Scale-Master

Just another fun short term project. It is mostly just an OOB build, except for the wheels/tires and brakes came from of all things, a Skyline, and the bench seat was replaced with some leftover Ferrari 360 seats. Paint is Tamiya Deep Metallic Blue. I made all the decals...

This is one of those on again off again long term projects. Been tinkering with it for years just for fun. I widened the rear fenders to put the big tires under it, did some machining for the rims, and some other body mods.

This is the other car to compliment the 512S posted earlier. Sam Posey's 1970 24 hr Daytona entry. (The 512 is his 1970 LeMans entry.) Yes, I know, I said the 312 was going to be the '69 LeMans version, but upon further research, the chassis numbers did not pan out for this presentation. An older Tameo kit, also white metal, built out of the box...

1/43rd white metal kit. Except for the wiring, it's pretty much a box stock build. The windshield was crushed in the box, so I had to make a mold and vac-u-form a new one. This model will share it's base with another LeMans Ferrari also driven by Sam Posey.

Drew and printed all the decals... Used a die-cast provided by the recipient. Tamiya Telephonica Blue with a custom mixed pearl silver. The client chose the sponsor package...

Try tape. Lay some on and rip it off, like a Band-Aid. Masking tape and Scotch tape seem to work the best.

Burn-through on a paint job you thought you were almost done with! It’s happened to just about everyone who builds to some degree. I was very surprised I did this in this spot, I didn't think the paint was all that thin, and it’s not like I was polishing an edge or peak. I was only polishing out a bit of dirt in the clear coat. But, it is not as bad as it looks; it is repairable without repainting the body, or even the upper half. Follow along and maybe the next time it happens you'll be able to fix it as easily as this one went… First, remove any wax you may have applied, I used rubbing alcohol. Then assess the situation and decide how much will get painted and where to make the blend so you can mask accordingly. I chose to put the blend up at the cowl and below the A-pillar. The hood side of the fender and the outside peak were masked off, as is the front edge. Those are the logical hard edges. Try to find an area that can allow the blend to disappear by distraction (the cowl vent and subsequent windshield wiper fit that description) or defined lines. If there was a peak on the cowl like on the center of a ’69 Camaro cowl, that would be a logical place to take the edge of the repair to. Here it is masked. Here, I have sprayed the black, the same Tamiya black as the original base color. Doesn't look so good yet does it...? And that is the way it dried. Now I've sprayed the urethane clear to the edges of the front and sides, but feathered it near the rear of the front fender, by the cowl / A-pillar. A little better, but not an acceptable touch up job. Yet... The idea here is to blend the “aura†or over spray haze with a little reducer, or even better, some blender as I used. The blender works better, but straight reducer does a pretty darn good job too. It’s just that you'll probably have to do a little polishing when using reducer, whereas the blender can eliminate that step in many cases. The trick is to wet the “dry†areas and let it all flow. Don't over do it! It may take two or three light passes with a couple minute between them. You can always add more, but too much will run like the wind, and in a blink of an eye too. Here it is after the final blend. And after it has dried… A quick and light polish and wax will smooth out the peak of the fender where the tape was, but I'm going to give it a few days before doing that... Hope this helps… Now go build something! - Mark

Done for a friend...Made all the decals. Used a 1/43rd scale Diecast toy as the base.

I have made some progress on this 1/43rd white metal kit I started last Thursday. Still have more decals to apply and some other mechanical stuff to add on. So far an enjoyable build...

Here's some shots with the nearly finished wheels under it. The rear will probably be a tad bit lower when done. Also included are shots of the basic engine and rear end...

Wheels & tires. Machining part is done, now they are being painted.

Thanks everyone! The front and rear are pretty much stock. I've always thought the ends of the car looked good, but I did re-engineer the way the kit builds a little to make it easier to paint it and assemble it. The rear fenders are pushed out at the fender peak line about 1/8 of an inch on each side. The car had great lines, but I'm putting some significant meat under the rear. Something in the range 18 X 14 wide rims, still being machined. Tires in the neighborhood of 385/60R18. Yeah, I know they probably don't exist in real, but then I'd never do this to a real GT 500 either. The louvers are now molded in with glass under them. Besides some cleaning up of the body and trim, not much else was changed. It has stock running gear and probably a stock(ish) interior, haven't done much on that part yet, it still has to tell me what it wants... The red paint is Tamiya Transparent Red over Mica Red over Bright Red over Gold. The clear is just two part urethane. The black is just Tamiya Black. More as it happens...

