Polar Lights - 2006 Ford GT Gulf Heritage Edition

 Another one for the collection that I had been attempting to find for a "reasonable" price for a long time.

The 2006 Ford GT!

I loved the look (and performance) of this supercar when Ford announced it was going in to production.

Polar Lights is one of the very few (if only) company that has ever produced the 2006 car in plastic.

The drawback (potentially) here, is that this is a "snap-tite" kit, which typically means that it is intended for a younger builder. Often with over-designed parts to be snapped together without glue. This is great, but does sometimes mean that proportions are off versus the real car to allow for the strength needed to push the parts together, rather than holding them with glue.

 

I did make a few adjustments to some of the parts, and glued most pieces for added strength when complete...  but I don't think you can tell this is a more "toy like" snap together kit when sitting on the shelf.

I chose to use the "Heritage" Edition of the car that Ford released as a special edition an homage to the LeMans winning cars from the 60's.... though I chose to use number 8, rather than the more tradition number 6 in the big roundels.

And while the car came molded in light blue plastic, I felt the color was off just a little, and mixed up my own batch of "gulf blue", and hand masked the orange stripe the length of the car of on the nose.

I did use the supplied thin black outline stripes to separate the orange from the blue, and was amazed at how close my painted stripes lined up with theirs.  Kit decals were used for the number roundels, Ford decal on the very nose, and a couple small details here and there.

In the picture above, you can see a little bit of the snap tite construction. There is a small "tab" on the clear headlight lens, that you can see the blue of the body. If I had paid a little closer attention, I shoukd have painted the tab black to hide that small issue.

Clear to see through the back engine cover are the supercharger and chassis pieces. As a simplified kit, this was about all the detail that there was... but a little silver paint and they stand out nicely and complete the look.

Another fun one that really stands out with it's Gulf livery paint scheme.

Tamiya - Toyota Celica GT-Four 1993 Monte Carlo Rally Winner

 And we're back to another 1/24 scale kit... This time a Toyota Celica GT-Four that won the 1993 Monte Carlo Rally.

This one had been in the "stash" for a long while, and I decided one day that it was time to build it.

I don't know a lot about the car, other than the Gt-Four designation is a limited production, turbo charged, all-wheel-drive chassis. I know the GT-Fours are very limited so my guess would be that they were built in limited numbers to qualify as a "production car" and be able to race in the series.

About the only other thing I know, is that the Monte Carlo Rally must be a road coarse, as it has nearly slick, track style tires.

Might be time for a little google searching to find out a little more....

I loved the bright paint scheme, and the giant set of night driving lights mounted to front of the car.

And I wasn't disappointed.

I don't have any build pictures... but typical of Tamiya, it went together without any issues, and everything fit just about perfectly, and with a minimum of clean-up.

Any issues I had were more likely caused by me, and not Tamiya's engineering.

Here's a finished shot of all the lights on the front end of the car (note it looks like this might be a build progress photo - there appears to be the lens missing from the rectangular "pop-up" light at this stage).

A good looking car from just about any angle.

An attempt at an interior shot... just to show the detail that comes in this kit. From the fire bottle, to the seat belts, and even the hand brake for those sliding turns are all there.

Always looking forward to the next Tamiya kit, and need to do some looking for some more of their rally car kits.... this one came out great!

A couple more custom Hotwheels - Porsche 911 Targa and VW Drag Bus

 Just a short post today of two customs that I finished up.

The first is a Volkswagen Drag bus.

This was a relatively quick custom that turned out to be a little more "Christmas" themed than I had intended.

The drag bus started life and a Premium line, which means it already came with the metal base, and rubber "Real Riders" wheels and tires... so all I had to do was the paint.

After a quick dip in the stripper, I had a nice and clean casting... so I decided to try something a little different. Rather than straight paint, I had a can of clear green... and I thought why not.. let's see what happens.

Give it kind of a Candy green color... you can still see some of the sanding marks from where I cleaned it up after the stripper.

I also have some candy red that I tried to apply a "scallop" flame design to the side.

If you look close, you can see what looks like an outline on the scallops... this is actually where the red and green overlap.

As a relatively quick custom, the graphics were hand painted, along with headlights, taillights, rivets...

And some engine detailing on the base... just to make it look a little less toy-like.

Engine block, valve covers, fuel tanks were all painted, and I even added a little "heat staining" to the exhaust pipe.

The other custom I completed was a little more involved.

This one started as a Porsche 911 Carrera, and I decided to make a Targa out of it.

So out come the saw, and removed the center section of the roof.

With the interior a little more exposed, I though a nice hoop rollbar would be a nice addition.

So a small hoop made of bent brass rod was shaped and fit to be just behind the seats, and still be low enough to fit under the roofline.

A little selective painting brings out the details like headlights, taillights, exhaust tips, door handles... Again all in an attempt to make everything look a little less toy-like.

