Exotics_Builder

Progress has been slow the past week and a half. Body Preparation I have gotten to final primer on the body. I am using the Tamiya fine light gray primer and will likely not cover with white primer. I want a darker version of the colors, and I believe the light gray will provide the effect. Again, I will be using shaker can paint only on this build. I’ll have to see how the Testors’ One Coat White Lightning will look over the gray primer and go from there. The top color will be Testors’ Flaming Orange. I also decided to part out a 2006 Revell Snap Concept Camaro kit for the wheels, tires, bucket seats and side view mirrors. I think the Concept car side view mirrors will work on this model and help keep the exterior smoother. Here’s a shot of the body with the mirrors (unprimered): I also will be applying flat black primer on the bottom of the body for future mating with the chassis. Chassis and suspension I started the subassemblies for the chassis and suspension. It would be nice to do an Art Morrison chassis, but that will be for another build. The Revell chassis would need considerable modification as the frame and body pan are one molding. So for this build, beefing up the kit chassis will be the plan. The Revell kit does provide the aftermarket wheels and disk brakes. They are a good choice, but I decided to use the Revell Concept Camaro wheels and tires and thought the brakes needed a little beefing up as well. So, I went to the parts box and pulled out some Fujimi large Brembo disks. As these will be reasonably exposed, I sacrificed the calipers from a second set, sanded them down and glued them to the calipers of the first set. This will give a better effect. The front suspension will retain the A-arm configuration and I also decided to keep the recirculating ball steering provided in the kit rather than try to find and adapt a rack and pinion set up. Only the Brembo brake set will be added. To adapt the brakes to the suspension, I needed to remove the wheel stubs that the kit wheels “snap” over. After an incident several years back at a show, I now always glue my wheels so they don’t roll. I drilled out the rotor to center on the stub. To accept the Camaro wheels, I trimmed the wheel post to near the hub and added Evergreen plastic tube cut down to act as a shim that centered the wheel. Then, I perhaps got a bit anal and decided to drill out the rotor cooling holes. A wash could have been used to accentuate the cooling holes from the front, but the rear would still be a flat disk. So, I went ahead and drilled them out. There are 58 cooling holes per brake rotor. For the rear suspension, I started the build of the solid rear axle. EL Caminos, as other Chevelles of that era, have a 4-link trailing arm solid rear axle sprung with coils. I wanted to notch this up a bit, so I took the panhard rod from a parts kit Revell 65 Impala to make a 5-link. I glued a piece of Evergreen plastic stock to the axle to attach the rod. In assembling the axle, I found an error in the kit instructions. Although the parts are included, the upper trailing arms assembly is missing from the instructions. I found I still had original El Camino instructions in my instruction folder and dug it out. It is not in that either, but is in the 66 Chevelle Wagon kit. The parts are numbers 98 and 52 and here is how they appear assembled. Parts on tree: This is not very visible on the assembled model and can be finicky to glue up. So, if you also are building this model, you can decide if it matters. Anyway, the rear suspension subassembly is about done and a little work with the brakes on the front remains. Interior Started I started to look at what I’m going to do on the interior while waiting for glue to dry and get my fingers “unlocked” from the brake rotor drilling exercise (front brakes yet to do). I will use the Revell Concept Camaro buckets and decided to also change the instrument panel. In looking at the kit instructions (yes I DO read them, multiple times for an unfamiliar vehicle), I found another error. On page 3, instruction panel 2, the dashboard top depiction shows the defroster vents towards the driver and the radio grill towards the window. This is the reverse of how it should be. The part can be glued on correct way only without looking odd, but it can be confusing. As a reference point, the original instructions are correct as is the Chevelle wagon. Instructions in current kit: Instructions in old kit: More to come.

Well...

It definitely is in the Revell 48 Ford Custom. It also is in the 40 Ford standard coupe, the 1/25 scale 32 Ford variants with the flathead (including two different radiators, one for the Small Block Ford engine and the other the Flathead)

Remember, Revell here is Revell of Germany (RoG), thus the 1/24 scale. 1/25 is not a scale used outside the US that I have ever discovered. What you usually see in Europe or Japan that are 1/25 are US produced models. Revell US will repackage some of the RoG kits for US distribution. Except for reissues, Revell USA is pretty much on the 1/25 bandwagon (I can't recollect any NEW tool kit being 1/24 that wasn't done by RoG).

