Scale-Master

Thanks guys. It's like anything else Chris, I decide what I want and figure out how to do it. Then do it.

The seatbelts are complete and ready for installation. 100% scratch-built

I wanted to mount the lights to the forward structure for easier final assembly after painting. A new set of mounting brackets were fabbed up and the original light housings were reused.

I made some Jabroc wear strips for the bottom of the chassis.

Yep. The same stuff I made the brake rotors out of.

The driving lights did not align well with the openings in the body. I also thought the openings looked bland being just holes in the nose. I machined two tubes from aluminum impregnated resin and faired them into the nose. This should also help to reinforce the nose where it has been cracking. The inward facing openings of them were shaped to accept the lights.

The first 300-ZX GTP to be campaigned by a team other than Nissan. 1990 issue by Starter. Resin/multi-media 1/43rd scale kit. These are the "full instructions". The paint scheme is done entirely with decals.

The engine and chassis are straight out of the kit; very simplistic, not too detailed. Since this one is more about the exterior I left it all as is and added the underhood decals from the '78 sheet.

While doing a periodical mock-up of the main parts I noticed the front end had somehow incurred five fractures around the wheel well, headlight and driving light openings. I know this blue plastic is very brittle, but this was a surprise. As much as I intended to install the headlight buckets after the body was painted I went ahead and did so after repairing the damage for added strength.

Thank you Alan! I machined the AutoMeter gauge bezels out of aluminum. The air vent and lower gauge housings are brass.

I had a '65 with a 383 too, back in the early 80's. Not the most attractive car, but it did it's job and was a bit of sleeper even being bone stock. I used the Polar Lights kit since the real one was pretty rough around the edges too. I 'm sure yours will look better than mine.

Thanks Ray. New dash made from scratch, kit dash above (black).

I went with a full coat of Deep Metallic Blue to brighten the near black Dark Mica Blue.

I painted the hardware and made the belts. The little hook latches for the buckles will be installed later with some other details; they are too delicate.

The front half of the interior is box-stock except for the addition of the console and steering wheel decals from the same Pace Car sheet.

The shoulder belt adjusters, made from scratch.

Thanks Guys! The wheels and tires also benefitted from the same Corvette decal sheet. I used the crossed flag logos for the center caps too.

Rather than C/F or Kevlar I went with the main body color for the seat backs.

I added texture to the blue paint to "carpet" the blended area of the two interior pieces. The dash was hand detail painted and the gauges are decals from the Scale-Master '78 Pace Car sheet I drew for the Revell-Monogram kit.

I wanted a dark metallic blue, but this may be too dark… I'll think on it a bit.

I went with a Navy Blue undercoat for the Metallic Blue final coat. When I decide what shade I want to use…

I cut the rear off the Daytona interior and the front off the Gremlin's and mated them together. A decent amount of putty was needed to smooth the transition on the inside, but the AMC part fit into the Chevy frame like it was designed to do so.

Thanks Mike! The kit seats are both the same. I notched the inboard edges for shifter clearance and cut holes for the lap belts. They needed some cushion detail. I thought I could use the pre-scribed sheet plastic I used on the camper I built last month, but it was so brittle (old stock I guess) it kept snapping, and not just in the recessed lines. I hoped to do each in two pieces but it was more like eight per seat. The indentations needed to be scribed a lot deeper and some curvature added. Primed and on hold until painting.

Thanks guys. Yes, it will be a "no Ferrari harmed" version with the C3 chassis and driveline. I think the tinted glass works well with the delicate B pillar. To make the rear windows I used the Gremlin tinted pieces. I trimmed the back one down and cut the side windows out of the windshield.

Shoulder belt anchor bar. Shoulder and lap belt anchor hardware. And the buckle sets. All scratch-built.