Cool Hand

I like my Tamiya Handy drill. Much better control with the pistol grip. Low speed and plenty of torque. Only comes with 2 collets. But I found the collets from the Pro Edge pin vise fit Not cheap, but its worth the cost and the usual Tamiya quality. .

Paint work looks excellent Bob, good to see you got the Tamiya TS-14 black application dialed in. Job well done sir.

Same as some of the other guys. Paint markers. Been using these 2 from AK a lot.

One of those builds just for fun and to further develop airbrush painting skills and maintain build techniques. Id say the idea's and inspiration for the style of the build, came from watching South Florida car culture and Donk car show videos on YouTube. 3D printed steering wheel, scratch built stick shifter and Hobby Design resin seats which I removed the head rest. Wanted something different for the interior colour, so decided to use 50:50 mix of Ammo by Mig Medium Rust and Dark Rust to achieve a redish brown (chestnut??). Floor colour is Ammo by Mig Chipping. As per usual the colour shift was applied over a gloss black base. Removed the moulded in lower grill to open the lower opening of the front bumper. I 3D printed the wheels, the files were sourced from Dirty Customs. I up scaled them to 19's and used Aoshima cambered tyres for the ultra low profile B pillar window frame was removed to achieve more of a hard top coupe look. Shaved the door handle and filled the pocket. Also filled the quarter panel vents. Filled in the fuel cap door.

Next one back to the bench. Started it 2 year ago. Gathered up all the parts. Time to do work and get it completed. Question is do I go with my trademark colours black with red interior combo or black interior as it doesnt have the wire wheels 🤔

2010 Camaro complete. Now under glass. Sorry Brian no polishing how to, just wanted to get stuck into it and get it done, didnt feel like stopping to take pictures.

Thanks Ken, I will show the bottle of the colour when it goes under glass.

Thanks @michelle hope to see you build a Valiant Charger street machine one day.

Thanks Andrew and David. Look forward to seeing a wip of your build David. That 1:1 is tidy, good stance and wheels, that bright red'ish orange looks killer. Great inspiration.

Thats not entirely true. Just need to know where to look. You can still get them, a quick search on ebay and you will find many sellers in Australia.

Wet sanding done, wont bore you with that process. Tricky to get photos of this one. Camera trips out taking pictures of this particular paint job, it wants to over expose which makes the pearl pigments look like a heavy flake I used the God Hand 10mm and 2mm sanding sponges 4000-10000. 10mm is used for overall blocking of the open flat surfaces and 2mm for corners and crevices. Also got the interior components prep'd and 1500 Gray Surfacer applied. If your are observant you will notice I removed the head rest from the Hoddy Design resin seats.

Thank you very much to all who commented. Thanks Stu, with a bit of effort they build up great out of the box. Hope my build can motivate and inspire you to do work on your HQ, been waiting to see an update. I built 7 of them 😄 No idea what happened to 1:1 car after he sold it. Havent spoke or seen the guy who owned for years. But I think it might have ended up in Adelaide. 🤷‍♂️ Thanks Doug, the plastic kit is based of a die cast version, DDA shoot plastic through the diecast mould. Always try my best to take good pictures of my models as it helps to showcase the details of the build to viewers. I like to present it in a way the looks like something you would see in the magazines

Next on the bench, bringing this one back for completion. Need to get the interior prepared and ready for paint, after thats done the Body needs a full wet sand and polish.

Thanks Brain. Very happy I managed capture the 90's street machine style. Its my favourite era of Aussie Street Machine car culture. I will have to think about it, to see if I could show and explain the polishing process I use. Next build on the bench I will see if I can piece something together.

I found these Tamiya swabs help a lot with precise removal of paint from scripts and badges. Check out Scale Riders they have them in stock. Dont over soak with the thinner. Dip and wick away excess on paper towel. Then just take your time lightly wiping over the paint on the raised script. No need to try remove in one go. You will have to dip and wipe multiple times, being patient with the process will get you the best results 😉

Thats a great technique for doing scripts Bob.

Holden HQ complete and Under Glass.

This build is a special one to me as its inspired and my interpretation of local car that was one of my favourites back in day during the late 90's. And its the reason I like Holden HQ sedans. I only manage to get one picture of it from a local event. My memory of it is pretty vague, but il never forget how it did sound and look. The engine was a fully worked 350 Chev with a Jackson Gear drive, big stall convertor and 4:11 gears. If you know you know. So its absolutely great to have DDA Collectibles manufacturing the Holden HQ's as plastic kits. Ever since the kit was released ive had the idea for this build. Just took time for all the pieces of puzzle to align and fall into place before I was ready to make it a reality. After using this colour on another build, I knew it was going to be perfect for the HQ. I remember the interior being black, and it having a mega shifter so I sourced something similar from Texas 3D Customs . I dont like the front vinyl seats that come with the kit. So I got a file from Black Box and 3D printed new front seats. Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 black was the perfect solution for the look of black vinyl upholstery and the floor carpet is Tamiya XF-1 flat black. Had to modify the transmission tunnel to clear the aftermarket transmission. That can be seen in my Lead City Customs build thread I 3D printed the steering wheel, the file was from Black Box. Main feature of the 1:1 car is the wheels. They were Dragway Pro Wheels but there is none available in scale. So similar wheels that I have always liked are Weld Racing Draglites so I sourced them and the BFG T/A tyres from Morries Kustoms and I 3D printed. Wheels are painted with SMS paints Hyper Chrome Cold Tone. Headlight surrounds, bumpers, wipers, door handles, side mirrors, rear vision mirror and exhaust tips were all painted with SMS paints Hyper Chrome Dark Tone. BMF for trim and grill surround trim. The kit has the Holden 308 engine, so that was replaced with a 350 SBC which was sourced from Texas 3D Customs. But the air cleaner supplied with that engine was too tall for the engine bay, so I replaced with one I found in my parts stash, no idea what its from. Had to do a lot of cutting, modifying and build a new fire wall to fit the aftermarket engine. That can be seen in my Lead City Customs build thread Air filter and valve covers painted with SMS Hyper Chrome Dark Tone I 3D printed the distributor and coil. And finally with typical rev-head bogan behavior, have to put the stockies/steelies on to do some burnout outs. Cant afford to be shredding BFG T/A's 😄

Thanks Greg, Scot and Stu. Appreciate the comments. Yeah Black Hole is a pretty good alternative for Nissan Midnight Purple, there is another alternative similar but with different colour shift mix.

Body attached to chassis. Just the final exterior components to install/attach.

Polishing done. Still has the slightest bit of orange peel texture, but I can live with that. Having no clear coat I could not get too carried away. The depth in the reflection is much better and clearer, so im happy with that improvement. And BMF applied. Onto the home stretch now.

Appreciate the comments Carl and David. 3rd picture. SMS paints Colour Shift Extreme, Black Hole. Yep, gloss black undercoat.

Thanks for all the comments. Just part of the Liberty Walk styling to be different. I call it angry eyes. But from a quick search the influence comes from the Kaido Racer and Slihoutte race car culture. But the overall style is called Bosozoku.

All the Holden HQ components are ready to be assembled. I just need to machine polish the body to remove the micro orange peel. Then I can BMF and work towards getting completed.

Thanks Bob, its good to be back in the zone and having so many options with all the available 3D files.