1/24 DDA HQ Holden Kingswood

[STU111]

G’day all, frustratingly, due to work and other commitments I haven’t been able to get the bench time I’d like, but recently managed to make a little progress. Got the engine bay finished.Also got some paint on the body. Shot some SMS paints Glacier White on the roof. I’m good with enamels and Tamiya bottle acrylics through the airbrush, but still getting used to lacquer paint. The roof on the Q had an orange peel finish ( more than what I’d have liked ) but it rubbed out with 8,000 then 12,000 grit okay.Will endeavour to get the green on the body soon. Thanks for looking.

[Cool Hand]

Good to see an update with the build Stu. 

Like how you detail painted the battery to represent the Century brand.

Looking forward to seeing green applied.

[STU111]

G’day all.   Well, tonight I have a new respect for you guys who airbrush your car bodies. With the weather perfect for painting, I decided to paint the Q. Well everything that could go wrong, went wrong. My trusty Iwata decided to block up , ( probably down to me not cleaning it thoroughly enough last time I used it ). Being unfamiliar with the SMS paints, l hadn’t thinned the paint enough. But despite the swear words and growling at the dog, l got there in the end. Still needs clear coat, but it’s starting to come together. After l cleaned the airbrush out, thoroughly this time, I took my dog to the park to make it up to him. 😁

[Cool Hand]

Good to see some colour on the build Stu. Clear coat will bring out that pearl.

[STU111]

23 hours ago, Cool Hand said:

Good to see some colour on the build Stu. Clear coat will bring out that pearl.

G’day Luke, actually shot a coat of clear on the Q today, certainly did make the colour pop. Funny, but looking at the painted body and sub assemblies started to bring back a lot more memories of the car and the time. Made me keen to finish it. Despite having 4 other builds on the go at the moment, the Q is at the front of the, queue. 😁

[Cool Hand]

1 hour ago, STU111 said:

 Funny, but looking at the painted body and sub assemblies started to bring back a lot more memories of the car and the time. Made me keen to finish it. Despite having 4 other builds on the go at the moment, the Q is at the front of the, queue. 😁

Yeah can totally understand mate, its so good to have the kits available of Australian cars from our past.

 

[STU111]

G’day all, body is pretty much done, cleared and polished. I didn’t polish out too hard as the original car just had good factory paint as opposed to a show car shine. Also, a big thank you to forum member Steve, ( Can-Con ) for his suggestion of using chart pack tape to replicate the body bump strip on the side, works a treat! Shouldn’t be too far off from finishing this one up.Thanks for looking in. 👍🏻

[STU111]

Got all the sub assemblies together today. All went together well. Wheels were dulled down with semi gloss clear to more accurately represent the originals. As these  DDA kits have no chrome sprues, I’ve got to get up to speed with applying the SMS hyper chrome l have for the bumpers, door handles etc. l’m pretty happy with it, even sitting on my bench now, it sort of brings back memories of the mid 80’s.  Thanks for checking in. 👍🏻

[Donny]

On 4/26/2025 at 1:24 PM, STU111 said:

Been working away on this one trying to get the stance right. After some fiddling with the suspension parts, I’ve locked it in and glued everything in place. Unfortunately the cold weather has arrived in my part of the world so this one won’t get a coat of paint now until next spring. Also discovered some more photos of the original car.Thanks for looking. Cheers, Stuart.

👍🏻

Geez Stu, next spring for colour. Mate you need a heated shed so you can keep building. Only frogs can

Donlive in that climate.

[STU111]

1 hour ago, Donny said:

Geez Stu, next spring for colour. Mate you need a heated shed so you can keep building. Only frogs can

Donlive in that climate.

l get by.

[Donny]

Catching up Stu. Nice looking paint job mate. As I'm no expert, far from it, but it looks good to me. You stirred my memory, I had and raced a FX back  I think in 1965, at the CAC airstrip. The Victorian Amateur Drivers Club used to hire it from the government every couple of months for race meetings. Wish I still had all the photos, but unfortunately, I lost them in one of Queensland's famous floods, not long after I moved here - fifty years ago. Looking forward to seeing the next step with the HQ and thanks for the memories.

Don

[STU111]

On 9/23/2025 at 7:19 AM, Donny said:

Catching up Stu. Nice looking paint job mate. As I'm no expert, far from it, but it looks good to me. You stirred my memory, I had and raced a FX back  I think in 1965, at the CAC airstrip. The Victorian Amateur Drivers Club used to hire it from the government every couple of months for race meetings. Wish I still had all the photos, but unfortunately, I lost them in one of Queensland's famous floods, not long after I moved here - fifty years ago. Looking forward to seeing the next step with the HQ and thanks for the memories.

Don

G’day Don, l used to work with a guy who raced an FJ back in the 70’s at the Baskerville and Symmons Plains tracks down here. They were very popular racers as you know, due to their light weight and you could get a fair amount of horsepower out of those old grey engines. Still see the occasional old Holden at the historic race meets.

[Donny]

3 hours ago, STU111 said:

G’day Don, l used to work with a guy who raced an FJ back in the 70’s at the Baskerville and Symmons Plains tracks down here. They were very popular racers as you know, due to their light weight and you could get a fair amount of horsepower out of those old grey engines. Still see the occasional old Holden at the historic race meets.

Actually I was very lucky. If you have heard of Charlie Dean he worked at Russell Engineering a Repco company and he developed engines for Jack Brabham, and a guy by the name of Bob Holden (no relation to the original Holdens), but he developed Bob's engines, and occasionally fitted some bits to my car as a test bed, which really pissed Bob off, as my car was "nearly" as fast as his FC in the end. Anyway, I ramble. The two hill climbs I raced at were Rob Roy and Templestowe. Templestowe had the infamous "Wall" that if you didn't have your speed up, you didn't make it to the top and often slid back down, often flipping.

Hey whilst we are chatting, could you please post a pic of the yellow ? not sure what it was, but I think it was related to a query of mine and you posted it as a reference, would love to see the whole car mate.

I'm off, until next time.........................😉 Don 

 

[STU111]

G’day all, bit more progress today. Sprayed the Q bumpers with the SMS Hyperchrome.  It was my first time using this stuff and, I must say it has a really nice mellow chrome finish when sprayed over a gloss black base. Got door handles , mirrors and other miscellaneous stuff to paint and this one should be done. 👍🏻

[Cool Hand]

Done well Stu, good to see you got chrome work sorted.

[Donny]

2 hours ago, STU111 said:

G’day all, bit more progress today. Sprayed the Q bumpers with the SMS Hyperchrome.  It was my first time using this stuff and, I must say it has a really nice mellow chrome finish when sprayed over a gloss black base. Got door handles , mirrors and other miscellaneous stuff to paint and this one should be done. 👍🏻

Looks good Stu, looking forward to seeing the whole car.

Don