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Went searching for some models up in my attic to help me with this project and found a few ideas on the way. Once I saw the Grand National engine, that pretty much sealed the deal for the project. The size is perfect either way you look at it. Looks a lot more to scale for this project so I have to thank Mike for his suggestion!! I am using the new Revell "donk" Grand National kit for this. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki I know, I know, it's a horrible site with them big as%# tires and rims but that's not why I'm using this kit!! Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Even the height is just perfect since the front rake will be pretty low, I don't want my oil pan hitting the speed bumps around the streets in my 'hood!! Hosted on Fotki I even like the fact that the engine will go nicely with the kit's engine bay and I still have the option to put a smaller transmission to make final installment much easier!! Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Here's a size comparison shot for visual purposes, pretty much this says it all, that Ross Gibson engine is quite big. The GN engine will look a lot "busier" once I add the rest of the parts to it. It's funny, the Ross Gibson engine uses the exact transmission found in this GN kit so now we know where they got it from!!!!

Come on bro!!! I have told you about this before and on top of that your pops is a master at this!!! Just bsing with you!!!!! Well for starters, you should have enough clear that you won't rub through. I always tell people that are doing this for the first time to try it on a spare body or hood in order not to mess up a work in progress build. Personally, depending on how rough the orange peel is I start with a 3200 grit sheet of sanding pad. This level will do the most work as it will take off the majority of the orange peel usually present on your paint after spraying but you also need to be careful not to rub through your clear. If the orange peel isn't rough you can start out with the 3600 and sometimes even the 4000. The pads start at 3200 and continue to 3600, 4000, 6000, 8000 and lastly to 12,000 which is your final pad. Not all glossy paints require a clear coat, this is always an option. Some of the available paints today have enough inherent gloss in them that you can opt on the alternatives to clear coating. I like the wet sanding method but my advice to the newcomers is to start out dry, it will be easier to monitor your progress this way. You will also find out that even the experts at times don't like the wet sanding method, it all depends on your taste once you master the process. One advantage to wet sanding is that the pads will last longer and your job will be quicker but if you don't monitor your progress closely you will undoubtley rub through your paints! It is not necessary to put much pressure on your pad when rubbing out your paints specially with the subsequent grades of pads, let the pad do its work, if necessary you can always go back to any level and go from there but you must not skip between pads for you will leave a lot of scratches on your finish. Each pad compliments the next by leveling the paint out. The ideal thing to do is practice and you will ultimately get it. One thing I will guarantee you is that once you master it you won't go back to just shooting paint on your models any more. There are still some people out there that occasionally tell me that this practice is a waste of time, but it's funny that the majority of those people that tell me that usually have about three cans of paint on their cars with no panel line or details present on their models. You can also opt to sand between coats, this will also help minimize the chances of dust particles being present on your final coats. When sanding between coats you don't need to go through each pad, just use a 4000 or 6000 for this or whichever one you prefer once you learn how to utilize them. Another thing I advice people and specially guys that are new to this is to learn to pace yourself, you get out what you put in. Painting can sometimes be a tedious process but you will agree with me that it is the first thing that attracts people to your models. Learn this phase of the scale automotive hobby and usually everything else relating to your builds will just fall into place.

Thanks George, very thoughtful of you. Let me see what I come up with at home because the guys are also suggesting a rotary engine which I have a few of and I know I also have a few other engines to look through to finally decide....

WOW!! Nice Marc, your'e not stealing threads here, your'e helping. Great idea and you used the actual kit chassis which is what I want to do! I will keep that in mind, I should have that engine in my spare kits or at the least something similar!! Nice job on your Vega!!!

Hosted on Fotki So as you guys can see this engine is no joke, it will however go just right with bigger bodied cars. It is beautiful and I will definetly use it in another project but I think I will be deciding on a different engine for this kit. Up to now, I will keep Mike's advice about the Grand National engine in the back of my head but please feel free to give me some ideas!! Thanks for taking your time and seeing my project fellas!!!

