Javelin (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to Benswen :
You need some sort of hot pink graphic to finish the triumvirate of 90's rad.
I built so many kits in the late 80's/early 90's that had neon "heartbeat" or dripping paint graphic decals! The Pro-street scene was at it's peak. I once painted a neon hot pink Javelin. I'm not even embarrassed.
Teal on white wheels is probably my favorite look, and how I would have just about any car.
In reply to Wally (Forum Supporter) :
You have to bring that to NNL East whenever we can have one. We can set up our quick builds together, I will bring both for sure.
Progress pics. Roll bar finished, starter solenoid & + cable made and installed, and 2 hours of fiddle to get the passenger's Detail Master harness set made and installed.
In reply to TurnerX19 :
I'm looking forward to it, we haven't made the trip down in a few years and always have a good time.
Early update because I've run out of things to do
I didn't think I was going to shoot color on the body till tomorrow but it dawned on me that the clock is ticking and I don't want to have to do a ton of stuff at the last minute before deadline like Gas Monkey Garage. Couldn't shoot outside thanks to rain so I covered the garage queen and shot on top of that. This was the first coat:
I was apprehensive at first but at this point, there's no turning back. I put on multiple coats, four in total, an hour apart over the course of the afternoon. I know some advice here was to do five or six but I was pretty happy after four coats that I decided not to push my luck. It's a little thin lower on the body, but that's OK as the bottom part is going to be black by design.
Turning my attention to the chassis, I put the interior on the frame and finished the front suspension. I was feeling pretty proud of myself.
Next step was putting the truck box on. It hooked into the rear of the interior tub and I was having a heck of a time getting everything to line up right. Figuring something was up, I looked at things a little more closely and... well, looks like I got sloppy.
Yup, the interior wasn't square on the frame. It didn't seem to be off by much so I thought maybe I could get away with a little massaging. I put the truck box in place and test-fit the body. It was quickly apparent that this wasn't going to work. With the interior centered in the body, the frame was at an angle and there was no way it was going to go together right.
Fortunately, the interior came off the frame without breaking anything. Don't know if it's because I didn't prep the mating surfaces properly or that I'm still using 30 year old model glue, but it means that I should probably handle the finished product very gently after it's finished. I now have the interior properly lined up and reglued.
All that's left is to do frame-wise is attach the bed to the interior, install the engine, run the exhaust and driveshaft, and tack on the couple little rear suspension parts and put on the wheels. Nothing else can happen until the body's paint is finished, the trim is detailed, and windows installed. Then the body goes on the frame, install a handful of little underhood parts and hoses, and then on go the front and rear bumpers. With four days to go I think it should all get done without needing a last thrash.
In reply to Claff :
That paint is perfect!
You guys are all killing it this round, such awesome builds!
I made a really solid start last week but didn't have a chance to touch the WRX for almost a week. I'm going to really need to step on it to get this thing wrapped up. I did lay paint down on the body and a few other parts last night, and should have most painting wrapped tonight.
Worked on some of the F150's subassemblies last night.
Interior came out GREAT!!! I ended up cheating and used a Sharpie to color the black in on the dash and door panels, but I think it looks good. The flat black on the steering wheel looks close to the leather-wrapped wheel in my dad's old truck.
Engine is coming along as well. The manifold and upper plenum were not playing nice with each other, and the throttle body (the small chrome chunk in the tray) is damn near impossible to get on there.
The wheels came out great. These were the same exact wheels my dad had, too.
I'll be doing more assembly tonight.
Coming together nicely everyone! This thread is a great motivator.
Plans changed with the Corvette a bit last night, I intended on painting it black because I was sure I had black paint... Turns out I have semi-gloss black. Whoops.
I also think I decided to change my wheel & tire setup as well; I'll have to confirm fitment when the interior is re-assembled but I think it's going to look much better. Also an interesting note; the tops of the rear quarters/tailfin area were a separate piece on each side. Apparently there were certain limitations to what they could effectively mold in 1988. This 80's crappiness has left a lot of low-hanging fruit on the table for improvements out of the box, even within my meager skill set.
Bodywork finished and second coat of primer done. Painted on the black for the stripes. Now to mask those off and sand again before body color. Off camera I primered the interior and painted the chairs flat black.
Stripes masked and body sanded.
I still haven't decided on a color.
In reply to Gunchsta :
I built that same '53 Vette kit before I had my drivers license, and remember the separate pieces for the tailfins. Baffled me just as much back then.
I remember having a heck of a time getting the front suspension right, and the finished product had a lowrider style where the left front fender gap was significantly bigger than the rest so it looked like it was permanently making a hard left turn. So I bent the spindles to make it look like it was actually turning left and twisted the steering wheel to match. That's how much of a hack I was back then, and some things never change.
