Drake69

To get that color I started with Tamiya Mica Red base followed by One-Coat Lacquer Mythical Maroon. Opposite the Inca/Champagne Gold (but in the same technique), I only sprayed enough of the lacquer to in this case darken the red so that it would stand out better and not be too bright or too dark. Here's a better pic...

The paint is a combination of Modelmaster Lacquer Inca Gold as a base and then covered with Champagne Gold Metallic to cut down the yellow brightness. You can see the Inca gold peeking out from underneath the chassis and inside the fender well by the engine. When I first hit the car with the Inca it was waayyyy too bright and shiny, so I needed to tone it down quite a bit to make it more natural looking. The only gold color I had in my arsenal was the champagne, so I fogged the color on at first to see what it would do, and it sat down very nicely. Pic of the Corvair... Pic of a 1969 Chevelle I did in straight Champagne Gold...

1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 - Burgundy (BIG THANKS to diymirage for getting me an extra Z/28 badge!!!) 1974 Ford Maverick - Chocolate Brown - "Fresh Cherries" Motor Max metal car (wife's favorite car...)

Here are 4 models I finished within the last two months. Normally I would've had them in separate threads, but I didn't feel it was necessary. I have extra pics for any who want to see them. 1977 Pontiac Trans Am - Brentwood Brown - Keith Marks and MPC decals 1969 Chevrolet Corvair Monza

I finally got around to picking up a Streetburner Revell '79 Camaro 3-in-1 to go with my recent Firebird/Trans-Am run of models lately. And while I was surfing Ebay for rare model kits, I couldn't believe my luck.... All parts look to be still sealed in bags, so I can't wait to get started on it!

Okay. I've decided to use the decals in the MPC kit for dad's car, and then use the K.Marks decals on the MPC kit for the Bandit car. For those that asked, this was one of 3 cars dad bought model kits for but never finished before he died, another one was a '69 Chevelle SS396 in Champagne Gold Metallic I already built, and the last one is a 1993 Jeep Grand Wagoneer (last year for that woody model). So I want it to be as close as I can to the original as a tribute since I learned many of my modelling tricks from him.

Another thing that has already been touched on but not fleshed out in the ideas is interior detailing. A well-painted dashboard may look good, but seat belts, decal gauges, photo-etched badging, radio bezels, and other finer details can really make a model that much more special. Putting yourself (or the person you're doing the model for...) INTO the car mentally goes a long way in the land of detailing. Are the seats vinyl, cloth, or leather? Is the ceiling the same color as the carpeting? Can you reach the dash and change a station on that radio? Can you pop the hood, remove the air filter, and change the plug wires? Are there clear markings in the engine bay like header markings, caution or warning labels on the fan housing, and oil and air filter labels? Aluminum or factory radiators, plastic or metal fans, stock or high performance motor, etc... Use your imagination!

Upon closer inspection, that Trans Am is probably going to be a reissue of this kit.... I'm working on it right now and the body is a dead ringer for that kit. Don't know if they are going to retool anything, but it's a sure bet that's it. Here's a completed model pic someone else did up on this kit as a comparison....

There's no striping on that one either. I might be remembering this all wrong. Blast.

I picked up the Revell '78 3-in-1 kit to replicate my dad's '77 Trans Am in Brentwood Brown but was stunned when I saw no gold striping on the sheet. I then got Keith Marks decals for the Blackbird and was stunned at how many gold stripes WERE on the sheet. And since I'm a Bandit fan, I picked up the MPC Blackbird and was stunned again at the limited NUMBER of gold striping on the sheet. Fun, right? So, I decided to start with the Revell kit and painted it in ModelMaster Root Beer lacquer (surprisingly matched the color of the brown, even with the custom tinge of metal flake dad had on his car...), but in searching the net I've not been able to find any real good pics of the striping layout for the car (dad never took pics of it so a good portion of the detailing is going to be from memory...). I distinctly remember the car HAVING some gold stripes, as well as the "6.6 Litre" scoop badging, the spoiler "Trans Am" badging, the "Trans Am" side decals, and all three chickens (big one on the hood and two behind the window). My guess is that since Brentwood Brown was not a major selling color, the dealership added a few stripes to sell it, like maybe the headlight trim and across the top (front to back). I CLEARLY REMEMBER it didn't have stripes around the air dam, the windows, the T-tops, or the fender skirts, but it did have gold trim in the back around the spoiler and lettering (NOT across the trunk). Anyone have any specific info on all this or am I remembering things wrong? The MPC kit will be getting the Keith Marks treatment to simulate the Bandit car, and the CB and antenna will be used from the Revell kit. I'm also in the market for Georgia plates that read "BAN ONE" if anyone has a few printed out already. Thanks in advance!

An email I JUST GOT from Tamiya USA...... Well, that pretty much sums it up....

