Cato

Here's why I like 3M Fineline. Here is the 1/8" width on the roof between the louvers. Notice that it conforms perfectly going over the 'eyebrows' over the doors. That's all from the same piece of tape. Zero bleed-under. BMF and maybe Scotch may give as clean a line but you must cut that width yourself and work with a very thin, long slice of those. Here on the hood, the same 1/8" Fineline but split in half to 1/16" to go on either side of the vertical splitter-no bleed. Just a sharp clean edge-first time. Another favorite of mine is Chart Pack tape-architects supply. Here is the 1/32" width on the rocker panel stripes.

Black, blown gassers are sooo baaaddd.

Tamiya makes an excellent 'yellow' tape. Also 3M Fine Line which most 1:1 car painters use.

WAH! WAH! WAH! Is stamp collecting next for you?

Steve, A nice reference shot of the restored car can be found here. Note the ride height-a problem with the kit:

The "Stuff" of dreams...

Dave, there are no words ......

The particular Holleys used on FEs have a metering block on the primary bowl and a much thinner metering plate on the secondaries. The backwards placement allows clearance for the distributor as the primary bowl extends further-in this case to the rear where there's more space.

Great idea Cat, the simpler the better. Refreshing to see armor in 'neat' condition instead of looking like it went through a war. Your avatar '56 looks real good too...

Beautifully done Bradley. What did you make the base from? It's very classy.

Great job. You nailed the race car look and atmosphere. The ride height change is just perfect.

Glad you're healed and modeling again. You have the shifter mostly right-the box is black but the shift rod is a raw steel tube. Your complaints about the KA set are very similar to what I've read elsewhere. Not a lot of value for the money and very little visible after completion. Advice to builders contemplating this car-buy the model first then assess whether you need the KA stuff or can scratch your own satisfying level of detail. If SMS had done a set, I think it would be a different outcome. The dash looks like the best part of their stuff. Don't know if the Mann car was like that but this looks close to 1046 in '66. Only difference is 1046 had a kill switch where the speedo is here. Very few cars had the chrome bezels but 1046 did (back then). It also had a round rubber pad over the steering wheel hub.

Now that's a weathering project I could love...

C'mon Steve-swish a pint of vodka around that molar and show us some more work.

I did too and he may have had a short deadline to review the kit but that was no big problem. Neither was the front brake ducts as he described. If you want real braided line and fittings by all means go for it. Did the Mann car have them? I have no detail reference for it. On page 2, post #27 of this thread I describe how I solved the woven line issue. It's simple, requiring only patience. It looks fine painted flat black and would probably look good done in silver. In fact, I had line left over. Somewhere in here I describe putting cotton or wire in the ducts to keep their shape. The above advice about test fitting and corrections is something I wish I knew before hand. I've seen a build with the KA seat vents and felt they are too large for scale. I was pleased with just silver acrylic paint on the molded ones on the seats. A little drybrushing with blacks and grays and the seats look much better than all the complaints I read. Also the KA seats seemed to me like the car was in a roll over-the originals were built on slings and were much more firm and supportive than that. Surely post your preferences, solutions and progress-mine are not the only solutions. In fact, I may have another one of these in me to build...

Very good Steve-I understand your idea now. A heads-up before you squirt on paint; there are fit issues with the finished body work if you're not careful. Mock-up all the pieces after you remove seams and sprue tabs. These will line up and close nicely at this stage, however, when the inner structures are glued in place, they will pull the outer panel edges out of alignment. In particular, the rear clip lower front edges (where it meets the chassis) will not close flush. You can test this by using white glue (easily opened again) to join the panels and re-test fit. The solution is to heat the narrow area of the roof (on front edge of rear glass) and slightly bend it upwards (where the pin is to hold it shut)-this will lower the lower edges to close better. Another red flag; the chassis pins that rear clip pivots on are very fragile. I braced mine with styrene gussets which helps but you must use care as you will attach and open the rear many times during the build. Other fit issues I found on my kit: the lower rear edges of the front fenders didn't spread enough to fit the chassis guides-I removed material with Dremel from their inner sides to get a better shut. The inner wheel panels in front won't fit right over the pins on the chassis-I removed the pins as they do nothing to hold the fenders in or open the front. The door eyebrows are vital to keep the door roofs from standing above the roof. Test glue the inner door structures and check door shut lines at the chassis; you may need to tweek the doors or inner structures to get the doors to stay tight against the body. Also check the fit of the oil tank hatch with the fenders ON the chassis-mine got tighter and had to be relieved on the sides. I hope any of this is not needed on your particular kit but if overall appearance is important, you should check for these problems. Sorry for the sermon but I hope this is helpful and if you have different or better ways to do these things, I'd love to see them.

