OldNYJim

Absolutely right! Why rush...when it’s finished you don’t get to build it anymore anyway ??‍♂️ I’m fairly new to the Testors enamels but I’m really pleased with them...I’m finally getting closer to the results I’ve always wanted but never managed to achieve with lacquer and acrylic clears. Other people get amazing results with them, but I never quite got them as nice as I do wanted - I’ve always wished I could get that miles-deep shine! The previous two builds I’ve done I let sit for 3 weeks before polishing and I think that’s going to be about the magic number for me...but I figured I’d try doing one sooner and see what happened! That layer of paint under the top layer is definitely not quite ready for a final buff yet, so lesson learned...but it came out pretty shiny anyway! Very forgiving - can’t wait to try buffing it some more in a couple or three weeks!

Thanks fellas! He also likes stealing tires off my bench, which is less endearing.... Made a start on this - I figured I’d get going on the body first so it can sit and dry a while whilst I work on the other stuff. It’s ALMOST ready to paint out of the box, very faint mould lines...the main thing I needed to fix was a big sink mark on both sides of the cowl: Kinda hard to see here, but definitely becomes more evident as you start to sand it out: Got it all smoothed out though without needing to use any filler...I’m also fairly certain that the raised lines either side of the trunk aren’t both the same diameter but I’ll leave addressing that for another build when I’m NOT trying to actually build something box stock without redoing every little thing: Went with a white primer seeing as I’m going for a bright color on this one: Before I painted the body I needed to prep the interior panels (the outside of which are the rear inner arches) and the firewall: Went with a bright Rustoleum red for this one - I want to do something 2-tone like the Deuce I’m also working on, but in red and black this time: It was meant to rain all day today but woke up and it’s like a beautiful summer’s day with really low humidity so I got to put color on this sooner than I expected - I like that color! Nice and bright! Whilst that dries for a couple of days I need to start work on the frame - there’s a rough jagged edge to the passenger side frame rail just under the reveal which really stands out if you don’t fix it (judging by the builds I’ve seen where people haven’t fixed it)... And they’re hard to photograph, but those reveals also have some decent sized sink marks that will be pretty obvious what with this being a highboy...more on that soon as the filler dries!

Not made a bunch of progress on this - got distracted by a 29 kit...but started polishing out the body a little: I think the clear’s still a little soft, even my softest polishing cloths are putting micro scratches in it as I’m trying to put the final sheen on it - guess this Testor’s enamel needs more than a week to really be ready to polish but it’s shinier than it was this morning anyway!

I’ve been casually considering a lathe - what kind is that and what kind of budget does one need to get going?

Interesting - I'm glad it's not just me I figure I just need to get some thin-walled tube of the right diameter and that'll solve my problem, but I was trying to make them all styrene sheet and not use anything I didn't have kicking around here already, because I'm stubborn I did think that a little vacuum former with some machined masters of the right size would also allow me to make what I need...but then I need to make or buy a vacuum former

These cars still look amazing today! Great job on this one Dann!

Very smart idea on the hinges - clever design and they LOOK great too!

Way behind everyone else here, but finally got myself one of these...and then after looking it over immediately ordered a couple more! Looks like it’ll be a blast to put together!

(Of course, these are real simple and don’t look too good...but if I can get them right I can make some pretty fancy designs on my cutter here and really do some wild stuff)

I figure if I have to buy a part I want online it might be a week or two for it to arrive...and I can learn a lot about fabrication in a week or two! Styrene is cheap, relatively so I do a fair amount of trying this and that to try out different techniques and see what will work and what won’t. This week I’ve been making some simple wheels, seeing if I can get anything perfectly round using only styrene sheet: I haven’t quite figured out the perfect trick yet - the middle part is easy enough but getting the rim to be perfect is trickier. The sheet needs to be thick enough to not be easily damaged, but thin enough that it will conform to the rim. Bill/Ace recommended using heat to preform the sheet around something with a tighter diameter to make it conform and that got me closer, but not as close as I’d like just yet - getting them perfectly round and being able to join the ends is a real challenge.

Well, Heinz has 57 varieties and this is way more interesting to me than baked beans ?‍♂️? My favorite semi gloss black is Tamiya, but I’ll pickup whatever’s cheap on Amazon that week when I need some and usually find a good use for it - I try and keep a few different brands ‘in stock’...can never have too many blacks shades to work with!

