The 2015 /16 Red Hot and Rollin Automotive Group Build--Ended

I worked on the rear suspension to drop it just a tad to compensate for the new tires I put on the rear wheels.  It definitely fits the part, now.  

Tim

Joe gold to see you back those lens came out nice.

Misty: That exhaust looks killer!!! Nicely drilled out ends you've got there. Don't feel like the lone ranger. I've been movin' slow myself.

Dan: Man I know what you mean about parts "flying" off the bench. I'll come back to that in a minute. That dang truck of yours is just one helluva build there bud. I hate to hear about the turn signal but know you'll pull a rabbit outta tha hat on that matter.

Tim: I can already see that the paint job you're gonna deliver for that Chevy is going to rock the house!

Everybody:Well I apologize for not being here as much as I wanted to yesterday fellas. Usually I have alot to do on Fridays but my computer did not help matters as it contracted a dang virus yesterday that I spent the whole day getting rid of. I would have been able to get it up and running alot quicker but it was movin' like pond water and wouldn't go into Safe Mode so I could move about freely. Anyways I resolved the issue late last night just before 11. 

  I worked on the headlights yesterday morning cleaning them up by removing that stooopid stud that model manufacturers feel is necessary to put on them.Whoever invented this design for model headlights should be kicked right square in the butt I'll tell ya that! 

All I did was cut the stud off the back of the light,  file it down flush, clean up the edges and break out the sanding sticks starting with a medium grit and worked my way to 6000 on the back side and then applied Future.

Here's what I started with (which is a common sight to automotive model builders):

Oh yeah. I failed to mention about the part that got flicked off of the bench. I was sanding headlight #1 and it just "zinged" off of the sanding stick in to never never land. I did manage to find it about a half hour later though and finished up on it. 

Headlight #2 I was finishing up when I noticed a black speck suspended in the clear plastic of the headlight. Freekin' wow!

So I grabbed another headlight from my spare-spare Challenger box and went back to work.

This is where I ended up with all four headlights before Future:

and then this is how they all ended up after the Future:

I saw that... And a microphone input jack!  Lol

Tim

Tim those are nice tire and wheel combination and will fill the wheel wells nicely. When your checking out the $1.9M red Cuda it was one that has a lot of different options on it including a factory undercoating for $20.

I think I found the fix for filling up the back wheelwells, but I ordered the 23" Pegasus to see what it looks like.  I "borrowed" these off of my daughters Lambo snap-tite kit.  They fit perfectly and they are a little wider.

Tim

WOW!!!!!  Thanks!

Tim, check out this site they have 5 - 71 Cuda's with lots of pictures. They have one Hemi Cuda going for $1.9M. 

http://www.rkmotorscharlotte.com/sales/inventory/active#!/1971-Plymouth-Cuda/133269/188421

copy and paste in your web browser 

Mopar-D That rig is looking sweet!  I'm loving the progress pics!  Do you have any good '71 Hemi Cuda reference pics?  I'm looking for interior and undercarriage. Thanks!

BTW This is the color scheme of my '62 Impala, after the Cuda is complete..  I saw it on Bitchin' Rides on the Velocity channel and the lightbulb came on.

Tim

I don't have any pets and it disappeared while I was setting there.

i have bits just disappear off my bench, but i suspect the cause of this purrs and sheds hair a lot and is called Misty (my lovely little puss cat :-) )

that rig is looking spesh!!

This mornings progress was working on the trim work on the cab. The bumper, head lights, side mirrors, side grab rails and the top lights. I was working on the turn singles and one of them just vanished off my work bench all on its own to wear ever so now I'm working on plan B.

Thanks for all the support and comments on my build.

lovely deep finish taaron, and a lovely colour too. 

havent posted as I have been doing the boring stuff - filing sanding and pinning, stalled a bit as I am waiting for the studio27 carbon decal set to arrive from singapore before i start painting

pipes with ends drilled out. One header comes separate and fits bad needing filler. The end caps didnt fit too well either, 

Front wing end plates. The bottom shaved off and replaced with pe plates.

pe plates fill in the void and provide locations for the extra resin pipes later.

Eric - I put all the parts in the dehydrator for about 1 hour after the base coats are done.  This give the base coat time to harden up a little prior to shoot the clear.  I put the hood and front clip in the dehydrator between coats which is usually about 10-15 minutes between coats, but not the body until after all of the clear coats are down.  I don't want to mess with trying to take the body off of the painting base and something bad happen, so I wait until all the base coats are complete.  The way that I mix acrylics, they dry pretty fast, so you wouldn't necessarily have to put them in the dehydrator between coats.  Hope this helps...

