OldNYJim

Thank you sir! I always enjoy really detailed threads too! I like seeing all the little steps! I didn’t go for a SUPER glossy dipped-in-syrup look for the frame, just not too lumpy ? Frames are HARD to polish, too many chances to burn through on the edges, but I gave it my best shot anyway! I like picking up supplies like that too when I see something useful! Got a bunch of weird wires and cords and stuff here! The engraving was an experimental technique which I’m going to keep working at. My Silhouette scrapbook cutter has an optional attachment that allows you to insert a pen or pencil in place of the blade. Good for card making and so on, I guess - you can have it duplicate a design multiple times and have it look hand-drawn. Instead of inserting a pen into the attachment I put a regular pin into a pin vice, inserted THAT into the machine and used it as a scribe with the cutter tracing the design onto some aluminum sheet. I actually used a little material from an unbranded beer can in this instance - my brother in law is a craft beer fan and a lot of small breweries don’t print their packaging like the big ones do. Their cans make great scratchbuilding and experimenting material! I’d like to try some other material from my stash and see what I can come up with - maybe see if I can trick the machine into doing some embossing to make nice bead lines and so on. Thank you! ? I’ve been trying to make more of an effort to have something worth posting each evening on my builds - but today was mostly sanding and prepping parts. Tomorrow’s adventure is messing with the kit headers: There’s an ejector pin mark on the back that I wanted to fill, I didn’t want to use ‘diverters’ (or whatever they’re actually called) for the optional underfloor exhaust system, and I had an idea for another little change I’d like to make too. More on that tomorrow! Thanks for looking everyone!

My word, that’s a lot of gauges! I can’t even think of what you’d need all those for. Speed, gas, revs, water temp...maybe a clock ⏰...then seven more for good measure ?

A little more bench time today - LOVE workbench Sundays! Shot the carbs and intake parts with Alclad and then plumbed them - I’m not sure if silver fuel lines exist, but the satin silver rubber cord I have here looks close enough to grey that I can say they’re grey if I have to ?: I wanted to do something for the transmission pan rather than just paint it and install it, and I had the idea of a little aluminum plate like the photoetched ones on the top, so I invented a parts company and drew up a logo... Then messed with it for WAY too long to get a layout I liked and engraved it on a little sheet aluminum to make the piece: It’s REALLY hard to photograph, but the engraving came out pretty nice - I’ll seal that and the pan with some Future to protect it from tarnishing (does aluminum tarnish? I guess it might eventually...) and make it look a little more finished before installing it onto the trans. Excuse my dirty finger - I usually have paint on my hands somewhere, and today it was black’s turn. Then, finally for today, a couple of quick mockups with the wheels I chose for this...This build seems to be leaning in a kinda 90s street rod direction in my mind, and these Boyd tri-spokes look pretty cool with it I think: The overall tire height is about a scale inch less than the kit tires, so coupled with the 3 inch-ish drop I gave the front and whatever I can reduce the rear by should have this thing sitting a fair bit lower than Revell intended. More soon!

Even cooler! Thanks for the info Snake!

I don’t know the answer - but I LOVE those seats! I’ve been looking for some like that for a project! Eagerly awaiting a response on where these parts are from from the MCM hive mind so I can track some of those down! ?

Oh wow, that’s gorgeous! Those lines ?. That’s just about perfect looking, to me! Is there a thread on this one Bill? I’d love to see more of it!

That’s really helpful, thank you! Funny thing - I was thinking the other day I’d like to make something Boydster-y...looks like I found my starting point! ?

Good news! My generic-brand streetrod radiator came in from Jegs! ? I added some hose-receivers top and bottom - I haven’t quite decided what kind of hoses I’ll run but I didn’t want them just disappearing into a hole, so I used some silver tubing for those. Then I wired the fan (man, that red wire was tiny - looks about in scale to me though, and correct if we pretend there’s two wires hidden inside it powering the motor) and added a drain plug and some other little bits - need to find a cap I like for it now! Didn’t go too crazy because you won’t see most of this when the engine’s in anyway but I wanted to do something to detail the kit part a little: Weird thing - I originally painted this gloss black to match the body but it looked awful - when I mated it to the grill shell it made the grill look real bulky and lumpy, so I stripped it back and reshot with a semigloss instead. Not often I have to strip a part because it looked TOO good ??. Id been waiting for some nice machined pulleys for the engine too - I took a shot on the ones I liked hoping they’d work ok but they’re just too deep compared to the kit part to work without moving the engine or messing with the frame...so I guess we’re using the kit part this time. Again though, they’re mostly hidden when the radiator is in and the hoses are on so not the end of the world... More soon!

