Connie Kalitta's Mustang Funny Car - Bounty Hunter

So this isn't the same Mustang kit that I started and had trouble with the paint. I had yet another Mustang Funny Car in my stash of unbuilt kits, and it was the one that my wife picked out from a list for my next project.

This is a 1/25 scale kit that comes from MPC. I don't really know the history of the kit, but given it's retro graphics and instructions, I am assuming this us a re-release of an older kit.

For me the beginning of this kit comes with the gigantic rear tires.
The come nicely printed with raised white lettering from the factory. A really nice touch.

I also like to scuff up the tread surface of the tires with a fine sandpaper. Gives them that slightly used look, and takes of the sheen of a brand new tire.

This kit is a relatively straight forward build with a minimum number of parts.
Another nice feature with this kit, is that the tube chassis comes molded in one piece. After some clean-up and nice coat of semi-gloss black from a spray can, here is where we hang everything else off of.

At the heart of any competition car is the engine. In this case a massive engine with an giant blower to force even more air into the engine.

At this point it is missing the actual hat that sits at the very top and a few other bits. It looks to have Hemi style valve covers, but that could just be every early funny car had this type of arrangement. I am just not as knowledgeable on the subject as I could be.

The body is also a one piece affair, and required very little clean-up. The proportions are all stretched as with any funny car, but it is still quite recognizable as a Ford Mustang.

Giant colorful decals are also part of the fun when it comes to Funny Cars. The kit supplied decals went on smooth and laid nice and flat. I only had two small problems. One of the large billboard decals running the entire length of the side was torn during my attempts to place it. A little extra water and some effort got it right back in place. I also tore the left side stripe on the hood, and didn't it re-aligned quite as successfully.

The engine fitted to the chassis along with the tub style interior. A few pieces here were a little tricky to get in the right place, and I changed the order some of the parts went on, to help ease the fitting.

As you come towards the last steps in the instructions, here are the two halves that get mated together to form the finished kit. The interior "bulkhead" that gets glued to the underside of the body fought me quite a bit at this point. This piece represents the safety shield that separates the driver from the engine inside the car, and on the kit creates the rear hinge that allows the body to be positioned open or closed. It was just too big. Several tries with sandpaper and a file were necessary to get it all together.

In the end it was worth the effort. Though I feel the body still sits a little too high over the chassis, it does all come together.

It looks ready to make a fast pass down the 1/4 mile.

And with the kit supplied brace, it can be displayed with the body open, showing off the engine inside.

All in all, this was a fun kit, and went together pretty easily. The lower number of parts meant that I was able to complete the whole thing in about a week's worth of spare time.

I do have the Impala done, I just need the weather to cooperate a little so I can get some good pictures.
6 degrees and blowing snow is not really ideal weather for taking photographs.
So look for those in the future.

More Broken Parts

Making slow progress on my most recent project, mainly because it is really cold in my work area.
A small space heater just isn't able to keep up when it is 4 degrees outside!

But I had been making slow progress until this afternoon.

The current kit that I am working on is an offering from Revell, and has its "press-fit" or "snap-in-place" wheels and axle design.

I was smart enough to press the front wheels and brakes on prior to installing on the chassis.
But then came the rear-end.

Don't know if it was the cold, my slightly numb fingers, or simply my own amazing strength, but sure enough.....
Snapped the rear axle in three pieces. Broke it completely from the chassis and drive shaft, as well as tore out the rear springs and other small pieces as well.

Now hopefully the glue will hold the pieces together well enough that I can get them back under the car.

Already started gluing the rear axle housing back together here. Hopefully it will go back in smoothly and be strong enough to hold together. About ready to toss this one.
It has certainly been fighting me.

Williams FW-07 by Tamiya

So I decided over the New Year long weekend that I should start on something a little different than my normal kit. I have a couple of these Tamiya Formula 1 cars, and find them to be a fascinating build.
Not only are they completely different from any road-going car, the kits are also in a different scale (1/20 scale).

So this is the Williams FW-07 car as sponsored by Saudi Arabia Airlines and debuted in the 1979 season.

Powered by a Ford Cosworth DFV V8, this chassis was a real contender at the hands of it's drivers

Aluminum monocoque chassis helped to keep the weight down while protecting the driver.

It was at this point that I encountered the first of a number of problems I had with this kit. I have had this in the "to build" pile for some time, and not even sure when I acquired the kit. It appears that it was an original issue (1980), or very early re-issue. The decals had become yellowed and very brittle.
the green shown here is supposed to be a kit supplied decal.
Try as I might, I couldn't get it to lay down flat, and ended up tearing it in several places.
So I found some nice dark green spray paint, and masked off the areas that needed to stay white. (except of a little green that crept under the tape on the bulkhead behind the driver compartment)

Here is the top portion of the cowling. You can see where I further masked the rear portion for the green. The rest is kit supplied decals. Clearly evident here is the yellowing of the decals over the years.

It was all starting to come together.

The overall livery I found to be very pleasing. The dark green paint here is pretty close to the kit supplied numbers. Again the yellowing of the "TAG" logo against the white of the side skirt here is evident. I also found it interesting some of the sponsors placed here.......

Here is the finished piece, to the best of my ability. This one did fight me a little bit with the decals, and the overall final fit.

It looks good to me, and will look great on the shelf next to the other couple of F1 builds I have completed.
While not as wild as the Tyrell P-34, or as recognizable as one from Scuderia Ferrari, I am glad to have built it.

Now on to the next....
Something more American this time.

Cold Weather painting

So just a quick post.
Finished up my first kit for 2015 (started in 2014), and decided to start another one.

Well, it's cold outside, and that makes it cold in my workspace as well.

Apparently my paint can got too cold, and it came out like textured paint.

Very frustrating.....
So I put the can in front of a small space heater while I went to town with the sandpaper.
Came out nice and smooth, and ready for a second attempt with the now nicely warmed paint.

The warmed paint worked for one side of the body, and then started getting clumpy again...

The additional problem I am having with this one, is the kit is older, and is molded in red. As you can see, I am still getting red tint showing through my white basecoat.

It is now back in it's box for a "time-out" and will try again in a couple of months.
I just wasn't up for the fight with this one.