JayMesawitz

I also think the clipboard is a great touch. Pretty unique subject as well. Commissioned for a friend you say, $$$ ? I intend to build a 69 camaro for a friend (if I ever get to it) It was his 'chick magnet' back in his younger days. Any way, great job and thanks for sharing.

I saw this little gem in person last night and WOW doesn't really cover it. Very inspiring work!

Pretty menacing machine. Nice job and you met the deadline. I don't know that my McLaren (current project) is going to make it to the show at it's current pace. A deadline doesn't seem to motivate me at the build desk the way it does at work. Could have something to do with being a hobby ! ? Thanks for sharing, best of luck in competition and again, welcome to the forum.

I don't know how serious this statement is but I have to agree to a point. Moving is a great time to purge things more 'there' than appreciated. I don't know if I'd junk the whole lot of them but I would certainly thin the heard. I have a couple favorites I could not part with. There is NO joy for me in fixing broken models and the pleasure of looking at a long ago finished piece pales in comparison to the satisfaction I find while building the one I'm on NOW.

Nicely done and I like the back drop for your pics. Sure beats the messy model desk that I usually use. Thanks for sharing!

It has been a couple weeks since posting any progress. It is getting close to complete but still several things left to do. My recent effort has been to the cockpit area. I wired up all the dials & controls on the dash and weathered & installed the drivers seat with PE seatbelt hardware. Thanks for looking, Comments welcome.

Welcome to the forum. This looks great. I can't see a single sign of body work. Impressive! I'd like to see more in-progress shots and definitely the completed project when your done. Best of luck meeting the deadline.

It is good to see you back at it. I noticed you have not been posting here for a while. I like the fuel lines and the overall look of the underside is well done. I'm not familiar with thit kit but I have never seen a weld/rivet seam on kit mufflers before. Was that your doing? Best of luck getting her done in time for the show. Sometimes a deadline is a good thing.

I was impressed with the first attempt, even more so now that you have started over completely. I'll be sure to check back for more progress. Thanks for sharing.

Very cool stuff, Gil. Great looking work.

Thanks for the kind words Chris, I'm sure you know that some kits just lend themselves to improving parts and pieces. The only real OOTB effort on this build is to replace the vinyl plumbing with something nicer. The look of all the pieces is laid out for me and the instructions explain where they go. I'm having a good time with it though. I'm pleased with my results, the comments are favorable and posting a build diary is as much fun as the build itself. Some might view it as bit self indulgent, I view it as sharing with the hope of insipring someone. So, start a thread and show us what your working on. Thanks again.

Time for this weeks update. I have been presented a most gracious offer to have this project taken to the IPMS Nationals. I'm not planning on going but a club member (fearless leader) is. The problem is I had not had a time line/limit set before and maybe now I do. Either way I'm gonna build her as best I can and if it takes too long then so what. You would be amazed at the amount of plumbing in this car. The pic below shows the coolant lines running from the engine to the radiator in front. I used solder, BMF and Tamiya clear smoke to form the lines. Also the battery is detailed and in place. The PE set included battery terminal ends. I crimped these around an appropriate sized wire and secured them in place on the battery. I blacked out the underside of the body panels and added a detail or two the the door sections. Sure it's just black but so much masking had to be done. I will be adding some depth to the black with earth tone chalks before I call them complete. Currently I have two things going. The front suspension and plumbing to the oil coolers; neither of which are done enough to show but here is something I would like to share. I have rebuilt kit shocks in many different ways over the years. Normally it involves cutting off the top & bottoms and replacing the center with a rod wound with wire. The problem is they are always weak and often not exactly the same size as the original. Last night I got a really simple idea and hear it is. I whittled away the molded springs from the kit shock with a #11 until it looked right; still one piece. No need for perfection, most is going to be covered. Then I wound an appropriate size solder wire around and trimmed the ends; notice they are trimmed at an angle. This has to be the easiest most satisfying method I have tried for this effect. Thanks again for looking, Comments welcome.

So true. It seems the paint cup over flows with anything but, as of late. I have only done one of these (blitz builds) before but what a blast. Yours turned out fantastic. What paint did you use. It looks silky smooth & flawless maybe a shade more gloss than I have grown to expect from the aircraft genre but WOW. Maybe I should be asking about the clear coat you used. And the drama portrayed in the WIP tread pics was quite the treat. Thanks for sharing!

