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Posted (edited)

Marty and I wanted to make some nice grilles from one of his original rare kits, MPC, I think. We removed the chrome and that goopy yellow lacquer film.  I carefully sanded out the ejection pin marks that were in the middle of the headlights on the back of it.  Then I carefully sanded the backside until it was opened up.  Once this was successfully accomplished, I made a mold.  Then I made a couple of copies,  then for the true purpose of the excersise I made a couple out of clear resin.  Marty wants to carefully detail paint it and then apply bare metal foil to the back of the headlight  area and see how it looks.  I used q-tips and Bare Metal Foil brand plastic polish to give the headlight area a nice high luster to give the headlight a nice realistic look.

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Edited by Greg Wann
Posted

Verrrrrry interesting!  Clever idea, Greg. Easier to 'chrome' the grille and hoop and leave the headlamps clear than to start with a chrome grille with chrome headlamps!  Unique!

Posted (edited)

Yes,  sometimes I even impress myself as to what can be achieved with a little tenacity.   Dialing in the master was a lot of work with all that tedious sanding and polishing.  I really dislike any kind of power tools to do this kind of sanding.  It's just to easy to screw up the detail on the part.  I'm not  in a hurry nor am I running a race.

I also really like the Bare Metal Foil brand plastic polish.  This is amazing stuff that works great and is cheap too.  Back in 05 when I got back into modeling I actually talked to the old guy that ran the company.  He was a airplane builder and developed it for clear canopies.  Then it was not available for several years due to production problems.  Last year I noticed it was available again so I bought some and it still seems to be a great product.  Hobby shops should stock this stuff.  This is good stuff for rubbing out a paint job too.

Also I learned yet another lesson about using clear resin from a company called Hapco.  The tech told me to warm the material to help boost its ability to properly cure.  It does irritate me to no end that I get told something different when I talk to people that sell me resin products that are supposed to be highly trained.  When some one is hired by Reynolds Advanced Materials where I buy my Smooth-On stuff, they have to spend nearly a month at the factory to really learn the processes and material.  There are vats that hold hundreds of gallons of material at a time while being made.

Edited by Greg Wann
Posted

And since I have just a few of these MPC kits there will be some more resin stuff in the works! 
plus a ‘72 to ‘76 club cab with trim. 
 

 

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  • 1 month later...
Posted
23 hours ago, Mr. Metallic said:

Any updates on this. The 72 grille is one of the better looking from this gen of Dodge pickups in my opinion. And I'd love to build a short bed!

already got mine and they look awesome !

Posted

That is looking fantastic Marty! I sure hope you consider replicating the 4wd components, you would make a lot of people happy.

  • 1 month later...
Posted
On 3/20/2020 at 5:33 PM, tuffone20 said:

Here is a resin copy of the cab, it’s being tweet just a little in a few area’s. 
 

 

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Im gonna have to figure out how to sand off the 100 for a 200...photo etch maybe ? 3d print?

Posted
  •  
On 3/20/2020 at 5:33 PM, tuffone20 said:

Here is a resin copy of the cab, it’s being tweet just a little in a few area’s. 
 

 

1A9A21C1-D496-45C4-A318-6B7D0750AC7B.jpeg

4BECC406-1158-40D4-A274-92D5C81E231F.jpeg

Im gonna have to figure out how to sand off the 100 for a 200...photo etch maybe ? 3d print?

Posted

Just because I remember when these were introduced, and was impressed with the wrap-around taillights, and then my dad got a used '72, am I interested in this subject.  That grill come with turn signals?  I am anal about the taillights (obviously), don't think the kit looks correct, just an idea to work on making accurate looking units.

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