Well, as I posted earlier today, I finally decided on both my official GB build and my follow up build.

My official build is the Tamiya 1/20 scale Camel sponsored Lotus 99T Honda that Senna drove.





And hopefully I'll finally build one of my AMT 1/25 scale Cart models: The Lola T-8800 Newman Haas car that Mario Andretti drove during the 1988 Cart season.



Joel

Nice scratch building Richard, looks like you will have a lot more of it to do lol, Yeh my printer has a single head 2 heads are much more expensive and my budget was pretty low.

Mark,
I hope I'm not to late. Don't bother with their or anyone else's Lacquer Thinner other then our standards Mr.Levelers #400, Tamiya's Yellow cap and their new Lacquer thinner.

There paints are just as pre-thinned as Gravity and Zero paints. I've got a bottle of their White right in front of me, and it's as thin as good old water.

As for cleaning your air brush after use, I use good old store brand El Cheap-O LC. Does a great job.

Joel

David,

Outstanding

Don,
A huge welcome to our little corner of the KitMaker Network. I do caution you that once you cross your 1st finish line, you'll be hooked but good on car modeling.

As for your selection, the Corvette C7R by Revell is one of their better road racing kits. And the C7R is not only a personal favorite of mine, but I drive one in one of my 3 simming championships. It's way more stable then my Porsche 911R GT3 and almost as fast.

Joel

Thanks Joel, at least I'm not the only modern open wheeler now. I haven't placed a paint order yet, guess I need to empty part of the cart.

Gabriel,
I'm really impressed with the paint job on the shell. Not only does the color look dead on, but I needed my sunglasses as the glare was so brilliant.

Tires in these kits always seems to be an issue. 75% of the tires I deal with are way to tight to fit the wheels. When that's the case I use one of my wooden dowels I got from a craft store, and wrap some course sand paper around it. Then I insert it into the tire and start to rotate it to sand the opening till the wheel is snug. As for decals on tires, I leave that for last. I use Pledge by brush to gloss the tire, decal, cut a mask to cover the wheel, then Glosscoat, followed by Dullcoat with my airbrush. Like you, I've cracked a few decals prior to this method.

As far as the interiors go, every team did their own thing. Most interiors were painted gloss or semi gloss Lt. gray, but not all. The black on the drivers side is some type of heat insulation as the floor literally got red hot from the exhaust pipes running under the floor pan. But not all teams opted to go that route as they also insulated under the pan instead. I do like the option you decided on as it will give the interior a completely different look.

Joel

Robert,
Another engine masterpiece in the works. Can't wait to see it finished.

Joel

Richard,
Your fabrication work is amazing to say the least. The fit looks dead on. Can't wait to see how it all comes together.

Joel

D,
I can't remember where the new signature logo is so I can change mine.

Joel

I just ordered my printer,went with a single head.

So I was plugging away on the Revell 1957 Sedan Gasser, and I realized that I hadn't taken any photos. I have managed to get a couple of the major assemblies completed & ready for paint.







I know that the Ford V8 came from the factory in 1957 in Ford Red, but since I'm planning on a blue & white car I figured I'd do a Ford Blue engine.

Jim

Gabriel,

If you go to my photo gallery, I just uploaded a PNG file I've been working and I just need to size the #1. You can print your own from this file once I finish it. Check the size against your tires.

Robert, very nice detailing on the engine. Following your steps further.

Richard, why you ever bought that kit? With a 3D printer and some styrene, you get better than that one. LOL. Very daring build - I'm watching it!

Joel, as usual, very interesting. Yes, Camel Yellow it's a very nice scheme. Naturally, I'll be very interested in your new builds.



Yes, I should have done just that. I didn't realize there will be necessary so much force. The decals proper ar good and no decal will have stood that kind of treatment.

[quote]
As far as the interiors go, every team did their own thing. Most interiors were painted gloss or semi gloss Lt. gray, but not all. The black on the drivers side is some type of heat insulation as the floor literally got red hot from the exhaust pipes running under the floor pan. But not all teams opted to go that route as they also insulated under the pan instead. I do like the option you decided on as it will give the interior a completely different look.[/i]
Aha! Thank you for explanation. It makes perfect sense - I should have thought of it. Yes, I found the option interesting. Positively, Stewart's Chevys in these years were mostly black inside. The roll-cage bars I'm not sure, Most of the kits list them as light gray or gloss gray, but my kit calls it out as aluminum. Makes sense to be duraluminum for weight reduction and also will explain the gloss light grey color.

James, you are up to a nice start!




Thank you, David! I can resize them, no problem. I doubt my printer will make a good enough yellow to be seen over black, but worth a try.

UPDATE
The interior bits assembled - it just lacking the dash; again, no super detailing on this one, maybe I'm gonna spend more time over my next NASCAR


The engine was also tickled a little more, the radiator installed and the coolant pipes as well. Impressive kit so far, with regard to fitment!


Roll-cage next. Miles of seam line to be cleaned up (here cleaned already). Still uncertain about colour, I'm gonna use a dull aluminum or metallic gloss gray:


The roll-cage bars are already primed at this stage - installing the cage follows.

Cheers!
Gabriel

Thanks, Gabriel.

Jim

I thought that the Blue Oval Group Build was a benchmark in the revival of Automodeler, but you guys are taking it to the next level in this one!