Steve, Welcome to my build thread. I was always trying to encourage dialog about this kit. You have chosen an unusual build philosophy. You will build it out of box (with those highly visible compromises) yet add expensive details and perform body work. My approach was to improve the kit's poorer visible parts and scratch build those details I felt would give the car an 'authentic' personality. Do you have good references for the Mann car? It's an excellent, colorful choice. The few builds I've seen on the web have shown that builders are largely making ' decal and color' versions of their favorite car but not doing the unique team modifications of the specific car. As stated in my build, they all had different, fuel pump, plumbing, wiring and cockpit equipment at the time of the race. The kit comes with the general equipment of the #2 car and still gets much of that wrong-six fuel pumps for instance. Being in the UK, I hope you have found good Mann reference and can share that. I'm surprised you're opening the side vents-it's virtually un-noticed from the outside and hidden by the inner structure when done. However, I applaud your effort and can't wait to see the result. I was very concerned by the kit's ride height and spent time modifying it which pays big dividends for readily visible improvements. I felt tiny bits of mostly-hidden, expensive PE and cast-metal were less obvious and in contrast to the kit's somewhat toy-like standard presentation. Like the water pump pulley and some radiator parts. I also found that many of the KA parts were just replications of perfectly adequate kit parts-like the half-shafts and exhaust system. Careful work with brush, drills, pins and wires can make a big improvement without them. Unless you find a way to tilt open the nose and hinge the oil tank hatch, much of your detailing is gone-things like the brake rotors, lines, ducts, spare and cooling system are mostly hidden. Trump also gives you very poorly engineered front wheel mounting systems and accurate calipers for the PE rotors won't work with that. I wanted very much to have a wheel off to display the pin-drive hubs, brakes and suspension of the original but the closed nose prevents that. Plus I don't have the skills needed to machine all those parts. So best luck and I welcome a fresh approach to building this great car. I can always learn and I'll be watching.

WOW-you work fast from the first post today. You should not have to redesign your build idea with a bogus vinyl top-it looks great all one color. I'd stick with it and here's how; back down to the bare plastic, clean and get all scratches out then first coat should be a barrier coat-of FUTURE. Let cure 24 hours, DON'T sand-it will self-level. Then your primer and paint technique. Some times I have TOO much patience...

Nah-helping the guy is the important thing!

Well it seems to be lifting the primer under the color in that area. Like there was oil or grease on the plastic. I would sand the roof through the primer to the bare plastic or filler. If it's filler, test to see if the HOK is too hot for it. Then clean with 91% alcohol or a 3M prep solution, then reprime and paint. Write back when you solve it. Jeeze-Earl beat me to it....

I thought that '59 in your avatar WAS a stagecoach...

Thank you Blake and Skip. I searched both the links. I found that they are both made by a company called Polymeric Systems and are virtually the same. They are used primarily by figure sculptors. Both are 2 part epoxies, and do not have good sanding properties. They are mostly to be applied to an armature and smoothed and carved to shape. Then they cure over time. The modeler I saw was using it for the tubular joints of a chassis. It appears he mixes some together then smooths it around joints to simulate welds and hide joints that are not fish-mouthed. Don't think it is suitable for filling and sanding of the type we styrene modelers do. Thanks for your help.

Thanks but the link times-out. I do know it's not Squadron Green Putty. But I don't know what it is...

Anyone here familiar with this material? Appears to be a magic-type gap filler. Don't know if it comes out of a tube or is a two-part mix. I saw it elsewhere in a thread by a UK modeler so it may not be a domestic product. Seems like it molds and sands easily. Any info appreciated.

All the tips given above are excellent and will work well. My recent GT40 WIP and Under Glass employed much track hard usage wear. The most important overall thing is to layer slowly and be subtle. This can build up fast. The smaller the model, the finer and lighter the weathering. Study real cars of the type you're building and 'think like the air stream.' Practice your desired effects off the model (on cardboard is fine) to adjust airbrush pressure, distance, nozzle and masking techniques. Also practice dry-brushing, using lead pencil, and washes. A mist of Dullcote in selected areas on shiny paint looks like dust all by itself. Use thin aluminum sheet and scuff chrome lightly with steel wool of scuff pads to get that natural aluminum look. Or polish it for those protected areas. Having good reference photos is a huge help. Here's some finished close-ups that I hope will help you. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=35799