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

You guys can flat make those engines look real.

Man that engine and transmission looks friggin hot! Way to go with the detail and weathering on both assemblies there Seabe!!

Hey great to have you back, Tony!

Some seriously impressive work being done here, boys. 

Old Slowpoke has actually some proof of life.

Firstly, the engine and gearbox as they are now. More rear transmission work will be on the bench shortly as a next step. I just wanted to get the second batch ready, which is pre-assembling a lot of the body parts to ready them for the major painting operation, to allow proper drying time and not being in a rush when I actually want to get to them.

Engine:

Blue bits getting ready for primer and blue (plus some alu bits to come on the cockpit area as well, will have to see what my approach will be there - most likely after the blue so as not to influence the blue colour)

Welcome Tony!

Many thanks for the warm welcome guys, I appreciate it. I'll get a photo done in the morning and show you what I've got so far.

Cheers

Tony

Come on in here Tony! Welcome back and I hope everything's ok with you. I'll get you on the roster buddy!

Hi Tony.

I am glad to see you back with us. You were missed buddy!

Can't wait to see the Porsche. :)

L8TR,

Eric

Hey Tony, glad to hear that things are on the upswing. No need to apologize, there are more important things in life than hobbies. That was an awesome GB, and one of my favorite badges. It's great to have you here, looking forward to whatever you build.

Hi Mustang,

Could  I join this GB please. I am in progress with a Tamiya 1/24 Porsche 911 GT1 EVO. I bought the kit some years ago with the pre-finished body, and it's been annoying me ever since, so I thought I might as well build it. As the body is pre-finished, it looks to be well advanced, but there is a lot of detail inside and on the chassis and engine assembly to get right. I'll post photos if you like.

If it's too far gone, no problem, I'll be into the next kit soon enough. Hopefully I can get back to double figures again with completions this year.

I'd also like to sincerely apologise to those who noticed my absence from the last months of the 2014 Automotive GB. I had some significant and unexpected  life changes and I guess I dropped the hobby for several months. Good news is that  I am back into it now. Thank you to everyone for supporting that GB, and the ones that I ran previously. I am very glad that this GB looks so successful.

Cheers

Tony

Looking forward to this build and seeing these wonderful cars.  I'll be adding a 1966 Shelby.

Tim

Yup, super shrewd...coolio!

One of the things that I find most surprising about the chassis of this kit is that despite the accuracy of detail spent on the basic chassis piece ( fuel and brake lines, contours and shape of the fuel cell and other details that I haven't seen on a lot of other kits) is that Monogram totally dropped the ball on the rear suspension/ axle area. Where's the shocks? I had to go to my donor newer Revell Challenger kit for those and they where way too long.

 This is how long they are....

So I went to work again. We start here:

and cut it at the shock sleeve area like so:

 I cut a little over an 1/8" off of it and drilled into the two halves

 Then took a pin that I had laying around and glued one end into the lower part of the shock

and cut the other half of the pin off to leave about 1/8" protruding out of the lower half and slid the top half of the shock onto the pin and glued 'er in place...

and presto! Shorter shocks..

I think I can live with the length now. A little more clean up tomorrow on the shocks and some top side mount plates and it's off to the painting process.....

Thank you ewheeler.

I sent my  son-in-law, the BMW salesman, a text to see if he could pick up a bottle of touch-up for me.

Wow! Amazing stuff going on. I'm hoping for some warmer weather so I can get out in the shop. Startin' to have plastic withdrawals hehehehe.

Modelcrazy,

I found a reference for your BMW on the red paint. It seems there was only one color (only one I was able to find) offered on the E3/M30. It is called Misanorot, and the code is 236. It is a nice red ( I googled it). You may be able to get some touch up paint from a dealer if you want to match it. :) It also looks close to the Wicked Red from Createx. May not be exact but it does look fairly close to me. HL carries it.

L8TR,

Eric

That engine rocks, Mike!

BTW does anybody know what I should use for BMW OEM red? I realize they use a few different shades, I just want something that will match the most common shade. My son-in-law is no help. He just says "it was red". And he's a Beemer salesman too  

It's starting to show some promise.

Pawel

Joe - that Challenger is lookin' good! I love this car, even built this kit like 20 years ago. The front suspension is pretty detailed while the rear was bugging me - no shock absorbers! I added them in my model - how do you feel about that detail in your kit?

Lookin' good on the start up there!

Modelcrazy: You're build is added to the roster man! BTW that's a nifty looking build in the works there.

Mustang,

Could you add the 1/24 BMW M3 E30 to my roster? I'm going to work on this first for my Son-in-law's birthday.

Steve

Joe, Dan, Rob - thanks a lot for your kind words!

Dan - your truck is a real beauty! I had to put the build of my truck on hold because of the move to another town, but hope to finish it some day. Here's the link to the build: cs.finescale.com/.../127400.aspx

Joe - that Challenger is lookin' good! I love this car, even built this kit like 20 years ago. The front suspension is pretty detailed while the rear was bugging me - no shock absorbers! I added them in my model - how do you feel about that detail in your kit?

Mike - that engine sure looks good! Sanding those tyres does them good, the sanded surface looks much more realistic than the cast one, even if it was smooth.

I've been working on the chassis of that Bus - did some cleanup, filled some gaps and I cut up the front wheel wells to meke some room for the drop:

You can also see some parts of the sport Beemer front suspension that will work in my bus - after some mods.

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Thanks Joe

Mike nice HEMI

Wicked Mike!!

Man that engine looks fabulous Mike!! Just the right amount of weathering and a ton of detail! Can't wait to see it all plumbed up and ready for action! The tires look great as well. What's your method of scuffing the tread part of the tire up?

Hey fellas!  Man, you guys have been churning out some amazing stuff!  Can't help but feel a bit ashamed that I've made so few contributions to the GB so far.  Believe me, I've been hard at work at the dragster, but being a 15 year old re-pop of a 42 year old kit, the cleaning up has been most tedious.  I am happy to say however, that I finally have something photo-worthy.

The basic engine is almost complete, minus the plumbing, wiring, and weathering.  I had to scratchbuild the breathers on the valve covers as the kit ones were un-usable.  Cleaning up the headers was a 3-hour job, but necessary as no AM ones could be found. They were hand-painted with a Testors silver / black artist oil mix. All the chrome was stripped and different Alclad finishes were used to re-coat.  One slick is sanded (about a 45 minute job) and I left the other one as is to show that nasty seam I'm dealing with. Also, all the rims have been stripped for re-finishing, the blower drive belt (made from styrene strip) is ready for paint and the fuel pump is finished, ready to go on once the belt is mounted.  Sorry for the wordy post. Think I'll let the pics say the rest.......

Man what a job on that paint Dan!!! Wow! I see an award winner in the making here!

Thanks Rob

Great work guys...HEY, a VW bus...epic!!

Joe it's going to look good with the wheels. 

Finally found some time to get the red paint flowing. I hade 2 oz of paint decated and still ran out. Here are the progress shots of where I'm at. The trailer is where I ran out of paint.

Thanks Dan! Still need to paint the driveshaft and all but I'm looking forward to getting this thing on wheels finally!!