Mark W

Looking very, very good so far Jim. The head and taillight mod is going to flow with the body lines perfectly. I agree about doing something with the roof, just don’t think you should do an “extreme” chop. More like 2” maybe? This type of custom is one of the best, glad you decided to resurrect it.

Progress today, and a bit of backstepping. But I learned a few things. Paint is on the body and I don’t see a clear coat going on. When I started spraying, seemed like the paint was going on a bit thick. But did I stop? No, just sprayed it on and hoped it would flow out. Which it did, but not totally. So when I sprayed the spoiler, I thinned it a bit and it flowed perfectly. Then I picked up the body and it really looked bad by comparison. Figuring I had little to lose since stripping it was in my mind, I put straight thinner in the gun and wet the body down. Sure enough (and to my surprise) it leveled a good bit. There will still be some sanding and polishing, but not near as much as I feared. Lesson learned, if it starts going bad ,stop! Fix the problem. Now the interior, after gloss black, on went Alclad aluminum. It turned out a bit grey. But a transmission that was sprayed at the same time was very bright. Later, figuring the metallics could have settled, I resprayed it and it was a bit better. Now the transmission was orange (overspray from the engine) and I just sprayed over it. I’m going to experiment with base colors and if it turns out well, I’ll share the results.

Nice lathe work. Do you use your compound for the taper or offset the tailstock? Also, did you make the header flanges?

First build? Nice!

Looks really good! Nice sharp details.

The headers look great. I like that you made the tubes equal length.

I believe this is the one you are referring to, as their other primer says “fills deep scratches”. As always, I will do a test piece.

Dave and Todd, I also build model aircraft and was looking to keep my paint stock down to a minimum. But also I believe in keeping apples and oranges apart. (I.e. using totally compatible products) Since duplicolor makes a fine white as you said, I believe I’ll just go that route. Do you know the specific description or a label photo? I don’t want the thick one that fills scratches. thanks

Now that paint for the Chaparral is in the foreseeable future, I have a question. The color will be white, (what? white for a chaparral?) Specifically Ermine White. Now, I’d like to use white primer and I have a bottle of Alclad on the shelf. So the Alclad is lacquer, right? And the top coat will be MCW lacquer. Should be compatible. But has anyone here used these two in combination?

Now that paint is in the foreseeable future, I have a question. The color will be white, (what? white for a chaparral?) Specifically Ermine White. Now, I’d like to use white primer and I have a bottle of Alclad on the shelf. So the Alclad is lacquer, right? And the top coat will be MCW lacquer. Should be compatible. But has anyone here used these two in combination?

Been down this road, it looks like you’ve done a lot of good work. Keeping the panels flat and the scribe lines straight is quite a task. Beautiful work so far.

Thanks Mike, more to come. Glad to hear that, I’ll do my best to please.

Thanks Mike, more to come.

Thanks Dan, I needed that comment. I was going to add rear suspension, but the floor pan is all wrong, so that just wouldn’t work. The front panels were needed because you could see straight through. Adding the engine gave you something to see looking down, plus a spot to mount the carbs. I think I’ll make sure all the body mods are done and give it a coat of primer. I’ll be adding a driver, so need to do some seat belt research.

Putting the steering wheel, shifter, seats, etc in the right position just makes the interior look more realistic. Worth the effort? For sure!