I went to look at your page but didn't see anything that looked like a Tool box Dio ? ? ? I saw a couple garages. Are you going to cut them down and fit them in a tool box? The car models that I saw looked pretty good too. I would like to see some close-ups of those. There has got to be a better way to share pics on this forum though. Having to go to a mySpace account & nose around for pictures, most of which are not model related, I felt a little like a perve peeking in the front window of your home. I guess I'm not a big mySpace fan. Sorry. It is great to have you here though. I look forward to seeing more of your builds.

Jack, It is the L. Motschenbacher #11 car (depicted on the box art). Interestingly, most of my reference pics came from the Bruce McLaren Trust website fortunately there are images of other cars in competition not just theirs.

Thanks all for the comments. Gil, the missing edges are intentional. The stacks are not perpendicular to the manifold, rather are in a \/\/ configuration on either side of the engine. The two inboard stacks touch and have a flat spot where they meet.

Very cool stuff. Thanks for showing the underside wiring. I'm starting to learn a thing or two about the basic technique.

I got several hours over the weekend and made some progress. First up is a detail that I actually did over a week ago. I vac formed a new windscreen using the Mattel machine and the kit original as a master. I think the thinner clear piece is a notable improvement. The next item to report on are the velocity stack intakes. I detailed these to include fuel jets that are visible when seen from above. And finished them with the enamel black / Alclad chrome treatment. I will leave these off until the final assembly to prevent my grubby fingers from damaging the shine. Finally, where all my time went... body color. This is Testors red (2 square bottles) and testors thinner at 1 to 1.5 ratio. Three color coats were applied over duplicolor rattle can primer. I wet sanded between each coat and polished with Finishers compounds at the end. The thing that enables me to paint and polish on the same weekend is a drying chamber. Sounds fancy, hey? Basically, it is a section of kitchen cabinet (located in my hobby room) with a dehumidifier in it. Below is the one I use. I picked it up on ebay for about $30 including shipping. It is rated for a 500 Sq Ft room and does an amazing job of drying parts when in a 3 by 3 space. The temperature in the cabinet stays around 100-105 degrees and has not done damage to any parts even when unintentionally left directly on the unit. Thanks for looking, Comments welcome.

So here's what I have to show for this week. But before I get to that, let me say that for me model building is a daily event but usually only 30 minutes in the morning before work. Sometimes I get a group of hours together on a Saturday but typically small amounts of time working with actual plastic bits. Sorry, I feel I have to justify slow progress. The pics below represent the replacement of two vinyl plumbing component that came with the kit. Both install on or around the engine. Each is made up of solder, braided wire, turned hex rod and scraps. Thanks for looking, Comments welcome.

So how did yours turn out? When I read your post last week I got all excited about joining in then realized Lemans was a day away. I didn't have a kit or the time blocked off from other stuff. If I had a bit more time to prepare I'd have thrown down plastic with you. Hope you had fun & some pic to share.

I love this kind of stuff. Inspiring!

Hello again, I 'm still plugging away on this project. First up, I have completed the rebuild and install of the rear stabilizer bar. It turned out much nicer than the kit piece. Then I turned my attention to the fuel delivery system and distributor. I had planned to replace the kit vinyl plumbing with wire and this is the first real bit of progress toward that goal. I built up the kit distributor and wired it. The only plug wire I had on-hand was orange. Since this is not period correct, after assembly I painted them black. Painted wire insulation never looks really good. I may undo this and leave them orange and take my chances with the model police. My first attempt at plumbing the fuel block did not turn out as I wanted. The wire I used was a touch too big and way too inflexible. In the end I used clear mono-filament to deliver fuel to each velocity stack. Here are the parts in place. The fuel block is secured while the distributor will get a bath in 90% alcohol to remove the black before final installation. Thanks for looking, Comments welcome.

Prepainted and self adhesive PE parts! NO FAIR!!! I really need to get ahold of an automotive aftermarket guy and tell him a thing or two. Great looking seat by the way.

Just a small update. I don't know why I get so excited about doing wheels & tires but I do. I have the wheel hubs mounted to the suspension, the rims assembled & painted and dry fit in place they look good. I got ahold of some new media editing software (Roxio Easy Media Creator 8) so I was playing around with the collage idea. I've seen branding on pictures on various sites so I thought I might play with that as well. Having your work available publicly (Fotki , Photobucket, etc.), any one can link to it and claim it as theirs unless you do something like this. Also in the works. The rear stabalizer bar is being re-built with solid rod. Thanks for looking, comments welcome.

Point taken. I intended no disrespect. Rather, I find myself wanting to try one.