68 Charger

[Bainford]

Coming along nicely. That is a very nice shade of blue.

[bill-e-boy]

Got the motor done and am working on interior assembly and final paint detail of the chassis

 

Will try for a better photo and post up

[slusher]

Good looking Himi!

[bill-e-boy]

Progress has been slow due to working away from home, house painting - it is a big house - and life. This post is the progress over the last month or so

As mentioned in the last post I tried for a better pix of the motor

I have finish detailing and assembled the interior 

And painted the raised lettering on the tires. I use Humbrol flat white thinned a little with enamel thinners and what seems a largish brush. You lay the paint on with the side of the brush not the tip

And assembled wheels and tires

When I was getting the wheels fitted up onto the diff I had issues with fitment of the kit drum brakes so I machined some up from ally - no pix sorry

The front end posed some issues with the boss at the back of the wheel making the wheels stick out too far so I machined the bosses off. With a bit off faffing around and trimming I got the wheels to sit inside the body

The lathe I use is a Emco Unimat III that has had the motor upgraded to a small three phase motor with VFD speed control

The original sewing machine motor can be seen as the white blob in the background and its use is now relegated to the mill head

It is now autumn down these ways so the outside jobs should start to slow down and I can spend ore time at the modelling table - if the CEO of the house does not line up a bunch of inside jobs to do.

Thanks for looking

 

 

 

 

[Noah H.]

This build is looking great. I like all of the detail throughout, particularly the copper color used on the alternator to suggest copper windings within the alternator.

[bill-e-boy]

22 hours ago, Noah H. said:

This build is looking great. I like all of the detail throughout, particularly the copper color used on the alternator to suggest copper windings within the alternator.

Thanks Noah. The copper colour is actually Tamiya clear red. The windings often have a clear or red enamel insulation over the copper wire so clear red does the trick

[bill-e-boy]

A wee bit of progress.

Engine and interior mounted to chassis and body colour sanded to 12000 grit

I finish assembled the spare 440 wedge engine. I had some issues with getting the air cleaner decal to soften. I think my setting solution is getting too old - I dont do much decalling

To stay with the day two theme I machined up an air cleaner from ally. The filter element is knurled in a cross hatch pattern with semi-gloss black washed into low areas. Cleaned up the cross hatch in the lathe with a file. Also made a knob to hold the air cleaner in place

Before and after comparison pix

 

[bill-e-boy]

Progressing slowly baxkwards on this build. I started to rub out the paint only to discover that were a lot of too deep sanding scratches in the clear coat. So a rub down with 4000g cloth and back to the spray booth. After three coats I let the paint cure in the hot box and waited a few days before the next step - mask off under the hood to paint the sound deadener blanket flat black. All good until I removed the masking tape. 

What a disaster

I will let it sit and cure some more before I attack it with sanding clothes to see if I can rescue it or in the pond it will go.

The paint is Tamiya lacquer so should be dry after a week - seriously considering changing paint as it is not the first time I have had issues with Tamiya LP paints not drying properly. The acrylics are slow too.

Time to dig something else out of the stash and do something completely different

 

 

 

 

 

[bill-e-boy]

Been a while since the last post I was a bit peeved with the hood so it was put to one side and I started another project. We have a show coming up so I thought that this needs a push. I have stripped the paint from the hood and repainted. Needs a small rub down with final colour coat and clear. I will let it gas out some more this time before I mask up for the underside detail painting. I have also colour sanded and cut the body ready foil and decals.

In the mean time I have got some foil on. I have started using fine line tape as a cutting guide for the foil - a whole lot easier as some of the trim is a little vague on this model

[ksnow]

Trim looks very nice. I may have to try out the tape as a cutting guide trick.

[CA Whitecloud]

7 hours ago, ksnow said:

Trim looks very nice. I may have to try out the tape as a cutting guide trick.

Ditto.

[bill-e-boy]

Thanks guys

The tip came from our own @StevenGuthmiller. There is a pinned tip in the Tips Section

Thanks Steven

[Mopar - D]

Nice Charger Bill looking forward to seeing you finish this one. 

