As usual, this took me far longer than it should have done,
but then cars are only an occasional diversion for me so my building rate
for them is even slower than it is for aircraft, if that's possible. Pretty
damn slow in other words.
This kit is showing its age now; some of the moulding is
not exactly crisp, especially the trim moulded on the sides
of the hood. This was very poorly defined, so when it came
time for the Bare Metal foil trimwork I had to use a piece
of acetate as a straightedge on the hood to prevent the
knife from wandering all over the place. Wandering such
as that would not have made me a happy bunny.
There are three building
choices in this kit: stock, custom or drag, and by "drag"
I don't mean there's a small gingham dress amongst the optional
parts. My preference always leans towards muscle cars, so
I picked the parts I liked best from each version to come
up with this. I like the lowered stance that the dropped
front end gives the car, but I do have to wonder how you'd
steer the damn thing without the tires rubbing on the fenders.
The body colour is Testors
Modelmaster Burgundy which I picked up on a trip to Vancouver
a couple of years ago. Testors products are impossible to
acquire in the UK so I tend to stock up on them whenever
I go back to the old country. Final clearcoat is Gunze and
I used the two finest grades (8,000 & 12,000) of a Detail
Master polishing kit to smooth out the paint job, followed
by a polish with Tamiya rubbing compound. It isn't that
"miles deep" shine that's all the rage with dedicated
car modellers these days, but I don't have the patience
for that and I'm not a big fan of that look anyway. Impressively
flawless and shiny yes, but so many coats of paint are needed
to prevent the polishing regime going right through to bare
plastic that all the fine details (or in this case, the
not-so-fine details) are competely obliterated.
As you can see by the slightly mangled
radiator hose, my first attempt at braided hoses was not exactly a
roaring success. I am quite happy with the throttle return spring
I made from fine wire and the fan belt made from a strip of double-thickness
masking tape painted black however.
I used a pre-wired
distributor from Muscle Car Magic which was pretty
good, though I think the wires are too thick. Braided
hoses, fittings and photo etched alternator support
& spark plug wire looms are from Detail Master,
as is the turned aluminum coil which you can't see
because it's hidden behind the right hand cylinder
head. In case you're wondering, the battery wouldn't
fit so it's in the trunk (boot), and I defy anyone
to prove me wrong. :-)
This was also my first
attempt at flocking, and it was rather more successful
than the braided hoses were. I intended going for
a nostalgic look with the interior, but I think I
ended up with more of a 3-ring circus look. Mum always
said no good would come of playing the clown.
The skull gearshift was an experiment. Was it possible to carve a
reasonable facsimile of a skull from a 1/48th figure? Apparently, the answer is
no, not really, but I did end up with a rather nifty alien head shifter.
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