That is what Revell told me at IHOBBY. No idea on any price though. I have 5 of the kits in my stash right now, plus two McLaren's. I think that is more than enough.

Curtis pretty well nailed it. The 360 series from Revell AG was poor but from the 430 up the releases are getting better and better. The 430 kits are good alternatives to the Fujimi versions. The engine in the Revell 430's is slightly better but the Fujimi body is crisper. Wheels and tires are slightly better on the Fujimi, but both are small. The 612 is pretty good. The whell lip moldings are too thick but can be adjusted. The Revell 599 GTB has an engine whereas the Fujimi is curbside. The Fujimi body is a bit crisper than the Revell. I have seen conversions where a Fujimi body was fitted over the Revell chassis The Revell California is a very decent kit. There is no Fujimi equivalent. In the open top version, there is a gap that needs to be addressed between the interior and body. This is not a problem on the closed top version. The Revell 458 is far and above better than the Fujimi version. The Fujimi interior is quite plain and requires considerable work. My only peeve with the Revell 458 is the engine is too simplified. But since it is so buried in the engine bay, it is not a concern for most modelers. I just like to detail out engines when provided in a kit. In general, the biggest dislike I have of the Revell AG Ferraris is that the wheels and tires are too small and not prototypical enough. They also have the odd fabrication of wheel front, brake disk and then wheel rear so that the wheels can roll. I generally use aftermarket wheels that are more accurate on either the Fujimi or Revell wheels. But, you can get by with the kit supplied versions as well. Revell AG has announced they will be doing modified reissues of the 599 in the form of the 599 GTO and SA Aperta (599 spyder). They are the only ones to have annouced this. HTH. Gerry

I decided rattle can Testor's lacquers for this rather than airbrush colors. For sure I was going to go with White Lightning on the bottom over the gray primer to darken it a bit. For the top, I am still deciding on whether to use Purple Licious, Flaming Orange or Mythical Maroon. Any opinions are welcome. At the moment, Purple Licious is on the top of the list.

First pass primer on the body. Still needs some tweaking before color coat.

The C.A.R.S. in Miniature 2012 theme project is Pro “Something”. That is Pro-Street, Pro-Touring, Pro-Mod, etc. I decided to do a 1966 El Camino as a Pro-Touring version, with moderate upgrades. The Revell 1966 El Camino 2’n1 kit is a good basis for this. In general, I find the model a good representation of the 1:1 car with a great chassis, engine and drive-line. Although not Pro-Touring, I had one about 90% complete when we moved from Bellevue Washington to suburban Chicago area. However, it (and about 4 other models in work) got severely damaged in the move. I was able to salvage the wheels, engine and one of the bucket seats. The wheels and engine were repurposed to other models and that was that. When C.A.R.S. announced this year’s theme, I thought this would be a good time to get back on it as the kit is still available, this time with optional accessories. I also wanted to get an early start, unlike the 48 Ford Custom for the Lake Michigan Model Car Club 2011 theme. So I acquired another Revell El Camino and set off. Starting with the body, I shaved off all emblems and hood trim. I decided to do a custom door handle for a smoother look when finished. I had bought a few automotive bodies for paint testing, a couple of them Japanese cars. One of them had door handles that looked good and the body had an upper curvature close the El Camino body. So I sliced them out and merged them into the doors. I also decided to french the radio aerial to keep the smoother appearance. I may change my mind, but at this point I have decided to keep the bumpers chrome rather than strip them and paint a body color. I am considering a two tone paint job but am still working on the colors. The body and hood are in first pass priming at this point. Next update will be the chassis.

Yes. Needed a little adjustment.

