OldNYJim

Thank you everyone! Last few touches today - I could’ve gone on building this one but I ran out of parts! ?? License plate on - I wanted an New York plate and then spotted this 90s era-correct one in my decal stash and figured it fit the build: I wanted a dark red or purple tint for the taillights so I colored the kit chrome ones with a (knock off) Sharpie, then hit them with candy red - they flip to a nice reddish-purple in the sun: I decided I wanted to have a tinted windshield so a pair of 3D glasses ‘borrowed’ from the cinema gave up a lens to make that: And then when the glue sets on that, the headlamp lenses (which I shot with Future with a little pink Pearl Ex in, just for my own amusement) and a couple of little photoetch washers and bolts it’ll be about done! Thanks for all the nice comments everyone - finished pics under glass soon!

I have used their stuff before, but MAN it’s hot. I never found the best primer to use for that, including their own - and kit plastic doesn’t seem to be getting any HARDER. That said, they have nice a nice range - I should maybe try them again! That red is nice! I did wonder if I should just try their regular red and see how I like it! Looks good! I remember that - I forget what they were painting but it makes sense that it would work well!

Mine says Model Expo on the side - but I’ve seen identical ones with different brand names - I’m sure they’re made in their thousands by a factory somewhere and rebranded by whoever’s selling them that week

Love it! Thanks for the link Bill! Very inspirational work!

I think you’re right! ??

I walked through Times Square this week and it ALMOST could have been a scene from that movie. Super creepy...never seen it so empty and quiet. The Topless Cowgirl and the Naked Cowboy where still there though, hustling away as normal....

Thanks buddy! And it only cost me a dollar at the Colorado Wild West museum ? I was waiting for some photoetch to arrive so I could add belts to the seat - thankfully the mail here seems to be speeding up so I could make some good progress today! Belts and buckles made and seat installed: And with that done I could install the dash - I smoothed out the kit dash, drilled it for a speedo and used some epoxy for gauge glass: Made a billet-looking steering wheel: (that’s my wife holding it, in case you wondered ??) Looks cool in there I think! And then pinned the kit headlamps and attached them to a bar I’ve hidden behind the radiator - mounting then to a bar like this has given me some wiggle room to get them angled nicely and evenly which is one less thing to screw up once the lenses are in... It’s starting to look like a thing! More soon!

That’s a great gauge to follow, in my opinion. I like looking at something the next day and thinking “Huh! I did a nice job of that!”. Much better than looking at it the next day and thinking “well, I’m redoing THAT today” ? I read a quote this week on the subject that craftsmanship that said something like “A builder will allow people people say “he made that” but a craftsman will have people say “HOW did he do that?!”” I like when I see someone’s work on here and I get to experience the “how did they do that?!” reaction myself! I don’t specifically build to get that reaction back, but it does feel good to get positive feedback, of course! Most rewarding for me is to think “huh! I MANAGED to do that!” ?

Well under a hundred grand! https://www.ebay.com/itm/264772447143 Bargain! ? Great project so far - I like these too! I’ll be watching!

Wow, that’s a lot of options, thanks for all the replies everyone! I can vouch for the Donn Yost technique - I really like it! Regarding the Boyd Red - a helpful model store owner sent me a photo of the red Boyd paint that he had (thanks to the person who messaged with a lead on where to maybe find some)...he had four colors of red and the one that looks like it’s labelled Boyd Red is darker than the pics in my first post, from what I can tell; The plot thickens! I suspect the one fourth from left is the one I want, but it looks awful dark unless it’s REALLY thin when it goes on. Worst case I’m out a few bucks and I end up trying one of the options above - thanks again to everyone for their suggestions! Got a lot to choose from now!

Very cool, sounds like something else I need to add to my Arsenal here! Thanks Steve!

Really impressive work on that steering wheel part! I haven’t tried Laser Bond, but I assume it’s a good go-to for domed gauge glass too, without the mess of 2-part epoxy?