And a couple more from our block - some sort of Merc that caught my eye, and a nice Rolls Royce - LOVE that red leather roof and interior!

What are the engine and parts options in this kit? I often see them listed on eBay for a fair price, but I’ve never actually seen what’s in the box...

Got lucky with a low-humidity day yesterday and shot a little clear: Got a couple of specks of dust in it that I can see, but nothing that won’t buff out...need to start making the rest of this thing now while the body does a couple or three weeks of drying...

Ohh yeah! Now we’re talking!!! ?

@IbuildScaleModels, out of interest, how soft is “too soft” for a rubber tire? Presumably any RTV mould material will sustain the weight of about any kit and is tough enough to make a tire that you can stretch into a rim. What’s the problem that you are running into with them? Mainly asking because I was just contemplating doing the same thing myself - mix some resin dye with RTV and see if I can make some usable tires!

Finally something worth seeing in our neighborhood after weeks of nothing more interesting than the UPS truck ?

That was it! Thank you!!! I grabbed one in Target last Halloween so I could open it up and see if the skulls had changed...and yep, they weren’t there! ??‍♂️? Thanks buddy! Got the frame polished (which took three repaints before I got it where I was happy) and the block painted - these two bits took me a few tries and were holding up basically everything else, so I’m glad they’re done finally! Haven’t seen valve covers like those since the nineties...I thought they’d fit this build tho! More soon!

Thanks buddy! Someone sent me a message on Instagram and said they have a scale skull that they use for shifters that has a LOT more detail...so it might get swapped as and when a couple arrive in the mail, but even if not I’m happy with it for what it is... Little update today - made a metal pedal assembly and got it in place - it’ll be pretty well hidden anyway but certainly visible enough if you peek under the dash that I didn’t mind spending a couple of hours on it: I also didn’t like the color of the embossing powder so I gave it a black wash to see if that would get it closer to the color I imagined - actually worked pretty well! ?

I’m really enjoying all the responses to this thread - I’m amazed anyone stuck it out through my long-winded ramblings long enough to actually reply ?? I really appreciate the links to further reading that have been posted above - thanks for those of you who gave me some new rabbit holes to fall down and some new builder’s work to explore! I picked up a photo book of motorcycles built by Jesse James (of Monster Garage fame not the olden-days outlaw) - I don’t care for his tough-guy persona or all the tabloid nonsense that surrounded that dude for a while but MANNNN can that guy build some gorgeous well-detailed bikes. Tonnes of tiny little attention-to-detail things to spot...love stuff like that! Definitely inspired me to think more the importance of little details in my builds!

Just a little update today...there’s a cool Hot Wheels who’s name I forget; but it’s a coffin shaped slingshot dragster that has cool little skull ‘headlamps’. Made a mould a couple of weeks back so I could make some of these... I’m going with a mostly-black interior to match the bodywork but I figured a couple of little highlights to match the colors in the flamejob might be cool: Flocked the floorpan yesterday so I could start a little work on the interior today...the frame and engine parts are still drying so I’m finding some little jobs to amuse myself in the meantime: More soon, soon as I’ve done more!

Thanks everybody! So many nice comments!! In this case I made the flames in software and then cut masks using my Silhouette scrapbook cutter. The blue material is Oramask 813 masking film - but it cuts just as well by hand as if does by machine (and before I had the cutter I used to do this kind of job by hand). I just think of them as a tiny little spraycan! ?. I usually start the spray off the body and bring it up (or down) to get a fade between colors...just takes a little practise is all. I’ve been prepping parts and learning some new techniques and messing with some new materials so haven’t got much further on this one - did decide to strip the chrome off the grille and shoot it body color (with the Ford oval in a pink to match a portion of the flames): Started a little work on the engine too - wanted to smooth out some of the ridges and grooves and fins and stuff to make it look a little more modern - but more on that soon...

