The plastic model building thread

I realized we had dozens of threads about models, so I'm trying to get them all into one spot.

There's the Here's my Toy Car thread with a lot of photos of GRM'ers model builds of their full-size cars.

The Model Building Advice thread about sculpting to replicate flares.

The plastic glue & paint model thread about what glues to use.

I also did three build threads: 1965 Scarab Race Car (that's lost it's photos, I'll have to re-host and re-link them), 1993 Ford Mustang Cobra (also missing photos), and the 1974 "Dayclona" what-if (with photos!).

AClockworkGarage has an ongoing build of his Z28 Camaro.

I also reported on going to an IPMS Oregon Model Show with my daughter.

I will put all of my future model stuff here, please put yours as well!

Continuing on, I taught my daughter to spray paint!

We went to the Bob Paeth Memorial Model Car Show at the World of Speed Museum in Wilsonville, OR. She brought her three best cars for the show:

We both got Second Place awards! Her spray-painted Police Expedition got 2nd in Junior's Truck and also ended up placing 1st in Junior's Car with her Audi R8.

My Scarab from the Build Thread won 2nd in Curbside (no engine/undercarriage, minimal interior if any):

And my 1974 Plymouth Road Runner Superbird "Dayclona What If" placed 2nd in "Weird Stuff":

My 1962 Ford Thunderbird custom got photographed in a booth by a magazine, so that might be cool in the future if it gets printed:

My latest project was a doozie. I have a JoHan 1968 AMC AMX that was literally my second ever model car. I first built it with my Dad when I was 5. I repainted it at least 3 times, hacked it up, glued on scoops and wings, etc over the years and really trashed it. A few years ago I got a bug to restore the thing. I managed to get a good hood from a parts lot, the last resin taillight from the Modelhaus, and scavenged enough pieces from my collection to make a complete, stock version. It took years of work off and on to do all that, strip off all of the paint, and build it again. I tired to make it as factory correct as possible, including cutting off the upper part of the grill shell, adding in hoses and wiring, adding in the washer bag, and making all of the finishes correct. Here's the result of that work:

That blue hood is the original one, and that's what kind of shape the whole model was in after stripping the paint.

It's still not "done". I built it to replicate my Grandfather's AMX that he bought new in 1968, so it still needs the "Go Pack" stripes over the top, which will be vinyl like the 1:1 ones. I'm also not happy with the air cleaner, as it's not correct at all. If I ever find one closer to factory, I will swap that as well.

Then we went to a little IPMS show in Vancouver, held at the old Army Fort & Base. It was mostly planes and armor, and she was the only Junior, but the club was very positive about her building quality and enthusiasm. She was pretty stoked to show off her builds!

I didn't do bad, either! I brought a smattering of builds because this show had everything and managed to nab places in every category I entered. The AMX won Factory Stock Vehicle, the Scarab got 3rd in Competition Vehicle, the slot car got 3rd in Small Scale, the Star Wars A-Wing (from the X-Wing Miniatures game, totally repainted) got 2nd in Space, Fantasy, and Sci-Fi, and the P-51B Red Tail got 3rd in 1/72 Propeller Plane.

It was a pretty cool show despite being so small. The quality of stuff there was crazy good! My daughter decided she needed to build a boat next, so she bought a cool WWII set with a carrier and a battleship on a seascape, and I got a Q-Ship to build. We'll have those ready for the big show in September.

Nice stuff! When I retire, I'm planning on getting back into scale solid models, and also trains. Congrats on raising a good kid.

Rad. Thanks for sharing.

Awesome dude. I'm just gonna put my stuff directly into this thread if you don't mind.

Here's the 1/24 Tamiya NSX that took me 16 years to finish. I pretty much ruined this kit the first time I tried ot build it when I was 14, ended up buying a new one off ebay, I kept the chassis from the old one but redid the interior and a new body.

Cool thread....I have a desire to build each car I've owned....starting with my first car...$250 '62 TR4 I pulled out of a field and brought back to life. My vision is to build them as replicas. My Triumph was an ex-race car...no bumpers, welded seams, old school roll bar, faded powder blue.

t25torx wrote: Awesome dude. I'm just gonna put my stuff directly into this thread if you don't mind. Here's the 1/24 Tamiya NSX...