Colour happened for me last night as well, I think I should've thinned the decanted rustoleum before sending it through the air brush as it didn't flow great on the model. I guess I'll give the wet sanding and polishing thing a shot tomorrow once the paint has hopefully hardened up.
Tonight the plan is assemble sub assemblies and touch up any paint along seems and joints as needed.
In reply to Javelin (Forum Supporter) :
I haven't done a model since I was 8, so excuse the ignorance...Won't the tape on the stripes just peel off the brand new paint underneath? Or does the paint stick that well to the plastic that the tape adhesive releases first?
In reply to Cadman5 :
Sand and primer before painting and the paint will hold. It's also masking tape for models, less tacky.
I keep thinking I should mask these off before painting the window trim and then I don't do it. Oh well, could be worse:
Update: Tried masking the bottom edge on the other side, didn't do a good enough job pressing the tape down into the door gap, made it worse than if I freehanded it.
Any tips for decals? I tried my first one, dropped it in water to soak for 30 seconds or so then pulled it out and tried to separate it from the paper backing at which point it cracked into a bunch of tiny pieces and I gave up. I'm guessing I should have let it sit longer and hopefully at that point the decal would've slid off the backing basically on its own. I'm also guessing I'll have to be very careful to not crack them. I do have some Testors decal set solution as well, will that help?
Fortunately if I can get the two BMW roundels on that will probably be good enough, if I can get the rear 320i badge that will be a bonus.
In reply to slowbird :
Thinner on a q-tip quickly! A little goes a long way. Good luck.
In reply to adam525i (Forum Supporter) :
Unfortunately old brittle decals are old brittle decals. Use warm water with just a drop off dish soap, let them sit longer, and use the setting solution to help them lay down on the model.
In reply to adam525i (Forum Supporter) :
I have this stuff called "liquid decal film" that is supposed to be good for old decals. You brush it over them first, let it dry, and then do the normal process of wetting the decal etc. It basically holds the decal together the way that the original material was meant to before it aged and dried up. Of course, it won't help once the decal gets wet.
It's also used for custom decals. Print stuff on decal paper, brush this stuff on, and then you can cut it out and apply it like a regular decal. I have some but I haven't come up with a full sheet's worth of things to print yet.
http://www.hobbylinc.com/microscale-micro-liquid-decal-film-1oz-model-railroad-decals-117
Lots of progress on the F150 tonight.
While my dad's truck had the 5.0, this one comes with a 5.8. It's adorable! The instructions said to paint it aluminum, but I painted it Steel Gray instead. I remember my dad's being old oil, rust, and grease colored; so much for accuracy!
)
The turn signals on the headlight housings needed to be amber, but I didn't have amber paint, so I mixed some brown and yellow to get something close. I think I nailed it. Oh, and there's an optional bug guard! My dad's truck had a GTS guard to go with his sweet GTS smoked headlight lenses. I was thinking about ways to smoke it easily, but I will probably install it clear.
Engine is now in, and the exhaust even connects correctly! Color me impressed. Again, they did a great job with the details on this kit.
The bed is done, and I'm happy with it. Fun fact: My dad backed into the telephone pole in front of our house with the truck back around 2002. At the time, I worked for a car dealership parts department, and had access to a national parts search program. Not one Ford dealer in the United States had another bumper for that truck, and no one made an aftermarket one either. I chose NOT to replicate the damage with the model.
I'm floored with how well the cab and interior came out. It looks EXACTLY like my dad's! I just want to climb in the thing! Man, I miss that truck.
I'm hoping for final assembly tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
That F150 is looking so good! I approve of you going for showroom instead of Dad-damaged 
Tamiya makes a brush paint called "Smoke" that does what you're needing for the lights.
The other kits are looking awesome!
I got a bit further on mine tonight, started with some undercarage detailing and assembly and ended up with a rolling chassis (sort of)
I made the decision to skip attempting to polish the body out, there's a good chance I would have spent a bunch of time and likely screwed something up. That meant I could get on to detailing it, I'm really happy with how it came out. There is still a bit more to do but I will wait until tomorrow when I am fresh again. I started doing the aluminum trim around the windows with my extra fine tip sharpie paint marker which worked well when there was a molded line I could follow but it wouldn't work along the bottom of the window frames as it kept getting silver where it needed to be red. What did work were the tiny foam tipped Testors brushes i bought along with my paints, they worked really well for this.
Lotus progress. Driver's harness done, he jumped out quick. 2.5 hours in the harness, damn they are tricky, but the adjusters could work. I glued them. Also did most of the remainder of the engine room detail, throttle cable, brake & clutch pipes.
In reply to TurnerX19 :
That's an impressive level of detail!
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