Cuda' Repiared

So it took some time, and some effort, but I finally have the Cuda back together.
It really took longer due to my lack of finding time to work on it.
Business has been busy with the nice weather, and then a nice week-long trip down to Texas to visit my wife's family all kept me away from the modeling table.
And a lack of motivation on my part as well....


But here it is, all put back together, minus one small piece I forgot until after it was glued.

Took it all apart, and stripped the body down to bare plastic. Repainted the entire body. It came out a little better than the original painting. Still had a little difficulty. The "Chezoom Teal" color I had chosen is a very thin paint, and prone to runs and sags. But managed to get a good finish this time.

Still a few imperfections, but this was supposed to be a quick rebuild.

 The rear taillights don't sit quite as flush as I would like, but didn't spend a lot of extra time fitting them.

I had to re-make both the rear and front "axle shafts" with brass. It worked quite well. The front "axle" however passed through the oilpan as is typical in these older kits. Which meant that I had to remove the headers from the engine, and the old axle before I could remove the entire engine and start with the replacement axle.
Just took more time, but not a big deal.

I am pleased with the results, and it fits back on it's shelf in my display case nicely.

Micro Machines... the smallest wheels I own

So I don't know a whole lot of the history of MicroMachines... but I have a whole box of them from when I was younger.

I am not even sure if they have a specific scale, I just know that they are tiny.
My box contains a lot more that I have here, but it shows the wide variety of vehicles they made. From pick-up truck and semi-trucks, to muscle cars, rally cars, and even Formula cars.

One of my favorites is the Hemi Cuda police car. Always a fan of muscle cars... this is not one I would want to see if my rear-view mirror.

They also have a good level of detail for their diminutive size.
Just how small are they?

Here's a picture of that same Hemi Police car next to a 1/24 scale Hemi Cuda that I built some time ago. Just a little larger than the rear slicks on this particular one....


On a side note....

When taking pictures, be very careful how many things you are carrying...
The Cuda took a little bit of a fall as I was picking up, with some unfortunate results....

The hood was always loose, as it was a lift off, and the front bumper will pop right back in.
A little harder is the wheels. The rear "axle shaft" that runs the length of the rear member and holds the wheels on and snapped at one end. And the front wheel snapped the locating pin off too.
Again not that big of a deal. The main problem is the chunk of paint that cracked off of the front left corner. (hard to see in the picture). So maybe this one is a restoration candidate. Fix the run in the paint on the doors.

AXIA Skyline R32 Damaged!

So while looking for more kits to feed my addiction, I stumbled across someone who had a Tamiya AXIA Skyline Gt-R racing kit for sale.
I love old R32 Skylines, and especially the racing versions, so I went ahead and purchased this one.

The kit of from 1991, was brand new in the original shrink wrap. I went ahead and sent payment, and waited. (not so patiently).

Finally it arrived, and I was disappointed to see that the Postal Service had delivered the box damaged.
Upon opening the shipping box, and the shrink wrap on the brand new kit, I discovered what one piece of the entire kit got damaged.....

Yep, you guessed it, the body had been crushed. Looks like the roof had been smashed downward. It bent the passenger side windscreen pillar, and completely snapped the driver side pillar (right hand drive on the Japanese Market vehicle).
So now I'm stuck. 97% of the parts are just fine, and completely useable. But the one BIG one, is damaged and broken. I can try and fix it, as I don't think I'll find a replacement laying around, and if I turn in the damage to claim the insurance, they will take the entire kit, and then I am back where I started.

1970 Plymouth Superbird

While I am not really what I would consider to be a huge Mopar fan, there are certain models that stand out to me.

This 1970 Plymouth Superbird being one.

1970 Plymouth Superbird

It started as a more base model Plymouth Roadrunner, and was fitted with an aerodynamic cheating nose cone, and giant wing on the back. The theory at the time was that the wing was that tall, to get it into "undisturbed" air flowing above the car.
This later was debunked, and it turns out the height was determined by the clearance needed to open the trunk.

Really just to get the trunk open

The addition of the nose cone, adds 19" over the length of the same year Roadrunner.

Giant nose cone for high speed aero.

My choice for color is a color known as "Lemon Twist".  I forget the actual Plymouth paint code, but this is a close approximation.

I did some research online, and really fell in love with the yellow color, with the black stripes and roof. However, there appeared in online searching to be different shades of yellow.
I don't know if this was factory, or people had repainted their cars, or even if they were clones made in someone's garage.
There was a company that offered correct, factory matched lemon twist paint, but I couldn't see spending $15 for a bottle of paint just for the one car.

And seeing as Lemon Twist was only offered on a few mopars, of vary limited years, I didn't see needing it for more cars in the near future.

This particular kits came with the factory 440 - 6 barrel set-up. It is basically 3 2-barrel carbs.
I also found it difficult to get good clear pictures under the hood of a Superbird, so I picked out some details, in colors that I felt added some visual interest under the hood.

All in all, a great kit, of a really unusual and identifiable car from the muscle car era.
The only thing that could ever even be remotely confused with it, would be it's corporate cousin, the Dodge Daytona.