Tim

Tim,

That's gonna look slick when it's done. Did you put in a dehydrator after each coat? And if so for how long?

L8TR,

Eric

Steve - I never decant and only use acrylics.  Tamiya X-22 is the clear I use with my airbrush.  I have had amazing results with it when using denatured alcohol as the thinning agent.

Tim

Looks awesome, Tim. Did you decant the Tamiya clear from a rattle can, or take it from a jar? I have a jar of X-22 but I'm not sure if it can be sprayed or not. 

Joe - nah... Just a little crazy, here and there.

I know I'm not reinventing the wheel, but I like to detail my steps in case anyone need a tip or two.  Oh, and I always take lots of pics along the way. You can never have too many pics.

Tim

Taaron sweet. Thanks for sharing the step by step of your painting.

Oh my Gaaaaaaawwd!!!! You sir...............aint from this here planet!!!!

Today I got the Cuda primed and painted.  The base color is Testors Pearl Purple, followed up with 5 coats of Tamiya clear.  I was going to go with just plain old Tamiya purple, but figured I'd give it a little more life.  I also try to paint the body and body pieces right after I get the suspension modified and the wheels fit.  My logic is that since I put a few coats of base coat/clear coat (ok, 8 total coats), I like to bake it for 24 hours and then let it "gas" out for 10-14 days.  This will ensure that the surface is more than ready when I start wet sanding and buffing.

Tonight I tried something a little different from what I typically do with Tamiya paints.  After the first 2 clear coats, I started to thin eat clear coat with .5ml more of clear per coat.  So I started with 23ml of Tamiya clear, thinned with 8ml of denatured alcohol and ended up with 9.5-10ml of denatured alcohol total to let the last 2-3 coats of clear really lay down.  So far, it has seemed to work great!

I got to try out my new compressor that my wonderful wife bought me for Valentine's day.

New compressor:

Everything was painted @ 40 PSI:

3 Base coats of Testors Purple Pearl:

Clear coat 1:

Clear coat 2:

Clear coat 3:

Clear coat 4: 

Clear coat 5: As soon as I put it in the dehydrator, the paint will lay down a little more, so there shouldn't be any orange peel.  If there is, it won't be much, but this will wet sand and polish out nicely!

Clear coat 5 on the hood: 

I ended up looking at the kit instructions for probably the first time since I started this whole project to make sure I haven't missed anything and found two decals that I haven't noticed until today. I broke out the decal set and microsol and went to work with the decal/ placard on the L/H inner fender and on the radiator core support. They add a little bit more detail in there.

Love the lowered suspension.

Neato dude!!!!! This looks totally awesome!!!

I worked on the Cuda suspension today in order to get the stance correct.  Luckily, there was lots of room to work underneath those big wheel wells, so not much modifying was needed to lower to get the stance right.

On the front suspension, I cut both spindles off and drilled new holes above where the old ones were.  The new spindles/axles are mounted as shown through the frame in order to make it more durable.

I originally thought I was going to have to cut the springs off the rear axle and use lowering blocks, but I only had to cut the old axles off and drill in the new one so the Pegasus 19" wheels would fit.  Not much to do on the rear to get the stance I was looking for.

Here's how she will sit once completed.

Joe it's always a good feeling when you can turn crap into what it should be and have it look right. Keep the details coming!

Bruce: You're on the roster and set to go bud! And again...Welcome aboard! 

I almost forgot to add this yesterday. I showed you what the outside rearview mirrors looked like finished but what I didn't show you was what I started with for both mirrors.

 Without further ado .....Tadaa

Welcome aboard Bruce!!! I'll get you right on the roster man!!! Freekin' cool to have you here too!!

Thank you sir Dan! 

Man I'm tellin' you there Tim, I used to think AMT , Jo-Han and Ertl were crap and Monogram was "up there" in terms of kit quality. These days I'm finding quite the reverse is true. I have the same molded detail on the chassis of this Challenger. Not cool.

I'm glad this kit was cheap... I hate that everything is molded into the chassis.  Oh well, the engine, interior and body will come out good.

Tim

J. Hockey Jr.  welcome to our GB looking forward to see you build your Mack. There's lots of truck pictures in the Internet if your interested at looking at them for details.

Joe nice work on the details.

Welcome Bruce looking forward to see your 911.

Tim those wheels will look sharp on the Cuda.