Scale-Master

I machined the flange to mount the steering wheel to the shaft. I also made the crush sleeve and horn button.

Built from the Miami Vice "Corvette" Daytona Spyder kit and a Gremlin rear roof section.

I went ahead and printed and added the labels for the switches.

The last touches were the safety pin wound out of nickel wire and the safety wire wound from .007 fine insulated wire. Total parts count is at least a dozen.

Most of the colors can be shot without reducing, but they cover so well it makes more sense to reduce and put a thinner layer down plus get more paint from the bottle at the same time.

I drew up and printed a set of decals that match the real counterpart. Including the two different era and company certification tags. As well as the printing on both sides of the hose… Made the gauge too; yes there is a needle and an acrylic lens.

It's about the same as any other paint, but there is no exact ratio. Some colors want more/less reducer than others. You can thin them with hardware store thinner, but for the best flow and gloss the Tamiya brand is the way to go.

They are great Pete. And they brush well too.

The band and clip for the hose are made of tin. Red is LP-21 Italian Red.

Head, hose & horn.

The trigger/handles were freehand machined and then hand carved for more detail.

I just dry brush the powder.

No special cutting tools were used on this, it's more about getting the cutting angles where I want them. I was able to make it with what I had on hand and didn't even use a compound slide.

Fire extinguisher. Turned aluminum. This one has a domed bottom.

I reworked one of the kit knock-offs and used it as a master and cast four new ones. Tamiya lacquers for the color, aluminum powder for the light shading to enhance the anodized effect. The rear axle ends are blackened brass and the front spindle ends are machined aluminum. This is the left rear and right front.

Finished scratch-built wheels with the kit provided tires installed. The rears have the ends of the axles installed; the front spindles will come later.

1/43rd resin kit by Starter. Fun little project, maybe not the most accurate representation of the car, but it looks good in my collection.

The painted wheels needed one last machining action to remove the paint build up where the aluminum rims mate to them.

I made all the switches, more machined aluminum, and got them installed… I haven't decided if I'll add the labels I made for them yet.

These are the finished Auto Meter gauges. The water temp and oil pressure are mechanical, the tach, fuel level and volts are electrical and the speedo is an electrical GPS unit.

This is the tach "movement" before installation.

I made the lenses out of 0.005 sheet styrene and set them in to the bezels from behind. Just a little tedious to fit and secure.

What a difference a little cut and buff can make.

More scratch-building... Left and right side dash panels. The vents are brass and aluminum with PE screens. Rivets are steel. Glove box door handle and gauge bezels are aluminum; gauge housings are brass.

Key switch and water temp, tach and speedo bezels were machined out of aluminum.