Not a topic that really is an interest to me, but it was the club project for 2011 and was to be finished for the February 2012 meeting. I built the model pretty much as provided in the kit with a few mods. The mods I did were detail the engine a bit along with a Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland Thickstun air cleaner. I also added a side aerial and a MCG billet side view mirror. I didn’t have enough time to work out a carb linkage to get around the fuel lines, so I decided to let it go (it was tough as this is something I usually like to do, especially on older engines). Some lessons I got on assembling were: Finicky chassis that had a lot of parts needing placement that didn’t necessarily have locator pins (like the panhard bars). For those thinking of building it, I would assemble the chassis completely and then detail paint it. I had to do a lot of scraping and applying super glue. Even using the supplied suspension for the custom, the car still sits high. If I had more time to do it, I would have “hogged” out the suspension more to get it to sit lower. Do not apply the steering arm first as per the instructions. Wait until after you install the engine as the left header is interfered with as you install it. The model is painted with Testor’s lacquer Fiery Orange followed up by their Wet Look Clear. It polished out pretty easily. The interior is a combination of Testor’s Dark Tan and Light Ivory. I use a technique where I deepen the door and trunk lines before painting to provide a more realistic appearance. The downside is that it collects polishing compound more easily. I still need to clear that out and then I usually fill with Tamiya Smoke to add some darkening. Anyway, here are some photos of the 99.9% finished model:

Keep in mind this is now just a sales show and NO model contest. There are usually quite a few good vendors at the show.

So does Scale Finishes for US builders (or others).

Think Camaro COPO announced recently.

That is pretty much what Revell told me at IHOBBY. They had done the photo shoot at the end of the GEARZ contest. It will be a new tool. Unlike Tim, I have no problems with Chevy engines in 32 Fords

Here you go. Built up from IHOBBY

DITTO!!!

http://www.modelcars...by&fromsearch=1 Yes. Confirmed on Saturday goback, along with other questions from Board Members

If you recollect the IHOBBY report out, this is new tool SWC Willys with new decals. This was covered in some detail in the Revell IHOBBY report out and followup.

The show was this past weekend and some very interesting vehicles, including a “reunion” of COPO’s as well as Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins and lots of neat autos. Additionally, the show sponsored a model car contest and “Make and Take”. The CARS in Miniature club hosted this for the show. When I left at 3:15 PM Saturday, there were only a little more than 10 models entered (Sunday’s are when more arrive), but we had about 100 kids do the “Make and Take”. I didn’t make it back Sunday because of a prior commitment, perhaps some other CARS members have additional photos or more on the contest. Here are a few teaser pictures and a link to the album. http://s150.photobuc...te%20Nationals/

I am behind in cleaning up and posting pictures. This event happened November 12. There were many interesting and well detailed models there. As usual, non-military car models were less than other categories. Of note were the dioramas, including one of an auto junk yard. An interesting approach on the junkyard was that some of the effects were simply color printed on paper with a 3D effect in the art work. Check the trailer in the junkyard to see what I mean. There also was considerable use of electronics for sound effects and lighting, including a pirate ship with synchronized LED’s to simulate cannons firing. A Low Eider display had what looked like an IPOD Nano with a playback that simulated a flat screen TV display. The Lake Michigan Model Car Club did its annual display, with several members bringing in their work. Our President brought his famous (or perhaps infamous) excrement mobile. Anyway, here are a few teaser pictures and a link to the album. http://s150.photobuc...%20IPMS%20Show/

If you go to Revell's site, you can find instrcutions for most kits. The ZR-1 instructions are here: http://manuals.hobbi...rmx/85-4216.pdf

Tools and Paints The Testor’s automotive paints will have more added to the enamels than lacquers. There will be improved primers made available in several color options, some flip-flop options, a wash and multi-colored pearl coat. There will be additional info on this by year-end. The Iwata Neo airbrush for entry level airbrush years is double action and will retail in the $50 range. An interesting facet is a removable gravity feed cup with small and large cup sizes. Innovative Hobby Supply had some interesting products, including a tape that mimics canvas, peel and stick chrome, wood grain, trunk floor mat and others.

Moebius There are some other items of interest to announce, but they are not locked down yet and too soon to publish anything. I took a few extra photos of the Hudson convertible and the subs. Pegasus New wheel sets are 15 inch, not 19 as perceived. There will be a higher profile white wall tire also used.

Lindberg/Hawk Buddy G Toy Trucks – metal bodied. The ones at the show were prototypes. Didn’t get scale, but they appeared to be smaller than 1/25. More to come Bull Horn Model T – 1/16 scale. New Display Case – eliminated the “bubble” on the top of the clear case. Sturdy diamond plate chrome base and stackable 1969 Yenko Camaro – initially die cast and plan for plastic down the road. Die Cast version in picture. Red Devil racer – in planning stage for later 2012 Kustom Koffin – in planning stage for later 2012 White Lightning – in planning stage for later 2012 IMC Talked to Ernie and there is more in the Johan space they are planning but too soon to announce.