The 2014 Automotive Group Build

Sounds like a neat future project Eric! Love those Mopars!

Yep, that's a good subject Eric, I'll update it now.

Mario is one of the greats, will you do a Lotus ???

Cheers

Tony

I added in the Ferrari F92A I've been rambling on about too. The Mclaren is getting close. I will spray clear on the body tonight, and probably finish everything else.

Cheers

Tony

I've been on standby at work 2 out off the last 3 weeks so I have not got a lot done on the Monte Carlo. The first week I did not hardly have time to  get on the computer to check on everyone's progress. Things seem to be slowing down finally. So I got a little done this weekend. I'll take some pictures if my phone doesn't ring tonight.

Eric the Chevell looks good! That Gremlin will be a fun build to follow.

Seabee the progress is looking good. I can't wait to see the completed pictures!

Thanks Dale,

Cody, I agree, I love anything pre-72.

Tony, which would be the easiest hehehe.

Well I couldn't stand looking at the 440 box so I had to start on it after I finished the mustang from the other GB. (I am still working the Gremlin also). I have most of the parts prepped for primer already. I was going to try and just clear coat the body but the line on the drivers doors runs all the way through and is very noticeable. So I am thinking of Metallic Graphite for the color.

L8TR,

Eric

Wheeler, as fast as you get these kits completed, I sometimes think I should send you mine so you can finish them for me!  LOL!   I just don't have the time this time of year.  Enjoy your Spinach everyone!

Okay, one good bit of progress was adding the two "halves" of the Brawn. The body onto the floorpan, all went and fitted well.

What I thought would be much easier, was the simple act of... sanding and polishing the exhausts end-pipes on the Lotus. Twin white metal exhausts, with a tiny piece holding them together. The moment I started sanding I realised this thingie in the middle is not going to last. For you not knowing... WM does not like repeated stress, and the natural twisting of the pipes as it was sanded and polished is the worst kind of stress. I tried my best and was quite proud... to nearly reach the end without it breaking! Nearly... Been struggling like crazy to get it glued back together properly. It may be okay now. Oh, and the pipes were NOT the best done parts in the detail kit, ended up having to drill them out a bit myself to at least get some depth and not just blunt endings. Not my specialty, so take it as it comes!

Urgh, it's not been the best weekend... but if it was all sunshine and roses, perfect kits and flawless work... I think many of us wouldn't have been here. The challenges are part of the hobby.

Hehehehe,

Thanks Rommelkiste. We'' ll be here when ya get caught up.

Did mostly parts cleanup today. Hopefully I can start priming tomorrow.

L8TR,

Eric

Managed to get some stuff done today. I finished prepping the parts so everything ready to start painting.

Got the body all cleaned up and sanded.

Painted all the parts that needed semi-gloss black (except the hood, still need to do some stuff to it). The engine will be a different color, I just used the black instead of primer :)

I'm loving this new airbrush! It sprays thin and has good coverage. Here's the undercarriage after it was sprayed. Almost no detail lost. (I do see a spot I missed and need to touch up tho hehehe)

Since the body was dry from washing after I finished the other stuff, I went ahead and sprayed a base coat of gloss black. After it dries for a day or two, I'll wet sand it and spray another thin coat of the black before I spray the metallic graphite. I think it's gonna look sharp. I do have a couple of small mold lines I missed to take care of before the next coat. (Giant white spot is flash hehehe)

I also painted the interior white. I used gloss white but will spray a matte clear to flatten it out some.

L8TR,

Eric

Nice going, Eric!

Quick opinion from you guys. The Lotus 25 wheels are white metal. (And for those that don't know - it's solid wheels, not spoked at all.) I have already basically finished them. Only to realise... putting these on the extremities of the model will mean the suspension (at places only clip-in) will likely be damaged every time you pick up the (then finished - or even whilst working on it) model with that extra weight out wide. I am seriously considering going back to the plastic ones.

Opinions? Agree, disagree...? I actually don't think the metal add much in this case, tbh...

Thanks Seabe.

I think that if they are solid and give no added detail, I would use the plastic ones.