[bill-e-boy]

And more trim. I used 2mm PVC tape to guide the cutting around the back window and free handed the tight curves. I them moved to the fender trim and I used both 2mm detail tape (PVC) and Tamiya 1mm fine line masking tape. I first tried the 1mm masking tape on the fender trim but was to fine and the knife kept on wanting to wander. I then moved to the 2mm tape but I was concerned that it would not conform to the fender well curves but it was OK, so I did the other three fenders with it.

 

 

 

 

[bill-e-boy]

A while since I posted on this build - last post July last year - my how time flies. The Charger was put on the back burner whilst I was side tracked by a couple of other projects, an overseas holiday and life in general. Well it is time to get back to the Charger

I had completed the foiling just after the last post and have recently polished out the body. I have been slowly getting all of the little details done prior to final assembly

I fitted up the chassis to the body and as not happy with the fit around the front area so puled apart and finessed the firewall and dash areas so it should now fit up better. Time to wait for glue to set up 

 A tray full of detailed goodies. The build theme is a box stock replica stock. Man there is a lot of time spent paint detailing all the little parts and on research to get the right colours and textures. Who said box stock is an easy build 

A couple of shots of the motor in the chassis with a completed wheel ready to go

and a shot of the interior and motor mounted up ready to go into the body which is in the background

Thanks for looking

[NOBLNG]

It’s coming along beautifully Bill.👍 I love that blue on it!😎

[rv1963]

Nice work on that spare engine, the machine work on that air cleaner looks really good.

[Zippi]

Looking good there Bill.  Did you ever get the paint issue with the hood resolved?  

Edited April 1 by Zippi

[bill-e-boy]

Thanks guys. it's been sitting for far too long.

Did you ever get the paint issue with the hood resolved? - yup removed paint with Iso-prop and repainted it. I was a bit cautious when I repainted the under hood insulation and only masked around the area and not the whole hood and brush painted the matt black, which brushes OK. Now all hunky-dory

[bill-e-boy]

Update - some works on final assembly

I glued the chassis sub frame to the inner guards with epoxy and need to bring the two together. A wide popsicle stick, some protective masking tape and a rubber band did the trick

The motor popped out on one side so a cotton bud provided the helping hand while the epoxy dried

The exhaust pipes do not match up to the Hemi headers and the pipes had been painted. The build is box stock so I could not make new primary pipes form rod or solder to keep within the "Box Stock Rules". I used a soldering iron to provide a localised heat source so I could bend to shape.

I then trimmed the pipes, pinned them and glued them in place.

When installing the "K" member I found the torsion bars are too short - a spacer from some suitable sized tree did the trick. Sanded to fit and then a dab of semi gloss black and it was installed along with the rest of the front end components.  

The next step is to do some paint detail and touch ups on the front end and then move on to the rear end

[bill-e-boy]

Moving on with the chassis components. Rear end went in without issues

The pre-prepared pile in the parts bin is looking a little of a pile now. I have been over all the door gaps, grill and ventilation slots with Tamiya panel line and given it another polish.

And now up on all four

 It looks a little nose high but the body is parallel to the ground which I think is correct

Thanks for looking

 

[beeRS]

This is looking gorgeous. Very nearly finished now. 

[bill-e-boy]

Spent most of my time since last post preparing some of the shiny bit that are last to go on. I have pinned the mirror, door handles and wipers. 

Also have fitted and glued the front valence in place prepped the rear valance. Neither have clear location pins or other and take a bit of getting right. Front just needed some easing but the was no way to make the install of the rear unit easy. So I glued a lump of plastic to locate the unit. I adjusted the fit while the glue was soft and then gave it another hit of glue.

This made locating the rear valance so much easier. I glued that in with clear epoxy. The ticket here is to apply the glue then a a couple of minutes till it gets tacky and the part moves around a whole lot less

A number of years ago I made several A4 sheets of New Zealand style personalised number plates and I had just the one for this build

And lastly a shot of the depleted parts bin

Thanks for looking

[bill-e-boy]

I got all the last of the little bits glued on. Door handles, wipers, outside rear view mirror and the small R/T script on the rear panel. Had some issues with getting the hood to fit as the air cleaner was too high. I sanded down the height of the carbs but I could only go so as I would have lost all of the carbs and that did not look right so stopped. I glued the hinges onto the hood so I can display it with the hood up. I also glued up and cleaned the racing hood option with the grabber scoop and painted that SG black

a shot with the grabber hood

We are now off to Under Glass

Thanks for looking