By all means, that's the point of the thread! I absolutely love your NSX by the way, it's a superb build.

Nice! You all have some serious talent! I mostly build airplane models, but built a couple of Revell Reynards about 10 years ago. I need to pull another car kit out of my stash and build it someday.

My eight year old daughter is building one of these this weekend.

Woody wrote: My eight year old daughter is building one of these this weekend.

Pro tip (or rather, avoid my rookie mistake), be sure everything is tight, but not too tight at each level of assembly. Too tight and things will bind. (Also watch for any burrs or mold marks on the rotating assemblies) Not tight enough and the crankshaft will flex enough to let it skip on the gear on the electric motor that turns the whole assembly. As is true with a lot of the projects around here, we got to build it several times to correct some parts that were too loose and some that were too tight. Pretty cool when it's done though. Really helps kids understand how an actual engine works.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone have a good source for parts like wheels and such other than buying donor kits?

In reply to Chadeux:

I get some off ebay. There are plenty of forums for specific types of models that have links for various parts as well.

Cool thread

I used to build and kitbash Star Trek ships, but I think I got rid of those a couple of years back. Now those styrene kits can be $$$$

Inserting comment so I can come back to this (hopefully) soon. I bought a Fiat 131 rally and a Subaru Impreza African Rally, and need to get off my butt and build them. This was 45% of my life as a kid in the late 70s/early 80s. (The remaining 55% was Atari, C64 & BBS's, Star Wars, etc)

In reply to Jerry:

Mrs. got me this for Christmas this year:

I, too, need to get off my posterior and start building.

The link to my Z28 build just goes to your model show.

It's just as well, that build has stalled for two reasons.

1) my neck has healed enough that i'm back to working on the real one.

2) the spray paint I used did not react well with the car. There will be a lot of sanding in my future before this is usable again.

In reply to AClockworkGarage:

1. I'll fix the link.

2. Don't sand it! Get a plastic tub and soak it in Westley's Bleche-White for whitewall tires. All the paint will come off, leaving the bare plastic behind. That's how I restore built up models, too.

Easy-Off oven cleaner also works well for stripping paint off plastic models. I haven't used Bleche-White but I understand it will also remove the chrome off the model bumpers, if you need to do that.

Javelin - You using an airbrush or spray bombing these? One thing that helps improve enamel spray jobs is curing the paint job in a food dehydrator really makes those panel lines and details much crisper

In reply to Pushrod:

Spray bomb!

Okay this thread has inspired me to get off my arse and get something built.

So I'm picking this back up and gonna finish it for real this time.

I started this over 18 years ago apparently, the receipt was still inside and read 3-23-99.. damn I'm starting to feel old.

Surprisingly all the parts were there even after 7 moves.

I was really into this Volvo Saffron Metallic color at the time and had my dad mix up a small batch at work for me. Never got around to clearing it though.

It's a curbside kit with no engine and the underside is not very detailed.

I ruined the stock wheels which is a shame, but these OZ wheels are period correct. You can see I have some chassis adjustment to do, the wheels don't center in the arches.

I was not a big fan of pop-up headlights at the time, so I made these clear covers from some scrap plastic. I'm going to go back to stock look and just primer and paint over them.

Another reason I need to repaint it can be seen here, I must have not sprayed the primer on thick enough as the paint has wrinkled the plastic under a little bit. So some wet sanding and more primer will be in order for this car. I think a nice metallic dark burgundy is in it's future.

Hopefully I can stay motivated and get this one completed before another 18 years.

In reply to t25torx:

So cool! I can't wait to see it done. It took me 4 years to finish my AMX after I decided to restore it...

I just finished this what-if project up, its my first completed ship model.

Cyberhobby/Dragon 1/700 USS Independence LCS-2 with Battlefleet Models 1/700 US Coast Guard decal sheet. I feel that the littoral combat ships would make an excellent addition to the Coast Guard's fleet in support of law enforcement missions, particularly anti-drug operations.