OldNYJim

Ohh, excellent tip! Thank you, I’ll take a look! Sounds like the kind of thing I’m thinking of!

That makes perfect sense! I had the idea of narrowing the posts to match the width of the hood anyway, so it wasn’t the end of the world for me regardless, but interesting to know! Thanks!

Haha, a friend of mine asked me what ‘shenanigans’ I’ve been up to and I’ve been using it all week ? You're right of course, the stock front bumper arrangement is perfectly functional and I’m sure did it’s job just great - but it was a bit too lumpy and bumpy for what I was thinking for this one... I’ll check out those grill bars you recommended - thank you! I don’t know exactly how it WILL look yet but I’ll try my best to come up with something fitting and cool. I haven’t even THOUGHT about the rear end too much yet - too much to do on the front ?. Something clean and elegant though, I think, maybe roll the panel beneath the trunk somehow that looks nice so it disappears under the car without an obvious end point. Guess we’ll see when I’ve worked back that far ?

That’s really helpful, thanks Claude! I’m cautious enough with the non-catalized Bondo that I’m using here to try and only use it to fill the tiniest of gaps and holes and do anything I CAN do with styrene with styrene. I really should pick up some of the ‘pro’ stuff though - and yes, I like Superglue as an alternative too! Very helpful, thank you!

Thanks Espo! Luckily I’m not trying to go stock on this one or I can see there being a LOT of little details I’d want to fix - but that said, I’m glad this kit got reissued and it’s available! This week’s shenanigans mostly involved the front end again...I didn’t much like the look of the stock front bumper pan, at least not for this build. Here it is out of the box: I like the bottom edge where it meets the wheel arch, but the rest was too messy for what I had in mind...so I sliced the two edges off, tucked them in and made a center piece to connect them: Then smoothed it out with Bondo, shaped it to the body nicely (or at least close enough for right now...) and added a couple of arched pieces to blend in where the pan meets the edge of the radiator and the wheel arches: I keep coming back to the idea of some kind of floating grill bar in there but I haven’t totally decided how that would look yet. Next job today is to flip it over and see what I can do to make this piece flow nicely into the underside of the car where it meets the front of the frame. More soon, soon as I’ve done more!

This is a great project - I’m really enjoying seeing this come together!

My brother-in-law likes craft beers made by little obscure breweries, and at thanksgiving he brought a few cans that were completely unmarked except for a small peelable sticker - I made sure to save all those cans for future scratchbuilding projects. It’s nice to start with something that hasn’t got printing all over it that needs to be cleaned off!

I would guess that the bottom one has the clear over the foil..but I’m only 90% sure, if that...

And drink the soda before drilling the holes!

Ohh, that’s a GREAT looking build! The quad headlamps are cool, and the paint looks good! Nice job!

I don’t mind the occasional thread resurrection - they’re like episodes of my favorite show that I forgot I saw or never saw at all in the first place!

This looks like a fun build - thanks for the preview photos Tim! I’ll be grabbing one!

Oh, I forgot the shot that actually shows the benefit of that work ?? - kinda hard to visualize when it’s all messy and Bondo-y I know but I’m pleased with how it’s looking!

A little more (slow) progress on this one... After some time looking at the front end, I decided I wasn’t crazy about how the line of the hood intersected with the base of the windshield. As you can see from an overhead shot, the line gets broken where the hood meets the base of the pillar, and then the top of the pillar doesn’t meet the roof. I decided I’d narrow the windshield and fill the resulting gaps - the problem being that I needed to lose a different amount top and bottom to make it fit how I wanted. Some scale calculation later... I separated the windshield frame into four parts - left pillar, right pillar, upper center and lower center, and then repositioned the pillars inward of their original location by a scale 1.5 inches: Then, with the top corners angled in to meet the roof, I resized the center pieces to fit: You can see in the pics above that I’ve used a little styrene bar to help fill the resulting gaps on the edge of the windshield where it meets the fender and the door - I try and use as little Bondo as possible (despite appearances ??‍♂️) to reduce the risk of it shrinking over time. LOTS more cleanup to do, and we’ve got a lot more to do on the body, but another part roughed-in far enough that I can move forward with an idea of how the finished product will look. More soon, soon as I’ve done more!

Two paragraphs for me too - but I’d really like to see what $5ks worth of model looks like!

Good tip! I love stuff like that! Im gonna have to buy a toothbrush! ??

I used to use one of these when I worked for a print store and always wanted one - a Pantone swatch book! Printers use them to precisely match colors, and there’s literally HUNDREDS of variations of every color...but how’s this model related? Well, photos aren’t a good reference to match paint to, as there’s a LOT of variables to factor in when you decide if the color is actually accurate. If you have access to a 1:1 vehicle though, a set of these makes it easy to compare, say, a body or interior color, make a note of which swatch it matches and you’ve got an accurate reference to work off. Not just big stuff like body or interior colors either, you can see exactly WHICH shade of black that plastic dash is, compared to the black leather seat compared to the rubber hoses under the hood. My wife’s boss was throwing it out so she brought it home for me - super useful!

I LOVE threads like this! The more detail the better, as far as I’m concerned - and I love seeing impressive scratch building like this! Beautiful work! Keep it coming!

I’m really enjoying seeing this come together. A buddy of mine had a shorter wheelbase version one of these that he drove around the Upper West Side of Manhattan for his business...he let me drive it once and it was FUN! Agricultural - VERY heavy steering, but great fun!

I love it! A red fringe might look good for the roof edges? This is a really cool and inventive build on a classic design - I’m really enjoying it! Thanks for sharing!

That battery is nice tho!

You’re a great dad for teaching her a skill - and she’s doing great at it! You must be very proud!

Your daughter paints better than a lot of people I see who’ve been doing it years! Nice work! Color really pops too!

Thanks Dino - and cool build Speedy! Paint looks GREAT! Just a tiny update, as I’m replying anyway... smoothed out the hood today...before: And after: Removed the center trim, filled the hole for the emblem and the on the front too. Ready for a little Bondo, which is drying now and then I’ll finish that off tomorrow. The top side anyway...the underside is kind of a disaster so that’ll take some additional work... Smoothed out the fenders I was messing with yesterday too - I’m sure they’ll need some fiddling once they get a coat of primer but it’s a start anyway: More soon!

Luckily enough I’m close enough to Coney Island that I eat there pretty regularly - I’m a big fan of their fries too! I noticed the other day that they sell frogs legs now (maybe they always did) but I think I’ll stick with the hot dogs for now...