roadhawg

Thanks so much everybody for the kind words. Painted the grey, then dipped an old toothbrush in white acrylic paint and "flicked" it on with my thumb.

I've had a couple of guys ask me about the model in my avatar, so I figured I might as well post it. I haven't before because its an older build....about 7 years old, but it STILL gets displayed quite often....I'll explain. Back in 1999, my father-in-law bought a well worn 1:1 scale '66 Nova, and since I had an automotive background, he asked if I would help build it with him. It took us 2 years, working part time, but we ended up with a pretty cool little car. EVERYTHING...including the interior and paint, was done by my father-in-law and myself. After the car was finished, he asked if I could build a model of it, which he could display with the real one at car shows. He still owns the Nova, and still goes to car shows and cruise ins....where the model still gets displayed, including his yearly trip to Pigeon Forge Tennessee. The model is built from the AMT kit. The first thing I had to do was convert it to a standard Nova, since the kit is an SS. I rounded up a front bench seat from the parts box. The seats were scribed with the correct pattern and I scratchbuilt the Hurst automatic shifter. The rear speakers are a pair of old chrome headlights from the parts box painted black. I opened up the doors and trunk, and grafted a Z-28 cowl induction scoop to the Nova hood. Paint is the same PPG '90 Camaro Teal base coat/clear coat that's used on the real car. The rocker panel molding and door sill plates are cut from an aluminum Coke can. The grille is a MCG photoetch piece. Wheels are from a Revell '67 Chevelle, and tires are from the parts box. My mother-in-law made a spare tire cover with a flame pattern for the real one, so I made one just like it for the model...from a paper towel dipped in diluted white glue, then painted. The only regret I have on this one is the foil....it was the first time I had used Detail Master foil, and figured it was the same as Bare Metal brand. Boy, did I learn MY lesson! From that point on, if I don't have REAL BMF, I'll just paint the trim with a brush....it would look better! Like I said, this one was built about 7 years ago, and I'm not sure that my building and painting skills have gotten any better, but I'm still pleased with the way this one came out. Now, I'll quit rambling on.....Thanks for lookin'! trunk

If you're painting small parts, brush painting is ok....otherwise, yes, use an airbrush. The main thing, however, is the primer. Warm colors like reds, yellows, oranges, etc, work best over a white primer. I use Tamiya or Duplicolor white primer. Hope this helps.

I'm gonna run out and buy some Proctor And Gamble stock............

Yeah, and while we're wishin', lets hope if they DO, they get those '69 taillights right!

Very nice job on one of my favorites!

I'm glad to see some progress on this! Lookin' good! When I get a few unfinished projects out of the way, I'm going to try building the 1976 version of this car, so I'm watching this very closely!

I travel for a living, and never know where I'm going to be on any given day, but if I'm in that neighborhood, which is possible, I'll be sure to check it out!

The rivets are the easy part. Archer Transfers makes dry transfer rivets. The armor guys love these things. http://www.archertransfers.com/

Absolutley beautiful!!!! Man, I miss Lee Shepherd!

The club I'm in has a tutorial on our website on making louvers. I've never tried it, but maybe this will help.... http://mountainmodelers.org/tutorials/louvers.html

Very nice Mustang! http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12248

Well.......the one on the right looks closest to me.

Lol! It also helps to stay at a Holiday Inn.

Looking great so far! I built one awhile back this same color. Good choice! If you did, they would have to be custom, as black was the only color stripes used on the real ones. Even black T/As had black stripes.

ONLY??????? holy moly!

You know, everybody keeps saying that this better than THEIR first build.....PFFFTTT! I think its better than a lot of the stuff I build TODAY! What impresses ME the most is you didn't give up when the paint went bad....you FIXED it! AWESOME! I've seen a lot of experienced modelers get frustrated over less that that! Very well done!

I'm not a big rig builder, and I'm not familiar with that kit.....BUT.......heres a picture of how the real air hoses hook up..... The one on the passenger side is the service line, and is blue. The one on the driver side is the emergency line and is red. The one in the middle is the electrical hook up. This type system has been used forever, lol! Sometimes the air lines themselves are black and the couplings, called gladhands, are color coded, and sometimes you see coiled plastic airlines that are color coded. Not sure if thats what you were asking, but hope this helps.

After all the rusted junkers and rat rods that seem to have became so trendy, this is like a breath of fresh air! I'm looking forward to seeing the progress on this one!

The Modelhaus has one in resin...... http://www.modelhaus.com/index.php?c=4182&p=63669 Hope this is what you're looking for. Good luck, and welcome to the forum!

Well, yes, and no. That car is a real 66 Imperial that was built for the movie, but its NOT the original Black Beauty from the TV series. To read about the original, go here: http://www.katoman.com/green%20hornet%20fo...ack_beauty1.htm (An interesting story too, I might add....quite a soap opera!) Considering who is playing Britt Ried/The Green Hornet, I wouldn't get my hopes up.....

If I ever did have any pictures of my first real car, they're long gone by now......it was back in 1970, I was 15, and it was a 1957 Chevy BelAire 2 dr hardtop. 283 2 barrel automatic, Gave $150 for it. Worked on it all winter so it would be ready on my 16th birthday....painted it fire-engine red, put a set of American mags on it......it didn't look too bad, but the interior was pretty much a snake hazard. Drove it for a couple of months, till I bought a '67 Mustang, and traded the Chevy for a Honda 250 motorcycle.

I knew a guy at the local dirt track that wanted to bet that he could predict who would win the feature event that night. He finally made a $5 bet with his brother. As soon as they shook hands on it, his brother said "ok, smart a**, who's going to win the feature tonight? The guy said, in his deep southern accent, "Why, the one that takes the checkedy flag first!".