Scale-Master

The fuel filler necks were removed to make filling the seam in front of them easier to manage. New filler necks have been machined out of aluminum.

The wiper (mounting hole), washer and antenna were relocated to the opposite sides of the body. A new washer and antenna were machined out of aluminum. The pedals and parking brake lever were reworked and moved to their proper places on the left. The shifter knob and parking brake handle are the same hand painted wood grain as on the dash.

This one is being built using the 1/24th scale Tamiya kit with a Gold Leaf tribute scheme on a street car. The kit only builds right-hand drive so I am converting it to left-hand drive. First I modified the back (front?) of the dash to accept the steering column at the correct angle, notched the lower edge for it and removed the notch on the right side. Then I drilled new holes for the tach and speedo and the three little lights in between them. They will be filled with machined aluminum parts. Figured I might as well drill out the four other gauges as well so they would all match… The old recess for the RHD gauge cluster was cut out and deepened. The wood grain is hand painted and the new aluminum gauges and warning lights have been installed. The decals for the gauges came with the kit; I added the one for the radio. The steering wheel and column are done too. I added decals to the turn signal and wiper stalks; the horn button decal is from the kit.

The wipers, mirrors, door handles and rear plate were added and it is done. The decal on the license plate is from the kit and went on without any issues after all these (47) years. It's done:

Nichimo kit from '76. It took me one week to fix and finish this after walking away from it 28 years ago. Never give up. I'm happy that I finished this, but part of me is now wishing I didn’t wait so long to resume work on it as it could have been repaired much sooner with the more modern clears. WIP Thread: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/185503-lotus-europa/

The chassis fit very poorly into the body, but fortunately it was not a tight fit. The front needed a lot of bending and cement to bring the front wheel wells up into the fenders (almost ¼ inch) and one of the front wheels was over 1/8 of too far back and 1/8 of an inch too far outside. (Oddly it measured up square on the chassis, but the body just doesn't fit that way.) Some creative reworking of the suspension on that corner had to be done after fitting the main body & chassis parts together and it took a couple hours to get it this close. The rear wasn't nearly as bad but one side needed a significant toe adjustment. Still having working suspension on three corners was very helpful and provided some needed forgiveness in getting it to sit level. It sits a bit higher than I'd like, but at least it's now in an acceptable range.

The rockers were painted the same gold as the bumpers and the rear lights were installed. The doors and engine cover were installed. They open and fit OK closed, but the door hinges are undersized and very floppy and even weaker. Time to see how the body fits on the chassis…

Several of the final parts to be added needed to be detail painted so that was done over the course of a couple days while the painting repair on the body dried. I began installing at the front and worked my way back. The taillights, turn indicators and side markers were painted with Tamiya LP transparent orange & red and chrome silver. The chrome plating on the bumpers was weak and the mold lines pronounced so I painted them gold to go with the theme of the car. The hood and windshield went in alright. Not great fitting, but acceptable enough. After I installed the gas caps I reinforced under the areas that cracked even more.

It's even small next to a Super 7.

The new clear has been blended into the old clear coat where it meets at the peaks of the fenders and roof. This repair is done.

Yes, once the paint is starting set a light stippling. But don't do too much or it will lift the paint right off.

The windows were stored in the original bag, but something got on them (besides dust). I polished them out and noticed they are not all that optically clear. But they will do the job. The door windows fit fairly well, actually a little better than I expected.

Resin kit by Starter in 1/43rd scale. I built it straight out of the box with just the addition of the metal antenna, and I made the decals. I also made the vinyl top by brush painting/texturing it with acrylic black. The windows were sun-bleached to minimize the yellowing due to age. WIP Thread: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/185456-1970-superbird/

I thought I'd use the kit decals for the black panels on the nose because they were printed in flat black. Unfortunately one of them broke into a few pieces when I went to apply them. So I had to make new ones.

One of the first things I did when I started this kit was to deal with the windows. They were yellowed quite a bit, (like most of these kits are now). After I cut the individual windows out I put them in the sun for a couple weeks to try to get them a little clearer. I planned to not use the door windows so I did not put them in the sun so I could compare later. The contrast between the yellow tone on them to the others that have been sun-bleached is quite noticeable.

The chassis cleaned up well; it wasn't even very dusty. One inner fender well had to be reattached along with one wheel and the rear trunk bay. It had/has working suspension and rack & pinion steering, but the plastic is so brittle I broke a part on the front when I lightly compressed the suspension for fun; the tie rod end was already broken on that side too so those parts are now fixed (in both meanings of the word). The rear suspension still works, but I'm not going to test its limits.

I have been making my vinyl tops by spraying on the texture since the early 80's; even done some with tape. But this time I did it by freehand brushing with acrylic black paint. Very easy and no masking needed.

The clear is modern Valspar two-part urethane. Here is how that looked after it kicked off. Now it has to fully dry, and this heat is working in my favor.

Yes, we lost Dale two years this coming January. I was lucky to have known him since 1980. Incredible model maker and artist.

Ooops. I put this in WIP instead of finished.

Thanks! The repair isn't done yet, it still needs the clear coat.

I did a customized four car set from the 1999 Hot Wheels Hot Haulers Set back in 2000. I put them back in the original box and on a shelf in my office over 20 years ago and kind of forgot about them until the other day. This one is a Surf Crate. Custom paint and decals; pearl yellow with an orange fade.

The cracks were filled and feather edge sanded to 1500 and the Testors Black was blended in. This is how it dried.

Nothing too special about the interior. I added woodgrain to the console.

I noticed the magenta color was not printed in the Road Runner bird decals so I printed a new set from the art I designed for the Revell/Monogram Superbird. I also made the other badging and used the same license plate. The decals are on the body and the trim & details are painted. After they dry for a while I'll add the vinyl top texture and color. I'll apply the black panels on the nose after the top is done. I also removed the Pentastar from the driver's side.