OldNYJim

You’re totally right - I meant to research caps or plates or plugs or whatever they use to block those off in a setup like this, but didn’t ever get that far…the port spacing looks wrong to me on those pipes too, so I glued them in such a way that I can replace them at some point to fix that too… I checked my local HL today in case they had them…no sign so far. Wonder if Michael’s may get them? They have had the ‘32s pretty consistently for a few years now… Just shot a little candy blue through my airbrush! Nothing too fancy! Just the lightest grit in my set - it’s just labelled as ‘fine’ on the packet…still experimenting with this technique… Thanks for all the nice words everybody!

I wanna build this: I am familiar with this… …and have built one - it seems like the logical starting point, but I don’t know about the following… I don’t believe this kit has the right parts to backdate the truck to a ‘70 - am I right? Not an expert on Chevy trucks… Is the grille and Chevy emblem placement the main visual difference between the 72 and the 70? Is there a better kit out there as a starting point, assuming I don’t mind scratchbuilding the wedge and all that stuff? The engine and suspension and whatnot aren’t exactly the best on this ol’ Racer’s Wedge if you’re wanting to do a detailed build… For these longer wheelbase Chevy trucks did they just cut and lengthen the frame, or was there a different, more heavy-duty, frame? Finally, anything else I should know so I don’t look like a dummy when I build this thing? I need your help, Chevy truck experts!

It looks like this kit has a moulded in exhaust and axle - is there an alternative for a 70-ish Chevy truck that has a more detailed frame and suspension?

They changed their mind about the spelling of the word ‘Dually’ apparently Or do some folk actually use ‘dooley’?

Is this one getting a reissue? I like the Roth figure!

This build is really inspiring! Love it!

Atta boy Bruce! This is killer!!

This looks great! The parcels in the back are a nice touch!

Got a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot of these… Mostly out-of-box build just so I could have a one in my collection that’s loosely how Revell intended it…added some machined parts, brake and fuel lines and plug wires but otherwise I didn’t stray from the instructions too much. Paintjob is Createx candy red with candy flames and Wicked Colors Pearl white for the wheels and tires. Love these kits! Can’t wait to build more! Thanks for looking!

Thanks fellas! Got a good day of shop time in today and got this one wrapped up… Body test fit: Black-washed the grille and stuck a little FDNY decal on the firewall, for my own amusement: Finished up my machined shocks, not that you’ll really be able to see them from most angles… Got the wheels on - tried Loctite contact adhesive for this build, which I liked more than the 2-part epoxy that I’d usually use…same slow drying properties but less messy: Last painting job was applying a little chrome blueing to the headers - I’m using the kit headers right out of the box, minus the underfloor pipes: And once the headlights were on, taillights painted and I’d made a license plate this thing’s about done here: Photos under glass soon - thanks for all the nice comments!

Oh man, that looks great already ?

Ohh, sorry, missed this one - I like wrapping wire, which you can get on Amazon: Colored Insulation Cable B-30-1000 250M 30 AWG 8-Wire Test Wrapping Wire, Tinned Copper Solid Cable https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BLZ333V/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_VP92NXMYHY1NVVK3Y1KB?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 The boots are just a large gauge wire from a broken old something or other - old cheap headphones or a phone charger or something. Just slice a little piece off and slide it over the thinner stuff!

Thanks buddy! I’m a real beginner with the lathe - just using the bare-bones Taig $500 setup right now to learn the basics, but it works ok given my skill level. I did invest in a $20 set of carbide cutting bits but that aside it’s right out of the box and I’m starting to get ok at making some of the basics I cut the flames on my little Silhouette Portrait scrapbook cutter - it’s easier than cutting them freehand, but I’ve done that before too. I like being able to get them symmetrical easily by flipping the design and just cutting a reverse for the other side of the car. Good tip - thank you! What grit do you recommend for polishing the parts whilst they’re still in the chuck? Thanks buddy! Got a little more done today what with the holiday - picked out a color for the seats and shot them: I actually painted these things three times - once black with a white insert, once red with a white insert, once with stripes and none of them worked well with the rest of the pieces so I dialled it back and just went with the Citadel oxblood color. I’ll add some more detail to the seats before they’re installed, but I was glad to finally get a color that I liked ? Whilst I was messing with the interior pieces, added a little photoetch to the dash, installed those tiny decals (with a spot of Future to gloss them up and to look like lenses) and got the insert glued in place - I was going to use the sprint car steering wheel, which is my favorite, but I used that on every one of these I built so far I think so I used the other one for a change… Added some photoetch bolt heads to the brake drum backers, along with some little machined receivers and brake lines, just to add a little eye candy and detail: And then started some assembly on the frame - still need to add a wash to the chrome to darken it down a little and add some realism: (Excuse the polish residue on the frame there, need to clean that off). Having a blast with this build - can’t wait to work on it some more tomorrow! Need to figure out rear shocks (which I was going to do this afternoon, but then I had too much thanksgiving dinner and took a three hour nap) and get a few little pieces painted and then it’ll all be about assembly! More soon!

Yes please!

Michael's and Hobby Lobby both keep small silver rings in a variety of sizes - cheapest easiest option is probably to buy a bag of these rings for 2 or 3 bucks and get 100 or more to use. I think Photoetch ones look better though, personally - and a set like this gives you 50+ for a few cents a piece: https://www.ebay.com/itm/224471128348?hash=item344385991c:g:3DcAAOSwAlVgqc5r

My wife's a professional artist and she swears by this stuff - it will also somewhat salvage brushes that have been ruined by having paint left on them. I need to have a brush cleaning session and try it on mine!

