Alright fellow plastic addicts, we've all had two weeks off to work on the 1:1 cars, garages, and honey-do lists. It's time for round 5 of the GRM Forum MCBC! This time the theme is zombie cars of doom! This has two meanings: A: Mad Max style apocalypse/dystopia/cyber punk/Interstate 76 vehicle of death or B: Finish that zombie of a kit that you started in the Carter Administration, you know that project that you'll get to "one day" but predates your kids. (As always feel free to do whatever you want as well, the theme is just an idea if you don't have a kit/build/theme in mind already.)
So, we'll start Monday 6/22 and go through Sunday 7/5, our standard two weeks.
I hope to see a lot of the unfinished builds from the first four rounds get buttoned up! And as always, I will dig through my stash for some good giveaway kits.
Ready and go!
I'm going to start the Corvair kit I recently picked up. Planning on a Yenko Stinger.
I just had a good idea for this one. I have a 1980 F150 kit that I didn't have any specific plans for; that would be a pretty good starting point for an apocalypse truck...
I have a Monogram TR-7 and a Revell Reynard that have been sitting on my Shelf of Doom for at least 10 years. I'll flip a coin to see which one gets a reprieve.
My kids have both been working on a model each since winter break and they still aren't done... So, I will be helping them get finished.
My son is trying to make a monster truck out of a Snap-Tite Raptor body and an incomplete Bigfoot kit he picked up at a swap meet last year, and his random pile of parts. He's only 5 so I have to do the random parts-gluing and he paints it up. It's looking good though.
My daughter on the other hand is a very accomplished model builder in her own rite, and is doing a 1/20 scale forklift/model T/hot rod kit that is turning out awesome. I just have to help her stay focused on it and scrape the chrome off of the gluing surfaces.
Which brings me to my big thing, passing the hobby along. I know we've had a few forum kids try out in the last few builds, but I would really like to see more from them. We have to pass the hobby on, so...
Every kid that builds in this challenge gets a free kit from me.
In reply to Javelin (Forum Supporter) :
Our club was doing a few make and takes a year at area car shows. The kids really seem to have fun with it.
Surprisingly, I did not have any partially completed zombie kits laying around, so I decided to do an actual cyber punk / apocalypse car / Mad Max build. A look through the closet of choices let me to an interesting choice.
This is the remains of two 2009 Challenger kits. An old neighbor had a real R/T with a ton of engine mods and wanted a model of it, but the actual R/T kit was a curbside with no motor. The SRT/8 kit, however, was full detail, engine included. So I stuck the R/T nose and seats into the SRT/8 kit, painted it all up just like his, and he was super happy. Meanwhile I've got this curbside body, an SRT/8 nose, and really funky rubber seats hanging around. I can't think of a better blunt object with which to attack the dunes with than a Challenger, so let's do this.
First things first, I needed meatier tires and that crap couldn't match. Some center lines and slot mags on sprint car tires ought to do.
One of the sprues made an excellent bash bar.
The rubber seats were weird so I grabbed these cushy ones from the stash. I'm pretty sure they are the originals from my GRM Challenge Shelby Charger model build.
Finally, no self respecting dune warrior would be caught dead without a massive supercharger. Ahhhh yeah. This is going to be fun!
Claff
Reader
6/23/20 12:20 a.m.
OK I'm in. When I was going through the boxes of unbuilt/half-built kits I realized that I was a lot further along with that '58 Chevy than I thought I was. Shouldn't take much effort to finish the job. Pictures and stuff will start tomorrow.
At first I was going to keep it fairly simple, just add some tubes and plates to toughen up the exterior of my apocalypse truck. But then I got to thinking, why not add some seats in the bed for extra passengers, and maybe some spare tires all around the truck, both for assisting other vehicles in the fleet as well as some extra cushion on the bumpers if someone needs run off the road?
So, I dug around in the junk boxes for some extra parts. I think I found some nice mismatched bucket seats, a few old tires that look okay, and scrap plastic to armor up the sides a bit.
Oh, and this kit has a two-piece cab for some reason, so I think I might leave the back off it so people can climb in and out of the bed right from the cab. I removed the back of the interior tub to further facilitate this plan.