Here are some comparisons when using the newly released Revell Nova kit, the engine seems more at home on this car!!! Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki I even compared it to the engine from my recently completed Starliner and look at how big it is considering that the Starliner was a pretty big car!!! Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki

Okay guys, I have been doing my homework and yes, Chris was right, the engine seems to be a bit too big! I took several pictures of the mocked engine without the headers and transmission and inserted it into the engine bay. I know that in the 1/1 world some guys have put enormous engines on cars but this one just doesn't seem right. I also took pictures of the engine inside the new Revell Nova so that you guys can see what I am talking about. You tell me how it looks, I need all the advice I can get even though I loved the suggestion about the Buick Grand National engine! Hosted on Fotki This is the engine held together with 3M white glue, very similar to the Elmers brand. Looks gorgeous and it doesn't even have the headers and the transmission added!! Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki In this shot it just has the intake manifold added and just look at how big it looks!! Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Here you can see how much bigger it is with the rest of the upper part of the engine put together. Hosted on Fotki And yes, the oil pan is pretty low and knowing how low this car will sit chances are I will have to play around with the height of the engine vs the hood also.

Looks awesome man!!!!

It looks like you are about 1 1/2 to 2 hours from the CPMCC club that Andy talked about. It's a little far but our club is worth attending even if you can't make it every Saturday!!!

Very cool, I have always liked these Celicas, nice job!!!!

Again, that's why I love this forum!!! What a great idea Mike, I have about 2 or 3 grand nationals around here, if it all fails I will definetly keep that in mind and since it's a 6 cylinder it will go in there just perfect!!!! great idea, thanks.....

Yes Chris, it does look pretty big! Once I mock it up I will try to fit it in the engine bay and see how it will look scalewise. If I don't like it I can always use it in another model. I just hope I can get a nice little engine for the Vega that will look good, the one in the kit kinda sucks....

The variety of aftermarket products that we have available nowadays is phenomenal. Things like Bare Metal Foil,flocking, photo-etch and others are simply things we never thought of obtaining several years ago. In the case of photo-etch, in my humble opinion, we have made improvements when attempting to simulate a lot of the kit parts to make them look even more realistic. With that said, there are still details that are better to work at with some kits even if they require more work. I decided to work on the grille openigs on the Vega. I thought that the depth of the grille looks a lot more realistic than using a photo-etch one. Like I said, it was tedious but with the right tools it can be achieved. Hosted on Fotki These are the tools I used to achive this, it was taking way too long with just the sanding stick!! The dremel tool helped a lot of course but I had to be very careful not to sand through. I like the one I own, it's battery operated and it also runs at a very slow speed specially when the battery is a little drained. Hosted on Fotki In this photo I can see the light!! Of course this is when I have to be very careful not to sand through. At this point I stopped using the dermel tool and concentrated on using the sanding stick to help me finish off the job. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Once you get to this stage, the plastic just "falls off the bone". Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki As I said, I really like the depth that the grille has, definetly superior to it's photo-etch counterpart. Next step is to smooth it out some more with finer grits and later shoot my ALclad onto it. Stay tuned!!!!

Welcome my friend, lots of good people and talent here, I know you will like it!!!

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I feel like a kid in the middle of Toys"R"us, my Ross Gibson engine came in today and I just can't believe how quick this happened!! Thank you Scaledreams!!! As promised, I took several pictures of this beauty, needs a little cleaning like any other resin piece but I think it looks very good!! This thing even brought a small sheet of photo-etch, looks like wire looms and throttle linkage material!! It also contains a piece of masking tape and instructions to duplicate the belts at the front. I will be posting the progress on this engine which I will consider it to be a kit in itself so wish me luck. I will consider the advise given to me by my boy Chris Coller, looks like there will be a few fit issues but that's why we are modelers, we have to work around all that stuff. Now, let me shut up and show you guys the pictures Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki

Hosted on Fotki Mine is done, had a couple of fit issues with the chassis to body phase but overall it was pretty good. I re-scribed all my panel and side molding lines, take your time here, you will be glad at the end.....

WOW!! Too cool!!!!

This is really cool man, good luck on your project!!

WOW!! Between you and Dave's suggestions I might just go w/ the yellow!!! I love this forum, thanks guys!!!!

Managed to do some more work on the Vega! Even though it was pretty tedious I finally opened up the the small vents on the rear hatch door but it was well worth it, with some paint it will definetly look better. Hosted on Fotki Back side... Hosted on Fotki I still have to do a bit more cleaning but it sure looks better!! I had to also add some plastic not only on the hatch but on the body, the fit was pretty bad here. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki

Thanks Mike, like I said, all ideas are welcomed!!!

Another alien just joined our ranks!!!

I want that Olds real bad!!!

Lots of great ideas my friend, looks like you have your hands full. I can't work on more than 1 thing at the same time, I start a project and it will get done, that's my policy... If not, it will not get done.