into every effort to get the body as smooth as possible. Scratches and marks, whatever. But of course the more effort goes into getting the body messy. To cover the rough rust areas and the dents I stuck pieces of tissue paper with double sided tape. The ragged edges of the tissue comes very close to a rust blotch. To contrast well with the rust, I chose a light blue for the body. Quite good for a start, but not yet what I am targeting at. Next I sanded more body areas with grit 240 and 400 to reveal more "rust" from the first paint layer. After that, I sprayed a layer of flat clear paint on the body and immediately sprinkled fine salt from a shaker onto chosen areas, especially the existing rusty surface. When the paint was dry I worked the body with my fingers to rub off the salt. This leads to different effects. First of all you get small dents in the paint surface, making it look like blisters. Second you rub off some of the top paint coating, so that more small rust dents appear. And while rubbing, the abrasive effect also leads to additional rusty spots. Now comes the "enhancing" part. Equipped with AK "Rust Streaks" and "Interior Streaks", 2 old bristly brushes and an small rough sponge, I worked the rust areas. Keep the brushes dry and apply only a least amount of paint, switching from brush to brush and picking up and flattening the excess paint with the sponge. The deeper rust areas received a more darker tone. And in the end I further applied a few small spots of engine grime and spreckles of rust. I like the look! Next up is the BMF, which will also need some weathering. I have started with the interior while the paint layers were drying. The benches should get a REALLY worn look. I worked both benches to make then look torn open. I had some small springs that fit well into the opened seats and covered the inside with sponge material and styrene. After a creme paint coat the benches received a heavy patina and the springs got rusty. I gave the convertible top cover a work over too. The kit part is just too slick for a barn find. I covered the part with textile and added a metal bow breaking through the cover. After painting the top with anthracite it received a good weathering and rust for the metal. Thank you for taking a look! Best wishes, Andy

One of the things I havn't tried yet was a real dirty rust job. I was thinking of something old, but not necessarily going into the ´20s or ´30s. I discovered a ´52 Hudson Hornet convertible and the ideas came instantly, about how run down I could weather and age the open interior. I have built the Hornet before, but in shiny and clean, and the Moebius kits are a real good choice for fine mold engineering and good details. So far I have the engine finished and would like to show the building process and how I added AGE and grime. I use several patina colors when making an object look old. Dirt and rust don´t have a standard color and applying a lighter and darker color next or on top of each other comes very close to a natural aged surface. The products I used on this build are AK´s engine grime, interior streaking and rust streak. On the exhaust manifold I added a slight dab of copper under the rust streak. Next to an old hair brush I am fond of applying patina with small rough sponges. Take anything you might have in your household and rip off pieces the size of walnuts or hazels. In addition, I added fuel lines, various cables and details to the carburetors. I was not happy with my first idea of spark plug boots. I pulled out the first boots and slipped a slice of styrene tube under the vinyl hose to make it look like the spark plugs porcelain. With every new part attached I checked if some extra rust or weathering might be necessary. The air filters received strips of grid metal for the air intake. As usual, I deconstructed the belt part and prepared the pully wheels for a rubber belt. With the belt added, the engine is just about finished. The generator mount received some nuts and a last round of rust was needed for the fan and pullys. The cooling hoses are wire insulation stripped off the filament. I inserted a 0.6mm wire to bend it into place and added hose clamps. One thing is missing though: DUST! After hibernating for decades in a barn, just about everything gets dusty. With an airbrush I added a very slight layer of sand colored dust. I have started with the body today and hope to show the next steps soon. Thanks for watching!

@ David, Rastislav, LM, Donato, Mario and Bill: Thank you for your kind response!

@ Tom and Jeff, thanks for your kind replies, means a lot to me! Best wishes!

Hi Alan, yup, that´s the one! I bought it out of an impulse and during the next hours the ideas came flooding. Happy you like my build! Best wishes!

Hi everybody, thanks for your kind response! It´s always a thrill to post a new build here and see how you like it. Best wishes!