Custom Mike Posted August 2, 2011 Posted August 2, 2011 (edited) Well, here's what I've been doing lately. I've had it sitting on the bench for a while now waiting for a good resin hood (We'll get into that later...) and trying to locate the correct hubcaps. The hood finally arrived, so I got to work so I could get it out of the way. Jay is a guy I used to work with, and once he found out I could build a model, he wanted me to duplicate his old Satellite. So he bought AMT's '69 Road Runner, and paid for the Keith Marks GTX decal sheet (For the tail light/trunk panel), and I found a stock Satellite hood in resin. Twice. Both sucked, one much less than the other. The name of the offending resin casters will never be revealed, unless one of you asks "Has anyone ever used these guys?", which will be followed by a tirade from me. But enough about the hood, you'll see what I'm talking about later on that part. Here's the beginnings, a picture of the actual 1:1 Satellite hubcap that seems to have never been made in 1/25th scale, and the prep work on the body, here we go! Have you seen me in 1/25th scale? If so, I want to know! Mold lines removed, and body shot with Dupli-Color primer... The door panel lines have been deepened... Along with the trunk, tulip panel, and tail light housings. Edited August 2, 2011 by Custom Mike
Custom Mike Posted August 2, 2011 Author Posted August 2, 2011 (edited) And now we start adding the Satellite trim to the body using some half-round styrene strip... Oh, and did I mention this Satellite had a White vinyl top? Yeah, something new for me. After doing a ton of image searches, I finally found some good close-ups of the location of the B-pillar trim for the vinyl top, and added some half-round where it needed to be. Then I set up my roof seams, more half-round was used, then it was sanded flat to better represent the seams once it's all done. Edited November 10, 2014 by Custom Mike
Tonioseven Posted August 2, 2011 Posted August 2, 2011 I'm liking the looks of this one!! Isn't it funny how people want you to build models of this or that after they find out you're a model car builder?! Lol!
Custom Mike Posted August 2, 2011 Author Posted August 2, 2011 (edited) Yeah, Tonio, I get it every time someone finds out. I just make sure they know if I'm going to do it, it'll be on my time-table, don't expect it any time soon. This one's been sitting for over a year, so I figured it was time! I did a quick test with some Tamiya masking tape, then tried some 3M Blue Painter's tape. I went with the 3M stuff, it just looks right to me. I checked my reference pics again, and saw that the trim on the B-pillar needed to be flattened out, so some very careful sanding stick work ensued... Edited November 10, 2014 by Custom Mike
Custom Mike Posted August 2, 2011 Author Posted August 2, 2011 And the final update for the night, the last addition to the body to make it a Satellite. I took some angle strip styrene, and glued it into the wheel wells to make some trim, another first for me, and amazingly easy to do. All 4 wheel wells were done in 10 minutes!
exnyman Posted August 2, 2011 Posted August 2, 2011 This is gonna be a looker! What color will the body be? I know you mentioned it will have a white top.
W-409 Posted August 2, 2011 Posted August 2, 2011 This is going to be great! I like seeing some other models as well, than Roadrunner or GTX... This one is interesting project, and your work looks amazing! The chrome strips are looking good and they fit fine to the body.
MrDemon340 Posted August 2, 2011 Posted August 2, 2011 (edited) http://s262.photobuc.../68%20plymouth/ look at my 68 plymouth with flat resin hood and a slant 6 single pipe bench seat automatic on column Edited August 2, 2011 by MrScatPak
Custom Mike Posted August 2, 2011 Author Posted August 2, 2011 (edited) Jim, it's gonna be a basic Royal Blue, no fancy colors on this baby! Kinda ugly, but it'll at least match the picture he gave me of the car. I found a near perfect match at Wal-Mart in their cheapo paint line, so we'll be using that, should be a fun one to spray! Joe, your hood looks 1000 times better than the ones I got, who did you get it from? Edited August 2, 2011 by Custom Mike
crazyjim Posted August 2, 2011 Posted August 2, 2011 Very interesting build. I need to watch your progress.
Dr. Cranky Posted August 2, 2011 Posted August 2, 2011 This is turning out to be a great-to-watch build. Keep it going, please.
Custom Mike Posted August 3, 2011 Author Posted August 3, 2011 (edited) When Dr. Cranky asks you to continue, you must comply! OK, here's where I rant and rave like a maniac about the resin hoods I bought for this build. The first one I received (I was so disgusted by it I just trashed it, no pictures available!) was a completely unrecognizable lump of tan resin, kind of in the shape of a hood, but it had zero detail and tons of pinholes, so I located a second one. The caster sent me 4 pictures of the topside of the hood (Two in White, two on different models), and I figured I'd take a chance, it looked really good. Once it arrived, I found out why he didn't send any pics of the bottom side. Two massive lumps of resin resided where the under-hood bracing should have been on either side of the hood, along with lots of raised...well, zits would be a good description of what it looked like. Then there was the thickness issue. Now I know I suck at resin-casting, but the hood I tried to cast for the Momad came out the same thickness as the kit part, the same with my modified '57 Chevy hood. They may have looked horrible, but they fit perfectly on the kit they were meant for. Not this beast...not by a long shot. Altogether it took an additional 7 hours of work to make this hood look somewhat presentable, here's where it started... The top side, not too bad, the Plymouth script will have to go though.... And the bottom side, this guy is actually charging people for this stuff... The drivers side of the hood. Yeah, that's the correct thickness, isn't it? And the passenger side of the hood, it's even thicker.... Edited August 5, 2012 by Custom Mike
Custom Mike Posted August 3, 2011 Author Posted August 3, 2011 Here's the results after all that extra work. A Dremel and some bent riffer files, and we have somewhat recognizable bracing where the lumps used to be. It's not perfect, but I was worried I would take too much off, so I settled for this. There are still two pinholes on the topside (The filler wouldn't stay in them for some reason), but I'll have to learn to live with 'em! I drew some bracing onto the smoothed-out lumps, and got to work making it look like it should... Here's the final results prior to primer and filler for the holes in the back edge... After filling in those holes, and adding the bracing detail at the back side, I had to sand it all off so the hood would sit level with the fenders... And a shot of the topside. The two sinkholes at the rear corners are gone, but my two pesky pinholes are still there...so be it!
