Wow Mike thats sure looking good.

Just got to clear some builds off the bench then I will start mine Not to sure which car I will be doing but I have a week to think about it as I go back on night shift tonight so no modelling or internet for five days.

Ciao
Luciano

You were tracking the question fine - the blue will be cool to pull from the blue engine.

The exhaust will come out great. Akin to replacing barrels on tanks - new pipes on a car will really enhance it.

Well, I think I may have gotten "overly" creative with the exhaust...but then again, maybe not. This picture shows the engine (with the "magically" floating alternator), the distributor with wires, and the exhaust pipes/muffler:


Muffler: The tube is 3/32 aluminum. I had originally used a wood dowel to get the curve in the pipes but it kind of crimped the inside radius. It turned out that a bottle cap from Testor's MM and a bottle cap from regular Testor's paint had the proper radii to make the bends without the crimps. The exhaust is made up of four pieces; the pipe between the engine and the kit's muffler, the muffler, a main and a secondary “tail pipe.” With the curves of the tube done properly, I put the secondary under the main, scribed a line on the secondary, and cut it so that it would mate to the main as if there were two pipes welded together. Initially I used gap filling SG to put them together, but the SG and aluminum didn’t adhere nor agree with each other. I mixed up a small batch of 2-part epoxy and that seemed to hold fine. For what ever reason I decided to use some very fine wire and wrap the pipes as you see (the red[?] color). Different to say the least…not sure if I’m excited about it, but if worse comes to worse, I’ll remove it. I think I like the fact that it is unusual (I'm sure it'll be different when there's some primer/paint on it). If I decide to keep it, I’ll take the “wrap” to the muffler. Speaking of which, the exhaust tips are not glued in yet, nor are the ends cut to the proper angle. I’ll wait until the engine is in and get the muffler system aligned. Once that’s set, I’ll place the wrapped piece and trim/angle/adjust as necessary. What you’re looking at is strictly a dry-run.

Alternator: I'm going to take some excess PE fret and create an upper and lower bracket for this. No idea what MPC was thinking, but because it'll be visible from below, I'll put something in there that is quick and basic.

Distributor: The kit's distributor was orignally longer that what you see. When I dry-fitted the engine (with it attached) to the frame, there was very little space to put the wires...about a 32nd of an inch. My reference pictures all show a cap that's shorter, so that's what I did...cut it down, drilled seven holes for the plug wires, and SG'd the wire in. The six spots on the engine that represent the plugs were trimmed and drilled through to accept the wires. I intentionally glued wires that were too long...mostly to not fall shot on length, and with the holes in the engine drilled all the way through, the excess can be slid into the hollow of the engine block.

Anyhow, long post....hope I made some sense with what I've done. Oh, frame and body "shell" have been primed along with some of the undercarriage's parts. I want to get the engine finished first, then I'll work on the interior compartment, followed by shooting the undercarriage parts with my "special" black paint.

Aside from little "issues" and "pain's in the backside," this has been enjoyable...a delightful change from Armor.

As always, constructive criticism is accepted and appreciated....along with any and all alternative ideas!

Mike

Distributor and plug wires in place (top shot for now):


The engine is just sitting in/on the frame; it's not been glued. I dry-fit the radiator to get the measurements for the upper and lower radiator hoses (still need to add the alternator brackets ). Again, a lot of what is seen now will not be seen once the Deora has her body parts put on (I won't be redoing the radiator cap [small round blob on the top] nor the valve cover's breather [though I may add the line from the other "doohicky" to the carb]; basically, if I figure it can be seen from below, I'll try to replicate it. Sans the plug wires, what you see is all the kit provides...very basic).

Mike

Looking good Mike. Love the scratchbuild exhaust. The rims and discbreaks look awesome.

Thanks for the comments!

I primered the exhaust and it looks a lot better in gray than with the "red" wire wrap

I initially started to make the radiator hoses out of the aluminum tube, but couldn't bend them without crimping, so... ...I wised up and used solder. Amazing how much easier that was! The top hose is done and I need to determine the location of the bottom (the kit radiator is actually quite "long/tall") hose. The "framing" and top of the radiator will be painted to match the engine, the supports painted to match the frame, and the radiator core will get a flat-black coat.