L8TR,

Eric

I concur, plastic, unless the metal ones are much better. I don't see any return for the risk of damage.

Cheers

Tony

Eric, you are flying again. If I were to suggest an F1 car for you to build in Mario's colors, I would go with the Tamiya 1/20 Lotus 79 that he won the World Championship in. It's a recent release, and should be an awesome kit.

Trouble is, the F1 standard scale is 1/20, I don't know of one of his cars in 1/24.

You might need aftermarket decals as the car carried tobacco sponsorship, which won't be included in the kit.

George, I enjoy spinach, but I guess they're Aussie grown here. I'm looking forward to having you back, I always enjoy your builds.

65ss - the same goes for you. I'm enjoying your build and hope it quietens off for you soon.

Seabe, good progress, keep it coming.

I got a bit jaded with finicky masking on the Mclaren and started using glue on the Ferrari F92A yesterday. For me, that's the official start date of a new kit. In fact the front wings have already been primed and had gloss black applied in preparation for decalling.

Cheers

Tony

Yeah, solid wheels, which is sprayed in yellow. So out the window they go! ;)

Think the plastic may even look better in the end due to their naturally smoother finish (as opposed to the somewhat rougher nature of the WM finish). Just a bit of spray-work to be repeated, but what the heck...

Here's some poor quality Iphone photos of the beginnings of the Ferrari F92A. It's immediately noticeable how many ejection pin marks and seams need attention, which I guess reflects this kit's small company origins.

I've actually sprayed the front wing, rear wing and undertray now, so progress has moved beyond these photos.

I'm holding back on photos of the Mclaren until I complete it, it's still slowly progressing but there is a lot of masking and drying time now.

Cheers

Tony

Hey Tony, looks like some serious smoothing work required. It'll be worth it in the end!

Not too much news from my side. Rear suspension uppers are done on the Brawn. TBH... I buggered up and forgot about one tiny part, which should've been done before the other. Having tried in vain to insert it, I decided to just leave it.Bottom wishbone inserted front. Quite an interesting point and way to fix it, so was forced to use CA to just get it to settle (would prefer epoxy for such crucial bonds).Hope this does not come back to bite me. Still have to decal the uppers on the rear.

Lotus 25 has had it's rear end-pipes sealed and... I'm too scared to touch it (after the break) to actually add it to the car! ;) Gave the mirrors the same treatment. Will affix this and the tailpipes over the weekend and then seal the mirrors, otherwise the mirror shape is just not allowing it to be sealed and stored. Oh, and of course, the plastic wheels are being done - that's the other thing that's in progress on that front.

My daughter is having a sport day at school, so the camera will be out - will take some pics through the day.

Tony,

I don't envy you and all that sanding hehehe. I now use a dremel with a round bit to grind them down as close to flat as possible.

Here's some progress on the Dodge.

Here's the undercarriage after a little drybrushing.

The front end is done and mounted.

Interior (except dash) is done. Not alot of detail so I didn't spend much time here. I did chrome the back speaker hehehe.

Also sprayed the first coat of the graphite metallic. I really really like this color. :) It came out nice over the gloss black. Did I mention how much I am enjoying the new airbrush LOL. One more coat tomorrow and I should be able to clear coat it Sunday.

L8TR,

Eric

Promised pics...

Brawn as we stand - some front suspension CF have since been added

Brawn wheels - one front, one rear. For those building it in future, I fortunately realised the rotation of the wheel inside matters for the partial disk to be added later - and this must of course all be matched to rotation of wheels.

Eric- Nice looking color!  The white Interior will accent it nicely!

Seabe- Nice progress! Nice job on the tires!  Looks great with the white letters.

Tony-  Great work filling all the sink holes.  Dont you hate that!  I did a number of Kurtis Kraft Indy roadsters.   Every one had major sink holes all over the place.  Made each one a pain and challenge.  It pays off in the end when all is smooth though! 

Hi Folks,

The Dodge is looking good in that Graphite color. I'm going to do a Tyrrell 020 soon, which I think has a color something like it.

I like the Brawn, such a unique car. I wish one of the plastic manufacturers had kitted it in plastic.

