Badman C/A (ca. 1975)

[Straightliner59]

It's been curing for almost a week.  I'm thinking of wet-sanding after work, tonight. Then, I can wait for another week. Ugh. Next time, I will find something in Krylon! If I'd had some, the decals would be on, already!

[Pierre Rivard]

2 hours ago, Straightliner59 said:

It's been curing for almost a week.  I'm thinking of wet-sanding after work, tonight. Then, I can wait for another week. Ugh. Next time, I will find something in Krylon! If I'd had some, the decals would be on, already!

If you're in a hurry, enamel will test your patience. 😉

[Straightliner59]

1 hour ago, Pierre Rivard said:

If you're in a hurry, enamel will test your patience. 😉

Good thing I'm not! 🙂

[Straightliner59]

While waiting (somewhat less patiently!) on paint--I'll get to that, later today--I concentrated my efforts on what do do with the taillights. I like to have lenses on my lights, whether headlights, taillamps, turn signals, or side marker lights. Also, I've wanted to put Blue Dots on here, pretty much since inception. I ended up cutting the lenses from the Badman taillights, then modifying an AMT '55 Chevy taillight lens to fit (I still need to get it nice and flat), and installed a blue "light" from model railroading supplies. I think this'll work! Comments and questions are always welcomed. Thanks for looking!

[Straightliner59]

Taillights are done. They aren't perfect, but they're definitely better than the kit parts. I used lenses from an AMT Nomad. Blue Dots are model RR pieces. "Headlight" decals are from a MicroScale RR sheet. If I had another pair of those lenses, I would probably replace one of these. Thanks for looking!

Edited February 16 by Straightliner59

[Pierre Rivard]

Blue dot tail lights, nice touch and well fabricated. Like many other elements you have incorporated you are sweating the details. Beautiful stuff!

[Tony Coomer]

Big update from last I seen. Looking good…

[Straightliner59]

On 2/16/2025 at 7:52 AM, Pierre Rivard said:

Blue dot tail lights, nice touch and well fabricated. Like many other elements you have incorporated you are sweating the details. Beautiful stuff!

Thank you, Pierre! I wanted Blue Dots, at the start, which is why I redid the taillights. I got the second round of paint on it, early, this morning, before I went to bed! Waiting for paint to dry has given me the opportunity to get almost everything else done! I still need to thermo-form the windshield and backlight, yet. I still think I may need one more round of paint, but I'll have to wait and see. Nonetheless, it's getting pretty close! There's a contest here, near the end of March that I should be able to debut it at!

 

4 hours ago, Tony Coomer said:

Big update from last I seen. Looking good…

Thanks, Tony! It's getting there!

[Codi]

Nice touch Daniel.  Like you I've found sources from time to time of model railroad parts that can be useful........cheers,tim

[Straightliner59]

3 hours ago, Codi said:

Nice touch Daniel.  Like you I've found sources from time to time of model railroad parts that can be useful........cheers,tim

Thanks, Tim. I used to spend a lot of money in Caboose Hobbies, here in Denver. It was easily the best place to get scratchbuilding supplies. Plus, a lot of railroad detailing parts were very useful--especially before the model car aftermarket took off.

I've finished the taillights. The lenses were incredibly slippery and difficult to work with. That made it a real test (which I failed) to sand them flat, on the back, while thinning them to fit the remains of the Badman's bezels. I was able to get a very satisfactory fix using UV activated resin to fill the space between the bezel and the tops of the lenses. A little touch-up with some Tamiya clear red, and voila! I also added the chrome strip that divides the sections of the lights using aluminum duct tape. I think they'll look great, on the car. Thanks for looking!

[absmiami]

Great stuff

[Straightliner59]

14 minutes ago, absmiami said:

Great stuff

Thanks, Andy!

[Pierre Rivard]

I love alu duct tape. Put to good use here. The tail lamps are a little scale model by themselves. Eye candy!

[Straightliner59]

1 minute ago, Pierre Rivard said:

I love alu duct tape. Put to good use here. The tail lamps are a little scale model by themselves. Eye candy!

Thank you, my friend! Yes, that duct tape is super-useful!