The Pegasus disc's, other than a little flash trimming, will have the little holes redrilled to clean them up. I have to work tonight, so I hope to get some more done Wednesday evening.

Mike

Hey all, quick update so you didn't think I fell asleep that the wheel.

This pic shows the radiator with the blue frame, "special black" for the support, and flat black for the core (a wee bit of tweeking to clean it up, not that'll it'll be seen):


The piece on the right (made of solder) is the upper radiator hose. This one also shows a slightly blurry (sorry ) shot of the exhaust pipes...they've been double-beveled...front to back and top to bottom.

This one, which is , shows the filter I attached to my spraybooth:


I use a 3-gallon Craftsman compressor for my AB. It's been sitting in the garage for a couple of months (it's flippin' cold right now in Colorado) and even filling it and draining a couple of times, I'm sure there'll be a wee bit 'o H2O bleeding....this should catch it. Anyhow, the main point of this is that I'm setting up to shoot the undercarriage's color and some of the interior colors.

Mike

Bump - looking good.
Oh winter in garage workshops

That's next year Scott! I'll have half the garage for my wood shop. Right now I do all my modeling in the basement (spray booth vents out the back [previous owner idiot had someone cut a 4" diameter hole in the foundation so they could run less than an inch worth of electrical line for the hot tub]). Turns out that the "corner" of the basement my SWMBO has "allowed" me worked out well. In a few years, I'll finish the basement and put her laundry room on this side (and use the booth vent for the dryer) but haven't quite figured out where my modeling room will be, but it won't be in the garage, it'll be somewhere down in the basement.

Anyhow, played with the camera and Fireworks and have my pattern for the back window done:



I'll pull the compressor in tonight so it'll get room temp and hope to start "shooting" tomorrow. I'll probably also get the three-piece rear window done too (two pieces of plastic sheet with the blue "tint" sheet inbetween).

Mike

You work fast.
Cool AB set up Mike.

Nice spraybooth Mike! I still spray on the dining table (when SWMBO is away from home)...
Looking forward to your work on the interior!

Paul

This'll learn me not to take pictures in the spraybooth...too dark! Anyhow (pictures not so good) I shot the silver "undercoat." As I'm told, this'll really help bring out the next color that goes down...probably Wednesday evening:



Once all of the underside is given it's final color, I can finally start the interior!

Mike

p.s. Paul, I do like my booth; even more so now that I have the hose attached to the side. However, I've decided I'm going to add a regulator to the right of the filter....easier to control the pressure right there where I'm spraying. The compressor is in the other room...at one time I had it about five feet from me: while spraying a camo pattern, it kicked on to bring the pressure up. Scared the bejezus outta me! Screwed up the camo too.

Keep snapping pictures - they are exactally what you need. And the silver base to show off the next layer is pretty wide spread. Lots of people swear by it.

I'll be danged... had no idea...dude at the LHS said "use silver to 'bring out' this color." I'm learnin'. I know my brother, when he used to paint cars, would almost always use a base of white or black (depending) before the main color. Kool.

I'm going to take some scrap plastic, prime it gray, put down one coat of metallic blue, shoot a dark blue (or white) flame, then hit it again with the metallic....see if I can get the "flames" to kinda peak out from under the metallic blue.... one of those .

Silver under the cab pan is dry enough so I began the interior painting...we'll see soon how the light and dark French blue will "mate."

Mike

Well, not sure what happened but last night I put the final coat on the undercarriage and related parts and what do I get? A mess. Some shiney spots, some satin spots and some "spits"... I have a feeling that this was due to not doing the right "mix" of paint and thinner and the paint may have been too cool. The paints are enamels, so I'm going to allow it to cure until at least Friday night before I attempt a "fix." I have some Acrylic clear gloss and flat...just need to decide which way to go. I actually like the idea of using the flat.

I'll pop a couple of pictures up when it's "right."

Mike

Nice work Mike i have been following your build from the begining, i have always liked the look of this kit but never tryed one. I hope you solve your paint problem.

