David Thibodeau

Completed this one last night and tried to wait till the sun was not too overbearing so I could get some decent outside pictures. This car is AWESOME.... The kit is probably one of the best that Tamiya has ever produced. There is NOTHING added to the car other than the Scale Motorsport decal set. Keep in mind the decal set is for all the exterior panels only. I made templates myself for the Engine compartment, and all interior panels. The body panels, rear engine cover shroud, and inner door panels were clearcoated with OMNI two part urethane clear and carefully polished out. All other CF surfaces were cleared with FUTURE floor wax either through the airbrush or by paintbrush. I hope you like it!! And thse wondering how it looks all closed up? It looks GOOD... Not perfect, Tamiya tolerances are very minimal even on the 1/12 kits. The doors fit real tight lik the 1/24 kit. And why close them anyways and hide that interior! Any questions please ask away. It will see its first debute at the IHOBBY Expo in Cleveland at the Scale Motorsport Booth from Oct 11-14. I am hoping I make it to NNL EAST this year in April as Matt Wells will be there so I can enter it into the main exhibit Gym. Thanks! Few more pics.

Chris, I use two part automotive clear on the body inner door panels, and Rear engine intake. All the rest of the CF is covered in future. Thanks all!! DaveT

Thanks Guys, The deadline for this build is looming so I have blasted ahead to get it done! Those of you interested it will be in Toledo on Oct 6th at the Scale Motorsport Vendor Booth with Matt Wells. As you can see, its close to completion.... The doors were assembled and installed.. They work pretty cool with a spring assisted mechanism. They fit really tight as per tamiya but what a pain to reopen. I will suggest to Matthew to display them open anyways to show off all the CF work on the inside of the interior and door skins. The front clip is not permanantly mounted yet, but the front bonnett is. It is installed with metal hinges all screwed together. It works perfectly! If you look carefully you can see I added CF to the underside of the lid as well. The engine is complete as well Look at that CF air cleaner! Interior: Carbon goodness!!!

Thanks guys! I managed to get the interior buttoned up tonight...Everything fits so precisely on this thing!!

Thanks boys... still plugging away on this... Dash is done and installed. Lots of 1/12 plain weave and alot of future!!! Also got the interior tub underway.... again, lots of templates and plain weave followed by future Next up is the seats so I can get the tube in place!

Just the outside panels..I am making my own for the rest of the car.... Time consuming but worth it! Thanks!!! More done....the beloved Powerplant is in for good.... lots to do but a big hurdled accomplished!

The heat shield is stuff I had laying around in sheets. Not from the packs themselves... The CF on this one is true colore CF where the CF on my FXX SMS kit was overlays you laid over black paint so yes it was darker. Thanks guys... I am moving along on this one... Front end is started on the monocoque... All of this will not be seen once the luggage tub is installed.. Yu could go nuts in this compartment! Speaking of the luggage compartment, I covered it in embossing black powder.. Looks more realistic to me than paint. And with the compartment installed. Then the front suspension was installed.... Some reg CF weave applied Rear CF applied With the front clip added more soon!!

pure wickedness!!!

Building it out of the box is quite impressive.... especially when the entire body is like this: I will clear it as soon as I get the rest of the CF templates applied... its pretty time consuming!! I finally have the body components clear coated. I shot them with a large tip in my Badger 350. It is the gun I use exclusivey for clearing. Then I polished each panel carefully with 2000 and 3M compound. I shot the wheels with Tamiya Gunmetal acrylic. ]

So I was on vacation in July and I get this email from Matt Wells asking if I was up to build a 1/12 ENZO TAMIYA kit with full Carbon decals.... Of course twist my arm on that one!! ;D So after a week the kit arrives.. and what a kit it is!! Lets start! The engine here is complete... What a fantastic engineered kit this is. The only thing I added heree was cigarette foil to the heat shield by the transmission.

Little work done on this one.. I turned the LENCO on my lathe. Looks much better than the lump in the RG engine kit.... I even threw it in the vice before parting off the rear case and drilled a couple pilot holes for the solenoids!! OOOOOOOOOOOhhhh!!! I used my mill for the first time. ;D I will need to shave the clutch can flange a bit to mount it lower in the car but it is going to look cool

Wayne, Looking good man.... I like the texture finish on the modulat rear end.

