randyc

Wow! You were able to smooth out the headlight covers! I'm working on the box stock build for a friend. I actually just got tired of sanding on this body, trying to get it smooth. Guess I'll go back and smooth some more. Not even attempting more than that on this build. And you are right - the roof is thin at the top. Knife goes through while just scribing it. But the sides are thick and terribly wavy. A LOT of work to clean these bodies up. But I'll be watching this one.

That's exactly the one. For some reason that is one of the few covers I can remember. And that build made some sort of indelible impression on me. Go figure. I bought the kit with a similar build in mind. Just the ideas. And I have used the windshield post idea more than a few times. I thought when I mentioned that you might have been the builder but didn't want to credit it incorrectly. It's so 80s. But that's when I got back into modeling and real cars and styling really heavily. It is perfect 80s. If you ever decide you don't have room for it.... There will be some of us who remember THIS and other builds like it as the historical cars like the others in these two threads. At that age where the earlier magazines and columns were before our time. Thanks, Tim. Great to be able to talk to you and others from the various columns on forums like these now.

Those are very sweet! My son & I built a BMW 1200 R/GS (i think that's the name) several years ago. Was easy and we could do it together. Other than that, modeling never "took" for him. Silly boy would rather play music and learn piano and stuff like that. Of course, he's paying his bills with being a musician, so I probably shouldn't complain. Nice bikes. What brand are they? Bikes are fun to build if you have any interest in motorcycles.

Nice! I wouldn't even have an idea where to look on ebay for things like this. Did the sellers know what they were selling? Where is that blue 40 roadster pick up that someone did inthe other magazine in the 80s? I'd love to have that one for some reason... don't judge me... lol

Sweeet!

Well, you made my post for me. Some of the global sports car series seem way more "STOCK CAR" than the mess that is current NASCAR. And a lot of thise guys are like the old NASCAR guys, trailerinig to the races on weekends, working a day job during the week. Racing for love of racing on a budget. I went to VIR a few times and LOVED the whole experience. Even with the Daytona Prototypes, there was rock star access to the paddock. Couldn't get on pit road during the race, but walking up to the cars and garages to take photos was excellent. Now make a retro series, run it through some other sanctioning body. Something tied in with other forms of vintage racing.

Thanks! Nice build too. I like your prop rods. I hope I can get my taillights to look as good as yours.

Strange how each body is different yet capture enough details to let you know what they are supposed to replicate.

I think I saw your note about the wheels on another thread. I have already filed the faces of the rears off. May go a little more when I get to that point. And will check fronts for sure. I have had a blast building this one, even though it ultimately lives with someone else when complete. I'll gladly build more of these for others! LOL I tried the Testors/Fujimi Countach years ago and never finished. My skills weren't up to the task really. I sold it off a few weeks ago and not sure I'd want to try it again. All the opening panels and such. And I still have a Fujimi '73 Porsche Rally car I want to finish. I started it long ago, so may have to try to work with whatever I did in the past.

Nice! I have one of these in a box unfinished. That is such a nice kit.