Robert,

Thank you. It's a "wiggie-kool" vehicle ain't it? Hehehe, I was searching eBay quite some time ago for something or other (CRS) and ran across this....turns out the dude had two. So, I bought 'em both; one for me and one for a Christmas gift.

"Pimp a Ride" turned out to be the most perfect reason to build it. There have been (as normal for any build) ups and downs and I'm already "seeing" future "downs," but that's all good by me. It's been a very good learning experience, which to me, is paramount.

Trust me, I'm going to do my dangdest best to build it right, but regardless of the outcome, I've already learned a few things. If the build goes "south," then I'll have to learn to post a video on the forums....let ya'll see how .45 LC can "fix" issues! Doubt that'll happen though

Tomorrow night I will attempt to "fix" the paint. If it works, great....pic's will be posted. If not, pic's will still be posted and hopefully someone out there could tell me another route to go.

Mike

A shame about the paintjob Mike. Let's hope you can fix it. I'll keep my fingers crossed for ya.

Okay...here we go. This picture is the body's underside...shot in metallic black with a silver undercoat (with the poorly mixed ratio?):


Note the variations in finish (matt, semi-, and gloss) and the grainy-ness.

So, here it be somewhat "fixed:"


Mostly gloss (used Future instead of an acrylic gloss). There are still some "issues" with it. Serious debate going on about saying "da heck wit it," "strip it, and do it ag'in," or take some 0000 steel wool and "buff" it some. Less pain if I just buff...but???

Now, the interior compartment: What you see in the above picture is the cabin initially painted in the "dark" French blue-gray with the center console and seats in the "light" (the inner wheel wells are still primer gray). I shot the pic below BEFORE adding the "light:"


I guess I'm starting to paint the "main" colors in the "dark" and the highlights in "light." The light F blue-gray will require at least two coats...it's not near as smooth painting as the "dark." So, here's my question regarding the seats: "Light" for the outside and "dark" for the "pads," or just the opposite. Poll time ya'll....whatcha think? Base on the layout, I'm inclined to go with "dark" on the outside (it'll be an offset to the lighter color right next to the seats [from the console and the wheelwells]) and the darker color for the "pad (inner)" part of the seat.

Mike

Nice update - is this going to a show? If so, I'd strip and redo the bottom. If not I'd steel wool it.

Color scheme - dark outside light inside. The blue scheme interior coupled with the dark outside will help make the seats inside pop out and be noticed.

Head rest question? Are the supports two separate rails or one solid U? I see a solid U, but is that a result of the molding process? Can/should that middle section be carved out? Or replace with a guitar D string (big and wrapped almost spring like).

On the seats Dark outside light inside, the chassis paint dose not look that bad from the photo.

Scott...right now there are no plans for it going to a show (although that would be kool, not been to one and not sure of any in this area). However, when I primered the exterior of the body, some of the primer got on the inside....sooooo, I'll be redoing the underside anyhow. I'm going to lightly sand the underside and steelwool it to smooth things out, reprime, and take my paints upstairs to warm up before reshooting the silver and the metallic black.

The headrest supports will get "drilled" out and cleaned out...from the top of the seat to just below the top of the headrest. The pic doesn't show it, but the support goes half way down the back of the seat. Thank you for pointing that out!

Guys...The seats will be done dark on the outside (I'll run a verrrry thin line of dark "between the pads") and light inside. There should be some nice contrast going on in there. Oh, all the gauges and whatnot are supposed to be chrome (that's been removed) but I'll probably use a combination of aluminum (rings and edges), gloss black (gauge faces), and white for the face highlights.

Thanks again for the input!

Mike

Consider masking the seats like an aircraft canopy - liquid mask. Paint all black, then mask off the black with liquid mask and spary the light color. Peel off the mask......

Well, undercarriage has been stripped and re-primed. I'll let it it sit until tomorrow and then try again. Something tells me, if I can't get the underside "right," I'll have problems doing the upper body where the Arctic blue and white is. I hate "orange peel" with a passion (from my limited days of shooting 1:1 vehicles). More to follow.

Mike

p.s. She'll be my last build.

Last Build?????????????????????