W-409

Well, it's been a while, but this thing is still around. While parts for my Pinto Funny Car were drying, I thought I'd continue this so I could get it finished some time. Actually, I'd like to have it done before the end of the year, but we'll see about that... Chassis was clear coated with Tamiya sprays. Then it was time to try detail painting it a little. Well, the chassis is really poor as far as molded in detail goes, so there's not that much to detail with paint. But, I tried my best and this is what I came up with. It will be good enough for this project.

After looking at some reference pictures, it looks like the Mickey Thompson Pinto has a tachometer drive taken from the crankshaft with a belt. Never seen one before, but I decided to fabricate a similar setup for my model. It's not really seen that well on the finished build, but it's there anyway. The actual tachometer drive piece is built from two pieces of plastic rod. Really tricky to fabricate such a small parts, but in the end I was able to make it. Belt pulley is from my parts box, but I had to drill a bigger hole on it so that it goes properly on place. Mount is a photo etch part by Detail Master and the fitting on bottom where tachometer cable will be connected, is hex-shaped plastic rod. Belt is paper that I painted flat black. It's not flawless, but it's pretty much hidden once the engine goes between the frame rails so I think it'll do its' job. On another side of the engine I got the oil filter done. It's just orange from a spray can, a decal from Ted's Modeling Marketplace sheet and clearcoat on top. Still some detail work to do before I can install the engine...

This is an excellent news, the '60 Chevy Wagon is a kit that I will need multiples copies for sure. No matter if it's a curbside, the engine bay can be modified from some existing kit. Luckily I have 1:1 scale '60 Impala in the garage so I have plenty of reference material. I've had a '60 Nomad resin body for years, I've been waiting for my building skills to improve so that I could build it into a really nice model. But now with a new version of that car coming, I think it's time to build the resin version. Barracuda is another must have for me, so much potential for several different types of builds on that kit. And it will make kitbashing possible, to create for example, a stock '66 Barracuda.

It has happened to me once as well with the Tamiya paints. I don't know why it happened, but here's how I fixed it: After the paint is dry, sand the are carefully with 1200 grit sandpaper and make sure you're not going through the paint. Then spray several VERY light coats of color on the area, letting each coat of paint dry for a minute or two before the next coat. Important thing is that the paint coats at this point need to be very light. Once that was done, I clear coated mine normally and had no issues. Obviously I can't quarantee it will work every time, but at least on my case it did.

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the kind words. Then it was time to continue working with the engine so that I can install it between the frame rails in the near future. Blower was installed and I gave that a light black wash too in order to try to make it look a bit more realistic. The magneto that comes with this kit, has molded in spark plug boots on the cap. But it would have been impossible to drill holes for plug wires on them, so I cut the spark plug boots away. New spark plug boots are by Pro Tech and plug wire is by Scale Productions (I think). They're not flawless, but I guess they never are.

Thanks Bill, it looks like it's going to be functional. I will contact the seller about shipping to Finland to get the parts I need.

Looking good! Not exactly related on the Satellite grill, but how is the print quality with 3DScaleParts? They seem to have one grill that I've been looking for years, but if there's a heavy "3D printing texture" between the grill bars, then it's not going to work. On eBay it looks like they're not shipping to Finland, but I'll need to ask him on that.

This will be interesting to follow, I like Tri-Five Chevrolets and I've also enjoyed following the development of this actual car over the years via Motor Trend. How accurate replica you want to build? Because the real car is a 2D Sedan and the kit is a Hardtop. Sedan has a taller roof and actually whole the roofline is completely different than on a Hardtop. So, with that said, I personally might consider picking up another kit as a starting point. At least AMT has reissued a '55 2D Sedan kit not that long ago, it should be easily available. The other thing why I might consider building it from another kit, is the amount of work this kit requires if you want to make it at least somewhat accurate. I built a '55 Chevy Gasser from the same kit a few years ago and I think I probably used a handful of parts straight from the box, everything else was either scratchbuilt, kitbashed or modified in some other way. By the time I realized the actual amount of work with this kit, it was too late to turn back so I pushed it to finish... But it would have been way easier if I started with some other kit. Don't get me wrong, this kit builds up pretty nice even out of the box, but if you really want to make it accurate, it's a long way. I don't want to be "that guy", I just wanted to give a heads-up in case you are not that familiar with the kit. Either way you do, this will be an interesting project. Finally, if you want to build it using this kit, here is a link to my Fotki album where you can see all of the project pictures on my '55 Gasser that I built from the same kit. They might help. https://public.fotki.com/NostalgicDrag/55-chevy-bel-air-ags/

After prepping some parts for paint, I was able to paint inner wheels for front and rear, together with some blower parts for the engine. They're airbrushed with Alclad Magnesium on top of Alclad's Grey Primer & Microfiller. Then it was time to put this thing on four wheels. On front everything was easy, just glue the inner wheels on place, install the wheels and tires and they were instantly sitting correctly on the axle. Rear was quite tricky however, rear brake fitment to rear wheel and to the axle was not that great. But after some fiddling I was able to get the rear tires sit properly so I glued them on place as well. Now that it's on four wheels, it's a lot easier to handle and the chrome plating will less likely be rubbed off from the front axle parts when handling the chassis.

Thank You Andy, I appreciate the kind words! I was also wondering about the rear axle at first, but a quick search in Google told me what it actually is. This is the thing I love about these old kits, they often have some obscure speed parts in them that most people of today have never seen. Next up was the front axle. Axle, radius rods and tie rod all had quite heavy mold seams on them so the first step was to strip chrome plating off. Then I sanded all of the mold lines and other imperfections smooth and also had to fill a couple of ejector pin marks with putty on the front axle. After that the parts were painted with primer and "chrome plated" with Revell's Chrome Spray. It makes an incredible chrome effect, but it doesn't like very much handling. I let the parts dry for a couple of days and then assembled them carefully. Front springs were black washed with Tamiya's Panel Line Accent Color. Next I will need to finish the wheels and tires to get this on four wheels...

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.