I’ve been thinking of ordering one of these - what are the black “clamp” parts made of (the bits that actually grab the frame, in this shot)? Just wondering if they’re likely to mark my paint and if I’d need to modify it with some sponge pads or something

I’ve always liked that really bright red color that Boyd Coddington used to use on all his red cars - ‘Boyd Red’ he called it, imaginatively enough... I know Testors used to do the Boyd color range but I haven’t had any luck just yet finding an old-stock bottle of the red (although I’ve found some places listing jars of a darker Boyd red that looks closer to a burgundy than a ‘pure’ red). So, assuming I might not be able to find exactly the color I’d like, does anyone have a particular bright red that they like? My usual go-to is Createx airbrush colors but their red isn’t nearly as clean and bright as the examples above...and I guess I could probably find someone who can mix up a custom batch with the DuPont paint code for the Boyd color but I’m not THAT concerned about getting it exactly the same...just a really red! ? Suggestions please, gentlemen!

Thanks everyone! I don’t think I’ve got it perfected yet, but there’s definitely some mileage in it I think! I’d like to try cutting a paper mask that you could lay over the top of a masked flame and mist some black over to get a really accurate (but with a fuzzy edge) shadow effect on a set of flames too. Obviously a black shadow over a black body isn’t going to work too well so I didn’t try it this time, but this trick gave me some cool extra ideas to try! Whilst the body’s drying and waiting to be polished did a few little bits. I actually had an engine completed but I shot it with metalizers and it looked OK...but kinda dull. Realistic, but not really eye catching or very interesting, so it spent a couple of days in the LA Totally Awesome to think about what it had done: Whilst I’m rechroming parts anyway I stripped a load of the suspension pieces and cleaned them all up too, along with the steelie wheels, and got them in black enamel. I haven’t used Alclad’s black enamel (which they recommend as a base) for a while, but this can of stuff that the hardware stores around me sell seems to gloss up nicely and Alclad takes to it just fine so I’ve been using that lately: Shot the block with some Rustoleum silver, (which has a barely detectable flake, which I like) and then shot some candy red - much more interesting! And I wanted a polished bare-metal look to the underside of the floorpan so that got some black enamel too - I’ll let these bits set overnight and then give them all a polish and some Alclad tomorrow. Not totally sure how to achieve the effect I want on this part - kinda polished but not chrome - reflective but not too bright either. Might have to do some experimenting to achieve what’s in my head... Cant believe I spent ALL day on this and all I’ve got to show is some black parts and a red part - more interesting stuff tomorrow, hopefully! ??

That’s really helpful - thank you for sharing! Really impressive technique!!

Looks awesome so far!!! I like the paint!

What a great idea for a build-off! I’ll be watching! Yours looks great already Curt - and I’m excited to see John’s take on one of my favorite WCC bikes!

Oh wow, that’s CRAZY looking! And beautifully done too - I wish I’d built it! Great job!

Really impressive engineering going on with this one! Nice job!

I guess these weed trucks are considered an essential business here in New York ?? And I don’t know anything much about bikes but this caught my eye:

Really impressive! Have you ever posted a step by step or in-progress shots of this type of weathering? I’d love to see more, if you have! I picked up some metallic, metalflake-look and color changing ones from Michael’s a little while back to mess with. There’s a bunch of really cool ones that I’d like to try if I can get them to lay down nicely!

Funny thing about the three yellow Monogram bodies - one of them was a very slightly different color yellow to the other two. Barely noticeable, but just a slightly different color. Inspected it closer - someone painted it about the closest color yellow to the kit plastic that you would probably be able to find ?. Guess they liked the kit yellow a lot! ???

An VERY helpful get out clause in case anyone every questioned my use of a (maybe) 1/24 body on an (allegedly) 1/25 frame! Thanks Bill! Absolutely!!

I just got a bunch of these bodies in a job lot of parts - not enough parts to complete the kit...but it sure does fit nice with the new Deuce frame that comes in the 29 Roadster kit: I know, I know, it SHOULD fit perfect - they’re both 32s...I was just surprised that it did! Is there any benefit to building a 32 roadster this way? Probably not - unless you have a few sets of 29 kit parts and a bunch of these bodies like I do right now ?