David G.

Hello Everybody! For those who have been following along in the WIP section (here's a link if you're interested), this is Day Fourteen of my self-imposed Seven Day Challenge. For those of you seeing this for the first time, a brief explanation is in order. This is a challenge that I came up with for myself. The idea is to completely build a model from start to finish in seven days. They don't need to be consecutive days but there must be only seven of them. The reason for coming up with the challenge was my desire to finish a build. I have several build projects that have stalled for various reasons and I felt the need to complete something... anything. The idea was to select a fairly simple kit (Revell's Starsky & Hutch Torino) that I could stand a reasonable chance of completing within the prescribed time. It took me fourteen days to complete the build with a total of approximately 33.5 hours invested. So yeah, if I had pushed a little more and committed to building five hours per day, I could have met my deadline. That's kind of the way I planned it but it didn't quite work out that way. So, it's done and here it is. One of Television's iconic cars of the Seventies, the 1975 Ford Gran Torino. Otherwise affectionately known as the "Striped Tomato". The decals were a lot easier to work with that I thought they'd be, credit to Revell. They were a bit on the thick side but still thin enough to conform adequately. the thickness made them a little easier to work with. I know that the stance on this one is a little too tall but my plan was to build it OOB and not to fuss with such details. At least Revell gave it that classic 70s rake. Revell provided the gumball machine. I added a tab-shaped peice from chrome sprue inside it to give it some depth and made a wire for it. Revell thoughtfully provided some excellent looking decals to spice up what would have been an otherwise bland interior. The police radio and wire for the gumball machine can also be seen. A nicely detailed engine. I'm not sure it it's the correct one but it looks good to me. I hope you enjoy the photos at least as much as I enjoyed the build. Thanks to those of you who followed along and supported me during "The Challenge". Having your feedback helped inspire me to complete it. David G.

Great start on this one Bob, I like your choice of colors. David G.

Yikes! How unfortunate. Before you tank it, try some water-based solvents for removing the foil. Start with warm soap and water, just like a paint prep. Then maybe Windex or rubbing alcohol. Best of luck with that, it really stinks to come so far only to have such a mishap so close to the finish. David G.

Beautiful details and clutter! It looks appropriately "lived in". David G.

The Ford GT has been one of my favorite cars since I've been old enough to notice cars. You have certainly done this one justice, it looks great. David G.

I've been considering one of these or similar. What's the RPM range on it? And is it corded or rechargeable? David G.

Hello Everybody! Day Thirteen of Seven: I thought that this was going to be the finishing session but alas, it was not to be. It is at about 95% completion though. The glass has been installed. The windshield is temporarily secured with masking tape, just like in the real world. This is one of the two things that kept this from being the final session. All the other glass snapped securely into place like they were designed for a snap-kit. The rear view mirror, grille, headlight pods and both bumpers are in place leaving only the sideview mirrors, front license plate and gumball machine to install. The other little hang-up was the rear tail light trim piece not having enough of an arc to conform to the curve of the rear panel below the trunk lid. Upon gluing the part into place, the left side settled in and held fast while the right wanted to spring away from the body. Even after clamping it in place for about ten minutes, it still popped out when I released the clamps so I taped it down and let it cure over night. That's all for this update, the next step is final assembly and completion. My next posting on this project will (hopefully) be in the Under Glass section. Thanks to those of you who followed along, I always enjoy your comments. David G.

Thank you Carl. David G.

Good call on the chrome, and a lucky find on the fan belt. Everything looks great so far. David G.

How tremendously cool! David G.

Good looking paintwork. David G.

Nice progress! This thing is turning out to be quite the monster. David G.

Hello Everybody! Welcome to Day Twelve of Seven. In a three hour build day split into two sessions, I managed to get the foil work completed. The trim on the front wheel arcs are painted on with a Molotow pen. I'll also be using some Molotow to touch up a few areas where the foil didn't lay down as well as I would have liked. As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to post a comment. David G.

Nice mockups. Do you plan on leaving the chrome on the valve covers and steering wheel as it is or stripping and refinishing? David G.

Thank you Zenon. PVA is polyvinyl acetate, or white glue. Essentially Elmer's Glue of some form or another. I used Zap brand Canopy Glue in this case. David G.

Nice foil work! David G.

The fan guard looks great! I' always impressed by what PE parts can do for the appearance of a build. David G.

It looks like you worked out a good stance on it. David G.

Tidy mod work on this one. It must be nice getting to put some color down too. David G.

This should be cool. David G.

Nice work on that! David G.

Looks like it has you on pins & needles, so to speak. David G.

Hello Everybody! Day Eleven of Seven: After allowing the clear coat to cure for a few days I polished it out. There's still a bit of orange peel going on but I lack the courage to push it further and risk burning through the clear coat. We've all had that "just a little more becoming too much" experience. I can live with this. I even started throwing some foil at it and managed to get the rocker panels covered. I think I've worked out a method for applying this recent less-than-optimal version of Bare Metal Foil. I use a thinned PVA solution applied to the area with a small cotton bud right before laying the foil down. The PVA allows enough workability and any overage cleans up easily. And so far, it seems to stick well enough. I sank about 2 hours into this session for the polishing and foil work. Thanks for taking the time to look and as always, please feel free to post a comment. David G.

It looks like the gaps might be close once the paint is applied. David G.

Wow! This one is really dragging you down the rabbit hole, isn't it? At least you seem to be keeping up with it well enough. It's like I say: "Model builders, we're problem solvers who create our own problems to solve!" David G.