I want this 'Advent Calendar' VW Bus! https://www.revell.de/en/products/advent-calendar/advent-calendar-vw-t2-bus.html "With this Advent calendar, you can now build the classic yourself. Everything you need is included in the 24 doors and at Christmas your VW T2 bus will be under the Christmas tree." Sounds like a fun way to spend a December!

I suspect, but don't know for sure, that those front tires would typically have some sort of grooves in - I think they were just using skinny motorcycle tires in this period, right? It's a small nitpick, and tires are available that have a tread pattern - I was more curious about it than anything. Those rear piecrust slicks are GORGEOUS though, and I love whatever material Atlantis has used to mold these - it has a gorgeous satin-y look to it

I really enjoyed reading about this project Kit - I saw this build in that Model Car Muse video about Ted and it caught my eye, and it immediately had me wanting to build one just like it! What a cool project - but an even cooler story!

Thanks fellas! @bill-e-boy - I don’t have a tailstock or drilling attachment for my little Taig lathe as yet, but that tip about using a higher speed is really helpful, thank you! I should probably get a few more add-ons so I don’t keep having to figure out how to do things the ‘wrong’ way ? Made some more progress today - got a good run at assembling the engine and adding plug wires: Still some more detail to make and add, but I love how these Nailheads look! Revell did a good job on this one (although I understand the port spacing isn’t quite right)… Next up, now I’ve learned about using a tumbler I gave the tires a few minutes in there to buff the sheen off… …and then gave the wheels a wash with gray craft paint to add a little depth, picked out the lug nuts and introduced tires to wheels: Used a little Rub n Buff on those nice finned brake drums, as an experiment - I like how they came out: And finally for today, I wanted a dark color carpet for the interior but I didn’t want plain old black, so I mixed up black, silver and white embossing powder to make a kinda flecked finish…came out ok I think! Thanks for looking - more soon!

Still watching, still enjoying this build!

Thanks fellas! Appreciate all the nice words! Spent a BUNCH of time on this thing today, and barely made any progress ?? I wanted to work on that cool Nailhead today, and although I’m building this thing roughly out of the box I still wanted to add some little upgrades and have a chance to practice my machining skills. So, I spent the morning making aluminum replacements for the kit’s oil filter, oil filler, starter and starter solenoid: As you can see, I also added a black wash to the chrome parts too to bring out that nice detail. I like using either thinned down black craft paint or India ink for my washes, but I sometimes find that they don’t flow out very nicely over chromed parts and they can turn out a little blotchy. Did some experimenting today and mixed up a little Createx balancing clear with the India ink to see if it would help it lay down better, and it seems like it worked pretty well! I’ll store that trick away for future use… Whilst I was at the lathe anyway, I figured I’d turn a new steering shaft to replace the kit piece, just because I thought it would be quick and easy and I haven’t made one before. Took me the rest of the afternoon ??. Tricky thing was that the shaft is pretty narrow at points, but relatively long, which meant I kept bending and ruining them. I think a better grade aluminum would’ve worked better than the stuff I had here which is pretty soft, but I got something semi-acceptable after five or six tries: Problem was, I wasn’t really happy with the machining marks you can see on the part and didn’t dare mess with it much more on the lathe for fear of ruining it…but I’d been meaning to try out my $2 Goodwill kid’s rock tumbler for a while and decided to tumble the part and see how it worked out. Dropped the part in the barrel and added some grit: And let it spin for a few minutes then gently cleaned it up…success! Got a nice semi-satin finish and removed most of the marks - it’ll definitely be acceptable for a part that’s pretty well hidden under the header anyway. Say all that to say, didn’t get very far on the engine, but I had a fun day in the shop! More progress tomorrow, hopefully!

Looks great Ron!

This little fellas arrived today - a delicious can of Rat Fink! He popped up in my eBay suggestions and I had to get myself one…of course now I’ve discovered there’s a bunch of different colors to collect and I kinda want the others too…

A little tiny bit more progress - had to get all the major components in clear so I could start actually assembling anything - so spent the last couple of nights laying some Rustoleum lacquer down. Don’t shoot lacquer as often as a lot of people do, but I DO love how quick it dries. Bunch of parts cleared, and ready to be polished then detailed… Shot 8 coats of clear on the body - shooting flames like this always adds some steps and lumps on the edges that I want to polish out as best I can, so I gave myself plenty of material to work with: Polished out the body tonight, after it had 48 hours in the dehydrator to set up nice and hard - used the usual polishing grits from 2400 up to 12000, then Scratch X followed by Novus 2. Not finished yet, but it’s looking shiny, I didn’t burn through the clear and the edges of the flames levelled out nicely: I’ll give that some more attention over the weekend - I prefer polishing in daylight if I can so I can see what needs more attention… In the meantime, I picked out a Wicked Colors pearl white for the wheels and firewall - I wanted to do something a little more interesting than plain old white - but honestly the flake is pretty subtle anyway…had to really zoom in and increase the contrast on these pics to be able to see it ? By the way - I NEVER like painting parts on the sprues…but the clever way Revell designed these wheels means you totally can, if you like. Sure makes it easy! Ive been trying to master using Future for some smaller parts - I never really got a great finish with it when I’d tried it before, so I used the firewall as a test. I kept it perfectly flat and brushed on three really wet coats over the course of a few hours and it’s the best results I’ve had with the stuff ever. Not that there aren’t a thousand perfectly good clear-coats out there, but I never actually managed to get results I was happy with with Future and I wanted to see if I could master it…I think that firewall actually looks TOO glossy now, it’s got that ‘dipped in syrup’ look, a little, but it looks good in real life and not on a screen. Can’t wait to start assembling some stuff next - I’m looking forward to messing with that Nailhead especially! More soon!