Steel City Roller - 77 Ford Econoline

 I bought this van at the same time I bought the Plymouth coupe and the Chevy wagon. All I wanted from this kit was the vending machine, but figured the build would be just more practice. Still haven't gotten the vending machine together, but I will here shortly.

I had no idea what I wanted to do with this thing. I didn't want a Coke vehicle, at least not right now. I scoured the Google for days, looking for ideas, but all good vans came down to  custom graphics. Didn't matter if it was in the 70's or 80's, the graphics is what made these.

I did get an idea of creating a tribute to Ozzy. A groupie following him around from city to city on his US trip of the Ultimate Sin tour.I even started testing graphics, but they just wouldn't turn out. Just as they didn't on this final build.

After about a week and a half, I finally decided what I was going to do. Though I have a can of yellow paint, I wanted to airbrush this. I have the black that I used on the Nova wagon, and I like that paint. So I went to HL and picked up a bottle of the Createx Opaque Yellow. Guess it wasn't just on the Nova that the black laid thin, even with 3-4 coats. The black, over gray primer scratched so easy, that there was a lot of touch ups to be done before finishing.

The kit itself was relatively easy to build. The hardest part about it all, was masking off the dog house on the interior. This time around, I assembled as much as I could of the chassis and suspension that was going to be all black. Primed it as one piece and painted it as one. 

All in all, there are paint mistakes due to masking. Still haven't gotten the hang of it. I really wasn't keen on the yellow and black paint as I was the Createx green I used on the bonneville. And it seems i'm going through too much thinner and paint trying to get the proper mixes. But i have found that a 1-1 mix at 35-40 PSI works with just about all of the Createx paints.

Doing my own decals is still a struggle. Though everything was done at 1200 DPI, they splotch when printing. I did order a set for the green 37 Ford and a race kit I will be doing, but I don't want to have to keep forking over money for decals if I can do my own, so it's a process I need to iron out. Regardless, at a distance, this looks good. Up close, i've done better. I used the Tamiya Gloss Clear on this instead of the Createx. I like the sheen of the Tamiya better. Running out of that too, as it's a 1-1 mix and takes a lot for multiple coats. On the bright side, it's cheaper than the Createx. But I know I can mix the two without any drastic issues.

I tried a few new things with this one. Since I was using yellow and didn't want to risk staining it with the Tamiya panel accent, I used the panel accent over the primer. It actually helped get the black line settled under the yellow paint. Just did a little sanding before paint to remove the stain marks.

The helmet decals are a bit too big. The first print, they were too small, actually smaller than a dime. These ones could have been about a 1/8th of an inch shorter to fit better. 

The tires and rims were spares from another kit. I really love these tires. Soft rubber with really good raised letters for painting. The rims are a bit to small for the tires however, though they are glued to the rim back plates, I think I should have glued the tires to the rims. Same for the back plates. Now the back plates are sunken in, you just can't see them.

It was a very simple, stock build. I was getting frustrated with coming up with ideas on what to do, that I didn't get into any customizations. But I do need to step out of the comfort zone and start building instead of just assembling.

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Mail Call

 New paints arrived for the second rendition of the '37 Ford. Not going for full on weathered, but more an old flat look. Two tone green with a gray interior. So instead of enamels, i am going to go full acrylic.XF-25 Light Sea Gray, XF-26 Deep Green, XF-27 Green Black and X-22 Clear.

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'65 Bonneville PT 1

 Been itching to play with the new airbrush set up. While i'm waiting to order the paints from Hobbylinc for the rebuild of the '37 Ford, I needed a kit to practice on. I had a 15% off coupon for Ollies, they kits, though sparse in choice, are the cheapest around. So I ran over and picked up this kit. Wasn't much left to choose from, but I wanted something with a bit of "meat" to the body.

I had been messing around with the .99 cent craft acrylic paints. But now it was time to step it up a notch. I really didn't want to use the craft paint on this, so I stopped ay Hobby Lobby to see what they had. I opted for the Createx, as it was just there! I ended up picking up the Createx Wicked Colors Pearl Lime Green along with a reducer and clear coat.

By time  got home, already had an idea how I was going to go about it. But still had butterflies in the stomach. I sprayed a couple of spoons, one in a flat white Tamiya primer and the other in a flat black Krylon primer. After they dried, I mixed a small amount of the Createx and applied it to the spoons.  The white was way too bright for me. I liked it, but way too bright. The Createx over the black was a lot darker, more to what I was looking for. Yet it was still lighter than the Mystic Green I used on the Duster.

So while the spoon dried, I began de-flashing the parts I was going to paint. Got them lightly sanded and washed in soap and water. I will say, AMT needs to get their shit together when de-molding these kits. The body wasn't white by a dark gray due to the material used. The interior back seat was the same. Little extra elbow grease and it was somewhat cleaner.

