Scale-Master

I started with a R/M Chevy (Die-Hard in this case) kit. The headers needed a mounting flange; they looked anemic with no visible means of attachment to the engine. I also added some locating pins made of stretched sprue at the same time to make installing them to the heads easier. Holes were drilled into the outboard pipes to accept the sprue. The flanges are made of .015 sheet plastic. The one on top is assembled, parts for the other below. No, this is not considered scratch-building… Here the pair is with paint... I sanded off the molded in grille vents from the bumper/air dam and made receptacles for a pair of HID lights with brass tubing. (A lens is in the drivers side hole in this photo, from a Tamiya Morgan kit.) Still have to make the reflectors, maybe from scratch, but still not what I’d consider scratch-building… The fan belt/pulley set is one piece, all it needs is some detail painting (and a little pin vise action...). Yep, just out-of-the-box for this part… More as it grows…

That's odd, they fit fine on mine, using the PDP body, almost 15 years ago.

Nice. It's great to see this era of cars built up. But the Keith Black and Kendall decals should not be overlapping the panel graphic.

This is one of those "sleeper" models. Looks nice but not a lot of gotcha from across a room. But does it ever suck you in once you start looking. One of the best Woody models I've seen, maybe the best stocker. The wood is amazing.

He bought something he already invented? He should sue the perpetrators! Oh, I would love to see the swearing in for that litigation…

Gee George, Your rant calls out types of builders here as the problem, but ironically the list includes “Build for profit “. Are you including Dave in that? Sure you want to offend him like that? After all he says he was a “professional pattern maker for Lancerâ€, isn’t that the same as build for hire? Hmmm. If this Charger was only for you to see, why was it posted on the OPEN forum instead of a PM? Don’t let any facts get in the way, just have your rant, and be done with it, and as I politely asked earlier and you ignored, again please don’t stir the pot. BTW, I think you might have to apologize to THD for that rant. There's a smiley face to make all nice. But where’s the smiley with a lock?

Really Dave? This is why you came back here? Runs awfully counter to your earlier unfulfilled claims of wanting to share techniques and help other builders. The “accomplishments†you list or aspire to are nothing to be proud of.

No problem Dave, you obviously know me, always trying to do what’s best for the hobby. But why are you coming forth now with this info after all the hub-bub a few months ago? Wouldn’t it have been easier to answer the questions then? Any of them? And why are you now not claiming to have INVENTED it? What changed? George, you do not need to stir this pot.

Does this mean we’ll finally get the answers inquiring minds wanted to know? Tune in and find out! Same Bat time, Same Bat Channel!

Please don't take my comments as anything other than a transfer of facts. Your workmanship is fantastic. You can still claim it was stolen and be accurate...

That is incorrect Steve, it is the plate that is dated a 1970 issue too. In California, the letters and numbers of the plate denote the year the plate was produced. The B in BXK denotes it to be a late 1970 plate. Some late production 1969 cars in California received the first round of blue and yellow plates starting with 000 AAA. Letters for 1972 plates start approximately in the "late" C's - "early" D's. A plate issued prior to a car's production year would never have been issued to an older car. A re-registration however can yield a later (newer) plate for an older car. (I have 1998 plates on my 1972 Chevy.) Yes, changing the tags to 1972 tags would bring it into the realm of 1972, but that plate is still on the wrong year car to be correct, unless it was being used as a get away car... In fact if using that "story line", the model is perfect. A 1972 ford bank robbery get away car! BTW, I am a California native and have been studying CA plates since the 60's.

In regards to your Charger wagon, I believe I beat you to it:

While I was digging through my albums to find Super 7 pictures I found some builds from sometime ago. With as many here who seemed to have not seen what I thought had received a lot of exposure; I thought I’d share this again since it is one of my (many) favorite builds… Lindberg ’67 Olds 442. Body trim molded in, wheel base extended and a hood scoop added. Engine and drive train are from a R/M Nascar Chevy Truck. Machined many aluminum parts, plumbed and wired. Too many details to try to list, but if you have questions just ask… Fun build, as I recall it was done in one month of solid building. Now that was a vacation!

I gave up looking and shot some new photos: Testors Blue Angel Blue for the body and Dark Yellow for the nose. The wheels are items I machined, but used the stock rubber tires. They are correct for the vintage car the kit builds but do look anemic compared to today’s tires and what comes on Caterhams. The velocity stacks are also machined and the hood had to be modified for them to fit. Added some wiring, plumbing and throttle linkage, machined the mirror and piston gear shft knob, added seat belts. A very fun kit. While I was digging for photos of the above model, I found these of another build from the same kit: This one is was converted to left hand drive and the motor was replaced with a Rotary from an RX-7 (Tamiya kit). A few machined parts for the intake and exhaust and a new dash made with custom decals, simple seatbelts and minimal wiring. The wheels and tires are modified units from a Mini4WD toy with some added hardware. These kits are great starting points to build from.

