brodie_83

No updates as of late. I havent had time. Sorry. Maybe this weekend i'll bust some more stuff out on it. I need to fill in some pin holes in the filler on the back seat. Thanks Joe! What do you thin your Vallejo paint with? Is that who makes that bronze paint I bought? I think I used Tamiya thinner...i'll have to check.

A superb build my friend! I think I might go with a pro-touring theme with my T/A and AAR combo...just something a bit different. I can't wait to see this build in the "under glass" section buddy!

Awesome job Joe! Oh btw, I fixed my valve cover issue lastnight so dont worry about it. Lol

I just started my Challenger today...looks like a bunch of these are popping up in the WIP section! So you're NOT going to put an engine in it? That's a bummer. Your progress looks pretty darn good though!

I absolutely LOVE the AMT 340 in the Duster kits...the detail is amazing! The Revell-Monogram however is very lacking. The valve covers are blah, the carbs are ridiculous and on and on. Since I have about 3-4 extra air cleaner assemblies, I am going to modify them to be a bit more detailed so that the main showcase to the engine looks more correct. I'd love to find better valve covers but I dont think that will happen.

Yes, the 340 in the Duster kit will be going in my 1/25 '70 Cuda. It would be too small for the 1/24 AAR 'Cuda. Maybe the air cleaner just looks too big on the AAR Cudas/Challenger T/A's. I just want to build these kits as accurately as possible.

I have recently acquired an original release Revell AAR 'Cuda and original release Monogram Challenger T/A. Both of these kits lack detail in multiple areas, we all know that. What I'm unsure of is...are the engines in these cars to scale? Like are they an accurate size to the rest of the kit? I can't think of another small block Mopar engine that Revell-Monogram has ever released, so maybe the only other option to build engines for these cars is the Ross Gibson 340 Six Pack/Barrel?

Haha darn, if I saw that you needed a new bumper, I would have send you one...hell, probably 2! Lol

Man, you have definitely inspired my future T/A build! I just got it in the mail actually...not quite a glue bomb but it was assembled very nicely and wasn't painted at all. I also bought a box of "extra" T/A parts combined of 3 Challenger kits and honestly I can build an entire car with the parts box and the body of the assembled kit. Here's a few pics of what I have: If you are missing a part or break something (God forbid), I will probably have a replacement part for ya

Looks good! I'm building the '56 version of that same kit. They are awesome, awesome, AWESOME kits!

I personally bought a Nesco dehydrator because it has a temp setting so you don't have to worry about the temp getting too high and warping the plastic. Just my personal preference.

One thing that would set this car off from the rest of the T/A builds I think would be to mask off the entire car minus the stripes and either brush with thinned flat clear or spray them with dullcoat or something and have the decals flat black like the 1/1 cars. I dont think I've ever seen that done with these builds yet. You could be the first! Challenger looks amazing man, keep it up!

Ditto on the wash. I'd use thinned flat black Testors acrylic paint,brush it in, then after, go over the grille with a q-tip and buff the paint off the unwanted area.. Do this in small areas and be patient...the end result is worth it.

Thanks for the suggestions! I did mask the seat off when applying the putty but took it off when I layed it out. I should have left it on there, but it's alright. I need to find something straight and solid to wrap some sandpaper around and block it out to make it all flat. And yes, i was aware of the slightly overscaled 6.1 in the Magnums. If I could get a hold of a 6.1 from the Challenger SRT8, I would use that engine for sure and keep the Magnum engine around for a 1/24 Mopar build. I wish I could find someone who would trade a Challenger kit with me... :/

I assembled a bit of the engine as soon as the paint dried to the touch. I also painted the exhaust manifolds with aluminum plate metalizer and buffed them out to a nice polished sheen. The more I look at the new color I chose for the accent to the green, the more I fall in love with it. It looks much better in person I assure you. Pictures do not do the color justice!

Yeah I was thinking of getting rid of that speaker grille as well. Good call! LoL Well today I got a few goodies from Hobby Lobby. I got some new paint brushes (a wider variety and a VERY thin detail brush), some Tamiya White Putty and a new color for my secondary color...Model Color's Bronze. I did a few tests on a spoon and I loved the color against the green! So far I have brushed it on the engine block, valve covers (the actual valve covers...not the ones I painted green) and the intake manifold. They look awesome! I think I'm going to give everything one more coat and call it good. I hope this stuff can be thinned out and shot with my airbrush...which is another thing I bought today. I couldn't find my old Harbor Freight special, so I bought another one. Haven't used it yet, but I'm eager to! I also filled in the horizontal pleats on the rear seat to make it match the front buckets a bit better...its my first time using this stuff so it might take me a few tries to get it to look good. Anyways, here's the pics for tonight:

The 3M putty is identical to the Testors stuff and I'm not a fan. I'm gonna try the Tamiya stuff tonight hopefully.

I bought some Tamiya white putty.

I have been wanting to find a good filler for model plastics and the only one I've used is Testors spot putty and honestly not a fan. It takes what seems forever to dry. Does anyone have any suggestions? I saw some Tamiya Putty at Hobby Lobby. Would that be a good alternative to the Testors stuff in the big tube? This is a sample of the kinds of stuff I want to fill...I have a rear seat of a 1956 Chrysler 300B and am wanting to fill the horizontal pleats in the rear seat so it's smooth. Would the Tamiya stuff be good for this?

Sweet! I'm gonna have to see if anyone has one they want to get rid of or trade for something. Thanks Casey!

I'm trying to plan my future build of what I want my 1:1 '77 Dodge D100 to look like, and that includes an Offenhauser valve cover on the slant six. I'm sure if there is an Offy valve cover, it won't be for the slant, so I'd have to modify it, but I would love to find one! Let me know if there was one made and which kit has it. Thank you!

Well I messed up the valve covers so I had to remove the silver stripes and decals, add a bit more paint, and found a few more decals that work. It's not ideal, but looks acceptable to me. I also brushed a lil bit of Future on it to top coat over the decals.

I decided to do the bucket/console. Worked on getting everything to fit the interior bucket. Modified the seats to fit against the trans hump and cleaned up the console, adding some styrene on the front where there was a hole in it.

Also installed the pre-wired distributor (even in the correct firing order) and wired the coil. I'll probably do a few more little details with wires before I reinstall the air cleaner.