MrObsessive

IIRC, Don did some corrections to the lower body while doing the two door conversion. Seems as though the original Johan '61 Fleetwood was a bit short in the wheelbase, and Don corrected that by stretching the front end a bit. At least looking at the one I did and a Johan '61 I once had, it appears the resin is longer. Yeah, if one of these ever turns up on the 'Bay, you better prime your wallet! You can betcha if it's an original Modelhaus resin and not a knockoff, it'll go for a crazy price!

Thanks Greg! As for the manifolds, part of them are. I was replicating a particular car back when I built that (2000) and this was via a magazine. Loooong before I knew what the internet was and a computer was still years away. I'd say for a factory look, they should more than likely be some sort of steel/cast iron color.

I want to add that the two divisions called those colors different things. You had "Hemi Orange" and then there was "Tor-Red". I can never remember which division had what color, but I always thought that the Hemi Orange was brighter as I have my Daytona. The more informed Mopar guys might be able to clear this up a bit further.

Greg, is this for the body color or the engine? There are two different shades for "Hemi Orange". The body color is actually a metallic and the engines are painted kind of a popsicle orange or OSHA safety orange. Here are a couple examples................ I posted this elsewhere, but here's my '69 Daytona painted in 'Hemi Orange'. It doesn't appear to be so, but it is a subtle metallic paint. Here's the engine that was painted in OSHA safety orange. Hope this helps!

Lookin' Good Kurt! And yes, when it comes to things like this, there's nothing wrong with 'rivet counting'. It's the subtle things in body shapes IMO that can make or break a model. It's also interesting how VW did those subtle things to those Bugs throughout the years. Keep up the great work and yes, us 'rivet counters' will see and appreciate the difference!

Hmmm..........ask any early Corvair owner about those heaters! One needed to be careful with those!

Ooooh very nice! Some scratch filling primer should take care of any graininess. From where I sit it looks great to me!

To echo what Bill said, indeed not all metallics need a clear coat. When I originally needed paint to do my Daytona, I never knew that the Hemi Orange was actually a metallic. All those years I thought it was a solid color and not knowing about the possible pitfalls of rubbing out metallics back then, I did rub and polish it out with no issues. Now mind you the metallic effect is very subtle, but it's a metallic paint just the same. I also agree that one wouldn't know what works till you try it. As always...........test, test, test your paint!

I second what Pete mentioned about tweezers. I happen to have a set of 'em and they are indeed invaluable for handling tiny stuff. No way would I ever be able to do the details that I do without 'em. It'll be money VERY well spent!

Thanks for the info guys! I did go ahead and paint the heads Alclad Dull Aluminum. No pics right now as it's soon bedtime for me and I won't be setting foot downstairs again till this evening to get ready for work. Yes, they do look more distinctive painted this way, so I'm glad I went through the extra trouble.

FLAWLESS conversion! I like this MUCH better than the two door hardtop Johan made!

Love the details on this Dominick and the stance is terrific! That's how those B.M. cars sat-----VERY aggressively!

Looks excellent Randy! That stance is just right as that can be an issue (for me) with Revell's kits.

Whether you're airbrushing or using a can, it's a good idea to swill the can or jar while you're painting every so often to keep the metallic particles suspended. If this isn't done, when you start to paint all of sudden you'll get a 'rush' of metallic flakes which can be a problem.

@Snake45 Yeah, nothing's permanently 'set' at this point. One sticking point for me in regards to the heads and manifold is the color. Some pics I've seen show the heads are aluminum. Others show they're painted the engine block color. Was this an option for the L/88? Was this year specific? (1967 vs. '68?) Race heads? Anyone? @Superbird McMonte That engine is looking great! I hadn't paid attention to the wire looms and looking at the ones I have, mine could stand to be not so 'flat'. More work to do on this one. Gotta make the exhaust manifolds not quite so 'empty' looking, although the emptiness is on the inside, this should be no big deal. Also, getting the alternator pulley to line up with the other pulleys is going to be a bit of a challenge due to my scratchbuilt bracket. The trick is to get them to line up in some fashion by tacking them in place, then once I'm OK with that, permanently epoxying it to the heads with tiny brass rivets/bolts.

If the mods could delete this that would be good. I use my Ctrl-V buttons a lot to post pics and copy info. Well, I hit Ctrl-Enter and it posted way before I wanted it to!

