W-409

Thanks Andy! You're correct that the front tires on 1:1 car are not exactly in the middle of the wheelwells, and that's what I'm looking for.

This kit has the Mickey Thompson designed rear axle that is a combination of a Ford Quick Change rear axle and a two speed planetary "gearbox" designed all in one. Even though I'm not building this as Mickey's Pinto, I'm going with that axle anyway. The halves of the center section and the axle was all glued together first, then I smoothed out the seam between the halves with a little putty. Center section was painted with "Chrome silver" from spray can, axles are Humbrol's Metallic 56. I added some black wash to add some depth to the parts. For some reason it looks really "heavy" on the pictures, it's much more subtle when looking in person. Frame was also clear coated with Mipa two part clear coat shot through an airbrush. And the assembly has started, rear axle is mounted to the frame.

And now I got the frame clear coated so now we're getting closer to the assembly stage. Clear coat is Mipa two-part clear coat that I've also used for my 1:1 cars. For the scale model application it just needs to be thinned down quite a bit more. It sprays on really nicely, evens out when drying and it's much more glossy than any of the other clear coats that I've used.

Being a Stock Eliminator racer myself, it's nice to see a modern day Stock Eliminator car built as a scale model. Especially when the builder knows what is allowed and what isn't. Looking really good so far, keep up the good work!

I don't know which one I'm waiting the most here. I've always been drooling over the Mavericks and Comets of early '70s but I've never had one as the Jo-Han kits usually go for a huge price tag. Seeing Moebius making kits of them means I will definitely need several of them. But then also the '64 Comet is a must have. We've already seen here several different ideas how one could be built.

Great work building this tricky kit. I have the same kit in the works currently and so far most of the parts have had somekind of fit issues. Here everything looks right and I really like the paint job. Nicely done!

Yep, it came from GhostMan. Everything worked so well and the quality is pretty good so I don't think it's my last 3D printed kit, as they have some other interesting vehicles as well... Especially the Wagon is cool, I will definitely need at least one of them. I just hope someone would do a 1974 conversion so I don't have to.

Last weekend I stopped by at a local Hobby Shop here in Finland to buy one Revell silver paint and Tamiya's Lacquer Thinner. Well, in addition to those, I had to have MPC's new '71 Dodge Demon as there was one of those on the shelf. I'm pretty sure I want to build it factory stock with the 340 engine. Today I picked up a 1968 reissue of an AMT '57 Ford Fairlane. Couple of parts have been glued together and chassis has been painted, but otherwise it's complete and unstarted. I'm leaning towards either a Traditional Custom or a Gasser, but let's see which one I'll end up with when I start building. Another package had a 3D printed model kit of a '73 Chevrolet Chevelle. I don't know who has made the file, but it was printed in Sweden. It's definitely one of the better 3D printed products that I've had, but of course it's still a lot of work before it's anywhere near primer or paint. Anyway, a really nice product and in my opinion, worth the money. I think I'll be using Revell's '67 Chevelle as a donor kit, to build a factory stock Chevelle SS with a big block.

Today I was able to paint the frame. I don't have too many reference pictures on the real car, and from the ones I have, it's really hard to figure out a correct color for the frame. I've seen the restored car myself and have pictures of that, but restored car is not always the same as original. Anyway, I thought the red looked more like a metallic or even candy color than just a solid red. So I painted mine with Tamiya TS-95 Pure Metallic Red. But instead of spray painting it with the can, I decanted the paint and sprayed it through my airbrush. To do this, I thinned the paint a little with Tamiya Lacquer Thinner. Now I'll let it dry for a day or two and then it's time to clear coat it.

I'm glad this was brought back up, hadn't seen it before but I'm very glad I saw it now. Very beautiful model of a beautiful Dragster! I can really appreciate the hard work with creating a replica of something that was never produced as a model kit. Lots of work, but you did a fantastic job with it. Very nice! I was lucky to see the real deal at California Hot Rod Reunion in 2019. Good looking car.

This turned out very nice, it was a pleasure to watch this come together. '57 is my favorite year model of all Corvettes and you definitely did it a justice, it just looks right in every way. Beautiful work with extra detailing, too. Nicely done!

