1970 Baldwin Motion Chevelle

[Peter Lombardo]

I was not planning on posting this until it was finished, but I had some time this morning so I thought I would throw a few pictures up here and through in a little rant while I was at it. This is the Revell 1970 Baldwin Motion Chevelle.

As I have mentioned before, I tend to breakdown my builds into three categories. This was originally expected to be a rather simple build, but the painting got a little crazy so it has morphed into a slightly more complex build. To start, I opened up and hinged the doors and then decided to add a two tone paint scheme which was where I expected things to end. In this case, the top color is straight up Duplicolor Black and the bottom color is Duplicolor Cayman Green, a rather green looking turquoise color. I cut a thin vinyl light green stripe to separate the two and I thought the paint would end there. But no, after seeing how the two colors were rather dark, I thought it needed something brighter to give the car some pop. I have never cared much for the Baldwin Motion style striping so that was not an option for me.

I have always loved the look of the true fire flames but have not been satisfied with the results that I was getting with my rather expensive Paasche VL double action air brush. No matter what I did, the paint would come out with splats and spits. It would work fine on the “testâ€, next to the car, but when I switched to the actual car, it would either spit or not spray at all. I can’t tell you how disgusted I was getting. I has to wipeout so many paint jobs and start over more times than I care to recall. I wanted to send the two year old gun back to Paasche with a nasty letter telling them exactly where on their collective anatomy they could shove the thing, and I wanted to make sure it was going in sideways. The gun was ok for larger spray patterns and even though I have a smallest needle and tip installed, it would still get garbage results. I tried House of Kolor Lacquers, thinned way down or thicker and every way in between…..I tried Tamiya paint the same way, no matter what I do it fights me all the way……I tried high pressure and low pressure all failing to get the job done.

Then in the depth of my frustration, just for the Heck of it, I took out my old Aztec air brush. The one I use for larger jobs….the one that I figured couldn’t possible do smaller detail painting. Even though it is not perfect and still gave me issues with the “fineness†of the spray pattern, it was still far better that the vaulted Paasche gun. My Aztec has the general purpose nozzle…not even the fine tip and it was out performing the “better†air brush. Go figure.

Well, I finally put down a multi-layer flame job that has promise. This is all Tamiya paints run through the Aztec gun. I am not 100% happy with it, but at least I can now work on refining the technique to make the flames smaller, tighter and cleaner rather than spend all of my time fighting the stinking air brush.

Hey, if any of the Paasche guys are seeing this, I just want you to know it would not be a good idea to contact me for a testimonial on your product.

I should have spent the extra $40 bucks and bought a Iwata gun…..it would have been worth it.

Anyway, back to the car…..I lowered the stance and installed a set of American Mag’s with Firestone wide ovals tires that came from an old MRC tire and wheel set I picked about 10 or 12 years ago….. I finally found a use for them. The engine is pretty straight up with the addition of sparkplug wires, heater hoses and fuel lines. I chose the “standard†style air cleaner rather than the more correct flat open top unit that Baldwin Motion cars had simply because I prefer the look of the “old school†unit. The electronic ignition box on the inner wheel well will get wires later too. I have to add the hood pins to the hood and the striker plate around the pin openings too. I still need to fit the struts to the hood to hold it open. The interior is pretty straight up to with flat black vinyl seats, no console and bare metal foil details.

The body has been clear coated with the final coat over the bare metal foil trim. I have to sand out a couple of very sight “dust†imperfections on the top and truck and buff it up once the clear is completely dry in a week or so....it has been very rainy around here with a lot of humidity in the air.

Thanks for looking and thanks for listening to my rant.

[Guest 85Biarittz]

Nice looking build. I have an Aztec as well and sometimes get better results with it.

[george 53]

Rant on Pete, the results are worthit! These flame jobs are SOOOOOCOOL, I gotta try it someday! I gotta Aztec and an Iwata airbrush too, an I don't seem to have a hard time with them.But then again, I don't have any less of a time with them either! Guess I really jus need to practice more! Your Chevelle's lookin good, It'll be KILLER when your done!

[Dragline]

That is completely outta hand Dave. In a good way.

I gotta hand to all you guys and those real flame jobs. They are sweet looking.

I cannot wait to see it complete.

Bob

[Tony T]

Great job on the true-fire flames. My favourite style of flame as well. Just haven't worked up the nerve to try it out yet!!

[Mike Kucaba]

Take the airbrush apart and look very closely at the inside of part #2 (the aircap) you will see several tiny holes around the edge. Look for raggedy edges around these holes,and with a small drill bit(but larger than the holes)chamfer these .This is the same problem I had with my first VL. This is a very good airbrush,and you shouldn't be having this trouble.If this doesn't work by all means send it back to Paasche.

HTH Mike

[rustybill1960]

Sweet paint work!

You have given me the push to try it!

Thanks for sharing!

Oh,I have an Iwata double action and a Badger single.

Later

Russ