Steve_L

Good color choice. Very nicely done!

My daughter Melissa is dating Kevin, who is a "motor head" and works at Year One. He owns a 1:1 1971 Dodge Charger R/T and helps run the online 1971 Charger Registry. He's a cool guy and I decided to build him a model of his car. I started with the AMT 1971 Dodge Charger R/T plastic kit and added bucket seats from Missing Linc and a kit bashed console and shifter. Kevin's 1:1 Charger has a Tremec 5-Speed transmission, so I kit bashed one from a Mustang kit. I air brushed the Bright Red lacquer paint from Model Car World and used Duplicolor Clear coat. I used information from Clay Kemp's Scale Auto article to complete the vinyl top. It was a fun project and I hope he likes it. Enjoy!

Thank Y'all for your positive comments. TooOld, you can get both the front and rear 1968 Chevy bumpers from ModelHaus Resin. Plowboy, you may be able to get a 1966 Caprice resin kit from Star Models (Resin Realm). Steve says to call him about availability before ordering. Good luck and good building!

Thank y'all for your positive comments. Albie, I used VHT Spray Can Base Coat and Anodized Red Color coat. That was followed by Duplicolor clear and mucho polishing.

These are pictures of my curbside 1968 Chevy Caprice. It is number twelve in a series of models I have built of 1:1 cars I have owned/driven. In 1986, I sold an uncompleted 1:1 1923 Ford T-Bucket. It wasn't long until I needed another hobby car, so I picked up a nice 1968 Chevy Caprice through the local Auto Trader. I de-chromed the side trim, patched a few dings, installed a dual exhaust system, added Monte Carlo Rally Wheels and tires and had it repainted. It was a nice running cruiser. Both of my daughters drove it during high school. The project to build a model of it was stalled for so long I forgot where I got the resin 1968 Caprice Body kit. I used an AMT 1967 Chevy Impala plastic kit as the donor. I used a rear seat from a second 1967 Chevy Impala plastic kit to build the bench front seat for this model. I painted it with Duplicolor Santa Fe Tan and used an enamel clear coat. It was a fun build and one of seven stalled projects I plan to complete during 2013. Enjoy!

These are pictures of my curbside Candy Red 1940 Mercury custom car. I started with a Jimmy Flintstone Matranga resin kit and added a few custom touches. I removed the side window trim and filled the rear quarter windows. For a smoother look, I removed the running boards. To improve the appearance of the rear windows, I substituted the rear window panel from the Revell 1940 Ford Coupe. I added frenched and tunneled headlights and 1948 Chevy taillights. I slammed it over a 1940 Ford chassis and added a Pegasus chrome rim and white wall tire combination. I finished it in candy red with an enamel clear coat. I did the polishing with 4000, 6000, 8000 and 12000 pads followed by Novus 3, 2 and 1 liquid polish. This was a fun project that I needed to take me out of a model car building slump. Enjoy!

Sweet!

These are pictures of my Porsche Boxter project. It was originally intended to be part of last year's Spotlight Hobbies Message Board Snap Kit Build Off (LOL). I started with the Revell kit and sanded it all over for better paint adhestion. I painted it with Dupli-Color Filler Primer, followed by Duplicolor Chrysler Silver Acrylic Lacquer and Plaid Clearcote Hi-Shine Glaze clear. (Note: If you use this clear over enamel, you will probably get the finest wrinkled finish you could ever want. LOL) I liked the high metallic content of the Chrysler Silver paint and the final finish was two wet coats of the Clearcote Glaze, which required no polishing. I used the wheels and tires from the Revell 1966 El Camino kit. I detailed the interior with paint and added a vanity tag. Enjoy!

Six more 2012 completed projects: 7. 1932 Ford AlumaDeuce: 8. 1966 El Camino Custom (Built for the Revell/Gearz contest.) 9. 1959 Ford 4-Door: 10. 1921 Oldsmobile Hot Rod (Built from the Beverly Hillbillies kit): 11. Mako Shark: 1979 Ford Fiesta: Enjoy!

So far, I have completed 12 projects this year. 1. 1976 Caprice Custom: 2. PT Cruiser Coupe: 3. 1997 Dodge Ram 1500: 4. 1958 Pontiac Bonneville Custom: 5. 2000 Concord Custom: 6. Badillac Custom: 6 more to come...

Here are some of my black builds: Enjoy!

Here are three of my 1949 Mercury builds: Enjoy!