Dugly-er

I’ve wanted one of these since the first time around! I nearly picked one up when they were originally issued but didn’t...then regretted it for a few years when the price was super high everywhere for them. Moral of the story: always buy the kits. I ordered this last week and paid for 2 day guaranteed shipping hoping it would avoid getting caught in the hell that is overloaded-NYC-USPS-distribution-centers lately, but the seller sent it USPS anyway so here we are 10 days later: I’ve got a BUNCH of ideas for these (in fact, I ordered 2 more today soon as I’d had a look in the box), but I figure first go around I should at least INTEND to build it mostly box stock. Except plug wires. Probably fuel lines. Maybe some photo tech. Maybe some resin stuff, etc etc ???. Mr Chips decided I’m going with Option A in the manual which is the Highboy version: I like it already! I would definitely mess with the stance a little on future ones, but I’m trying to exercise a little discipline for number one at least: First impressions are pretty good - I wish my chrome wasn’t scratched up from being bagged up with the regular parts, but the wheels made it out alive which was the main thing I didn’t want to have to redo so we should be good...here goes nothing! More soon, soon as I did something!

The trick with the Molotow seems to be to give it plenty of time to dry, but still handle it as carefully as possible when you’re done. I airbrush mine but it’s a slightly different technique to Alclad if you’re used to using that...rather than misting JUST ENOUGH on like you do with Alclad this stuff seems to work best if you apply it liberally, as though shooting a wet coat of clear. Unlike the Alclad you don’t need a gloss black base, but I’ll usually shoot one anyway so I can spot any flaws in the surface easily before proceeding to the next step. I need to try Alclad chrome again too - I haven’t used any since I started using this stuff but I’d like to compare them again now my skills have improved...

Outstanding work! The mix of textures and finishes on this build is really rewarding - and something I’m trying to do better at myself! I’ll be watching! ?

Looks like you’re going to have some fun cleanup on that frame ? I like how it sits with the body on though - keep going! ??

Outstanding!! Looks GREAT! You can almost smell that old-car smell! I’m a sucker for cheap paints too - I’ll always pick up anything that seems like it might be useful one day, even if I don’t have a use for it right there and then

Thanks fellas! Waiting for paint to dry so working on a bunch of tiny little details...flocked the carpet and added some PE pedals - and make a little shiftknob to match the body: (I know it’s an automatic trans - but you gotta be able to shift it into park or drive or whatever, right? So...manual looking shifter ??‍♂️) I wanted to do some heat-staining on the exhaust once the Molotow has dried enough that I trust it not to smudge, but I also had this little metal crossmember that I made to replace the kit one that I thought would be a fun piece to try out these new metallic water colors that my wife picked up a couple of weeks back: Worked pretty well! More soon!

Absolutely outstanding work - I really admire and appreciate your work, and the fact that you take the time to document and share it.

Absolutely stunning build - really really impressive!

I think so to...hopefully it fits EASILY ? My kit got to the local sorting office 3 blocks away and got stuck there - I’m excited to get started on one of these finally!

I can imagine arriving at the show, putting the ‘63 Impala’ down with the other 63 Impalas and wondering why all the others look different ?

Those are maybe the best scale headers I’ve ever seen. Pity the post is nearly a decade old because I’d like to find out more about how those were done! ?

A little more on this one...laid a BUNCH of decals on the engine - Revell really stepped up with the Foose kit! I’ve since cleared all the black parts and they’re nice and smooth and will be ready to install once the paint has dried enough that I won’t put a fingerprint in them ? Meanwhile, a little work on the interior...added some photoetch door handles, seatbelts and so on...nothing too fancy since it’s hard to see in a Coupe anyway, at least when it’s on my shelf ? And finally, a little work on the dash - used some Gopher racing gauges and made some chrome trim rings for the instrument panel...I haven’t mastered making a ring without a visible seam yet but if you put the split part at the top they’re near impossible to see with the dash in the car anyway so no biggie... Oh, and I chromed a bunch of little parts - they’re in the “can’t touch ‘em yet’ stage for a week or so too... More soon, soon as I’ve done more!

Haha! Yes sir! Everything seems to fit pretty well from the little mock-up I did with my left-over ‘63 parts...doesn’t seem like AMT went to much effort to change their 63 tooling to 64 tooling, luckily for me. It was listed as “63 or 64” and the photos weren’t too good, so I was hoping it would be a 63, but near enough for what I wanna do with it... I can’t enter it in NNL East’s 63 Impala class...but I’ll have fun building it anyway!