MrObsessive Posted August 3, 2011 Posted August 3, 2011 Mike, everything is lookin' real nice! Some super glue with accelerator might take care of those pinholes. The trick is to not let the CA sit for too long, as it gets rock hard and difficult to sand. You then run the risk of losing some of your contours. I had the same trouble with the resin I'm working on, and the super glue worked.
Custom Mike Posted August 3, 2011 Author Posted August 3, 2011 Bill, I was afraid to try anything other than spot putty, this is my second time ever with resin parts, so I'm a little gun-shy still. I'll try the super glue trick next time, I've got a bunch of resin parts so I can duplicate my old 1:1 '72 Charger someday!
charlie8575 Posted August 3, 2011 Posted August 3, 2011 Very nice conversion. It's giving me ideas to try this for myself. Charlie Larkin
LAone Posted August 3, 2011 Posted August 3, 2011 got some nice progress on this build. sucks about the hood, but it looks like you got a handle on it. keep up the good work. im sure the customer will be happy.
Custom Mike Posted August 4, 2011 Author Posted August 4, 2011 (edited) Thanks guys, I'm sure he'll like it, at least he better! Now for something completely different....the chassis. I tried something on this one a bit different. NO GLUE!!! Nah, just kidding, I painted the front suspension components with Citadel Colors Burnished Gold to simulate the "Cosmoline" coating that Chrysler used on these cars. It's not quite the right shade, but it's close, and it looks good to boot. The leaf springs and gas tank were painted with Model Master Metalizer Steel, and various components were painted with Semi-Gloss Black. This is the cleanest chassis I have ever done, it makes me want to keep this one instead of giving it to Jay! Edited August 5, 2012 by Custom Mike
Custom Mike Posted August 4, 2011 Author Posted August 4, 2011 (edited) OK, here's where I modify the kit side windows. The Road Runner comes with a full side window, I don't like it, so I cut the rear side windows loose using my trusty panel scriber, cleaned up the new edges, and polished them up nice and pretty. They're still pretty thick, so I may replace them with some Clear Styrene, we'll see once the interior is completed and test-fit into the body. Then I got to work on the engine I got from Leith, a freind of mine over on Scale Avenue. It's the 340 from AMT's '71 Duster kit, which looks just like a 318, so we've got the proper engine for Jay's ride. Some Model Master Chrysler Engine Red was applied, and the freeze plugs were detailed with Citadel colors Mithril Silver. The transmission will be painted with some Metalizer after I've completed the rest of the engine, just to keep it from getting all over the pretty Red paint. Edited November 10, 2014 by Custom Mike
Custom Mike Posted August 4, 2011 Author Posted August 4, 2011 Now onto the plug wires. I grabbed a resin distributor from Replicas & Miniatures Co. of Maryland, along with one of their coils, some White 30-Gauge wrapping wire, and some Flat Black paint for the wiring. A bit of drilling with a pin-vise, and a bit of work, and we have an engine with spark plug wiring! That's all for tonight, gotta get back to work on this one now!
RodneyBad Posted August 4, 2011 Posted August 4, 2011 Fantastic work on the hood. (I had a 69 Sport Satellite) Chassis is looking good. Great work on the body trim too...
Custom Mike Posted August 7, 2011 Author Posted August 7, 2011 (edited) Thanks Rodney, I wish it had been a better casting of that hood, but it is what it is. Alright, time for some more work, this update is some engine accessories. The fan belt assembly is painted, the alternator was painted and detailed with some Tamiya Clear Red, and the fan was shot with some Semi-Gloss Black. Another update in a minute! Edited November 10, 2014 by Custom Mike
Custom Mike Posted August 7, 2011 Author Posted August 7, 2011 (edited) Now onto some interior work. Another first for me, I had to make a gear selector and turn signal stalk for this one, since the Road Runner kit has a stick and no turn signal stalk on the column. So a straight pin was cut in half, bent in two places for the gear selector, and a glob of Acrylic Filler was applied to the ends of both. Once it set up nice and hard, I sanded them into shape, slapped some Semi-Gloss Black on 'em both, and drilled some holes into the steering column. A drop of Super Glue to each, and we've got a column mounted automatic with turn signals! Edited November 10, 2014 by Custom Mike
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now