I promise, this is the last one! Enjoy!

This is a picture of my 1957 Chevy "stealth" machine. I started with a 1957 Chevy 150 resin kit from Time Machine Resin and used an AMT/Ertl plastic kit as a donor. The car features a "down in front" stance with wheels and tires from the Revell 1957 Chevy Bel Air snap kit. The Goodyear tire decals are from a NASCAR race car kit. The engine is an LS series small block with the 6-speed from the 35th anniversary Camaro. I painted the body, trim and wheels with Rustoleum Black Night Metallic spray paint for the "stealth" look. The clear coat is airbrushed Future. The chassis is "stealth" painted with Krylon Black Textured Shimmer spray paint. The interior is from the Time Machine resin kit with Ken's Fuzzy Fur carpet and is paint detailed. Enjoy!

These are pictures of a 1957 Chevy Custom Car. It is based on the AMT/Ertl Boyd Coddington American Hot Rods release. I liked their look so I used the custom parts from the kit and also pancaked the hood and hinged it from the front. It is painted with Varsity White primer, Krylon Gold lacquer, Black Gold candy red lacquer and topped off with Tamiya clear lacquer. The interior is a flat white, and is detailed with Bare Metal foil and paint. I installed the Revell parts pack chrome 283 engine, topped with an aluminum air cleaner from the old Ala Kart kit. I used Pegasus disk brakes and the big and little mag wheels from the Pro Modeler 1959 Corvette kit. Enjoy!

Here is a picture of my chopped and dropped '57, painted purple. Enjoy!

No, Marcus, I have not done that yet. I probably will try it after this weekend's ACME NNL SouthernNationals show (I'm an ACME member and will have a vendor table at the show).

Twelfth Completion of 2012 – 1979 Ford Fiesta This is the eleventh in a series of models of 1:1 cars I have owned or driven. In May, 1979, amid rumors of soon-to-be really high prices and shortages of gas, I bought a 1979 Ford Fiesta. The car may have been ahead of its time because it was rated at 39 mpg highway and 28 mpg city. It was not overpowered, but it would scoot. Four people could ride in it comfortably. And it was fun to drive. About 5 years ago, I began to search for a plastic, resin or die cast kit of the ’79 Fiesta. Pickings were really slim for a long time. Then one day early in 2012, I came upon an EBay auction for a Mattel MeBeToys 1/24 diecast car. The seller was from Athens, Greece. I normally don’t bid on foreign auctions, but this was a major exception. I figured if I didn’t get this one, there might not be another opportunity. I bid competitively and was very pleased to be the high bidder. This is what I started the project with: I completely disassembled the model (really easy) and stripped the stickers and black paint. The project required refinishing the exterior in white and the interior in tan. I also decided to detail paint various areas, as needed. I knew that I would need to construct a new grille and the four wheels and add the U.S.-required required side marker lights. Here are pictures of the finished project: Here are some of the materials I used to complete the build: The stripping gel worked really well and I covered the bare metal with Dupli-Color self-etching metal primer. I smoothed that and covered it with Tamiya white fine surface primer. I used Dupli-color white for the base coat and tried a new product for the clear. It is Gunze Mr. Color / Mr. Super Clear. It went on very well and polished very nicely. I very much enjoy building models of my 1:1 cars – does anybody know where I can get a model or kit of a 1983 Olds Delta 88 2-door? Enjoy!

I decanted both the base coat and the red color coat and sprayed them through my Paashe VL airbrush and the Plaid Clearcote came from the can.

This was a quick project to update a Mako Shark snap kit. I wanted more of a contemporary look and to add some detail. I applied Bare Metal Foil to the windshield and on the body. I detail painted the interior and substituted late model Corvette wheels and tires. It was a fairly easy build and I had a lot of fun with it. I used Krylon X-Metals base coat and red paint. It gives a nice candy red appearance. The real surprise was the experiment I conducted with Plaid Folkart Clearcote Glaze. The super glossy finish you see is two wet coats of the glaze directly from the can over the Krylon red with no polishing at all. I am enthusiastic about the outcome and plan to continue the experiment to see how it works through my air brush and over other types of paint. I used it on a scrap body and I know at this point that it gives the same glossy finish over Tamiya Yellow (TS-16). It also takes an extra day to strip in Super Clean. It looks like I will want to use polishing pads to smooth the color coat before I apply the Clearcote. I don't plan, at this point, to use Novus or other polishes on the color coat in case they would contaminate the surface for the Clearcote Glaze. I did a Google search for "plaid folkart clearcote glaze hi-shine 11 oz" and found some good prices for the Clearcote Glaze Enjoy!

