Scale-Master

Exhaust system has been colored and weathered and dry installed with the suspension sub-assemblies.

Sorry Jason, no extras. I only machined what I needed for this project. Originally I planned to make the exhaust pipes out of solder, so I filled in the mounting holes in the chassis. But after looking at the kit’s pipes, even though it is for the single crossover style muffler, I saw it would be much easier to modify those parts into what my car has. I used the left over turbo mufflers from the AMT ’66 Nova (I used to build another one of my cars) and chopped and spliced the Camaro pipes to fit sans the single muffler. The cross-over pipe was made from a piece of one of the headers that didn’t work. It is all pinned together with aluminum rod. Base coat of silver ready for proper coloring…

You know I was racking my brain when I posted that comment regarding that, and I am not sure. I think it did have it in the rear seats, but I can't swear to it. It was a black on black car.

I used Tamiya TS-26 for the white. I dusted on a few base coats and followed up with some of it decanted and airbrushed. I had to use the box again, too windy to trust setting the parts out.

A friend of mine had a '68 (or was it a year or two later?) 396 SS Nova that was supposedly a very accurate restoration and it had B&W hound's-tooth inserts.

As the swing arms and wheels go on, it starts looking very unique.

Thanks guys. I decided to do some interior work... I machined a set of aftermarket Auto Meter gauges from aluminum. A vacuum gauge, tach, and oil press & water temp. I made decals for the faces and installed the tach and vacuum gauge.

You know it goes both ways. I have been contacted by several people (many through this forum, if that matters) who wanted copies of parts that I had made. And more times than I care to mention they flaked out despite adamantly and requesting (begging) that I cast for them. I don't cast as a business, but thought I'd try to help out other builders. So I can understand why a caster might want to wait until they have the check before investing their time for naught. That does not excuse extremely long wait times either. Ya'll can thank Hunterman38 on this forum for my refusal to deal with anyone I have not dealt with before.

The exhaust pipes fit as well as expected. The two rear pipes were a bit of a handful, but by installing individually and letting the cement dry, it was very manageable. I haven’t decided if I will touch up the joints, or leave them as is since they look a bit like weld joints now.

While the parts fit pretty much “normal Tamiya”, there are a couple that surprised me that they did not fit well. Plus there seems to be an error in the instructions regarding the length of tubing required for one of the radiator hoses. It is about half as long as it needs to be, and since I had cemented the piece to the engine it took a bit of work to remove and replace it. Also the water pump part with the tube that attaches to the radiator does not line up. I had to bend it a fair amount to get it close, then used CA as filler at the neck. The steering is supposed to work, and I guess if the parts were not painted it might, but even then I suspect a little bit of honing and adjusting would be in order. There is just too much load on the plastic parts and the primary bell crank sheared the second time I tried to turn the handlebars, and that is with less than half the linkages hooked up. They all moved freely individually.

Front wheel… Rear wheel…

I tried some new high fill primer to prep the “body” for paint. It sands great and over white looks like a cool way to color and shade a skull…

All good advice. If you think something is pertinent, it likely is to others. I wouldn't worry too much about finishing it while you are building. I have several threads going, all will be finished even though they can run for multiple years. And who here hasn't started another model before finishing one? Even if you lose momentum, each time you add an update we will see it moved back to the top and those following will find it easily.

Engine is installed into the frame.

A little more frame work.

A couple frame subassemblies and the engine.

If you like the subject matter Joe, I'd highly recommend you try one of the Tamiya kits. For me they are like modeling candy. As fiddly as they may look, they are exceptionally well engineered and surprisingly sturdy. If you take your time they are a blast to build.

I followed the color mixing instructions for the pipe color, used X-11 for the chrome bands and made decals for the mufflers by spraying flat aluminum on clear decal paper.

Another Tamiya cycle, but this one is a little different compared to most of the other kits I’ve built from the line. It has suede-like material for the seat for one thing, and a few more metal parts than the others too. The latter is likely due to the unique steering/suspension set up. It also looks like many parts are molded as one piece so a good amount of hand/detail painting is in order before too much assembly can commence. The painting instructions appear to be comprehensive as well. I decided to focus on clean up and painting most of the parts prior to assembling it and just put them in the lid as I went along.

Take a look at the WIP, there's a list of things I had to fix. It is an old tool with many fit and continuity issues.

Built in five days from cracking the shrink wrap to putting the last parts on it. The tri-shade Camo was airbrushed and hand inked and the kit provided the decals. Straight out of the box. WIP Thread: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/115133-’53-chevy-panel/

Thanks Guys! For the windshield I just trued the opening a little, more like taking the waviness out of the edges. Then I just trimmed the clear to fit. The wind wings are the worst part of the fit, and the sections that connect them to the windshield need to be trimmed the most. It is still a loose fit and while I planned to fill the gaps with canopy glue, I decided it is on par with the overall fit of the rest of the model so I let it go. The instructions provide a template to cut out the rear wheel wells, but I was inspired by the Highboy look from the old Revell '54 Chevy box art. And flipping the axle to the other side of the springs was also the easier way to deal with it.

Up on its wheels…

Thanks Joe. The glass is in. The wheels and tires are done. The engine and chassis, (such as they are…) are finished. The interior is done and the inner panels are installed too, except for the shifter that went MIA after I painted it last night. I guess I’ll just make one from a shirt pin like we used to do when this was a new kit.

I'm having fun with it Pete, but then I didn't set the bar as high as you did on yours... I’m going for a worn looking interior to a certain degree. The wood flooring has been distressed and the front section grungy’d up.