Some updated photos. I'm still in the body on/off stage, making sure everything is fitting. The headlights gave me a fit. I assembled the headlight bar before paint to get a good cement bond. Well, at time to fit, they weren't quite right, so I attempted to "persuade" the connecting bar a bit and it broke. So I thought I'd replace it with metal rod only to realize I had no rod of the proper size. Tried some wound guitar string and realized I couldn't get it to bend like I wanted. So everything is pinned and glued back together. It has a lazy eye that I need to see if I can adjust. But the lights do raise and lower so I don't want to mess with it too much. The covers fit pretty close to right when closed which is most important, I think. The hood hinge also glued in place. Insulation is gray primer, framework is silver sharpie. Might try to make a prop rod. Won't be prototypical, but may put on in for display. I hope the guy I'm building it for doesn't mess with lights and hood too much. Not the sturdiest assemblies. If building this kit, tape the headlight covers in their PROPER place FIRST, then build the rest from below. BUT, once you glue the covers to the light housings, it does not come back out. Be warned. When I put the dash decal on, the decals tried to crumble. So I sprayed some clear lacquer over them. Went to put the steering wheel emblem on and it still crumbled. So I carefully brushed some clear enamel over them. We'll try that again later. The horn button also didn't have any backing behind the yellow so it wasn't going to work anyway - too translucent. So I painted a dot on the wheel and will try to make an approximation of the horse on it later. There is also a decal that looks like the choke control for the console. Some photos of real car have it and some don't, so if it falls apart, no big deal. It will probably be next decal I try to see if the decals work better. Trying to not mess up the body decals till I get them to stay together. I really need the body decals to stay together. Wish I has some of that decal film stuff - microscale? If hte enamel doesn't work, I may try a thin coat of kristal kleer. The turn signals are a combination of TS yellow and Boyds Orange. Testors TS yellow is just too yellow, but orange sharpie was too orange for the fronts. Black sharpie around edges to define the gasket that is in photos of real car. The taillights will likely be orange sharpie. With the lead weights in it, it feels hefty. The wheels screw on and I'm getting excited about getting to the point where I can install them. Of course, I still have to build the other three. I put that one in place to check clearances and such. The chassis will have to be placed carefully and correctly to get the wheels right in their openings and already sanded the face of the brake disc hat to get the rears inside just a touch more. Paint has been polished out but will still need one more good cleaning when it's done being handled so much. Someone on a FB group said Rustoleum is trash and no good. I'd have to disagree in this case. Paint is shiny. Nice and hard too. Radiator and engine room details will likely be next. One tip - when building a kit like this, do your bolt heads BEFORE putting too much detail in. I waited too late and was hard or unable to get to all of the engine bolt heads. Also, put a piece of tape behind the tiny parts to keep them from flying into space. Haven't lost anything yet. Did break turn signal off cutting from sprue - should have cut them before the big attachments. Drilled and glued back in place. Happy to say still haven't lost any parts on this one. Knock wood. Thanks for looking. We'll see where we get to next.

Nice score! I have the Jouef 1/18 GT40 from many years ago. I did have to install some side windows and replaced the trumpets on it with aluminum tube. Good luck getting it all detailed out - should be even nicer then.

I do like the original 57 Vette. I've had a couple, and sold them off. I like the dog dish hubcaps. I have the aqua 56 FM, so that serves my needs for that era. I have some plastic builtups somewhere too. I remember building them, but can't remember where they are. I compared the silver FM and Welly. My son wanted the Welly at a rite aid. And I got the Mint car in a collection later. Hard to compare them really, but they both serve a purpose in collecting. The plaid interior in the Mint car really makes it for me.

I like it. I saw a photo of Tim's a little bit ago. not really in my range of collection, but I do have the 500K from Franklin mint. So this is kinda close to that and looks like a nice build. Looks like you have a handle on the fixes.

Thanks again for the compliments. I have some touching up to do - looking at more reference photos last night and see some things I need to adjust. I love that you can google just about any car and get enough photos to really make a nice replica. Way better than Fujimi's instructions where 90% of the parts are painted silver or black. The dash decal tried to come apart, but I was able to save it. However, probably going to clear the rest of the sheet to try to keep it together. This has been a fun build, even if it is for someone else ultimately. I'll be glad to get back to my 68 Chevelle. It's in primer now and I'll likely try to use some of what I learned here to make the paint a little slicker.

Nice page. i looked at more thant he UOR cars. Those are great! I used to love building those. But the diecasts may be even better. I have liked everything I have from !cons so far.

Thanks guys. But like usual, when I see my photos, I always see more I could do. Or neater. Just hoping no one looks this close too often.

one of these days I'll get decals from him... seems like every time I look, I'm wanting something he either doesn't have or I'm a year off or something crazy like that...

I have a can of Rustoleum that I did some testing with. A nice polished effect. Very shiny and fairly reflective. Straight from can. I do wonder what decanting for the airbrush might do on all of these. A little less air pressure than the blast from the can. Hmmmm, might try to remember that next time I'm mucking about with the airbrush. Maybe this weekend...

More photos. Did the lines between the seat pads. One of the fin point Sharpies worked well. Saw that tip on another build of same car. This is the paint before rubbing out. Haven't started that process yet. If it weren't for the dusties in it and if it were going to be mine, I probably wouldn't fool with it. And started the foiling. I do that differently than most, probably. You can make out my quickie carb linkage. Shoulda took a litttle motre effort, but it's done.

Be sure to do some photos when you get the Daytona.

Tim, those are NICE cars.

Good luck. I've never been able to finish anything other than cars. It is a great kit. I had forgotten how nice the Entusiast kits can be. They can be finicky to build though. Takes patience and careful assembly to get everything to fit properly.

NICE!!!!

I *MIGHT* have a set of stock wheels froma Fujimi Fairlady I built. I used the mini lites on mine. I'll look if you want to try it.