Looks great! There is one minor detail that is off though. The license plate is from 1970, it would never have been issued to a '72 car. (I know because I created the art for that decal plate and the real car that wears it is a '70 Camaro.) Otherwise you did a fantastic job!

The solvents from the paint applied over any silver paint applied earlier will “blend†or absorb the silver paint into the color coat. Sanding through to only the silver will not be an option, plus you run a small risk of having some metallic particles bleed through to the surface. The technique as described works well with BMF as it is not affected by paint and can withstand the polishing. I use the BMF technique, hand painting similar to the techniques described by charlie and diymirage (I like Tamiya X11 enamel and Testor Silver Chrome Trim enamel), unless I have decals... I also use a considerably large but pointed brush that holds enough paint to keep the consistency the same.

Thanks all again very much for the kind comments. And here are a few more of my own: Please do enjoy the pictures on your desktop Slant6, very flattering. It was discussed to put this in the Real Or Model when it was just done, but since I built it step by step here on MCM over a period of a couple years, it seemed to be obvious it was a model at that time. Skeck has been a very good (and also flattering) spokesman for the questions he fielded. To clarify a point, I tried to find as many items that could have a theme of “7â€. If it was a part that logically and reasonably could have been fabricated with “sevens†in it, I tried to incorporate it. But not at the expense of creating inaccurate parts. For example, the fuel filler has the proper amount of bolts (not 7) because the vendor that makes the parts I chose to replicate does not offer filler with a 7 bolt pattern. Items that would have been custom fabricated/machined on a real car were addressed with different restrictions, but had to be able to be produced in the real world.

Thank you all very much for the kind words. Here are a few answers/responses/reminiscences: The oil is representative of the oil in most of my cars, relatively clean yes. Please note the oil filtration and pump system and the context of the rest of the model. The flash of the camera washed out the tone, but it is visible and at the proper fill level, you can tell by the fill pattern on the dipstick. (It’s synthetic.) The engine is built with gaskets much like a real one, even though it is British in heritage, my Americanized version does not leak. And if you think that is too much, for a while on the predecessor to this car, (the Red Super 7) the fuel tank smelled like gas when I opened the filler cap. A little sponge and a drop of gasoline wrapped in foil creates an aroma that lasts longer than you may think… It is 1/12 scale, only about a foot long, these are tiny cars. No I don’t intend to build a real one, I have had enough experience with real ones to get over the wanting to own one for now. (But then again, I didn’t “intend†to acquire the last few cars I did either…) I’ve done a few “stamped†or raised lettering reflectorized license plates; maybe I should to do a How-To…? (Note the registration is dated 07/07 and uses reflectorized state seal tags too.) While I realize it is usually meant as a tongue in cheek comment/compliment to say something like “I give up buildingâ€, and much as Mark & Dave pointed out, I really hope that quality workmanship by anyone (that simply shows what can be accomplished by just practice and effort) would serve to ignite and promote more passion and participation to build to ones desired level instead of creating any kind of negativity. I am honored and humbled to hear I inspired someone to build something.

Thanks Guys, very kind of you to say. And as requested, here is the Caterham. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=31766 I’ll see if I can dig up photos of the 1/24 Lotus I did using this kit to show how underrated this kit can be.

Here is a copy of what I posted back when I finished it: Well, after two years and seven months, it is finally done! Literally thousands of scratchbuilt and machined parts, most of them made of aluminum, but also including brass, stainless steel and various plastics, resin and acrylic materials plus all the decals were drawn and printed by me. *It's quite possible that over the next few weeks I will come up with some small things to add, maybe touch-up or adjust. I see there is a little dusting to be done... But as of now, it appears to be technically finished! This has been a most rewarding and enjoyable build. Seems like all the frustrating times I put myself through have been forgotten now. Thank you to all who have encouraged me and expressed interest during this long term project... - Mark (*Turns out it was indeed finished at that point, no further work was done on it subsequent to these pictures.…) These are actually “in-progress†shots:

Killer engine! And the opened grille is great too!

I second Pete J.’s comments. There is a lot more work than meets the eye to properly convert this Lotus kit into a Caterham version of a Super 7.

There you go again kid, not addressing the issue. And it's Pit-Bull. At least you spelled my name correctly... Thanks! Now make due with the offered pictures to back up your grandiose claims please.

Nah, I'll stick with door #1 Mr. Hall... You should provide the pictures to back up your stories. You put it out there, pony up young man. You know what they say. A picture is worth a thousand words. No doubt you'll try to wiggle out of providing any substantial proof... Or just not address the issues...The dukefan way...

Excellent! Can't wait to see the pictures. You do know I'll hold you to that. Just speaking of severe rust just gets me interested even more. And Thanks!