This shows the pins and corresponding holes I used to mock up the exhaust pipes: I don’t always use brass rod for pins; here it was advantageous to use short lengths of styrene rods. For the steering box, I selected the proper diameter to fit inside of the styrene tube I used to mock up the steering column. You can also see that the smaller styrene rod was used for a steering wheel pin. It was important for this build to be able to mock up the steering box, steering link and the spindle arm in just the right positions. Here is how that turned out: Assured that everything would fit together as needed, I proceeded to painting and final assembly. Pinning on this project gave me the cleaner build I was after and prevented final assembly drama. On other builds, I need only to mock up the engine and transmission and the exhaust system with pins. Again, the rationale for pinning is to hold two pieces together in alignment, allow you to mock up parts and modules of your project and create a stronger joint. You can often use the pin to hold small parts for painting. The outcome of my 1921 Oldsmobile would definitely have not been as good but for pinning. The investment of extra time was well worth it to me. I trust these tips will be useful to you as we continue the quest to build better models. Enjoy!

Pinning: (Note: This How To is respectfully dedicated to the memory of Ken Mosezar, an ACME member, friend and mentor.) This approach uses a pin inserted in one part that fits in a related hole in a second part. This holds the two pieces together in alignment and allows you to mock up parts and modules of your project. It also creates a stronger joint. You can often use the pin to hold small parts for painting. I usually use .032 brass rod for the pinning process: I select a drill bit that is very slightly larger than the brass rod and drill the first piece. I usually create a starter hole with the sharp end of my Exacto knife: (Safety note: Make sure you really focus on this; the knife blade can slip off the piece and cut you.) I super glue the pin in place using a length of brass rod that is much longer than I need. This makes handling the pin fairly easy. When it sets up, I trim it to size. I remove any burrs and round off the end with a small file. Next, I select the place for the hole in the second part. I am often able to press the two parts together, leaving a slight mark in the second one. Otherwise, I mark the second hole with a very fine point water soluble pen. I drill the second hole and test the fit with the pin. If all is well, I continue onward. If the hole is out of alignment for some reason, I usually fill it with super glue and an accelerator and re-drill the part. Here are some pictures of the pinning I did on a recent 1921 Oldsmobile (Beverly Hillbillies) hot rod build. Here, I used two pins for the engine and transmission: These are the corresponding holes in the motor mount and transmission mount: Here you see the pins I used for the radiator and for the location of the radiator hoses on the radiator: These are the pins on the engine for locating the carburetor and also for the other end of the radiator hoses. There are also pins for the water pump pulley and the ignition coil: This view shows the pins I used for the windshield. I decided to do that because I wanted a good alignment and stronger joint. This is another view of the front of the engine, showing the radiator hose pins and for the water pump pulley.

Thank you very much for the feedback, Y'All.

This is my 10th completion of 2012. My goal this year is to finish as many of my stalled projects as I can. This one has been on the shelf for more than 2 years. My wife Dianne has accommodated my expensive model car building hobby for many years. She hasn't complained about the time I spend away from home at ACME meetings and at out of town model car shows. So, I dedicated this build to her, painted it yellow (her favorite color) and used a vanity tag with her nickname on it. I started with the AMT Beverly Hillbillies kit and built it as a 1921 Oldsmobile hot rod roadster. To get the lowness I wanted, I "underslung" the chassis. I added a 1969 442 W30 motor and 4-speed transmission with a parts box quick change rear end. I used "diamond plate" for the floorboard and parts box seats. I added quite a bit of detail, with brake lines, battery cables, fuel lines to the fuel pump and from there to the Holley double pumper carburetor. I added a double inlet fuel line. The aftermarket tachometer is wired as are the headlights and I included carburetor linkage. I used flexible radiator hoses and included clamps. This project fits in with the "TV and Movie Cars" theme for the next ACME Southernationals NNL show, so i will probably put it out on the table. Dianne is pleased with her hot rod Oldsmobile and so I am pleased, too. Enjoy!

I started using Kilz Clear Coat quite a while ago and stocked up on about half a dozen cans at the locan Walmart. Someone on another forum said it is no longer being made. I need to check that out and find a substitute if the Kilz Clear is no longer available.