Enamel over acrylic is generally ok - I would test to be safe on something that doesn’t matter but I’d be confident of it working just fine

Probably required disclaimer: I by no means mean any of this as a slight on anyone who is happy to ‘just’ build a kit box stock and put it in their shelf and not sweat it too much. Building just for fun IS the reason to build, and if you like making snap kits (for example) and putting them on your shelf to enjoy that’s no less valuable of a use of time than someone who spends a million hours on a mill or lathe making every tiny part themselves. No looking down-of-nose to anyone here at all, just interested in the thoughts of people who find themselves perpetually unsatisfied with their own work but have the desire to do the best that can be done...

I’ve been thinking a lot about craftsmanship lately and I wanted to make a post and see if anyone approaches their building from a similar mindset and see how other builders felt about this topic. I had a birthday a couple of weeks back and I was trying to think of some resolutions for a new year of being alive - like New Years but without the big ball ?. I’ve been really wanting to step up my building lately and I’ve made some steps towards where I want to be and got better at some techniques I want to be good at, and I decided a new year is a good time for a new start and a new attitude. Really push myself to make each part and build not just as good as I can do it, but as well as it can be done. Consider the best possible way to do a thing, not just the best way I already know. I don’t expect to always (or even often) hit that theoretical perfect score, but I like the idea of not taking the easy road so much as the BEST road. I think any hobby will have a natural curve of improvement and learning, but I feel like I’d like to try to make the step from being a ‘builder’ to thinking more like a ‘craftsman’ - someone who’s really at the top of their skill set and excels at what they do. I think a real craftsman might well argue that you never stop improving and never stop being dissatisfied with your work to a degree, but I really like the idea that by pushing and trying harder than you normally might, and constantly finding ways to do the same thing better than before then you’ll end up on a a rewarding lifelong journey. I’ve been trying to find things to watch and read to learn more about that craftsman mentality and find some ideas and inspiration for myself - and I’d really welcome any suggestions from anyone here. I bought a couple of photo-heavy books of a bunch of custom motorcycles and cars recently and have been poring over those looking at little details and really enjoying that, and experimenting with some techniques that I’ve been wanting to try. So, I guess the question is, do other builders feel like they’re trying to approach this hobby from a similar viewpoint? Wanting to really strive to hit ‘perfection’ and finding a lot of enjoyment from doing that? I’d be really interested to hear other people’s viewpoints if you’re on a journey of knowing you might spend a lifetime trying to get better and better at this and always looking for the best way to do something, not just the best way you know right now.

I really like this - super clean and nicely built!

Thanks for all the nice replies everyone! This technique is only really sensible when you’re trying to emulate light flames over a dark base, honestly...trying to cover black with light colors can easily result in a lot of paint build up that you have to then cover with a lot of clear to get level again, and obviously the more clear you add the more you’re hiding details and filling in panel gaps and so on. Doing it this way allows the absolute minimum number of layers - and, provided you can visualize how it’s MEANT to look at the end works ok I think! Definitely more thinking required than just masking the flames in a conventional way though... I design and cut the masks myself - I’m just using the basic Silhouette cutter and Oramask masking film which is pretty cheap and easy to get hold of. The same trick works for just drawing (or tracing) them out on some tape and cutting them by hand though, which is how I used to do it. Lazy Modeler sells some great looking masks on eBay - I actually started selling a range myself but there’s a lot of scammers on eBay and eBay is quick to refund everyone for every little problem so I’ve stopped doing that. I was getting, like, “paint bled under the mask when I used a spray can - I want a refund” and “I tore the mask putting it on the car, I want a refund” and “I ordered these and posted pictures of them on my Instagram but they never arrived so I want a refund”...so, yeah, leave that to Lazy Modeler ??. Just a cheap one from eBay, same as this; https://www.ebay.com/itm/164127624071 Ive never had a brand name one so I can’t compare, but these work ok for what I’m doing now just fine! Ditto my little $40 compressor - no fancy tools here, aside from the vinyl cutter that I like for masks. Createx is generally fine to airbrush right out of the bottle, but they sell a thinner that I’ll use occasionally too. Their paint is fairly thick out of the bottle but it lays down great, doesn’t seem to hide all the detail and doesn’t normally need more than a drop or two of thinner depending on how you like to paint. I’ve got pretty ok at spraying it right as it comes I think, but if you’re used to regular lacquers you’ll definitely notice the difference in how it flows. Main thing is, even painting it “wrong” and not thinning it so it’s watery like a lot of people seem to do it atomizes great and lays down fine for me!

I like it!! That blue is a gorgeous color!