W-409

Thanks so much, Stan! Today I had some time to mask the white areas from the body away and paint the blue. The masking isn't that beautiful, but it has always worked. I was painting with Tamiya Sprays and I sprayed a couple of lighter coats and two wet coats of paint. I think it turned out pretty good... ...Until I looked at the body a couple of minutes later. The paint had cracked from everywhere, on some areas it's worse than somewhere else, but it might be just enough so that I can't sand it smooth and repaint. I think I will try to sand it smooth anyway, if I can make it so that I won't sand through the paint, I will try repainting it. But if I go through the paint, my only choice is to throw it into the paint stripper.

This is what I saw today here in Finland. I didn't have a camera with me, so these pics are from Local Cruising Night and Street Race Event.

Thanks Luis and Glenn! Much appreciated. About the paint job... I haven't thought about it yet, but if I had to guess, I'd say that it will be a single color. I'm not a greatest fan of those wild paint jobs, and they are really hard to paint too and I'd probably fail attempting one of them. But as said, I'm not sure and it is possible that this will get a wild paint job, too. We'll see about that. Well I haven't been able to work with anything for a while. Hopefully I can make some progress on the next days... Stay tuned.

Really nice Pontiac, Carl! I really like to see your builds, they are always so nice and clean. The paint jobs are stunning and this is not an exception, fantastic shiny and smooth paint. I like the color too. White interior is seen quite rarely, compared to black or brown interiors and I think it's really neat to see one of those as well.

Umm... I almost got an heart attack when I saw the wheels... You know I'm Old School too. But otherwise you did a nice job. I like the color on it, and I've heard that it's not one of the easiest kits to work with. You did nice job with it.

Great pics everyone! Especially I like that Harry's second motorbike picture. But great job everyone. Thanks Brad for the tips, I think that's the biggest problem with that picture. I must try to do another which would be a bit better.

That's a really nice build, one of the bests I've seen from this kit, too. The paint job is especially nice and I like your detailing, too. Really nice and clean build overall. Now let's go racing: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=81219

That paint looks excellent! I've always thought that red fits perfectly on Chevy Vega and this one shows I was correct! The chassis color fits nicely together with that red, too. I can't wait to see more.

Yep, a very good looking Ford Fairlane. It's always nice to see a rarely seen subject executed so well. I like the stance and color choice on this one. The tires and wheels fit perfectly on place, too. How was the quality on that resin kit?

From those three it's The Little Deuce Coupe. An excellent song! But I think these two are my biggest favorites by The Go Getters: NO BRAKES (Peter Sandberg) Wind in my hair, flyin' down the hill Sound of music in my Flathead mill Gotta go faster, see how much it makes But I got no brakes, no brakes My friends say slow down, if you don't wanna die If I go any faster, I will surely fly And I just love the sound that's roarin' thru my lakes But I got no brakes, no brakes Well, I should have put some money on the brakes, I know But I don't wanna ride around a car that slow So speed is not a problem, it got just what it takes But it got no brakes, no brakes Well, I should have put some money on the brakes, I know But I don't wanna ride around a car that slow So speed is not a problem, it got just what it takes But it got no brakes, no brakes No brakes, no brakes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scn4Gu1q4yc And: Loud Pipes & Lead Feet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xYH1G0rBQI (I didn't find lyrics for this one)

I've had to foil before clear coating a couple of times. Usually I don't like to do this, but sometimes I have to. There are actually two reasons for that... The first one is that the chrome trim in the kit might get lost under paint and especially clear coats. After that it would be impossible to foil it, so I've had to do it before clear coating. And another thing is with Stock Cars if there are decals that should be installed over the chrome trim. I always clear coat over my decals so then the BMF gets some clear on it as well. Someone might wonder why I clear coat over the decals. Well, there is a simple reason. They just look so much better when they are under a clear coat. It makes them look like painted on, which is usually the look I'm looking for. I know they might be decals in real life and it's not realistic and so on. To me, it just looks a lot better like that. But honestly. When looking at the models that have BMF under clear coat or BMF without a clear coat, I can't tell the difference. I don't know if I'm blind or not, but to me they look the same.

