Lunajammer

This is where the project lost its luster. In all my fine detailing I failed to take notice of how warped the body sides were until I was assembling the finished panels. It's creating problems with the fit of the floor, roof, and front panel and created a noticeable gap at the floor. Really disheartening because it's my own fault for not paying closer attention and its too far along to find the will to backtrack and correct it. I think the overall piece will view fine since the faults are mostly out of sight.

@ David and Gator, thanks for the kind words and encouragement.... I didn't relish the idea of masking around all the trim work to paint it black, but I started doing so using BMF for masking. I didn't get far before stopping and re-thinking it for a better way. After some testing I chose to use a Sharpie. It actually worked better than I expected. The finish was decent semi gloss and gave me razor straight lines. The only downside is you can't ink all the way down to the groove.

My monthly update: PT Cruiser is in the box. I've been distracted by a light commercial Model T van that I hope to finish up soon.

In about 20-years the whole will be worth less than the sum of its parts.

Yup. Sure came together well.

Dude! That would be enough to make me walk away. My least favorite part of modeling. And you're only half done, those ends go somewhere(?)

Not in, say, 1977. My understanding is there is no event date, so your sleeper can apply to whatever year you want it to be. It would be logical that your era (or later) will be defined by the newest piece of technology you're carrying. Tim or Jant?

I thought of you too Harry when I received my copy. I admire magazine layout designers. I once had a conference call interview for editor at SAE. They opened by apologizing that the position had been filled internally (curses JH!) but said they had a design and layout spot opening up and would I like to compete for that. I told them no because I thought the position would be too demanding to enjoy, so I always appreciate your work Harry.

Yeah, I had clear decal paper in mind when I laid my plans. I just hope my "antique" white isn't too tan. I guess we'll know after I get my hands on some BMF laser paper. I have some old Microscale stuff but it seems to have gotten brittle.

The chassis pieces have come together and it's got its shoes on. The kit windshield, like most kit glass, is about three scale inches thick. Really disrupts the believability of the rest so since the front is such a flat piece, replacing it with clear plastic sheet was a no brainer. I also tried to continue with the chalk pastel weathering up the front panel.

That's some Class A work Karl.

Here is a screenshot of the decal I'm making to go on the side. The logo is inspired by a piece of a label I found through some archival info put on the net by the Institute for Regional Studies at NDSU. I recreated it in Adobe Illustrator. Logo fonts are not exact to the hand lettering of the original but should be period appropriate.

The project itself may even have killed him, as he was so dedicated to the task of getting KeeBird flying that he neglected his own deteriorating health. All so that some maverick could get himself a B-29 on the cheap. Reckless and tragic. Wonderful to see another airworthy Super done right.

Interesting story, I appreciate the insights Tom. I've always wanted to know. It's amazing to me that thousands of these were produced based on a misunderstanding between built diecast and unbuilt plastic. I'd think there would have been some proofing at some step of the order before production and distribution. Just curious what scale the diecasts were?

Probably one of the most confounding mainstream style choices of the 60's. To me a real head scratcher. Your model looks great though, totally my idea of a sleeper.

Beautiful job on a beautiful car Dominik. The trouble with your hinging paid off.

Batman was a Shriner?

The wheels took me several evenings. They were airbrushed with Model Master Wood, as seen in a previous photo. The rims were painted black around all the spokes, then the retaining rings painted flat silver. Lastly they were weathered using Vallejo washes and chalk pastels.

I know most of this deck bed will never be seen once it's inside the box, but I took great delight in weathering it. For one, I need the practice using Vallejo washes and pastel chalks, and secondly I like the molded texture, justing waiting to be brought to life. I imagine this is what it might have looked like in the spring of '24 after the thaw. The underside is no exception. Fun to detail. I apologize for the annoying blue bkgnd on some of my photos but my camera color balances to that better than white.

I wanted the body to be grey/green with and antique ivory billboard. To get the light color I mixed some brown into the Ivory and airbrushed. The cap of the grey/green Humbrol paint looked exactly how I wanted the body color, but was pretty disappointed with how green it came out. Cap had probably faded from sitting on the LHS shelf but I'm forging ahead. I also failed to notice it's a flat color, but that too may be a happy accident. Hosted on Fotki I want the hood to be displayed open so I cut it at the hinge marks on the right side. I gotta admit I love the surface texture and am considering not painting it. Then shaved the contacting edges so they can be glued in the open position without looking fat and clunky.

When I bought this at a flea market a few years ago I wasn't aware of this release and thought it was a collectible. It's not really because even though it was a custom order for Bell Systems, they made plenty. Perhaps someone has the run number. I started it around the holidays and until now it may be the most enjoyable model I've built. Like the times it represents, the kit is uncomplicated (65 parts), goes together well but is not perfect. It's essentially the same tooling as the other classic old AMT Model T offerings but with the box van body. I love the wheels but was disappointed with the alignment and offset of the spoke halves. The engine is a delight. Detail is decent but, like the rest of the kit, prefitting is mandatory because many pieces don't have obvious contact points so alignment is "best guess" which can bite you five steps later. The paint I bought for engine color was a let down so I ended up mixing my own grey/green, which was a lucky accident because it was closer to the color I wanted. Photo lighting doesn't bring that out well though.

@ Billy K. My admiration for your work grows exponentially. Hard to believe a teen can reach such levels of skill as fast as you have, and not just paint.

The way I've understood it Steve, is to either recoat within two hours while the surface is still soft, or after 48 when the surface is cured enough to let another coat grab hold. Anything in between (24 hrs.) is neither soft enough to blend into the bottom coat, or hard enough to accept another coat. I've never tested it to see what kind of trouble can occur, just took the advice that it should be avoided. But that's probably old school (old paints) advice too.

I did something similar. Extending the fenders is pretty easy really. More so than establishing the stance. the compound curves are friendly to sanding. ​

If FatBoyKustoms' insomnia gets resolved, then at least one member will.