Okay here are some pics of my current display setup... I picked up the larger media stand (first pic) from BB and put it together pretty quickly, then started adding my models in. Initially I thought I would have enough room to spare for the other kits (30+) I HAVEN'T built yet, but as everyone can see the spaces filled up pretty quickly. I thought about buying another display case but realized we don't have the space in our house (we rent, BTW) for any more shelving. Then I noticed that the spaces in the media case (non-height-adjustable) are big enough to stack one extra car in each cubby, and this got me thinking. If I measure the length and depth of the cubbyholes and halve the height, I can get double the number of models in there. Too bad I have no woodworking tools. Does anyone know if Lowes/Home Depot will cut blocks of wood to my specs without charging me a boatload of money, or is there another way of doing this? I don't want anything rickety that can tip over at the smallest bump. Thoughts?

My 1988 Toyota Supra Turbo with an Inline-6 7M-GTE engine on stand... (engine taken from a Soarer kit...)

As far as the filter is concerned, it's too shallow inside to drill out acurately, so I'll stick with the hood choice I made. I agree about the "hemi" banner though, maybe a red decal with "440 Six Barrel" or the Super Bee logo would really sharpen it up. Think you can do one that doesn't surround the rear markers and measure out to the bottom of the quarter panel on both sides, or would I still have to trim it?

Yup... now I'm getting a complex over those rotors. The red IS brighter than I thought, especially with a camera flash. Unfortunately, without disassembling the entire chassis there is no real way to correct them. Ohh well... live and learn. And the oil filter decal, had I done more research I would've realized what that was. But the instructions said NOTHING about engine bay decal locations, and I had to use the box to see what was available. Dang it. Well... here is the finished result, at least until I can find a good banner decal in red for the trunk lid. Second set... Last set... A few extra notes... Car was done up in 4 shades of black with 2 shades of gunmetal gray in the suspension area. 1: Body/Engine Bay = Tamiya Gloss Black 2: Hood = Tamiya Flat Black 3: Front/Rear Grilles = Tamiya Metallic Black 4: Body Pan/Interior/Wheels = Tamiya Semi-Gloss Black 5: Engine = Tamiya Dark Gunmetal 6: Suspension = Tamiya Light Gunmetal over Dark Gunmetal Also, for whatever reason, the engine sits higher in the bay than what appears once the carbs and air filter go on (in the stock version), so the hood bounces everywhere across the engine bay and will not fit right at all. I attempted to shave the inside lip of the hood thinking it was just hitting the edge of the scoop area, until I realized the entire air filter was right against the scoop, and I had painted the stock hood nice and flat black until then. After much cursing, I test fitted the custom hood and found that the bigger hole in the hood fit the cover perfectly, but now there would be a gaping hole in the hood. That is, until a 5-minute scrounge in the parts box netted a '69 Chevy Chevelle custom hood scoop. I checked fitment of the scoop on the hood and found it lined up nice and clean without shaving, but now I had a longer scoop than the stock one. Now it looks bad-to-the-bone... except for the bright red rotors...

Started this kit with an idea of how it would look from a pic I found on the net of a resto-mod... (car is actually a '69 Plymouth Road Runner, still a nice ride all around...) So far I've had to do EXTENSIVE MODIFICATIONS to the suspension to get the Pegasus widebodies to fit under the fenders, including cutting the front axle back almost to the firewall and nearly glueing the wheels on there. Rear axle was trimmed in width and rear shackles were cut from the leaf springs to get the height under control. More pics on the mods later. Another note: I WAS using the red decals from the MPC 1970 Coronet kit to supply the trunk stripe, but the decal completely fell apart in my hands (and its a brand new kit!). If anyone is building the '70 kit, THOSE DECALS ARE REALLY THIN!!!!

I've always had a thing for Firebirds/Trans Ams since dad had one in the 70's, so I finally picked up a few kits. The first kit I picked up was the '78 Firebird 3-in-1 which had this blue screaming chicken that I couldn't use, but liked the look and color. So I had to find a car that would really make it look cool, and this was the end result. I know the purists will probably balk at a 1970 screamer, but I think it did quite well. Second set... Last set... I still have the marker lights, door handles, and darkened mags to do, but I really wanted to show it off.

Thanks! The color is actually ModelMaster Blazing Black One-Coat Lacquer. I didn't realize it was metal flake like that until I hit the body with it, but it looked so good I left it that way.

Yeah, I should've used putty to even out the lines then sanded them in for a smoother look. It does make it a little buck-toothed without that done. The plaque is actually from the photo-etch set from Model Car Garage, and it really sets the back area off.

Last three pics, stripped out old camera phone pix for better digital shots... Thanks for the comments!

Just completed my third Challenger, this time a TA model in Panther Pink. I used photoetched parts on this one.

I've been wanting to do up a car in that color (Deja Blue), now I can see how great it looks. Nice car!

This was a quick AMT build I put out in less than a week. I used Testors One-Coat Blazing Black and kept the build at stock. This was a practice run for when I can get my hands on a 4-door Impala resin model from the Supernatural TV series (will use regular Tamiya Gloss Black for that build though...).

And another important fact I just learned about Future... I have yet to test this, but if this is true then it means stronger windows and cleaner looking bumpers on models, as opposed to using Elmer's glue or Micro Krystal Klear.

I am posting this from another forum....