Last week in the main model cars thread I posted the McLaren F1 car that I began in 1978. For this thread it is the Brabham that my father bought and began the same day. I drove us in to Polk's Hobby in Manhattan for the purchases, as they were the only Heller source "nearby". Pop's skills were already in massive decline due to a brain tumor, but a father son 2 model project seemed a good idea. If he had chosen the McLaren and I the Brabham it "might" have come out a little better, as the Brabham has some stunningly difficult spots, as well as poor instructions, and rapidly overcame his declining skills. That stalled the projects. I have not been documenting this build as well as the previous 4 quick builds, and there is nothing quick about it! I shot the paint the same time as the McLaren and the AMC/Healey, as dry weather spray time is in short supply around here. Both colors are mixes.
Claff said:
OK I'm in. When I was going through the boxes of unbuilt/half-built kits I realized that I was a lot further along with that '58 Chevy than I thought I was. Shouldn't take much effort to finish the job. Pictures and stuff will start tomorrow.
Great! I was hoping to get some of the partially-completed builds done.
In reply to slowbird :
Love the concept and the progress. Looks good!
Claff
Reader
6/23/20 11:51 a.m.
OK here we go with a stalled project '58 Chevy. Probably started in the early to mid '90s and, frankly, got a pretty good way through it before abandoning it.
It can be built stock, custom, or drag and it looks like I mixed and matched from all three. It's a subtle two-tone in black with maroon accents. It's all brush painted, which in black means brush strokes are painfully obvious. There's also evidence that I went over the thing with some sort of car wax since there's some residue in body seams. Trim is half painted.
Interior is also done in maroon and very shiny. I'm thinking of hitting that with a quick shot of satin clear but I fear that the paints will not get along. But having to repaint the interior is less daunting than stripping and painting the body, which is an option I briefly considered but discarded just as quickly.
I don't remember this model having opening doors. It's been a while.
The chassis is pretty far along as well. Engine built (carburetor fell off but it's in the box), front suspension done. I like that I went with the drag wheels rather than the stock hubcaps or the custom mags.
Here's where I'm cursing my younger self. Everything is loose, no sprues to be found. At first glance it appears that everything is here aside from some small trim bits that I can either scratchbuild or do without. I was happy to see the instruction sheet in the box. Some parts are a little worse for wear (lots of scuffs on the 'glass') but I think it'll clean up OK and make for a decent looking finished product.
In reply to TurnerX19 :
Oh man, I loved your McLaren and didn't even know the back story. This will be really nice to see the pair of them done. Speaking of, I may have a set of wheels/tires that will work for you.
In reply to Claff :
Wash the body in dish soap to remove the wax, then polish it with a very light polish or swirl remover, then clear coat it. You'd be surprised at how well you can make brush paint look.
For the interior, I would just spray the matte clear. Whatever paint is on there has been cured for so long that the chances of an issue are practically non-existent.
It's a cool build of a good model, I am glad you are going to finish it!
In reply to Claff :
A bath in brake fluid will take off most paints if you want to strip it.
sanded off the side marker lights, and front emblem. Sprayed my base of Tamiya racing white. Deciding if I trust this tape enough to spray the stripes instead of decals. The decals I bought are darker blue than I think they should be.
Javelin (Forum Supporter) said:
BenB (Forum Supporter) said:
I have a Monogram TR-7 and a Revell Reynard that have been sitting on my Shelf of Doom for at least 10 years. I'll flip a coin to see which one gets a reprieve.
Well, which one won?
The TR-7. I've already built several Reynards and the kit is a PITA to build. I do have some cool decals for Gil de Ferran's Valvoline car. I have to fix some of the black trim on the TR and see if the 40-year-old decals will stay together long enough to put them on the body. I was trying to get the model to look a like the '75 I owned in high school for about 6 months, so I sanded off the texture for the vinyl roof.
111
In reply to Saron81 :
Looks good to me! Try it!
In reply to BenB (Forum Supporter) :
I like that a lot!
(Goes to closet and moves Reynard kit to the sell pile...)
Here's some inspiration from a model building friend of mine who really into the Mad Max Fury Road look:
I am making progress on the Challenger as well.
I needed armament for the wasteland so I mounted some submachine guns through the headlights and added a sight to the hood. There's also a roof scoop and roof spoiler now.
Inside I got the dash cracked up, removed the glove box, and swapped the steering wheel out for something without an airbag. There's also a carbine tied to the dash, a nitrous tank, and a ratchet shifter.
Out back I mounted a spare tire and rear mounted the radiator.
In reply to Saron81 :
If it's Tamiya tape I wouldn't worry too much about it staying sealed.