[AmericanMuscleFan]

There's not much to stop you Daniel, always a trick up your sleeve, the taillights are super my friend! 👍

[Straightliner59]

13 hours ago, AmericanMuscleFan said:

There's not much to stop you Daniel, always a trick up your sleeve, the taillights are super my friend! 👍

Just solving problems, my friend!🙂 Thank you, Francis! I'm pretty happy with the way that worked out.

[David G.]

The blue dots are a really cool and exceedingly well executed period-correct addition Daniel! I haven't thought about those in yeeeaaarrrs.

The mockup looks great! The clean and fresh paint does look a little out of place though. I'm sure that you do have plans to address that.

David G.

[Straightliner59]

15 minutes ago, David G. said:

The blue dots are a really cool and exceedingly well executed period-correct addition Daniel! I haven't thought about those in yeeeaaarrrs.

The mockup looks great! The clean and fresh paint does look a little out of place though. I'm sure that you do have plans to address that.

David G.

Thank you, David. I really wanted Blue Dots on the car, and didn't want to put them in the chrome-plated kit taillights, painted with clear red. Oh, don't worry! All my paint jobs look a little rough!😂 I always tell anyone who asks, "They're race cars! They aren't supposed to look like show queens!"

I started putting on the "painted-on" decals, so they can get some clear, over them. I need to make new fender decals, because the clear coat on these had completely cured, and when I applied them, it cracked. I'll make new ones, and apply them, within an hour or so, of clearing them, while the paint is still flexible. Now that I've started applying them, I really like the way the leafing plays off the anodized stacks! I see some touchup that needs to be taken care of, too. Anyway...she's getting closer! Questions and comments are always welcomed. Thanks for looking!

[David G.]

That's so cool!

So the cured clear is the reason that the decals look kind of frosty?

I occasionally make my own decals, I'll have to keep it in mind about working the clear before it fully cures.

I always learn something new when following your WIPs Daniel.

David G.

[Straightliner59]

23 hours ago, David G. said:

That's so cool!

So the cured clear is the reason that the decals look kind of frosty?

I occasionally make my own decals, I'll have to keep it in mind about working the clear before it fully cures.

I always learn something new when following your WIPs Daniel.

David G.

I am almost positive that's what it was, in this case. The clear cracked parallel with the arc of the fender. I went back and cut some new fender slashes from decal paper, then taped them off and shot them with Walmart's now extinct Color Place gloss black. I applied each about fifteen minutes after spraying them, with no clear coat. I'm using Koala transparent decal paper. I really like it, but, the film is very flimsy. It stretches, easily, too. That trait caused me a couple of bobbles in the fender slashes. Overall, I think I can get happy with them, once I've cleaned them up, and flowed some Future into any voids along the edges, and shot some clear over everything! Thank you for your kinds words, David! Thanks for looking! 

[Straightliner59]

Well, I shot the clear.  I'll see how it looks, after work.

[Pierre Rivard]

I love the effect achieved with the Plum Nutz and 427 decals. The ability to make your own decals and the skills to make them great allows you to achieve the exact look you had in mind. Well done sir. 

[Vettegasser]

NICE!!!!!!!

[Straightliner59]

17 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

I love the effect achieved with the Plum Nutz and 427 decals. The ability to make your own decals and the skills to make them great allows you to achieve the exact look you had in mind. Well done sir. 

Thank you, Pierre. I am convinced that a big part of why I've been more prolific, over the last several years, or so, is because I've figured out a way to create my own graphics. It makes for a more complete vision, at the start, therefore (I think) a greater desire to see it through. It seems to be helping me, anyway!🙂

That said, the clear coat really makes the gold leaf pop! There's a vat of elbow grease, in my future, though. I was trying to squeeze the last from my can of clear, and it left the roof pretty badly orange-peeled. I should have plenty of clear on it to be able to polish it out, and blend-down the decals, a tad. I build race cars, to avoid this kind of stuff!😂 I just felt like the gold leaf deserves a half-decent paint job. I am confident in saying that you, my friend, paint better with a brush, than I do, with a can! I'm attaching a few photos revealing my shortcomings! I was able to polish the spoon after only about 18 hours, so I plan to start fixing this, forthwith.

15 hours ago, Vettegasser said:

NICE!!!!!!!

Thanks, Jimmy!

 

[Pierre Rivard]

We all have our own, not always logical to others, way of achieving paint finishes. I look at the polished spoon and all I can say is: trust your process !