Hawk312

Looks great! I can`t wait to see the finished product.

Thanks everyone! It`s cool to see this thread come back after a year. For those of you may have missed it, it won runner up in the Revell 2013 Global Model Car Contest: http://www.revell.com/contest/revellgearz-winners-gallery.html

Thanks everyone! I decided I was going to give casting `67 wheels a shot. Here will be the master. What do you think?

Thanks guys! I am hoping to have a couple surprises with this one....a couple small changes that I have never tried with my previous builds. I am also hoping to get pictures of the real car from a source close to the buyer that will hopefully allow me to get the details perfect. Now if I just had more time......

Thanks again everyone! I got the interior finished up last night. I overlooked the fact that the real car doesn`t have power windows, so I had to raid the 1/12 Camaro kit for an extra set of roll-up window handles for the door panels. I also had to carve off the power window switches from the console, after it was already painted and detailed mind you. I also used a completely new method of doing wood grain on the steering wheel. I think it came out better then my previous method, which was a little to streaky. The appropriate label and tag were added, both printed from the 1:1 items.

Thanks guys! You are too kind...maybe much too kind. Still have to finish the polishing on the body. In the meantime, I am getting the chassis finished up. As I watched the real 1:1 car roll over the chassis cam, I noticed there were a few small differences from my previous builds, and I tried to reflect it on this one. I think I captured most of the details accurately. I am also getting close to wrapping up the interior. Hopefully I will have those pics for you soon,

Starting to polish out the body:

Thanks Danno. I`m making some progress on the chassis, I am just mocking up the engine to the chassis, so it isn`t glued down yet. For some reason, with this build, I am constantly going back to reference pictures of the real car to get all the painting right. I still have to add some of the chalk/paint markings on chassis components and the front suspension. I`m also making progress on the red interior. Hopefully I will be wrapping up this build soon.

Just a quick update:

Sorry Tom...it`s my classic dilemma...should I build, or should I take pictures and post. I am making progress though. Hopefully I will have some pics for you soon.

I am stuck with the blue 3M tape, which works ok for me, but you really need to make sure it is burnished down good. I agree Tamiya is much better, but it is a little hard to come by in my area and with my schedule.

Those look fantastic!! What kind of tape did you use?

Not sure if it is too late, or if you can get your hands on another set of decals, but if you place the decal on the hood, before it sets you can try taking a very hot wet towel and use pressure on the decal for a few minutes. It should stretch and conform to the hood.

Not that I know of. There was a Revell 1/8 scale kit. There was also a Revell 1/16 scale 34 Ford kit released back in the 80`s. I have that one and it is pretty nice.

Sorry, not too much progress on this. I`m not really good with in progress threads with my crazy schedule. But here is what I have so far. I got the carb cover where I want it to be, and am going to cast it soon. It took me a while to simulate the colors on the exhaust manifolds. It was a 4 step process to get it right. The spark plug wires were painted with red primer, which looks more orangish than red, which is what i was shooting for.

For Testors, Im not sure. I don`t use it enough. But I think when I did the Jim Yates car (that was testors) it seemed to dry a little faster than the Duplicolor. I think i waited 2-3 weeks if memory serves me. I try to see if I can scratch an area with my fingernail to test if it is cured. If I can "diig" into it at all, I`ll wait. Not very scientific, I know. Some use the "smell test", where when the paint is fully cured it wont smell.

That looks great! What kind of paint did you use?

Thanks! No, I didn`t really mock up the body and chassis. I`ve built about a dozen or so of these so far, and all of them have went together pretty well in final assembly. The paint work is usually one of the first things I do because I use lots of clear, and i want it to be fully cured by the time it is ready to be rubbed out prior to final assembly.

Thanks everyone! Thanks Harry! The real one went for $3,500,000 at Barret Jackson in January. I would be happy with 1:120th of that!

