DR JAY

I have used Scratch-X and Gold Class wax for years on my models and 1:1 cars and motorcycles and have nothing bad to say other than "Boy- They sure don't give that stuff away, do they?"

A chassis tip: I remember an old article in SSDI about Zeke, and at that time Animal Jim said the chassis was outdated because he was among the only ones left that was running a 3 link instead of a 4 link.

For what it's worth, I also clear over decals. This is mostly because I want to protect the colour coat from oxidizing and I also want to be able to polish/rub out fingerprints and such from handling for contests etc. I'm afraid of decal damage from such activities and the "home made" decals that I sometimes use (Keith Marks,decals by my Hobby Store Guy, etc) are very thin and fragile at best. Besides, I'm kinda known 'round these parts for my deep and shiny paint jobs and pearl clears...(Colour coat, then pearl clear, then decals, then clear for polishing, then sunglasses)

It's great to see that you have started on the fabricated K-member as well...as a NA$CAR modeller myself I really appreciate the details like that! It's easy to use the stock kit parts for stuff like that, but it takes research and dedication to accuracy to go the extra mile and add details like that. It also looks like you're prepping the firewall on the left side for the dry sump oil tank with the battery underneath--judging by the placement of the pencil markings. Great job so far!

I don't know if it's just me, but the link isn't working.

Another 68 movie charger, although not FLAT black was the car in the movie Bullitt- the stock wheelcovers are available in the Grand Spaulding and Dick Landy 68 Dart kits

I spent almost 25 years repairing cars for a living and have had every vehicle mentioned in my bay at one time or another; some WAY more than others (I'm looking at you- PT Cruiser!)....I can think of many, MANY reasons why you don't see them around any more.There was an upside, though--the manure spreaders paid the bills.Besides, how many of you saw filthy and beaten Super Birds and Hemi Cudas in the 70's? There were lots of 'em...unfortunately I don't think that these mass production units will appreciate like a 1 of 9 (or whatever)70 Hemi Challenger 4-speed drop top or the ONE root beer brown 1970 Super Bird built. (It was a factory paint mistake)I feel today's cars have very little soul and in order for something to be different it has to be familiar.The last car I had with soul was my old 85 Monte Carlo SS--black over blue with a 355/turbo 350 I threw in for tire-shredding good times.

The front suspension parts got the same scale reinforcement treatment that the 1:1 Nichels Engineering parts did.The control arms were actually pretty close in appearance and accuracy. I had to make proper radius rods and sway bar stuff like arms and end links.The steering linkage was modified to include a pitman arm and idler arm and the steering gear was modified to look more like a steering gear. This kit is a good start for a larger scale stock car, but it still needs a LOT of attention to make it better.If I did it over again I would completely fabricate the floor and chassis from scratch-it would have been alot easier.

A little Darkside for ya- The 1/16 Dukes Of Hazzard kit provided the basis for this project and here's a few shots of what I have so far. There are many hours to go on this one, but I'm slowly getting things done; shift work makes things interesting! UPDATED PICTURES!... I've been able to get a little more done and have updated the album with some new pics. Body is painted and gassing out.I've found that my limited available time has affected the final quality of some stuff,and I can do better, so I've decided to do this one as practice for a full blown 1/16 Cotton Owens Charger 500 in the future. http://s1177.photobucket.com/albums/x357/drjay2/1969%20Grand%20National%20Dodge%20Charger%20Project/

The paint on pretty much every build I do is rattlecan...Not a fan of airbrush cleaning--I save that for the alclad and metallizers. The headers are from the Thunderbolt kit, but are modified a bit for clearance. The Dearborn Steel Tubing Falcons had an engine setback among many other mods I built into the car and once I modelled the setback detail the headers didn't quite clear the engine mounts and steering linkage. Very nice headers in the T-Bolt kit.

Thanks for the tip-I'll check them out right now! Jason

Hello all. I have done some lookin' but thought I'd check with the large scale builders before I ordered anything. Who makes the best seatbelt hardware for a 5 point system circa 1969? I am converting the large General Lee into a Nichels Engineering 69 Grand National stock car along the same detail lines as my 1/25 Lorenzen Galaxie I posted in the NA$CAR section;that is to say no detail spared! I am looking for seatbelt hardware that represents something period-correct. Any recommendations? I can scratchbuild it all, but it's time consuming at best. I guess I can modify F1 style stuff if I need to, but the lever-lock style of course would be more accurate for my subject. BTW- there's some KILLER stuff being built in this section and it's very humbling looking at these builds! Thanks, Jason.

Outstanding! Maybe these reality show guys that build unrideable bikes should take a lesson in cohesive design from that fine example you built.

I have a feeling she would be safe with a guy that drives a weapon like that because it's very probable that his bachelor "love nest" is located in his parent's basement, next to the furnace. If she had to flee on foot that manure spreader would never catch her unless she stopped for a nap half way home.

Thanks for the kind words...No false modesty here, but that car was cleared, decalled,wet sanded/polished and assembled from an "In Progress" box in 36 hours in order to be completed in time for a model club contest. The picture of the body with the clock showing 7:00 in the background was taken at 7 am...4 hours before the contest! I had time off work and was full of coffee from the Shell station- said coffee had its name spelled out in letters using a lightning bolt style font...I'm still vibrating!

Very Nice Work...very smooth and clean.

http://s1177.photobucket.com/albums/x357/drjay2/Galaxie/ Another link- this one was started with the AMT 63 Galaxie and the 60 Starliner and some resin wheels and tires. I used detail pictures from the actual restoration in Florida of the real car. I thought I'd give ya a little Darkside this morning...

Thank you, folks. I appreciate the comments.

Thanks for the compliments- I appreciate them given the talent and skill displayed on this forum. Dad said that car was fast and ridiculously hard on fuel...he had to get rid of it when it got tired and consumed lots of oil. At the end the engine would nearly stall when it was running as he poured in the STP.

I also was wondering what sort of engine detail that kit has. Excellent job on that Volkswagen!

That is just awesome! That,sir is a work of art.

As I metioned in my intro- my favorite build so far is this one. 650 hours after I started I had an exact replica of a car I had never seen- my father's 1959 Oldsmobile Super 88 4dr HT. It was built from reference memories from my uncle, mother and after giving lies as the reason for pumping him for info- my father. It was a surprise gift from the family for his 65th birthday...he said it was EXACTLY like his old car- right down to the compass on the dash. I started with a Modelhaus resin 98 and a Revell 59 Chevy kit and winged it. http://s1177.photobucket.com/albums/x357/drjay2/1959%20Oldsmobile%20Super%2088%20project/

http://s1177.photobucket.com/albums/x357/drjay2/#!cpZZ1QQtppZZ24 Just so you guys can see that the new guy can actually finish one or two.

... I'm A Man Of Wealth And Taste. Now that I've ripped off The Stones; this is just a short note to let ya know who I am if it matters. My name is Jason. I am only active on one other forum- Randy Ayer's NASCAR Forum in the Darkside section as I prefer to build bolt for bolt replicas of old stock cars along with the occasional oddball topic like a Fuelly 59 Impala, SD421 Tempest or my favorite- a conversion of the Modelhaus 59 Olds 98 into a superdetailed exact replica of one of my dad's old cars from 1966 for his 65th birthday- a 1959 Olds Super 88 4 door HT. There's some amazing work here and I hope I can contribute to the pool, but being a jail guard and subject to irregular shift times my building is limited lately and work on a proper stock car conversion of the 1/16 Dukes 69 Charger is crawling slowly. I'll try to post a link to some pics in the showroom section so despite my slow pace you can see I actually can get something done.