Running update on builds

5 days in, already almost 1000 views and 90 posts
18 enlisted (plus 1, Jesper sign in mate!)
6 builds in progress

Aussiereg (Damian) - STRAIGHTLINE - '55 Chev Pro Sportsman (Charles Carpenter) - 1/25 Revell kit - Parts clean-up started
Joel_W (Joel) - FORMULA 1 - enlisted - Lotus 99T Honda (Ayrton Senna 1987) - 1/20 Tamiya kit
Joel_W (Joel) - INDY - enlisted - Lola T-8800 Newman Haas (Mario Andretti 1988) - 1/25 AMT kit
Dixon66 (David) - ENDURANCE GROUP 5 - enlisted - Zakspeed Capri - 1/24 Tamiya kit
tinbanger (Richard) - GRAND PRIX - 1914 Mercedes Racer - 1/16 Lindberg kit - Engine and chassis started, major panel works under way
md72 (Mark) - INDY - enlisted - Target Reynard (Jimmy Vasser) - 1/25 Revell kit
Szmann (Gabriel) - NASCAR - Chev Monte Carlo (Tony Stewart) - 1/25 AMT/ERTL kit - Body assembled and painted, interior and engine complete, roll cage cleaned up for assembly
Hwa-Rang (Jesper) - NASCAR - (TBA)
PasiAhopelto (Pasi) - NASCAR - enlisted - Olds 442 (Donnie Allison) - 1/25 Salvinos JR kit
forest1000 (David) - FORMULA 1 - enlisted - Williams Renault (Jaques Villeneuve) - 1/24 Revell/Monogram kit
jimb (Jim) - STRAIGHTLINE - '57 Ford Sedan Gasser - Engine, chassis and interior assembled
Cosimodo (Michael) - ENDURANCE - enlisted - 1971 Porsche 917/20
bluebell914 (Patrick) - ENDURANCE - enlisted - Ferrari P4 or 512S
2002hummer (Darrell) - GRAND PRIX - enlisted - Lotus Super Seven (Tamiya)
TacFireGuru (Mike) - NASCAR - enlisted - Chev Monte Carlo (Home Depot)
Stickframe (Nick) - ENDURANCE - enlisted - McLaren F1 GTR Longtail - 1/24 Aoshima kit
Lakota (Don) - ENDURANCE - enlisted - Corvette C7.R - 1/25 Revell kit
RedwingNev (Neil) - GRAND PRIX - enlisted - Lotus 79 (1978 Mario Andretti?) - 1/20 Tamiya kit
rv1963 (Robert) - STRAIGHTLINE - '37 Chevy Gasser - 1/25 AMT kit- Engine assembly
heavyjagdpanzer (Bill) - STRAIGHTLINE - Blue Max Funny Car - 1/25 Revell kit - Engine and Cage completed

Please feel free to use my banner in your signature image to promote it further, just paste the following link in the "URL for Signature Image" box in your profile:
https://gallery3.kitmaker.net/data/30101/STT2020.gif

Cheers, D

Jim,
Nice start. Looking forward to seeing that Ford Blue on the engine block, as whose to say that they didn't use that color when the Block was rebuilt. The start of the frame, chassis, & interior really has some well detailed parts.

As you can see, I'm really getting into your build.

Joel

That's a super clean build you have going there Gabriel, well done.

Thanks, Joel. That was my thought exactly.

Jim

Thanks, Robert. The same build participates to Transatlantic Car Contest and I picked "Individual Models without excessive weathering" Category for this entry... I must be careful. However, these are my favorite kind of auto builds. If I want mud, dust and rust I just pull a 1:35th scale soft-skin from the stash!

UPDATE
Roll cage complete! I primed the parts with gray primer, not black, because I wanted a subdued silver tone. Then I paint them before assembly, assuming that with careful TET application I will make the joints to look like weld marks. For once, I was right! There a re a few touch-ups to be made, but grosso modo that was it!






These are the last parts pertaining to the upper side of the chassis, primed by now and a couple of them ready for installation:


Cheers!

Gabriel

Beautiful clean work there Gabriel, the fit and finish on this kit is very impressive!

Are you planning to give a light pin wash on this or keep it as-new?

Cheers, D

Gabriel, that car is really coming along nicely.

Jim

Thank you, D.!
Yes, I am impressed with the kit's assembly precision. If would't have been for my misjudgment with the tires decals, it would have been a "perfect" one until this point.
Yes, without pin-wash it looks a little to "bare", so to speak.



Thanks, Jim!
Well, I didn't quite knew what to expect from an AMT/Ertl kit, nor from a NASCAR, but I am pleased. Probably it's the best kit that I worked on the last year or so. I liked it so much actually, that I might do another one after this one.

Gabriel

Gabriel,
Simply an outstanding build to date. I'm really quite impressed. The roll cage came out looking exactly like it should. I never worry about the part seams as long as they are flush. To me they represent the actual wields. As far as the actual color, I've seen them from bare Alloy tubing, to gloss Black, Lite Gloss Gray, and the matching color to the main outside color. Personally, I like your choice as it adds even more contrast to the interior.

Joel

D,
I completely agree that our current GB is off to a world record's start, and will surpass The Ford Blue Oval GB in every category.

I'm thrilled beyond words how our community has come alive and just grown at such a rate. Thanks to all our family members for making AutoModeler what it is today, and even that much better down the road.

And thanks for your signature Banner. I'll be using it for sure. Just have to remember exactly how to do it.

Joel