A set of resin 3D printed "FUCHS" style wheels completed this Porsche Outlaw looking creations.

I even modified where the axle fits on the base to "lower" the ride height of the car. With the lower profile tires, and raised axle location... this finished piece just barely still rolls without the tires getting hung-up.

Hasegawa Lamborghini Miura P400 SV

 Time for a 1/24 scale kit that I finished up a little while ago.

The Lamborghini Miura is considered the world's first supercar to feature a mid-mounted engine and rear wheel drive. The prototype, revealed at the 1966 Geneva Motor show and was loved by show-goers for it's impressive engineering and beautiful styling alike.

The mid-engine layout placed the engine between the driver and the rear axle, for optimum weight distribution. A layout that had been seen in the highest performance racing levels like Formula 1.

Coupled with a 3.9Liter V-12 engine and a 5 speed gear-box, it claimed the highest top speed for any production road car.

What we have here is the last, and probably most famous evolution of the Miura... The P400SV.

Introduced in 1971, the SV featured a number of small upgrades over the previous models (P400, and P400S) with 4x3 Webber carbs, and different cam timing... you got an extra 15 horsepower.

Up to a total of 380 Horsepower, which may not seem like a lot...but that was as much as a big-block Chevy corvette, with nearly twice the engine size.

The box features nice art, and I really liked the color scheme, so I decided on a deep red with gold accents.

It is hard to photograph, but the red I chose is actually a candy with a very small amount of pearl in the finish. My feeling was that just "red" was a little to plain for something as special as this Lamborghini.

Unfortunately, this is what is known as a "curb-side" kit, and has only the basic engine and drivetrain detail... but you wouldn't be able to see much of it anyways through the louvers over the engine cover on the back of the car.

The kit did come with some beautiful metal transfers for the badges on the back of the car. And my own custom license plate as a reminder that this one was built during the COVID scare.

Hope you enjoy! This was one I had been wanting to build for a long time as part of my Supercars collection.

Custom Hotwheels - Datsun 240Z - OFFROADER

 Here is yet another custom car from the local challenge.

This time it was Datun's iconic Z-car... the 240Z.

I don't have any before pictures... but decided to go with an off-road safari look.

This one was rather extensive in the changes I made.

Raised the suspension and added some big off-road wheels and tires from a Matchbox I had torn apart.

And even added a spare on the roof.

 There was an attempt made at a roof rack from bent brass rod.  I ran out of time, and it wound up more like a small ring... but it gave me a spot to mount all the "Daylighter" style offroad lights with their little yellow smiling faces.

Next up was the "snorkle" to make sure the engine can get fresh air while crossing rivers and streams.

A light misting of tan acrylic paint made it look nice and dusty... A careful brushing of two different colors of brown and tan behind the wheels and along the bottom looks like even more dirt, and some mud splattered there.

The last touch.. .which shows up a little better in this picture as to cut a mask for the windshield in the shape of where the wipers would have cleared the dust and mud off the windscreen.

This one was a lot of fun, and really liked the finished look.

Lots more to come!

Hot Wheels Custom - Bentley Continental GT

 Kind of already blew this one in the last post about the tools I use... 

So here are a couple more pictures of the finished product.

This one was almost painted in "reverse" order.

The car was stripped down and painted black... Then all the little sqaures were added to the black car.

With all of the black squares in place, the car was then painted white, followed by the yellow, orange and red to create the fade from front to back.

Small details like the head lights, tail lights and the number 17 were all handpainted.

And for a little something extra, I replaced the wheels and tires with some resin 3d printed parts that I had ordered from another builder I follow. They have super low profile tires... but really make it look ready to go tear up the track.

 

Lots more coming, just have to decide which one to cover next!

Some of my favorite modeling tools

 There are lots of different tools that can be put to use to help with building and detailing small cars.

Aside from the usual ones that most people start with like a good Exacto or hobby knife, masking tape (I prefer Tamiya brand tape) here are a couple that I like.

The first is a set of Carbide Micro Drill bits.  The 10 piece set that I bought ranges from 0.3mm to 1.2mm in size.

These are great for making small holes in plastic (they are tiny and I haven't tried them on diecast metal for fear of breaking them).  I use them for things like wires for spark plugs, opening exhaust pipes, and things like that.

Another one that I like is simply called "Ultra Fine Saw Blades".

They are about the size of a double razor blade, but instead of a single blade they have a micro size saw-tooth edge on both sides.

The picture shows the the blade in a handle for ease of cutting, but I sometimes use it without.

They are thin a flexible but do a great job of cutting. Again I have mostly used these on plastic for jobs like removing parts from the mold trees, cutting open doors and hoods, and they work really well for cleaning out, and deepening panel lines.

I use them for anything that I think is a little too shallow and looks not quite right. A slightly deeper panel line, and light wash of dark paint will go a long way to make things look more realistic.