Thanks Trevor and Robert, I appreciate it! Next I searched my parts boxes for wheel backs / inner wheels for front. Because the front axle has spindle mount wheels with no brakes, all I needed was a round "ring" of correct diameter. Found two of them, but they were a little too deep, but the razor saw took care of that. Now they fit well on place. I'll need to do a small touch up with sandpaper and then they're ready for primer and paint. Frame was painted next. I wanted the frame to be blue, and the plan is to use the same blue on some areas of the body later on. The paint is Model Master Acryl thinned a little and shot through an airbrush. I did bunch of research to find the correct thinner for that paint, because the internet had so many different opinions. I ended up using Ultimate Modelling Products' "Ultimate Air & Brush Thinner" and it worked great. The paint laid down pretty nicely, now I'll let it dry a couple of days and then I will clear coat it.

You are correct, they had one. I actually ordered a couple of items from them (engine bay for '69 AMX and some wheels). They were really nice, but they had the 3D printing texture that the printed parts usually do. On those parts it's not a problem, but I'm not certain that the texture could be cleaned up flawlessly on a grill.

You're right, they are really good. Huge improvement compared to any wire wheels that came with any kit. It's true that there are lots of errors on that kit if one wants to represent a '69 American. I'm not planning on fixing everything (because then it will take 20 years to complete it), but I want to fix the biggest errors, meaning, at least the issues with the body and engine.

Got two packages today. First one came from eBay, a Jo-Han Pro Street Rambler with SC/Rambler decals of an unknown manufacturer. That's a great decal set as it has the option for both, A and B themes, but it also has all of the SC/Rambler badges etc that Jo-Han decal sheet doesn't have. So my plan is obviously to build one version of each. I have several of these kits already and now I have one more, plus the decals to do it. Because the kit is actually a '66 Rogue, I wonder if there is a source for a correct '69 American grill anywhere in the aftermarket? Tail lights probably have to be scratchbuilt anyway. The other package came from Ted's Modeling Marketplace. I ordered two sets of the photoetched Dragster wire wheels because the kit wheels are always junk. These are beautiful. Not cheap, but beautiful, and in my opinion, worth the money. Now I think I could finally start building the Ramchargers Top Fuel Dragster. In the same package I also ordered a set of front tires and some photoetched brackets for alternators etc.

I sanded tire treads on front and rear tires to make them look a bit used. Especially the rear tires were litle too shiny from the sides, so I carefully wiped the sides with a scouring pad (is that a real word in English?). Turned out a lot better. Here on left side is before and right side is after the treatment. Tire texts were handpainted with a small brush and Tamiya Acrylic white. Wheels are airbrushed with Alclad Magnesium. For lug nuts on rear wheels, I used brighter silver and after that all of the wheels were given a really subtle black wash with The Detailer. I was very careful not to overdo it, so I basically just dry-brushed it on. I think I was succesful. I still need to paint the center caps for front wheels and also I need to find proper wheel backs for front. The ones that came with the kit were so badly warped that I don't think I'm able to fix them.

Next up, cleaning up the wheels for paint. I want to paint the wheels to look like magnesium, so I had to strip the chrome plating off. But before that, I wanted to open up the holes to make them look more realistic. After some careful sanding from behind, I was able to open up the holes. For comparison, on left side, a wheel with opened up holes, and on the right side, one that's straight out of the parts tree. Front wheels had open holes in them, but each hole had a pretty significant amount of mold flash. So they needed some careful sanding as well. And here are the wheels ready for primer with the chrome stripped off. At the same time as I had Alclad's Grey Primer & Microfiller on my airbrush, I shot some primer on the wheels and on the frame.

After some cleanup and dozens of mock ups, I think the frame is ready for paint. I've been wanting to move from spray painting to an airbrush for a long time and now I finally picked up a small compressor for my airbrush and the frame of the Mustang was the first test. Well, actually, I've used that airbrush with a few models years ago, but for last 10 years or so I've used spray cans. Anyway, I shot some primer on the frame. It's Alclad Grey Primer & Microfiller which is really good stuff. And with the airbrush, it's a lot easier to control the amount of paint than with a spray can, especially on a tricky item like a Funny Car frame. It turned out good. Now I'll let it dry completely and then shoot some color on it.