A friend inspired me to try my hand at Photoshopping a lady in one of my model pics. I had to try, but I think I should have resized her a bit smaller... Well, next time better then. I think it's still a pretty cool picture. As everyone noticed, my Picture Editing skills are not that great. But I'm practising...

Thanks Dave, I appreciate it! Well I was almost going to throw some paint on it, until I realized that I had forgotten to add that little piece of side chrome trim that separates the Two Tone body colors. Well, I cut those little chrome trims from sheet styrene and glued them on place with Super Glue. After a little putty and sanding, I was able to shoot another light Primer coat on the body today. It looks pretty smooth now, so hopefully if I have time on the weekend, I could paint the first color on the body.

This is truly amazing. I've never seen anyone putting that much work into a single Blower. You do that and it's one of the reasons this is one of the best builds I've ever seen. You're doing an excellent work with this one, I can't wait to see more.

Thanks for the kind words... Better late than never! Finally I got inspiration to give this body a light wetsand and repaint it. I sanded with 1,000 and 2,000 grit sandpaper and I sprayed a couple of thin coats and two wet coats on the body. At least so far it looks pretty good, hopefully it looks good when dry, too so I could take the tape off and mask everything else but the roof, which will be painted silver. It's great to have this one back on the bench. If the painting goes as it should, I hope this to be finished really soon.

Thanks Michael! I'm pretty happy how they turned out, too.

Wow! More 3rd Generation GM A-Bodies! That's a really cool build and I must agree, it's not easy to do. Your Chevy turned out really good overall, and it makes me wondering if I should do the same conversion when I find one of those kits somewhere... Great job!

As a guy who likes to read these threads, opening a new thread on each update makes it impossible to follow the progress on a certain model car, just like someone said. I know that looses my interest. Anyway... You're doing great job with this one!

That MPC Snap Tite kit isn't that bad, I won one at a local Model Car Contest and built it basically Box Stock. The body is really nice, actually my only complaints are molded in Fender Skirts (Yep, I never liked them on almost any car) and of course that the hood doesn't open, which is completely understandable in a Snapper. But it was a lot of fun to build and it turned out surprisingly good, even if I built it almost Box Stock. With some little modifications here and there I bet it would be a very cool Mild Custom.

Nice and clean job putting this Thunderbird together! I like the paint job and decals fit nicely into the body shapes. I know it's not easy. These NASCARS are really fun to build.

Thanks for the kind words, fellas! Joe: Hold your horses for a second ! I must make some other modifications before chopping, as it will make the A-Pillars a bit fragile. Jason: Yep, I figured out I better go all out with this, as it will be a good practise for my '60 Impala Pro Modified I will be building sometime after this one. I hope this thread, in side of the others, will help you and other people while building Pro Modifieds. Thanks again, everyone!!! No new pics yet... I've had very little time to build anything in the last couple of days, but I'm hoping to make some progress on the next few days. Stay Tuned.

Hey Tyrone, I have a question that has been bothering me for a while now... When the headers go through the front fenders like here, I believe you will have to install the engine to the chassis first and then you can glue on the headers? I'm just wondering because I should make that kind of headers on some of my builds, too. Anyway you're doing a great job with this Camaro. The electrics look fantastic and your detailing is incredible, as always. I'm interested in seeing this thing in paint.

Actually I didn't drill holes to the cylinder heads. When the header pipes have a tight fit with the flanges, you don't have to drill the heads. But if the holes are a bit "too large" on the flanges, then it's a good idea to drill holes to the cylinder heads, too. I had to do that once, and I did so that I glued the flanges to the heads and then the holes on the flanges worked as a template to drill the holes. Hope this makes sense.

Thanks Guys! I'm not quite sure what adhesive means, as I didn't find a simple translation for it in the English/Finnish dictionary... But I guess it's the same as glue? If it is, I used just a regular Locktite Super Glue that I used to glue the header pipes into the flanges and to glue the header pipes together under the collectors. If adhesive means something else... Just explain it and I'll answer agan.

Looking good so far! I like how the engine looks, the shade of that orange is excellent. Good looking air cleaner, too. Where is it from? The wheels will look good under this body, even if I'm not the biggest fan of those Convo Pros. But I'm pretty sure they'll fit nicely in a Vega.