The good news is that I finished the Mclaren MP4/5 this morning. I didn't have time for photos before work, but they're a coming. Now  I can concentrate on the Ferrari F92A. I do think that 1989 - 90 had some of the most attractively shaped F1 cars of all time. Once they started going for the high noses in the early 90s, they lost a bit of that, in my opinion.

Cheers

Tony

Eric you have a real knack for picking out colors that are going to look good on a particular car!

Seabe the progress looks good, I really like the tires.

Tony pin marks and sink holes are never a lot of fun, but if their invisible when your done it was worth it.

Not much progress on my end-still pretty busy.

Hello all! I would like to join in with a 1/32 Aoshima 1955 Toyota Crown Police car, started quite some time ago when I was stationed in Japan. I would also like to do a 1/24 Monogram '57 Chevy Hardtop. Been a long while since I did a GB, even longer since I done any cars! Great builds all, BTW!! ;-)

Thanks Cody, Tony and Dale.

Welcome Wiccan Warrior. Looking forward to seeing the 57' :)

Seabe, the Braun is lookin' mighty nifty! :) I'm still loooking for a Mario Andretti F1 car to do. Can't seem to pull away from the Muscle cars yet tho hehehe.

I sprayed the 4th and final coat today on the 440.

Almost wrecked the chrome stuff though. After stripping the chrome off, I had it soaking in nail polish remover (non-acetone) to remove the clear stuff, started doing something else and forgot the time. They got a little to soft so now I have a few places to sand out from where the parts touched before hardening back up.

L8TR,

Eric

Thanks! The Aoshima kit I bought in Japan for about 500 Yen - roughly $5.50 and the Chevy I got on Ebay with 3 other cars for $5 each! The Toyota Police cruiser I just started cleaning up but the '57 Hardtop will have to be stripped - someone tried to paint the body without having a clue as to what they were doing.

;-)

That Toyota Police car is really a interesting kit.  Should be a unique build!

The heck is wrong here? Had to go to the first page of the thread to find a "Reply" Box.  Yeah, I wish that I had picked up more of those 1/32 Aoshima kits in Japan but believe me - I padded my stash pretty good over there! :-)

Welcome aboard Wiccan Warrior! Looks like some interesting projects you have lined up.

Tony, the Tyrrell colour is a light gunmetal - and I think I went for smoke over it also.

Eric, can think of a couple... there's the obvious Lotus 79 (by both Tamiya and Hasegawa). I did the Tamiya 78 a while ago (this was also available in 12th scale, don't know if you can still get it.) - the 20th version was re-released recently, so should be available.  I did the 80 in 43rd, but that is now also available (or will be shortly?). The Martini liveried 79 is available from Tamiya - if I fall over one, I will seriously contemplate getting it. Stunning car...

Then he also drove the Ferrari 126C2 after Pironi's accident, Fujimi supplies the kit. Don't know if they make a version specific for (one of) his rides, but sure you'll be able to mod it and get decals - think he did well in Italy.

Oh, and of course he started off for Parnelli, which you can get in 43rd! (Evil grin!) There may be more, but that's all I can think of off-hand.

Thanks Seabe.

Well I am beyond frustrated. I wanted to spray the clear today, but was out of the stuff I usually use. I had some automotive clear that I used when I replaced the mirror on my car so I thought what the heck it should work. Wrong, Wrong Wrong. It just literally crinkled the paint. I guess I will be soaking it in some stripper tomorrow. I don't even want to look at it any more today hehehe.

Tony, didn't you say you use Drano? How fast does it work?

L8TR,

Eric

Hi Everyone,
Here is Fujimi 1/20 Mclaren MP/5. It's a timely build given that this month was the 20th anniversary of Ayrton Senna's untimely death. I have to say that I love the shape of this car, for me, it's a classic.
I hope you like it, the only extra work is to add harnesses.
Cheers
Tony

Tony - Awesome job!! Eric, a slightly safer stipper would be Walmart Super Clean in the big purple plastic gallon jug. It has worked very well for me, not very expensive and not quite as toxic as the Drano or Oven Cleaner. Good luck, though!!