Jay Whittaker

Boy that came out just splendid!! Beautiful execution on a subject we don't see nearly enough of!

Great start! I'll be watching with great interest.

VERY sharp!

Downright wonderful plastic hackin'!! Perfect profile on your chop and all-around great body mods! I'm SO looking forward to seeing this in color!!

We're not quite done yet... But soon. Thanks SO much for the kind words!

Wrapped up the trim just in time to make it presentable for the ACME Southern Nationals this past weekend… WHATTA SHOW!!…. She did real respectable for her debut, but we’re not finished just yet…. We got a Hemi to detail out, not to mention fuel and brake lines to run on the chassis… Stay tuned!

Body is polished to perfection so the next step is to start scratching-up the side trim. I started with a strip cut from .005” Evergreen sheet for a foundation, then cut an even thinner strip of gold foil taken from an old hard pack cigarette box for the insert. The top strip of stainless is made from 21ga half-round Wizart wire, the bottom from a piece of 24ga half-round Wizart wire. I made the end piece from a piece of .060” Evergreen to tie the upper and lower together, and a front spear will be made to tie in the front end as well. the bottom curved stainless is fashioned from 18ga half-round Wizart wire

We got things done on the interior without incident, and even had the opportunity to get in some fine detail painting on the dash and steering wheel center. After two-toning the wheel in pearl White and light Turquoise I masked the rim and prepped the center and spokes for the Gin San powder and got that applied. The center features Red/White/Blue sections and a finish drop of 5-minute epoxy to seal. I also painted the non-existent “Chrysler” script next to the radio and gave that a burial in epoxy. The crowning touch was the rear view mirror, of which the kit piece desperately needed updating as it was dinky at best. Luckily I had a photo etch detail set from a Mercury Comet that still had its rear view mirror and bezel, so I polished it with my Dremel, shaped a piece of .030” Evergreen, epoxied the P/E to it, shaped a .005” clear Evergreen for the “glass effect” then installed the bezel and attached it to the pod. BIG improvement, and it reflects quite nicely!

Now that the insert is completed, test-fit to be sure there are no gaps and carefully secure it to the seat. You can lightly glue it, but be careful not to soak-through the material’s edge on the front side. I chose to cut strips of Evergreen, superglue then acrylic filler them as well as the insert itself. (These puppies aren’t going anywhere!) The final result compliments the body color beautifully!

Just for that little extra, I trimmed down the head on a straight pin to a rectangle, drilled a hole in the base and inserted it for a decorative button. You can apply this in whatever design you wish, or none at all. I just did one, mainly to emphasize the cushioned aspect of the insert without going overboard.

Trim a piece of the fabric with a bit extra on every side. Adjust the grain of the material and pattern so it’s straight and level, then fasten the top (or front) first. Cut a notch on each side to save the material bunching-up (saving troubles for the back side) then carefully attach one side at a time, diagonally cutting off the excess at the far end to make room for the next side.

I’ve been noticing the Testors orange tube glue getting a bad rap around the hobby lately, but it has served me well for 45 years. Although it’s not by any means my main go-to, it still has a solid place on my bench for application when building, and always will as far as I’m concerned. For this particular area it is THE perfect adhesive, both for securing the paper towel to the base, adhering it to itself after fastening to the base and folding it, as well as for adhering the chosen fabric to the base. Once you have got the paper towel secured, trim to fit the base.

Next up comes the construction of the inserts themselves. I start with a relatively thin piece of Evergreen (.010-.015) and cut it to just under the size of the opening. You don’t want to go too small as that’ll allow gaps between the seat and the insert. Go too big and you’re going to have problems on the back side. Once you have the base cut to size, cut out a piece of paper towel twice the height of the insert and fold in half.

Diving a little deeper into the construction of the seat inserts as I didn’t realize it hadn’t posted it!..... Start by rough-cutting out the molded-in inserts from the kit seats then carefully trim to its edges. You can do this either with a Dremel, X-acto, or both (that’s what I did). Be mindful to thin the surrounding edges from the back side as well so the fabric isn’t sunken down into the seat, taking away from the realism.

I appreciate the kind words folks!