Hi guys!
Well, go easy on me! I almost tore my hair out finishing up this very diffficult kit! Man, I got new respect for you car builders! If anyone has tried to build this, you know that it's a bear of a kit. Well, I originally started this as just a basic experiment to build and A/B the paint type against the other car on my desk right now. I painted this with acrylics; the Super Bee still in progress is being done with enamels.
But, dang it; you know me--couldn't let it go as just an OOB; besides, the Charger is my absolute favorite muscle car!!!
So I rolled up my sleeves and...
Here's the kit box: the old MPC 1/25 Charger 500.
![](http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/Model%20Cars/ch0.jpg)
LOL! Here's how the first kit arrived from ebay! (The seller sent me a second one!)
![](http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/Model%20Cars/ch1.jpg)
The kit was built up, and painting was started with first a coat of Tamiya white primer, then a coat of flat Model Master Dark Green, and then MM Dark Green Pearl--about 5-6 coats in all, with MUCH sanding and polishing. UGH! WHile that was drying, I worked on the interior.
I scratched some door handles and arm rests, added head rests, flocked the carpeting and then added fine black sandpaper matts; also painted in acrylics. The white coat is just the Tamiya primer, with a gray oil wash added for depth.
![](http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/Model%20Cars/ch2.jpg)
On the engine so far in ths photo, I have added Detail Master hoses, wiring, added foil to the air cleaner and an AM decal to the Hemi, and I scratched those silver ducts n the Hemi covers; don't ask me what they are or what they do! ![Whistling [:-^]](/emoticons/icon_smile_whistling.gif)
I then finished up the painting, foiled all the chrome parts, and applied the rear stripe decal--this was NOT fun! Before applying the decal, I noticed that the position of the molded-on rear side markers was such that they would never have lined up in the middle of the stripe decal--they were too far back. SO I cut them off and sanded the part smooth, carefully and patiently repainting a patch of the area...days tick by..I had an excellent AM decal that I'd got off ebay, which looked MUCH more realistic than the kit decals, but I ruined it by overzealous waxing--it was so thin it chipped!. The first kit decal went on and looked like crap; it was so old and thin that the color showed through! So I got the second decal from the first melted kit, and put the second decal on over the first as well, as the AM decals I had had are now OOP. It doesn't look anywhere as near as good as the AM did, but it looks much better than just the one semi-transparent one!
One of these things is not like the other...notice the darned valance on the rear of the kit compared to a real one?--NO UPPER TRIM! How could I paint the black interior of the rear panel without the trim? THAT would look stupid!? Sigh....what to do? It's already been painted! ![Sigh [sigh]](/emoticons/icon_smile_sigh.gif)
![](http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/Model%20Cars/ch4h.jpg)
Oh well....get out the Exacto blade, and with the ol' Optivisor, scrape, scrape, scrape...then I took some .015 rod, and added it using Tenax R7 model glue. Here it is in-progress..
![](http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/Model%20Cars/ch5.jpg)
..and finito; again, note the missing side markers. The windows were added with 5-minute epoxy. (A special "THANKS!" goes out to a fellow modeler here who wishes to remain anonymous who helped me out with a spare after I ruined the first one with epoxy, and found that the melted kit's one was too warped to fit!)
![](http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/Model%20Cars/ch6.jpg)
To add the side markers, I very carefully cut the ones off the warped kit with a razor blade and glued them onto a scrap sheet of very thin plastic; I then painted them, cut them out of the sheet with a razor blade, and superglued them in place.
![](http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/Model%20Cars/ch16.jpg)
And here's the finished shots...my first "shiny" car model in over 10 years! The antenna was made from a guitar string...
![](http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/Model%20Cars/ch8.jpg)
I also had added a scratched rear view mirror...
![](http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/Model%20Cars/ch9.jpg)
![](http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/Model%20Cars/ch10.jpg)
The engine turned out much better than I had planned, LOL!
I added some more stiff after mating the body/chassis...I scratched a cleaner fluid reservoir, added a radiator overflow hose, that little coil thingy on the front of the Hemi, a longer, more accurate hose to the radiator with foil clamps..I weathered the engine bay with a dirty oil wash. Hey, I gotta put some "Armor personality" into it!? ![Whistling [:-^]](/emoticons/icon_smile_whistling.gif)
![](http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/Model%20Cars/ch11.jpg)
I'm willing to say that I'm not sure if all the plumbing goes where it's supposed to. "Hey man, I just build the things, I don't now how to make 'em run!"
![](http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/Model%20Cars/ch12.jpg)
The underside, weathered with pastel powders. The pipes were an absolute b**ch to get to meet--I actually had to add a .060 spacer! The engine is painted in my own Tamiya mix.
![](http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/Model%20Cars/ch13.jpg)
Stilll gotta weather the sides where I joined/glued the body on..
And a last look--does the "sit" look correct? I may have lowered the rear a bit too much--It was a super PITA to get it to sit together correctly, so I had to lower the tub by a few millimeters. I may take it apart again and raise the rear a bit more...what do you think?
![](http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/Model%20Cars/ch18.jpg)
Well, be gentle on me guys! This was the hardest build Ive done in a while! I have to say that I now realize how spoiled we Armor guys are, with all the "slide molding", precise-fittting models; man, this one almost kicked my a**! I STILL hate gloss paints!
LOL!
Any comments, hints, suggestions or criticisms would be welcomed and appreciated!