Ok, I am going to give a try on a work in progress thread. Updates might be few and far between as I am not good with these. So I am going to try to build a red on red L88 coupe without side pipes and with Rallye wheels, like the one that went across Barrett Jackson. I will be using the Monogram `67 Covette Coupe kit from the mid-90`s. This will take alot of modification to get right. Some of you may remember the "Big Scale Beauty" issue from a few years ago. I will follow the same procedures as I documented there, but this will take more modification given the exhaust, chassis, and body work needed to match the real car. The first problem is the sink marks in the chassis. Since this will be a full detail build including chalk markings, it would make no sense to not address this. After some sanding: Since the 1:1 car doesn`t have side pipes, exhaust pipes that make their way through the frame cross-member will need to be fabricated. And since the cross member is solid, I needed to carve out holes for the pipes. Given the surrounding surfaces that get in the way, this was a little more difficult than it looks: The finished and painted chassis: I have a gripe with kits that have two engine halves that divide the oil pan. Sanding, filling, priming, and eventually painting rectify this: This car has no heater. That means removing the heater box from the firewall. It also has a special intake that needed to be fabricated. The bottom carburetor cover piece is actually one of the drag wheels conformed to the general shape of the cover using an open flame, then the outer rim removed. I am using filler putty to fill in the details and to get an accurate shape. The top small cover is actually the aftermarket Moroso air cleaner lid trimmed to the size you see here. The L-88 cars had the unshielded spark plug wires (no radios) and were a flat orangish red. Since there is no heater and radio, and the kit version comes with these, I needed to carefully remove them. This is tricky because of the surrounding ridges in the dash. But lots of careful trimming, sanding, and filling results in this: The 1:1 car is Rally Red with Tuxedo Black striping. This is what it looks like right after being sprayed from the can before any sanding or polishing. I have my work cut out. Automotive lacquers are used throughout.

Hi Bill, No problem. Looking forward to seeing your future brilliant, polished work. Also, I forgot to mention, I use Duplicolor sprays almost exclusively. From memory, the top three `vettes were all sprayed with Duplicolor "Universal Black" and clear coat. They spray with a nice pattern, and it is *really* hard to make them run.

Great job on that hood. That is impressive for just out of the can! For color sanding, here is a diagram from Tamiya that explains why you would want to color sand: Now, I suppose if you already have a smooth finish before clear, you could skip that step. So, once the color is on, to color sand, I usually start with 1000 or 1500 sandpaper, depending on the level of orange peel (more orange peel, lower #sandpaper), using warm water with just a drop or two of dish detergent. I sand until there are no "valleys." After that, I start with the clear, two mist coats 10 minutes apart followed by consecutive clear coats, with 5 being the minimum. Ideally, I use at least 6 or 7 coats to avoid sanding through during the wet sanding process. I always allow mine to fully cure after the clear before wet sanding. I know there are some who say you need to wet sand before the paint becomes too hard, but that tells me that the paint still has some gassing out or shrinking which will distort the finish. I have tried wet sanding and rubbing out a finish within a couple days of spraying, but when I come back to it a few weeks later, the finish isn`t as crystal clear as when I first rubbed it out. I will usually let mine cure for a few weeks to a month, but if you are using a food dehydrator or other form of getting it to cure in an environment above ambient temperature (I use our oven, to the dismay of my wife ), it will take considerably less time. Again, once cured, I usually start with 1000 or 1500 sandpaper, depending on the level of orange peel. Once all the valleys are gone and every spot of the body looks "flat" from different angles, I will move to 2000 grit and finally 3500. I use all 3M sandpaper. For rubbing compound lately, I am using Meguiars 105. I use that and rub until all the scratches are gone, and the finish looks just slightly dull, but still has a shine. Then I move to Meguiars 205. I am really happy with this combination. With the 205, that is where the finish really starts to pop. The more you rub with this, the more shine you will get because the abrasives actually break down into finer abrasives the more it is used. And finally, and this may not be necessary if you are using some sort of polish, I use Tamiya "finish" compound to finish up. I use separate cloths for each compound, which should be a given. Hope all this helps!

Ahhh, yes, one of my favorite subjects. First I`ll back up what everyone else says... that hood looks great!! I love the color and the shine. If that is straight from the can/airbrush, that is amazing. Also, I agree some colors just aren`t reflective. Further, what is considered "depth" can be subjective, IMO. Here are a few of what I consider my "deepest" finishes: For all three of those, I used the exact same process as the one below. Lots of prep getting the body lines right, sanding carefully in multiple directions to avoid "grooves", color sanding before clear, many coats of clear (as many as 10! on some of them), wet sanding until there are no "valleys", and then rubbing it out with rubbing compound followed by polishing compound and then a "finish" compound.. Much time is spent rubbing with the compounds. Contrast that with the below,on which I used the exact same process: Even with all the rubbing and polishing, IMO there is just no way to get the "depth" that I can get with the black cars, even with plenty of clear. And speaking of clear, to further confuse the issue, here are a couple without clear that appear fairly "deep" to me: Again, in my opinion, it is quite subjective what can be classified as a "deep" finish. I feel most of it is in body prep, getting the lines straight and the panels flat, as well as lots of careful wet sanding and rubbing with the compounds. Hope this offers some perspective.

Ohhhh, how I wish! It is just a 1/25 scale kit though, of the `70 Hemi Cuda. I am going to have to take a trip here soon.

Thanks 89! Did you happen to see the new cuda kit there as well?