Scale-Master

The tint they used is too dark so while I did some detail painting of the interior I don't expect it to be seen when it's finished. I also detail painted the inside of the rear section; it can be seen a little through the window.

The windows fit less than OK, the windshield and side windows are too small and not the same shape as the openings. I left as much extra material on the body when I test fitted them trying to disguise that fact, and making new windows is not something I think is worth the effort for this. Optimally they would be installed after the final clear, but they take clear well, usually… The gaps around them were filled with canopy glue once they were set in place.

I'm not sure I'd call this one pretty, but it is historical and has an interesting and impressive story to go with it. I painted it TS-76 Mica Silver; decanted.

The rear wing is PE so I soldered it together. First the end plates onto the main wing. Then the mounts. They are shown in the instructions to be installed sideways making the wing way too low; I followed photos of the rear car. And last the little wing element fits in place without soldering.

The wheels were much worse than I expected. The fronts had a severe problem with the lug nut holes. The rears were not round or centered. And they had a skew to them too. Rather than waste time trying to fix them I designed a new set in SolidWorks and printed new wheels. Too bad the tires aren't very round… They didn't look that bad before they were on the wheels.

The rear end needs a good amount of clean up too. After several hours of clean-up and rescribing I got most of the lines somewhat trued up. The headlights fit pretty well, but are bit more yellow than the real car. The exhaust pipes didn't clean-up too well so I drilled them out and made new brass ones.

This is a 1/43rd scale resin Starter kit from the mid 90's. I've intended to build it several times, but the body casting had so many issues I repeatedly put it back in the box instead of trying to clean it up. After having good luck with a set of small chisels on another one of these older resin kits I built, I decided to see if I could salvage this one. It's more of a side project to do while another larger project is having moments of dry time where it can't be worked on. The front spoiler was warped and broken but still attached to the body. (It should be flat against the surface it's sitting on.) Being so thin and brittle I made a new one and cemented it to the bottom. The extra thickness is acceptable considering the other shortcomings of the kit I won't fix. The left side door was sunken in and the body trim piece was not only wonky, but partially detached. The right side is not bad in the same area, but it has issues too. I reworked it with sheet styrene to fill the depression and made a new trim piece after removing the partly detached one.

I dirtied up the bottom a little bit more.

Just a repaint with some decals I made. Yes, it's a little Hot Wheels. It's also a test vehicle for larger scale "real" models.

After I lettered the spare I was really wishing these were Avon or Toyo or some other shorter name brand tire… Those outlines make for a tedious time too. I tried the sort of new Tamiya LP-4 Flat White lacquer and found it to be quite workable.

Tow hook; machined aluminum. The lock nut is a separate piece. (Sorry for the poor photos, gotta work on it when I have time…) Anodized red. Installed.

While there is a heavy screen built into the grille opening in the body, I added this fine stone guard screen too. The machined petcock has been installed, and I made a mask and stenciled LOLA onto the screen. A couple more fittings were machined and installed in this area as well.

These are the latch handles for the front hood section. Different design for a different application. There are some people who assume that when parts are machined they just come out looking like they can be used as is. In some cases they can be, but in many cases some or a lot of hand finishing is needed, as in these latch handles. This is what these parts looked like after machining but before the hand finishing. The difference is the hand work.

Aluminum, milled then polished.

It will not be a Morgan... I made the engine cover latch handles. Machined each as a single piece.

It's changed a lot since we moved here decades ago too. And that is 1/6th...

I finally balanced the wheels/tires. Instead of using my little balancer (for real) I copied the weight sizes and placement on my real C6's wheels. The tape that holds them on collects grime and dirt so I copied that too.

The Brock Buster 510 did not have the iconic BRE side stripes. I built one many years ago for an MCM article where I added them in black, and I considered adding them to this one too. But I decided to channel the 510 more more correctly on this one. I kind of wish I had done the taillight panel in black as the 510 was, but with the black rear spoiler I wasn't sure if it was too much.

Thank you Noel! That seems appropriate since I'm in Huntington Beach... I have a 1/6th scale project I'm looking forward to once this is done, something simple by comparison. I might build another Super 7 too; but of course it will be something different and possibly unexpected...

The engine cover has a good amount of mass and to keep it from over-opening I made a "leash". Machined and then hand shaped brass ends for the elastic cord. The Remove Before Flight Ribbon is a custom decal and a reminder to not leave the cord under the cover when closing it. Machined aluminum knobs were added to the engine cover and the rear bulkhead. The bracket for the one on the bulkhead is formed sheet brass with aluminum hardware.

Inspired by the Brock Buster 510. WIP:

Inspired by, yes, but not the same colors. And it will not have the lettering.

Ready to mount the body to the chassis. I had to tape the hood closed to keep it from getting damaged from flopping around. The glass fits very well in this kit, especially the windshield and back light.

They never came in yellow. Only white and silver.

Again, I was happy to see all the planning to get the engine cover to fit and operate on its hinges and to latch closed worked after everything was painted and all the tight fitting things that could interfere didn't. I also re-test fitted the wheels to see where I am. Too bad it was an overcast day.