Mistakes?? I sure don't see any! Absolutely loooooove the color!

When I finished my '74 Corvette resto, I had mentioned that the next one on the agenda was Revell's '68 that I built when it first came on the scene in 1988. Well, I've been making some progress and I'm rebuilding this pretty much like I do my other models. First the bodywork, then the engine, chassis and interior in that order. Here's what's up so far........................ You remember seeing this mess as I posted these couple pics with the '74 when it was about done. Well, this is how I found it originally. Lord knows how many years of dust and muck collected. It was in a somewhat open box which was in a seldom used closet. The windshield frame was somewhat bent which I was able to straighten and there was a hardtop with it, but it's among the missing. I don't know what happened to that. I've since bought a cheap parts kit and it has both the soft top and hardtop which was a plus. I carefully pulled the bumpers and lower trim off the body and since I was never one to use a ton of glue on things, I was able to get the windshield out very easily. Unlike the '74 'Vette which I just finished, I may go ahead and use the original glass on this one and save the trouble of vacuforming one .That'll depend on how it looks when I test fit it. I hate distorted looking glass as that takes away from the overall appearance and IMO can make the model look toy like. I thought that I had simply cleared the plastic but no, this was painted, I just don't remember with what. Might have been Model Master Red. Anyway, I used some Easy Off to strip the paint and an old toothbrush to get to the stubborn areas. Here's the pile of parts....... The engine was taken apart, stripped and then repainted in Chevy engine orange. One thing I did do that I didn't in 1988 was to get rid of that glue seam on the oil pan. The block came in halves and while it's easier to mold a kit that way I suppose, it wreaks havoc on having to get rid of it and then having to barrier the plastic so it doesn't show up again after it's painted. My tried and true Parafilm as this will get a LOT of handling while I'm working on it. I wanted to get a set of those beautiful Holley Carburetors from Fireball Model Works. I sent Joseph an order, and within a week they showed up. Very, very nice and if you've never bought from him, you'll love these once they're on any engine. He molds his on a block, so it's a just a matter of carefully cutting them away from the block as you see here. Get a load of all that detail on something this tiny! If I had known about these when I was building my '67 Mustang a few years ago, I would have definitely been a customer then! Just a mock up of the carb on the manifold for the time being. I made a couple brackets for the spring and throttle. Throttle linkage done......not every nut and bolt's represented, just something a little extra to bring it a bit more to life. I did scratchbuild the distributor as the 30 gauge Kynar wire I needed to use, seemed to be very fussy going into a resin distributor I had. I didn't want any drama out of fighting those wires, so I went ahead and scratchbuilt my own. An alternator bracket made from PE and plastic. I have it so that it'll bolt onto the block like the 1:1 and I'll need to make a pulley and tiny fan for it. Speaking of pulleys, I modified the kit's pulleys a bit to give them more depth. I'm not crazy about kit fan belts and pulleys as there's never enough definition to them. These will get painted semi gloss black and I still have belt material I can use. That's all for now folks! I'll keep zeroing in on the engine for the rest of the week, and then it's on to redoing the chassis. I don't think I'll add any brake lines or such, but focus on painting things better this time around. Thanks for tuning in!

Sorry folks.........wasn't quite done with the post yet. Stay tuned!

Here are a couple pics I've got showing his gauges in past builds I've done................ He's got sets for many, many cars------also does some neat license plates too.

You can try this fellow here. Very nice gauge decals as I've used them and fast service to boot.

BTW, I want to add that I saved your video Dominick among my arsenal of ideas and techniques. Was that the wheel back from the kit tires? That's a good idea to use that as a 'guide' as it'll keep your red line circles nice and concentric with the tires.

BOOM!! Excellent tip and tutorial! I just went and ordered one of these! This'll come in mighty handy as I need to do a 'ring' of black inside the wheels of my 1/8 scale Shelby project. Hand painting it won't cut it..........that line needs to be nice and even and this should do the trick. Another nice thing is you can adjust the radii to whatever size you need for certain particular tires or stripes. I've used acrylic type paints on vinyl tires (Tamiya for example) years ago and I've never had a problem with the paint rubbing or flaking off. What's nice about this is if you mess up, cleanup is as simple as Windex (or any ammonia type product) and try it again.

Very Sharp! I’ve built one of these too.......definitely one of Modelhaus’s best! ??

Oooooh!