Drake69

Yup, and I figured I'd just leave it that way. If I had thought more about it I would've filled it in and done up some good suspension work from my spare parts, but I wasn't trying to be too fancy with it. As for the color, it's actually a screw-up, kinda. My wife had picked out a color she wanted me to do for her car, and it happened to be Pactra Purple Crush. Since it changes color with a proper base coat underneath it, I used Tamiya Silver Leaf as the base and then the Purple Crush. Of course this did nothing except give it a pearlescent tint to the silver. Only after I read the label on the blessed can did I find out it required a certain BLACK BASE color, made by Pactra (of course!), to work like she wanted it to. So, here I am, trying to figure out how to darken the car up to see if I can still get it to work before tossing it in the purple pond for stripping, and decided to lay down a light coat of Tamiya Gold Leaf, then interject it with a few light mists of Tamiya Metallic Black. When I sprayed a last light coat of the Purple Crush the pearlescent color brought out the silver, gold, AND black of the paints I had put down earlier and produced the color you see here. My wife sees it and shouts "SNAKESKIN" !!!! And this is why she likes it so much... meet my wife... This is GREMLINA from the 3rd Season of GLOW WRESTLING. She is a 4ft. 6in. former Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling bad girl that lead around a 6ft. 4in. Daisy. Talk about a height difference!

Black carpeting with white vinyl seats and dashboard. I used Detailer Black to make the white seats look dingy and dirty, which from my experience is probably 99% of all white or cream-colored vinyl seats in 60's ~ 90's cars. With the gear shift I painted the upper area Red/Brown for the leather look, followed by a spot of black on top, then a small tip of silver to finish it off. Flat black on the top of the box makes the silver piece in the middle show up nicely. I scuffed up the rubber in the tires then applied older "GoodYear Polyglas" decals on the walls. Instead of Detailer Black, I tried Tamiya Smoke paint (mentioned in the next issue of SA Magazine...), and it looks better than my normal means. And finally for today I assembled the engine bay after detailing the firewall. The rubber bands are keeping everything nice and straight while it's gluing together. I think my wife might be pleased....

Started on this one a few days ago, already making good headway on it. Body already painted... Need to search on here to read about the "difficulties" later on with this build. I know the front grill is off and the inner panels of the body don't touch the chassis to hold everything together, so I'll add some sprue to the tub body to fill that in, then do more research on the front grill issue. Fortunately neither the body nor the chassis was warped, guess I got lucky there.

WOW what's that silver? Reminds me of Tamiya Silver Leaf. It's purty...

I forget which one of the sizes I used, but I was able to come up with some cool ways to use it... BMF Chrome on diamond plates for the shiny offroad bedliner look... Belly armor for offroad vehicles to protect things like gas tank, diff cover, transfer case, and shock towers with skid plating... I've got to find more of that stuff....

Prerequisite rusty tow chain tossed into a corner of a rusted out truck bed. Awesomely ugly... and I LIKE IT. EDIT: Just remembered, my dad had one of these for a few years. He bought it as a dump-run trash hauler and storage box transporter for $1000, and except for the white roof (ours was all black), it was SPOT ON to your model, right down to the bleeping rust holes in the rear fender. Dad named that thing "Henry" because it was old, big, bad, and was seriously ticked off 99% of the time. I think it was appropriately named.

Nope, it's pretty spartian. It DOES have the captain's chairs with armrests, and they "sit" on (read: glue to) a swivel mount each. The dashboard is pretty straightforward, so a little color detailing goes a long way. The back half of the van is empty but the floor is typical of a delivery van, so if you intend to put in interior detail, might as well open up a door or two. And if you do that, might as well drill open a porthole in the side or top to let some light in. Lots of cool ideas for someone who wants to put in the "wrench time" on this kit.

I have the Paasche HSSB-22-16, and back when I got it Amazon had it for sale at $150 plus shipping... http://www.amazon.com/Paasche-HSSB-22-16-Hobby-22-Inch-18-Inch/dp/B0038DANR6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424461445&sr=8-1&keywords=paasche+hssb-22-16 Definitely worth it if you can get it on sale for close to that price. Only caveat is there's no lighting inside it, but an LED strip and some velcro works wonders.