Next is a handy item I picked up called a "Utility Tools Hobby Masking Tape Cutting Pads Two Sides Digital Camouflage".  I found it on Ebay, and knew it would come in handy.

It's a guide for cutting all sorts of shapes in masking tape.

There are two sides.

There is an etched "depression" on all of the shapes. So you put your masking tape down, and then run your sharp hobby knife along in the depressions and it cuts the shape.

Great for making straight lines for pinstripes!

Or hexagons, squares, stars... even some numbers and shapes.

 This has some shapes cut in the masking tape.

 This came in HUGE when creating the paint job for this one.

 I didn't even try to count the number of tiny squares of masking tape that went down before the fade paint was applied.

Got lots more tool, tricks, and tips I'm planning to share.. so stay tuned!

Custom Hotwheels - Disassembly

 I am sure there are lots of threads out there in the internet on how to do this... and I don't know that I do anything especially different from anyone else. This is just the method that works best for me.

So with this random 80s movie reference... Let's begin to disassemble...

Extra points to you if you get the reference.

For this segment I am going to be taking apart an LB Super Silhouette Nissan Silvia (S15). Though the process is pretty similar to most Hotwheels

Every Hotwheel that I can remember of have dealt with are held together as a "sandwich of parts.

There is the base (with the wheels) the interior piece, the clear (or colored) plastic that makes up the windscreens, and the body.  The body has long "post" molded in that go down through all the layers, and is flared at the bottom to create a "rivet" end that holds everything together.

Here you can see one at the front of the car, and one in the back. The back one still has the yellow paint from the body.

And here is a little closer picture of the one in the front.

The "head" of the rivet is "squished" out to create a flare that is bigger than the hole it came through in the base and holds everything together.

This is the key of how we are going to get everything apart!

For the first step you really only need two of the three tools shown here.

A drill... and a 5/16" drill bit. Again, this size works best for me, but you want something that is large enough to take the top of the river off, but not chew up the base.

I have done more than a few of these, but be prepared to practice a few.

One of the more common problems I have encountered comes with the plastic base cars. As you are drilling the top off the rivet... sometimes the bit will "grab" the base and gouge a big hole in it. This will get the base loose, but does look a bit messy. Luckily this one cooperated, and both rivet heads came off cleanly.

And a little better picture of what I am left with.

From here, usually with just a little encouragement you get a nice pile of pieces.

From here, you can go on to stripping and repainting, swapping wheels, and anything else you want to do to the parts.... but I have a couple of other steps that I do to prepare it for re-assembly when all that hard work is done.

After drilling the posts will look like this, and will work great for re-assembly using superglue to hold the base to the body (with the interior and windscreen pieces in the sandwich) but I like to go a little further.

So I get out my Dremel with a round metal bit, and shave the posts down a little bit and round them out.

This certainly isn't the route you want to go if you are super-gluing everything back together at the end as the posts may be too short now... but I have another plan!

In the second picture, you can see the shortened, and rounded posts.

The next step is probably one of the two trickier steps....

We are going to drill a 1/16" hole in the middle of the post... Not all the way through, but down about 1/4".... Be careful with this step.... the 1/16" bits are very small and break quite easily. I think I bought a cheap pack of them at Harbor Freight... heck I even broke one while trying to take the pictures for this.

The next tool you need is a 2-56 tap set. (I think I got mine off of Amazon).

For those not familiar, a tap is a special cutting tool that cuts threads on the inside of the hole that you just drilled.

Here you can see the tap doing it's thing. There are small shavings coming out that are the threads being created... 

Three little tips for this step...

1. Same as the drill bit, the tap is pretty fragile... go slowly... It can be difficult to get it started.

2.I also like to use a small drop of a lightweight oil in the hole...(I use gun oil).. this helps lubricate the cutter, and also helps to keep the tap from clogging up too quick.

3. GO SLOWLY.. I know I said this above... but be gentle.. too much pressure will snap the tap off in the hole... and be sure to back the tap out a LOT and clean it off. This helps the threads to cut cleanly, and helps you get the tap back out of the bod.

Now that we have the posts for the body drilled, and tapped... it's time for these little guys.

Specifically these are #2-56 Button Head Socket Cap, Stainless Steel, Full thread screws. (3/16" length).

All that means is they are little machine screws with the same thread  as what we just tapped in the body. they screw in with a teenie-tiny allen head wrench...

And when done....

They look almost like the original thing.

Couple of pointers here. 

Using these screws you have to use the dremel to shorten the posts, so that the screws will seat against the chassis and pull everything tight. On some castings, if you don't it won't pull everything together nice and tight.

The same issue can happen if you don't drill the hole deep enough, and the screw bottoms out before everything gets pulled tight. This you can sometimes fix by drilling the hole deeper and adding more threads with the tap.

So that's my method for disassembly....It takes a little longer then the super glue method... but I am definitely fond of the final look when done.

Up next - STRIPPERS!!!