Shot the clear on this yesterday. It's the GT 500 I started about a year or so ago that has some custom work done to the body. The motor is done, I'm still working on the chassis and interior and I'm machining the wheels for it. More as it happens...

The Vette is not a '74, it ran in the '74 Le Mans. An old Starter resin kit. The body was bad enough, but the decals were worse, as if white over dark blue would even cover. They did not fit and they cracked like, well an old Vette body... This one got shelved a couple years ago after I became so disappointed with the way it was going and a couple weeks ago I decided to try to save it on some level by freehand brush painting the white on top of the decals and hoping for a decent shelf model. All in all it came out pretty well considering. At least I can start another kit without any guilt. Like that ever stopped me... The blue is Tamiya Deep Blue Metallic.

Thanks everyone! That's the rearview mirror atop the windscreen...

Started this about the end of last summer, got most of it done and other things got in the way. I restructured some of the trim and removed/molded in some of it too. Tamiya TS-11 Maroon is the main body color, and transparent TS red and orange and a handful of other opaque lacquers were used to do the flames...

I have always liked the look of this car and thought the paint scheme was pretty cool and interesting with the flat black graphics on an otherwise glossy paint job. The fact that it won Le Mans doesn't hurt it's appeal either... This isn't the Tamiya kit, it's actually a resin kit, just a curbside... Oh yeah, it's 1/87th scale.

Thanks Everyone! No Super 7's on the bench, right now. Never say never... I do have some ideas, but they still need to grow a bit... Here's a couple engine shots. I was going to just keep it out-of-the-box, but I couldn't resist adding the wires and a couple aluminum breathers. Even a quickie deserves some attention...

Made all the decals. Had fun building it too. A bit of a quickie, but that's all I had time for...

Some of you may remember this Ferrari 355 I built for a friend several months back. Sadly an encounter with a housekeeper did as much damage as a telephone pole to an Enzo... After a couple months of waiting for a replacement kit to come and not knowing when it would make it from Europe, I decided to tinker. After stripping out the all the parts from the wreck, I used a defective resin body that had a mashed windshield frame, fortunately it was not fractured just deformed. A hair dryer and some massaging brought it into shape and the "new" body was built to match the wreck. I had some of the original paint so a match was possible, and the engine cover was reused. I did have to draw and print new decals. And here is back among the living.

Built for someone very special as a birthday present. (Our illustrious host also personally knows the owner of this 430 HP luxury performance ride...) Used an '05 kit, but made some minor changes to make it kind of into an '08, still I'd say it is an OOB build. Tamiya Pure White for the body...

Yeppers. See ya there!

Finally got around to finishing and shooting the interior...

Been wanting to build this kit for a while, but doing it bone stock did not appeal to me, at least not at this time. The kit looks like it would build great just out-of-the-box. Started on it a little over two weeks ago. I wanted to accentuate it's size and length but not really heavily customize or chop it up. So I lowered it and reworked some of the chrome trim, eliminated some of it too. The color and scheme was chosen before I started, but the rest just evolved as I worked on it. The engine will be stock, I had to throw a set of wires on it, but it is essentially an OOB build except for the few things noted. The wheels are from the '66 Chevelle Wagon. Only a little narrowing of the rear axle and moving the mounting points up on the front, and a little wheel trimming, were needed for the swap. Paint is TS11 Maroon. Flames are also done with a few Tamiya lacquers. I have some ideas for the interior, none are tame...

Car Modelers wanted? No offense, but don't make me laugh. Sure, IPMS USA will take the car modeler's money, but give them a fair shake in the contest? I don't think so, not if they continue the status quo of the last four years, and it appears they will since the chief IPMS USA judge has appointed himself to that position for life. Sound fair? And no, he is NOT a car guy. So, the same big IPMS USA judges will most likely be making the decisions at that show that awarded this out of the box cycle Best Auto over this obviously superior Seven and several other better builds than the bike in 2007. Go for the people and the camaraderie, go to look at some of the best models anywhere, but don't be surprised at the wacky way the contest results come out. And don't expect any accountability of those judges either. Especially in the automotive classes. The past four years of IPMS National judging have awarded the Best Auto award to less that the best models there, apparently to insure a non automotive subject won't have a chance for the overall Best Of Show. I'm still wondering why the subject should matter? It should be about the best model regardless of what it's a model of. I think it used to be, but something has changed for some reason. Sorry, I do not have the answer to that. For any of you who didn't see my earlier post regarding similar issues and want to, here is a link with more of my opinions: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6449