Went and laid the Testors Flat Black primer over the body parts and used the Tamiya Flat White on the interior parts. Now to let it dry.

Per the instructions in the Createx whitepapers, the few videos I watched, I mixed up the paint as close as I could to the percentages and let it sit about 5 minutes. Still had a lot of air bubbles in the paint, but I was aching to try it.

Loaded up the gun and began to paint. Since i'm spraying over black, it's going to take a bit longer to cover. During the spray process, I had to widen the spray pattern a bit and increase the PSI from 15 to 20. I got a little too close in a few places and the air from the gun started pushing the paint.

There is some splatter spots. I believe this is due to the paint still being a bit too thick. As I sprayed i was realizing the spray pattern needed to overlap to actually cover. Since this is my first time, it's all a learning experience.

By time I emptied the paint batch, I looked on in satisfaction. There are things I could have done better. But I'm learning. One takeaway is, damn my fingertip is sore as hell. Feels like i've been trying to play guitar after years off. 

Regardless, I can see my mistakes. I love them. I made them. I will do some light sanding after it's fully dry and lay another coat or two on it. According to the Createx papers, it should be dry sanded with 800-1000 grit paper, so we'll see. I know there is a run on the passenger fender that most likely won't sand out, but it will stay.

Not bad for the first time If I say so.

My airbrush kit is the Avanti Airbrush combo from Harbor Freight. It comes with a 0.3 mm needle.

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40's Ford Coupe - The Rush Job

 Since finishing the '37 Ford, I haven't had anything to build. Mainly, didn't have the cash to spend since i've been sinking money into my real car. So this past weekend, my check was a tad bigger since i got a promotion at work. So that Saturday, I stopped by Ollies. Not a big selection, but more kits than previously. So I opted for this '40 Ford Coupe. No real idea what I wanted to do with it, I stopped by Hobby Lobby. Another 40% off sale. 

I picked up a '55 Bel Air and another '37 truck since the last one was "too hot rodded" for the wife. What i needed was a color scheme for the Coupe, but nothing was sticking out. Then I remembered the wife had this can of Krylon Creamsicle Orange at the house. So I decided a white/orange two tone.

Following the typical bath and scrub, light sanding and a few coats of primer, I layed down the base coats. I was using the Testors Gloss White lacquer that I had bought for the chevy and the Krylon the wife had for the rest. Everything seemed to lay great.  Let it dry overnight and checked it when I got home from work. Laid on another light coat of Krylon and it seemed to cover well. Again, let it sit overnight. Came home from work and saw this.

Tried sanding it down however it was well embedded into the paint. Time for a strip bath. Oddly, all of the paint had come off after about 30 minutes. Gave it a quick sanding to make sure it was smooth. Laid another coat of primer and let it dry for about 3 hours. Laid another coat of Krylon and went to bed. Came home from work...

Said to hell with it. This past Thursday after work, stopped by Hobby Lobby to see what they had in orange. Picked up a can of Testors Competition Orange along with a few other supplies. Having stripped it the night before, I took it to the spray booth. This orange covered well, but I also noticed it took longer to dry. The Testors white was dried in about 24 hrs. The body wasn't ready to touch for 48 hrs. 

Up to this point, I hadn't started anything else on the car, but I wish I would have really looked at it. Started pulling parts off the sprue tree's and noticed more flash than all previous models, a lot of parts that were half molded or a lot of air bubbles in the parts. This was what I would call last shift on Friday/first shift on Monday. 

After digging through the parts, I ended up building this using options for all three options. The chassis was warped where the fenders went, accidentally broke one trying to straighten it a bit. Nothing a little gorilla glue wouldn't fix. Though the upper body fit snug to the lower body, there was a massive gap between the lower body and chassis. Took a little finagling to get them together to glue.

The interior is very, very basic. Though I did a little chrome highlights on the dash and handles, I opted to leave it very basic. Did a two tone scheme on the seat to match the exterior and painted the dash orage as well. Other than that, it's a pure white interior.

Finished the build this evening. It was rushed. The mold lines on the body were skimpy at best. The mold lines on the hood sides are barely visible, not enough foil and masking wasn't working. So the hood is just bare. 

Still  haven't decided if I am going to use any of the Coca Cola decals. Looks okay as is, but seems to be missing something.

Still need to order the paint "the wife picked out" for the redo of the '37. Until then, I believe I will get started on the '55.

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Gertrude - The '71 Plymouth Duster 340

 Never really seen too many Dusters at car shows as a kid. They were always Chevelle's, Vette's, a random Nova or two, Chargers and Challengers. Maybe the odd out Trans Am or FIrebird would show up. But rarely a Duster.