This looks like an interesting project! Nice work with the roof swap and side trim! Will be following to see how it turns out.

Slowly working on this thing a few minutes here and there when I have the time, so the progress is quite slow. Anyway, I got some of the engine parts prepped for paint. Engine block, front cover, oil pan and heads are silver out of some automotive spray can. The brand of paint I've usually used had changed a little, and now it's unfortunately a bit brighter silver than before. Valve covers are kit chrome with a coat of flat clear and intake manifold is "Chrome Silver" spray paint. But, the shade of silver on the block and other parts, is a little too close to the shade of valve covers and intake. I think a subtle black wash and all of the detailing later will help the overall look though.

That's typical, living in Europe, I have to order a lot of kits, supplies, aftermarket stuff etc from USA. You always have to be prepared for delivery times somewhere between one week and one month, depending on the shipping method. Also, the tracking often "gets lost" like that, but despite that I've always received my orders no problem.

Thanks guys! Let's see how this thing will turn out. I got the frame assembled. It was a ton of work to get everything to line up properly. Not only because it was quite fiddly assembly, but the frame rails were slightly warped, but that was so little that I didn't even notice it until it was time to actually glue the parts together. After some very careful heating with a hair dryer and at some places, a candle, I was able to straighten it out the best I could. Now I think there is a possibility that everything could actually line up properly and all four tires might hit the ground at the same time. I assembled the tinwork on the body and then I was able to test fit the frame on place. This was also a good indication if everything fits correctly. After some adjustments, measuring over and over and trying to make it straight, I think I was succesful. And then there was the issue with the wheelbase. I mocked up the front axle to the frame with the body on place. The front axle seems to be tilted slightly forward, so I figured out that I'd tilt it a little backwards so that it's in about 90 degree angle with the framerails. It'll still look good even with the body lifted up, but now the tires line up as they should. Obviously, I might have to do some slight modifications to the hairpins and steering gear, but I think it'll be easier, because after messing with the frame so much to make it fit properly, I don't want to cut it up to shorten it. I also test fitted the rear axle and it seems to line up pretty good. Now there's some more cleanup to do, but I think I can soon move on to painting some of the frame parts, to get started on the assembly.

Thanks Roger! I appreciate taking the time to post the pictures, they sure help a lot because you can't beat closeup pictures like that when trying to detail something. To tell the truth, now I have a lot more knowledge, pictures and information about these cars than what I did back when I started this project, but despite that the reference pictures are always a great help.

This is an interesting project. I've played with the idea of building the same car a few times, but it has never happened. Yet, at least. I think I might also have a resin body somewhere. You're off to a really good start! The real car is not '66 though, it's a '67. I wonder if there is a source for 1967 grill if you want to make it truly accurate.

After almost 11 years, this thing is finally back on the bench. Today I was working with my other Funny Car, Gas Ronda's '69 Mustang, and I got to the point where I had to wait for glue and putty to dry before I'm able to continue with anything else. So, I decided to grab another Ford Funny Car from the pile of stalled projects. Since the last update, I had sanded all of the mold seams and other imperfections from the frame. Some spots required putty and sanding also. That was done and today I could start assembling the chassis, as I thought it's easier to do it before painting. The instructions were not that great, but because of genious use of half-round locating pins on the frame crossmembers, it was actually easy to figure out the correct way to mount them. Then I started to prep engine parts for paint. The front cover had a hole straight to where the magneto is installed. I wasn't sure how well it can be seen after the cylinder heads are on place, but I decided to fix it with sheet styrene anyway. After the pictures, I also smoothed out the ejector pin mark with putty. Then I had to test fit the tin work to the body to prevent issues during final assembly. The fitment was great, and I was able to glue some of the tin work pieces together to ease painting and assembling. Now I'm also able to fill the joints with a little bit of putty. I guarantee, the next update will come sooner than in 11 years!