Now the body paint is complete. Clay made me some decals to go with this build. The door vents, Daytona decals for the rear black quarter panel, and the Vanishing point chassis decals. Then all that was buried in clear. Still needs polishing which it will get later. I need to get a few other projects done so this one will be on hold for a bit but I will be back on it soon!!! Thanks everyone for the poitive comments!

Ken.....masterful craftsmanship is all I can say!!!!

Beautiful builds!!!!!!!!

No it does not cause problems. The green is an acrylic enamel that stays slightly tacky for a long period of time yet it cures enough to not interfere with a two part catalyst urethane. As long as I wait a week or so prior to polishing the clear I will have no "die back" or shrinkage issues with the clear since it is a high solids clearcoat. Thanks for all the compliments!!! DaveT

John, Superb work....your application of Alcad is second to none! Awe inspiring work. POST THIS ON BAD TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks, DaveT

I know right???? Thanks Wayne, I hope to have this one done for the Tampa Street rod show in October.....

I have known you since what, 2004?? Man you have come a long long way...your an engineer now brother!!!! Wicked work man.

Thanks Jason....

Next....................

. I got the first pass of primer on the resin body.... It still needs alot of sanding, smoothing and filling but its getting there. I also need to close up the gap on the pass front door where it meets the front clip. Not too much because paint will help alot in those areas. Either way its good to see it in a uniform color. I think its got a sinister monster look.... Its "THE GREEN MACHINE" Man what a difference a little color does!!! It is painted with 70's Correct "Sublime" from Scalefinishes. The bummer is the paint Jameston sent me is Gloss Enamel. I hate the stuff! It never dries! So to speed it along I applied one coat of two part Omni clear. I will paint the rear quarters black real soon... I am totaly going for the look of Chips all green period correct sublime car he raced in the early days..... Man I think this one is gonna be wicked!! I love the look so far. Hope you all feel the same.....

Chassis is in paint and clear. I used a automotive PPG basecoat called "Caprice Dark Silver" It looks way darker in person. The metallic pops under my photo lights. Its very close to the color Chip used on this car. Clear is PPG OMNI.

Pay attention to the front door opening, that was changed thanks to suggestions by Dave Sherman. He made me see that the Flashpoint body has the stock Daytona door lines which are inaccurate for the Pro Mod. These were fixed in later photos by cutting the doors in the front and gluing the cut parts to the openings to get the door line at the A-pillar. I am using a Ross Gibson hemi engine on this project. This is only the beggining! It will be highly detailed. Scratchbuilding these frames requires the use of a jig to set wheelbase and ride height. This is a MUST for a successful sitting model. I have to thank Clay and Dirk once again for the advice. The jig makes things so much easier!!! With the body on the mocked up Comp resin tires and micro nitro wheels on the jig. Next up , paint the chassis!!!!

First off a big thanks to Clay, Dave Sherman, and Dirk for pushing me to do this project that I thought was a tall order for me. Clay and Dave pushed me to try one of these monster door slammers over the past year. Clay sent me a chassis blue print he had drawn based on the Vanishing Point frame. I decided to take the plunge. I am not sure when this project will be completed but I have thoroughly enjoyed it so far. I hope to keep on it between various projects I have going. The wicked Pro Mod I am trying to replicate. Gotta love sublime green on this one which I purchased from Scale finishes already. Here is the first draft of the chassis based on the plans Clay sent me. After a few conversations with he and Sherm I had to make a few changes to the firewall area where the doors on the body would be mounted. You can see in the progressed chassis in the next batch of photos the changes I made. Here is the final draft of the chassis. I used all of the dirt modeler brass photoetch parts on the project. Closing in the front firewall and adding the dashfiller panel was pretty challenging. During the whole chassis build process I was test fitting it to the Flashpoint resin body. The doors have been removed and the front end cut off. I spent a ton of time making sure the chassis not only fit but everything opens and closes perfectly. No glued open doors and front clip not fitting this time for me!