I was getting bored with not having anything to build while we waited on the truck the wife wants to ship. Took a trip to Hobby Lobby to look at their wood for another project and they were having another 40% off sale. I stood there for about 20 minutes looking at the kits but nothing really spoke out. Then I started looking at a 55' Chevy and this kit. In the end, it was the few dollar savings that I bought this one.

I was going to do another project with a '69 Superbee in MYstic Green, but for some reason decided not to. I grabbed the kit and started looking at the paints. I have a full can of yellow at the house, but didn't want another yellow car right now. AS i kept looking I spotted the Mystic Green. Started googling the real car in green and saw that most of them were a bright green. So i grabbed it along with a Testors "Wet Look" clear and checked out.

As usual, I washed and dried the parts. Layed down the first few coats of primer and let it set. Sprayed the first coat of this green and knew right away I wasn't going to like it. The body and hood were already in the brake bath.

The paint was coming out in swirls of a dark metallic green and a light metallic green. It looked like a baby threw up. After the brake bath, i went back and rewashed the parts. Did another round of wet sanding and tooth picking to get the cracks cleared and started over. This time around, I shook the paint for about 15 minutes. Upside down, right side up, left side over, the stuff was going to mix one way or the other.

Took the booth outside into the daylight, found some shade and layed on the first coat. It looked okay. Waited about an hour, layed on the second coat. Followed this up with some wet sanding and another coat of paint. It actually looked great. Let it dry for 24hrs and laid on two coats of the wet look clear. I was amazed. It was the best paint job i've done so far. It wasn't heavy, wasn't light. Just the right color green.

Slowly started the build. Decided to do a two tone gray and black Interior. There were no decals for the dash, so i used the infamous and disastrous chrome paint pen I have.  Was hoping to not have another "accident" like i did with the Cuda. It came out pretty good.

As I finished the interior, I started adding decals to the body. Chrome the trim and buffed it with Meguiars Scratch X. The body was coming out as best as I could hope for. I was more pleased with this build so far than any of the others.

FInished assembling the interior and got the motor and other parts attached to the chassis. Did a body fit and everything so far was going great. It looked good, had a good stance, the whole 9 yards. Then the snafu hit. I had been struggling with keeping the hood scoops and rear wing on. Seems the Tamiya thin glue wasn't holding well and I couldn't get the testors glue to hold well enough. 

I decided to attach the wing struts tot he truck, and drop a few drops on the Tamiya into the hole. BIG MISTAKE. It did what it is designed to do and ended up running down the trunk.

At a dollar a word and twenty dollars later into the swear jar, I masked it off, wet sanded it the best i could without going through the paint to reveal the plastic. Decided to just sand 3/4 of the trunk (2nd mistake) and repaint it. 

Stood there at the booth, shaking the can for about 5 minutes. Sprayed a few passes onto cardboard to make sure i was getting the right color to come out. Everything looked fine. Thinly layered the paint onto the trunk and started filling the jar again. The paint did what it did the first time around. Came out dark and went to light. Said to hell with it, and let it dry. Layed one more coat before the clear. 

After it had dried, i unwrapped the body and low and behold, you could see a nice line between the two paint jobs. (Lesson learned. Should have masked the entire trunk and redid the whole thing). Started sanding and got the line as smooth as possible. But there was nothing I could do to fix the clash between colors. And I was not about to brake bath it. I didn't have another set of black decals.

Leaving it as is, after all this isn't a show car. I started to finish it up. Finally able to get the wing struts attached to the wing, I got that in place after putting the body onto the chassis. Reglued the scoops that keep falling off and finished adding the engine bay components. And why it was designed to add all that stuff AFTER assembly, not sure. But the hoses were not easy.

Overall, I really enjoyed this kit with the snafu. It was a lot more advanced than I had thought with the individual front spindles that move, all of the extra hoses and parts under the hood, the rear stand alone shock mounts, etc.. But in the end, it's what I feel made this kit really stand out from all of the others i've done. And to be honest, I just may do another, just a different color. I did go with the single carb engine build instead of the six pack. My Roadrunner already has the six in it. Wanted this one to be different.

The body lines are well defined and made the BMF a lot easier to work with. Even the fender well chrome trim was easier to work, though you can still see some minor clumps. The interior was well designed, just wish there were more decals. And speaking of decals, the Plymouth decals, though white on the sheet fade out to nothing if put over a darker color, so a few of those were left out. Finished it off with the Tamiya panel line on the hood grill and there she was.

There are some minor touch ups that need to be done. Mainly under the hood. But in the end, I would give this kit and build an 8/10. 

Oh, and this is the first time I've used embossing powder. Layed in under the hood with Elmer's clear glue to give the effect of the fire retardant material that used to be there. I used the wrong size brush so the glue didn't get everywhere it needed to be. But I like it like this. Make it feel like it has that old feeling while still looking like a renewed car.

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