Monogram '30 Ford hemi coupe

[DrKerry]

Very kewl!!!!!!

[tim boyd]

Chris....great to see this one finished after all your work over the last several years.  It looks just spectacular.  

And it would fit, so well, on the invitation only "island" (as I call it) at the LoneStar Roundup in Austin next April.  

The choice of color for your wheels (bronze/brown) works so well - I would have never thought of that.  And of course, I highly endorse using different wheel treatments on each side.

In all, this is one of those "career" models - it will remain a favorite of yours, and I suspect, many readers on this forum, for decades to come.  Great job!  TIM 

[afx]

Very nice Chris.  Did you do a build thread on this anywhere?

[Tom Geiger]

Very nice work Chris!  Well thought out to the last detail!  And I'd love to have this one as a 1:1 too!  

[Jantrix]

Much appreciated everyone.

Rob--I feel like I got lucky with the Mr Hobby paint. It's definitely worth tracking some down and giving it a shot!

All the tutorials I saw on this stuff was using an airbrush applicator. What made you try a dry brush technique and what sort of brush did you use?

[Spex84]

Thanks for the comments guys

Tim--thanks a bunch. Your builds and articles have been inspiring me since about 1997 or so. To put things in perspective, I was in elementary school then.

JC--Thanks for your interest. I have a build thread over on "the other" model car site, but I may import it over to MCM soon.

Rob--I have an airbrush, but was too lazy to use it! Also, I've brush-painted smaller parts with this paint before, and after collecting lots of reference photos, I found that the bare-metal finishes I liked best had a slightly mottled appearance...so an airbrushed finish would be excessively smooth and consistent. Too clean.

So I just used a regular hobby brush, like the ones Testors sells with the white handle and black bristles, and smudged the paint on. Emphasis on smudged--I wasn't "brushing" so much as smushing the bristles into the body. Exactly what 'they' tell you NOT to do with a brush, as it wrecks the bristles. Oh well...it's good to have a dedicated dry-brushing brush anyway.

It looks terrible at first...but I think the paint is lacquer-based, because it dries very quickly. As it was drying, I continued to stipple with the brush, essentially taking the paint that I'd applied and distributing it over as wide an area as possible. This action starts to even out the finish and remove any areas of paint buildup. The end result of the dry-brushing/stippling is a fairly uniform semi-gloss finish. Even after the body was dry, some paint would come off when touched. That's where the buffing comes in...I used a piece of blue heavy paper towel and buffed the surface to a shine, removing any paint that wasn't attached (not much, really).

At this point, I decided the finish was nice and shiny, but too dark. That's when I applied a very small amount of aluminum paint to the cloth, and buffed it onto the body, taking care to mostly hit the high spots (trim, hinges, tips of the louvers) and to NOT cover the entire body...so the darker Steel layer would still show through.

In order to figure out the approach, I did a test body with several combos. I tried:

-Mr Hobby Steel over grey primer

-Mr Hobby Steel over black primer (the mottled look is more pronounced and the overall final product is a tad darker)

-2 coats Mr Hobby Steel over black (the black disappears and it ends up looking like the first test over grey)

-Mr Hobby Steel over grey, with a layer of graphite rubbed on top (too dark)

-Mr Hobby Steel over grey, with Aluminum buffed into it afterwards. Bingo!

 

[Taxdude]

This is very impressive model.  

[Ferbz]

Great model! Awesome period piece and I especially love the 'metal' finish.

[Dennis Lacy]

Chris,

This is just my opinion but I think this is the best model I've ever seen built from the Monogram kit. It's everything a chopped A coupe on Deuce rails should be. When a guy builds a car like this (real or model) it tells me right away that they "get it." 

Absolutely fantastic!

Also, having followed along as this project evolved I know the level of dedication this car required. You had a vision and you did what it took to see it through to the end. Much respect.

Edited November 16, 2015 by Dennis Lacy

[exesivefire]

I love everything about this one, glad to see it finished! 

[outlaw035]

really nice...kinda bad azz....

 

[Jonathan]

That is cool!

[Mr. Metallic]

This thing is incredible. You knocked it out of the park.

[DumpyDan]

Nice work, looks great

[DeeCee]

What an incredible metal finish,    sweet build mate.

[Grumpa]

Nice ol' school look Chris! Thanks for the paint info. I was wondering how you achieved the look.

[doctor phillips]

That was fun to look at! Thanks Chris! Great job!

[Spex84]

Thanks again for the kind words, everyone.

Dennis--glad you like it! Your builds have been very inspirational, both in content and execution. Love the WIP pictorials. I'm going to try and improve the lighting on my bench so my WIP shots can be more like yours.

Now I just need a genie to breathe on it or something and turn it into a 1:1 in my driveway

[wayne swayze]

As Tim Boyd mentioned, this build will be a favourite to many, and I will be among those that wish this was my work!  I enjoy coming back periodically just to take it all in!

[carrucha]

Sweet hot rod.  Excellent job making all of the parts from different kits work well together.

[Jeremy Jon]

Love it!  Looks fantastic Chris, and that body metal effect is fantastic, bravo!!

[Pat Minarick]

Very nice.

[Modelbuilder Mark]

Excellent. I have looked at this one several times and keep coming back to it. Without a doubt one of my favorites that has been posted here in some time. Thanks so much for sharing.

[jeff f]

Just Stunning , perfect proportions and stance .

[Dave Darby]

Love this build. Absolutely awesome. Bump!