Great, easy to use FREE graphic software: GIMP Type of paper needed for decals: Decal paper, either White or Transparent Type of printer to print decals: Inkjet or Laserjet Decal protection and manipulation agent: Liquid Decal Film Decal setting solution: Micro Set Decal conforming solution for uneven surfaces: Micro Sol 1: GIMP is a powerful freeware software package that has almost as much versatility as Photoshop. Go HERE and download it. 2: The difference between white and transparent decal paper: when a decal is printed on transparent paper, anything not covered with ink will be see-through, and when printed on white paper, the decal will need to be trimmed completely to eliminate any white borders around the edges since the white part of the paper transfers with the decal to the model. 3: Most important thing about inkjet or laserjet printers: they do NOT print the color WHITE. Since white is considered the absence of color, the print heads will not print that color on paper. This is why white decal paper is used to retain the white color in a decal, and why it needs to be trimmed carefully to avoid any white areas left over when using them on a model. 4: The material in decal paper is VERY THIN. This means that once you have printed your graphic off onto the paper you will need to coat it so that it strengthens the artwork for removal and manipulation. Use Liquid Decal Film (LDF) after printing your decals or you might have your artwork fracture into thousands of pieces. 5: Because LDF coats anything you touch it to on the paper, once it has dried completely you need to trim around the decal close so that residual film is not left behind when transferred, very similar to what white decal paper will do if not cropped close. DO NOT USE LDF DIRECTLY ON A MODEL AFTER APPLYING A DECAL. IT WILL EAT THROUGH PAINTS! 6: Micro Set and Micro Sol need to be used sparringly around your artwork. Micro Set is good for a light base on the model before applying the decal, and afterwards to get it to settle in place, but too much Micro Set has the same effect as Micro Sol and will dissolve your decal if overly used. Micro Sol is a SOLVENT and should only be used lightly to get a problematic decal on an uneven surface to set properly. Doubly so if used on thin homemade decals. Some of my work I did on decal paper. The inkjet I used was low quality and as such the decals came out this way. Rule of thumb: The better the quality of the printer, the better quality of the decal...... ADDENDUM: There are printers that print the color white as well as metallic colors like gold and silver, but they are quite expensive (in the neighborhood of $2000~$4000). Used ALPS printers can be had on eBay and other auction sites for around $500~$1000 but are no longer made, so spare parts and fully working ones are scarce.

Tamiya.... the bane of enamel paints everywhere.... Acryllics and lacquers are the ONLY way to paint. Such a dream to use.

It must be the newer ones. I've had my stand for at least 3~4 years and it never popped its base once. And I grab hold of that thing and whip it in all sorts of directions when I spray.

I picked up a set of these in 3.0x at Northern Tool & Equipment for $9.99 closeout. They have built-in LEDs on each side of the earpieces to shine light on whatever surface you're looking at, and with 3x mag they make it much easier to see small details. PLUS, they don't strap to your head like other portable light/mag systems do, so they don't feel unwieldy when you move or tilt your head.

Thanks all! It was just a fun little time-waster for me, and I'll probably end up getting more snap kits just to see what I can do with them. Especially if it's not a vehicle I can readily find in glue format.

Best thing is to go to this subforum and start reading. It's been covered MANY times.... http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?s=7894b2de0adec1e2607e6c75d215402f&showforum=8 Just remember, if you decide to make your own... BRUSHLESS MOTOR.

Got some replacement Paasche filters for my spray booth in the mail today. Now the house won't stink of paint fumes! Also replaced my missing cordless engraver with this... http://www.amazon.com/General-Tools-Instruments-505-Precision/dp/B004YK66NM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424320155&sr=8-1&keywords=Cordless+Precision+Engraver General Tools 505 Precision Engraver Makes it so much easier drilling or routing holes in styrene without fussing with Dremel bits, chocks, and cords.

Hunting for a ZZTop Eliminator kit now. Got to have one. Stunning builds!

Nice. I have 2 of these in my stash, been thinking heavily about breaking one out. Awesome build!

Sadly, not much is left. I've been raiding parts from it for awhile now. Ohh well, guess it gives me an excuse to build another one! Some pix of the late CJ...

I haven't done fire decals on a model since I was a kid, so I figured I'd play around with what I've collected. Kit is an AMT Snap kit recently reissued, and I decided to throw on some paints and details to make it better. Entire kit was done in a weekend, even while I was working on my "Phantom" van! Interior was done in Semi Gloss Black and Fabric Gray with silver gauges and trim. Body paint is a mixture of One Coat Firey Red and One Coat Mystical Maroon (maroon color darker at the top half, lighter red at the bottom half...). Undercarriage was a light brushing of aluminum paint for the muffler and piping, and gunmetal for the bottom of the engine (hardly any detail in them anyway...).

1/32? It looks to scale with the pickup! Nice build!

Thanks guys!

Just completed this one. I used three paints for the body in layers, starting with Tamiya Light Gunmetal, then Tamiya Gunmetal, and finally Model Master One-Coat Blazing Black Lacquer. I printed these plates off some time ago when I did my KISS Army Vette Van... Borrowed "Dirty Donny" skulls for a cool look... And I made a rear tire carrier to fit my fifth wheel. Wheels and tires came from my Jeep CJ-7 kit that met a tragic end with the floor and our cat. Also hard to see are the two gemstone portholes I mounted on the back panels at the rear of the van. Instead of tinting the rear glass, I took sheet styrene, cut it to shape, then painted it Blazing Black. I then glued them inside the van against the rear door, then stiffened it inside with thick sprue. Once all that dried I used Micro Krystal Klear to glue the portholes to the sheet so it wouldn't mess up my work. I'll try to get some better lighted shots of the back to show the gemstones. A nice kit, but be warned. There are flash, edge seams, and sink marks EVERYWHERE in this one.... CHECK EVERY PART.

Done! Pix in Under Glass.

Almost done... still adding things and touching up some areas....

Ok... here's where I got creative. Wheels/tires came from a Jeep CJ-7 kit I had that I had to cannibalize because the cat got ahold of it, and ended up with five wheels to work with. I decided to make up a tire carrier on the secondary back door of the van and place a license plate inside like they sometimes do here in Virginia, and now the decal error is evident... Ohh well... I might not use the other decal I have left over, and just keep it for some other model.