brodie_83

Well funds are low and I don't have the $$$ to buy more primer and color, so I guess painting the body parts will have to wait till next week...meh.

I'm hoping to get it at least in primer this weekend...painting might be an issue because I usually paint in the garage, but it's getting cold. At least I can shoot it in the garage and bring it into the furnace room where it's nice and toasty. We'll see how things go. I'd like to try a different primer too...I was thinking Tamiya, but not sure how the Duplicolor color coats would react with it. Anyone have any luck with Tamiya primer under Duplicolor paint?

Sorry for the delay...I've been busy with making up with my gf and work and such. Anyways, I finally got the ignition wires and distributor wired all up and it looks good! I'm very pleased with the outcome. I also cleaned up the body and wheels a little more with a crappy toothbrush and some dish soap. Not sure how else to clean it...maybe with some toothpaste? Dunno...if anyone has some suggestions on how to clean that plastic up better, lemme know. Tonight's progress:

Wow...that's a big snail!

Alright, today I figured I might as well try running hot water over the body to see if the stuff falls off. With surprise, it did! I need to buy a crappy toothbrush and scrub the details better, but for the most part, I got all of the crud off. There is a white film over everything...I wonder if that's from the primer? I dunno...so I got that done, the hood done, and the wheels no longer have the chrome gunk in the details...down to bare plastic! I also repainted the valve covers with spray paint this time (brush painted them last time) and the silver detail painting came out much better than the first time. Then I glued the timing cover back on. Now all I need to do is to re-glue the ignition wires in, and finish it up with the distributor. Then I'll start from scratch on the body. Going to use the same Duplicolor paint, but will use U-Pol #1 Clear clear coat over it instead of the Duplicolor stuff. The U-Pol clear should lay out much nicer and give a better gloss level right from the can. I'm hoping to do minimal sanding/buffing, thus putting a few extra coats of clear just in case

Lookin good! I wanted this kit when it was re-issued back in the 90's. Always had it at the local Ben Franklin store but never picked it up. Shame... *EDIT* Nevermind...I thought it was an AMT/Ertl kit. That's the one I remember.

The dragon build is still on hold due to the paint not stripping very fast on the body parts and just plain old too busy. I would like to finish the engine up (for the last time) and then once it's finished, I'm putting it in a plastic bag so nothing else can harm it. LoL I suppose I should do that to the interior tub before something happens to that too! *knock on wood*

I know, but the trans is quite a bit shorter than the 5M transmission kit-wise. I know he usually makes these engine/trans kits for 1:24 Fujimi kits, but this is a 1:25 kit (a tad smaller than 1:24) and should be bigger...wouldn't you think? I dunno...I don't think it's gonna be a problem. I knew that the 22RE and 5M shared the same trans. I guess they are built pretty well and can handle lots of power, which is good.

Oil filter, starter, and distributor: Compared to the 5-MGE from the Supra kit...a bit smaller, but will make it work non the less! Various engine bay plumbing: And the goodies: I am impressed to say the least with this package sent to me, as well as the craftsmanship and love put into the detail! I'll do this one right, I promise! Ok, enough of the "Celica GT-S" project that hasn't started yet...I gotta finish this ###### Supra!

Thanks for the kind remarks guys! I'm trying not to lose it with this build...I tend to have a short temper with the simplest things sometimes. LoL I'm going to get the engine back together, but will hopefully look a little better than it did...not saying it looked bad before. Oh, and just for a "pick-me-up", I finally got the engine from Jimmy aka "CrewDawg15"...and it is amazing! He even sent me a bunch of hoses and wires and such! Along with 2 rolls of masking tape and a parts cutter! For $20, this was a steal! I can't believe he made every component from scratch! Talent...he has it. Engine block: Transmission: Valve cover, oil pan and intake manifold: Header:

Still waiting for the stuff to take the paint off...is it supposed to just sit in the stuff and the all of a sudden the body has no paint? Or do you have to rinse it off to get the paint off? I'll leave it sit for a few more days...

Added the hood and wheels: SONOFABISH! At least I washed it off before it got worse!

Yeah, thanks. I didn't sand the primer at all except on the roof where that spot was. The paint comes out super orange peely as well, and you can't sand on metallics...so I'm stuck with that. I'm hoping when everything is stripped, the U-Pol clear lays out much better over the Duplicolor color coats. It's really nice clear! Anyways, now I got a little more pissed...I got 2 bottles of Dawn Power Dissolver and dumped it into a container with the body in it. Bad thing is, I had the engine right next to the container and some of it splashed onto the valve covers, so now I have to redo those as well...AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is a never-ending nightmare! At least I'm learning a lot out of this build...whew! LoL alright, so here's the pictures. Burn-through marks: Why I'm pissed that I have to strip the body...look at that perfect reflection on the roof! Ready for the DPC bath!

Awesome, thanks for the suggestion! I have searched this on the forum and found that it is supposed to be one of, if not THE best ways to strip paint down to bare plastic. I think I've used oven cleaner before (hated the smell), and CSC has never worked for me...works awesome on chrome, but not to strip paint. I'm going to Wal-Mart now to go find some DPD!

SON OF A B*TCH! I burned through the paint again! This time on the front fender....this is really starting to piss me off. I've spent way too much time on this thing, and I can't keep adding and adding paint/clear. What's the best way to strip the body? I'm going to have to start from scratch and build the sh*t out of the clear (I put 4 coats on last time...apparently not enough). Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Oh yeah, I dropped the hood on the floor while polishing it and took a chip out of the da mn thing! I was a little pissed. Now I'll have to strip the hood and do it all over again for the 3rd time!

With polish:

Thanks man! Appreciated! I didn't get much done tonight, but I was toying around with Meguiar's Ultimate Polish, and MAN that stuff works good! I thought I needed sandpaper to make the clear look good...I was wrong! No polish:

Nah, I don't think it's a crack. Not sure what it is because I've never run into this problem. Anyways, it's very small now and will hopefully polish away. Speaking of polishing, I'm hopefully going to get out of work at a decent time and get some sandpaper so I can get the ball rolling on the kit again. I can work on it tonight and Sunday...Saturday I'm going down to my parent's place to celebrate my b-day early.

Thanks guys, I started detail painting in the engine bay (just on the strut towers), and will continue in a few days...won't have time tomorrow with a Tuesday night car meet. I'm going to find some pics on the forums of the engine bay on these cars and do as close detailing as I can. This is the fun part...I love painting engine bays and wiring and such! I just hope everything mates together alright...

The body is cleared and curing in the heater room, along with the other parts. The "mishap" in the roof came back, but barely noticeable. I guess next time I'll have to try the Future polish for a barrier. Along with the built-up paint and clear coat, a lot of the detail on the body has been filled, but not bad enough to where it looks bad. I'm actually pretty happy with the outcome. Once everything dries and cures, the detail might come back a little. I guess we'll see. Anyways, here's the finished cleared body and the finished ignition wiring:

Yeah...I just wish that my car was a Celica "Supra" and not just a Celica, but at least it's a GT-S. I can't wait to build my replica! So I checked on the parts that I cleared and they looked pretty good and were dry to the touch a lot faster than last time I cleared them, so I took them out and took some pics. I'm very happy with how the clear came out this time...should be easier to wetsand and buff.

Another: I'll post a few more of the body in color in a lil while.

Firewall: Ignition wires with boots: 3 wires installed: