| First I dismantled
the whole apart... |
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| I filed and sanded
the mold parting lines. |
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| I sanded down the
flange-like contour around the boot. |
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| Now the boot has smooth
and correct contour. |
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| The front part also
needed good care for sanding down the parting lines, they were in delicate
places. |
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| I stripped the paint
with an automotive paint remover. |
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| Body in the white... |
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| I applied BMF to front
signals and grilles, the hood center trim, rear licence plate, rocker panel
trim and the door handles before painting. |
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| I chose a metallic
dark blue for the new color. I applied two coats, and after each coat,
I scraped the paint on the BMF. I painted the front signals with clear
orange. |
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| I scraped the paint
on the tail lamps and painted clear orange and red on the exposed metal.
I applied BMF on the rear bumper and covered all with two thin clear coats. |
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| A bit paint and BMF
detail at the front... |
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| ...and at the rear. |
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| The original orange
windshield was unacceptable so I manufactured a frame for a new windshield.
I used a 1-mm dia. brass rod. |
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| I squared the surfaces
and the fixing parts. |
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| Now the hardest of
them all. I wanted realistic looking headlamps, so the bulgy metal lens
imitations had to be turned to "negative". First I drilled center holes
with a 0.5 mm drill to guide the carver. |
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| I broke apart the
headlamps from the grille and luckily, they had a small rectangular boss
at their backs so I could fix them to a vise. I carved the reflectors veeeery
slowly. One miss in good command would be a disaster. After they were carved,
I covered them with BMF. |
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| I sanded smooth the
breaking points of the headlamps and covered the whole thing with BMF.
I applied a flat black wash to the grille and wiped away. I painted the
licence plate flat black and scraped the letters. |
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| I painted the windshield
frame and fixed it into place with epoxy. I cut the windshield from acetate
and fixed it with Testors Clear Part Cement. |
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| The door insides also
needed something scratcbuilt. I used white hard paper for the panels and
some styrene for the armrests. |
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| I prepared the dashboard
on the computer and glued it in place. I removed the top of the 4-spokes
and had a 3-spoke wheel. I glued the door insides and formed the "tub".
I painted the inside flat brown on the floor and flat creamish-white on
the seats. |
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| All installed in the
car... |
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| OK...Here's a 3/4
frontal |
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| and a 3/4 rear view. |
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| The front part is
the most standing out. I manufactured the headlamp lenses by putting drops
of Humbrol Clear Fix in the reflectors. I repeated these droppings 3 times
after each layer was dry. |
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| And finally, "before
and after" pictures. |
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| No,
I'm not planning to do the same to the other one! |
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