XK SS kit is much nicer than Revell's XKE. This kit dates from 1993. It has enough under the hood detailing that I really want to open the hood. Revell even included Dunlop decals for the wheels. So far I have encountered no fix issues. The headlight covers have integral trim rather than the separate trim that caused me major headaches on the XKE. The issues are far to heavy chrome plating, moulded on seat belts, lack of fuel lines and linkage for the triple webers and a lack of rivet detail prominent in all the photos.
My updates for this build are likely to be weeks apart since the assembly sequence is not the greatest. The instructions have you build everything under the hood and then work on the interior and body. However since the lower suspension is moulded as part of the lower body all the engine detail is just going to hanging out there while the body is being worked on and painted. Instead I decided to do a number of subassemblies. Then build the interior, sandwich it between the body halves. Paint the body then work on the front suspension, frame and engine bay. The hood can be done separately.
This is my progress so far:
Wheels and tires are well done and look good after drilling out 35 holes per wheel and applying the Dunlop decals
Both the steering wheel and exhaust cover needed to be drilled and plating removed
The basic engine block and wiring are done. I still need to work on the upper seam on the transmission. The distributor is ready to be wired. However I need to wait until I install the intake which has to be fitted after the block is installed and then the frame added around the block.
With an opening hood the webers looked pretty bare without linkages and fuel lines. Online images show lots of variation on the intake. Tried to make mine look as close to the image from Steve McQueens original car as my skills allowed.
Riveting on the body panels is a prominent feature in all XK SS images. I used Archer Transfer's rivets. After applying them and using Microsol set I primed the panel with Alcalde II. In some images it almost appears that the rivets are unpainted, but that does not make sense to me. So mine will be under the paint. What is puzzling is that on both sides of the body just in front of the rear wheel there are three larger rivets/fasteners. These clearly appear unpainted. If anybody has any information on what these are I'd be grateful.
Since the hood assembly can be worked separately and I'm trying Gravity paints for the first time thanks to a tip from Joel, I did a test shot. It needs to rubbed out once I get some finer grit sanding sponges. It going to be tricky rubbing out the paint and not hitting the rivets.
Thanks for checking out my build so far.
Russ
