Well, another week has passed, and it's time once again for my weekly update.
My focus started out with building up the chassis, cockpit, trunk, and engine sections. All the various basic parts for these areas were primed with Mr. Hobby Gray #1500 primer, Then all the parts were painted with Tamiya X-1 Gloss Black. Those parts that needed various shades of Aluminum, Steel, & Polished Steel were air brushed with the proper Alcad 2 color. Some small parts I opted to hand paint with either Testors Bright Silver, or various shades of Mr. Color Metalizers.
The side frames each have various lines that are wrapped in a protective rubberized casing to protect ones hands from being burnt. The color really varies all over the place due to dirt, grime, grease, oil, and what not. Since I found it basically impossible to mask them, I hand painted them with multiple coats of Ammo Mig Matt Red. Still the high spots didn't cover as well, giving the effect of wear & tear. The instructions call out for the oil filter to be painted Red which makes no sense as that's the color that STP used on their products, and Fords usually used AC Purolator filters that were White. A few pictures of Roush Yates Crate V8 motors show White oil filters, so I went with White.
The radiator and housing were glued into position, then the front steering assembly with the rubber boots being painted with Tamiya XF-69 Nato Black for some much needed contrast. Then the dry sump oil tank and battery housing were glued into the rear of the chassis. All the various lines and wires I'm planning on, will be added much later into the build.
I opted to hand detail paint the rear shocks rather then cut them off the frame supports as you won't really see much of them once the rear shell is installed.
Next up I glued both side frame rails to the chassis, which brings up a major gluing issue. Seems that for some strange reason Tamiya Extra Thin just won't melt and join any parts molded in Black. Now these parts don't really feel like, sand, or polish like regular plastic molded parts do. I opted for the smaller parts to use either CA or Gel CA glue. For larger parts like the frame rails where I needed a lot of working time for alignment and proper fit, I reverted to Testors Liquid glue. Worked great. Just like their tube glue from the good old days.
And finally yesterday, I got around to Clear gloss coating the body shells and sides of the chassis pan. I still use Mr. Color C46 Gloss thinned with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner. Only now I changed from a 1:1 ratio to a 2:3 ratio. Two tack coats 5 min apart. Then two wet coats 15 min apart. The 2nd wet coat was applied with a slower pass closely watching how it was laying down, and making slight corrections as needed. Here's 3 pcs of the glossed shells. Nothing has been done to them at all, as I'll give them a full 6 days to dry & cure.
Thanks to all for stopping by, and checking out my build to date. It's always much appreciated.
Joel
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