62Parts Posted July 7, 2016 Report Share Posted July 7, 2016 (edited) This was my first time to try hand-painting letters and artwork directly on the body of a model car, which turns out, is a whole lot harder than drawing on a piece of paper laying flat on the table, but it was a fun experiment! I’m gonna be trying more of this on more projects soon! This is my tribute to those crazy fellas from the 50’s and 60’s who lived to drag race with whatever they could get their hands on….probably built in their Dad’s garage…the big blown souped-up motor was the most important thing. Winning on Saturday night was all they could think about all week long. And maybe safety wasn’t exactly first on their mind--just winning with the craziest fastest car out there! This is the excellent 1/25 AMT ’37 Chevy kit that comes with the option to build one of three ways, and I chose to build a mad gasser in honor of those drag racing pioneers. The body was primed with Krylon Gray Ultra-Flat primer and allowed to dry outside for about an hour while I took my oil pastel sticks and scraped 5 colors into powder with an Xacto on a piece of wax paper…Orange, Rust, Yellow, Light Blue and Brown. I used cotton swabs to mix those powder colors together a bit, and then rubbed the body down to appear severely weathered, like it was finally rescued from the junkyard. I sprayed Testor’s Dullcote over the body to protect all that weathering work, and to prep for the task of hand-painting the lettering and ball-and-chain artwork -- the lettering was done with acrylic paint markers, and the ball & chain was done with the edge corners of the pastel sticks that I made the powders from earlier. Then a second coat of the dulcote to protect the artwork. The chassis was painted Krylon Red Oxide and set aside. I added a few of my own touches to the beastly 427 powerplant -- like the MOROSO valve covers, some CRAZY PIPES from a Miss Deal funny car kit, velocity stacks made from Evergreen Styrene tube, a parts-box blower, and I made the fuel pump tubing from some clear plastic bead string stuff I found at Michael’s that I painted with Tamiya Clear Yellow acrylic to appear full of gasoline - then hooked up to the kit-supplied fuel pump. The rear tires are the most excellent pad-printed M&H dragmaster piecrust slicks from AMT parts pack--the Cragars are lightly coated with Tamiya Light Gunmetal to bring the kit chrome shine down a bit. Seatbelts were made from masking tape painted the same Light Gunmetal, and P/E buckle hardware was added. Finally, I used Tamiya Weathermaster Orange rust to give the door handles and headlight bezels that neglected look like it was just dug out from years in the junkyard. This was a BLAST to build! Thank you AMT. Edited July 9, 2016 by 62Parts 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaryDavis Posted July 7, 2016 Report Share Posted July 7, 2016 That looks very KOOL Bob. You did a great job on the weathering and Hand lettering..it really fits the paint scheme. That ball and chain is really kool... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
62Parts Posted July 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2016 Hey Gary - thank you, man. Ya know, when I found those headers in my parts box, I knew I had to make them fit this car, no matter what... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaryDavis Posted July 7, 2016 Report Share Posted July 7, 2016 LOL...I hear you on that. You made them work with this build real well.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang1989 Posted July 7, 2016 Report Share Posted July 7, 2016 Man that thing looks totally cool Bob!!!! Wow!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
62Parts Posted July 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2016 Hey Joe - thank you brother!....I got 2 of these kits --- workin on the 2nd version right now - that one's also gonna be a gasser, but a highly-finished version, and I've got some real nice Slixx decals to use along with the kit decals..........I've also found some jewels in my parts box for this build too...just have to make the stuff fit first-----you know what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang1989 Posted July 9, 2016 Report Share Posted July 9, 2016 LOL! Yes sir....I guess I do. Looking forward to you're progress. You got a WIP goin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
62Parts Posted July 9, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2016 I just may do that - I've got lots of subassemblies goin right now - this would be the right time to snap some pics... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang1989 Posted July 9, 2016 Report Share Posted July 9, 2016 I've given thought to starting a Group / Community Build here. I think we could get Gary in on it and then who knows from there. I've got some experience in running them so I'd advertise in advance so as to ensure some additional participation. Whaddaya think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregWise Posted July 10, 2016 Report Share Posted July 10, 2016 nice work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbush Posted July 10, 2016 Report Share Posted July 10, 2016 Very well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
62Parts Posted July 11, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2016 I've given thought to starting a Group / Community Build here. I think we could get Gary in on it and then who knows from there. I've got some experience in running them so I'd advertise in advance so as to ensure some additional participation. Whaddaya think? Hey Joe - I'm not a big fan of group builds - for one thing, my attention span is much too short. I currently have 8 projects in the works simultaneously. I'm constantly moving to a different subassembly on one subject or another, just so I don't lose interest and start cutting corners. Even if I did try to participate, I imagine I would miss the deadline. Adding a group build to the soup at this point would probably take me close to a year to complete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang1989 Posted July 11, 2016 Report Share Posted July 11, 2016 Man I hear you on that Bob. I'm the same way with getting a build done because it takes me somewhere between 7-10 months to get ONE cranked out. That's why I always run GB's for one year. lol . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
62Parts Posted July 11, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2016 Joe - 7 to 10 months? Is that working on one project exclusively? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang1989 Posted July 11, 2016 Report Share Posted July 11, 2016 (edited) Ummmm.......well............uh..................yeah. :o lol Edited July 11, 2016 by mustang1989 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaryDavis Posted July 11, 2016 Report Share Posted July 11, 2016 Ummmm.......well............uh..................yeah. :o lol ROTFLMBO....MAN.....THAT WAS FUNNY!!! I know what you mean Joe. I'm pretty much in that same vein. I don't try to put any kind of a deadline on myself when it comes to building in scale. That also pertains to any commissioned builds that I do. Can't RUSH the work..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts