On This Episode of "It's Only Plastic, What's The Worse That Can Happen?" - Episode Two

 I've been putting off building the Challenger. Haven't been in the frame of mind to build, but the show in a month away. I realized today, with all the ideas, tests, tooling and work, I'm still only on step 5 of the instructions.

I'm doing things to this, I've never done before. So there is a bit of custom scratch building, testing different set ups, etc.. You can check out this post for some of the after market parts I bought for this. I bought a few more not pictured.

Initial mock up.

 I did decide to go convertible, which means that my interior needs to be detailed like crazy.

 I decided to carry over the purple scheme to the interior. With the dash being two parts, this allowed me to play with ideas for the dash.  What i didn't see a head of time or after the primer was the divot in the dash to the left of the ashtray.

Depending on how the dash will present when put together, i might leave it. The interior is primed with Mr. Surfacer 1500 black out of the can. Testors Semi-Gloss black was used for the vinyl and Tamiya X16 Purple was used for the color. Testors Wood was used for the base of the wood grain while a light coat of Tamiya X26 Clear Orange gave it more a darker wood tone.

There is still the chrome door trim that needs to be done. I will use the Metal Foil for that. My hands aren't as steady any more and it is apparent in the reworks I've had to do to fix my paint scheme. 

 

The motor has taken a lot of my time. It's a simple stock build with some add-ons. But the placing the add-ons has been tricky.  Not to mention most kits contain minimal engine details. 

So I've added the plug wires, however, the distributor would fit the boots, so I opted for the pre-wired.  Then there is the heater hoses and replacement of the radiator hose. I drilled holes into the firewall for the heater hoses. However, locating a spot on the engine to connect them was tricky. Especially for the lower heater hose. 

 

Technically, there should be a part that sits behind the oil filter that the lower hose connects to. It's not part of this kit and I didn't really feel like trying to scratch one. So the lower heater hose will connect to the lower side of the water pump behind the fuel pump.

I am also having an issue with the orange paint. New bottle, Testors Gloss Orange. Even thinned and putting on multiple light coats, it wants to pool and thicken. I think I've put on maybe 6 or 7 coats. I still need to tidy up the trim on the air cleaner and I'm thinking of adding a few nuts from a StuG tank to act as the wing nuts on the cleaner.

I drilled the hole for the upper radiator hose.  And used a jewelry beads guards cut in half to help make a stable connection for the hoses. Then to that, I added hose clamps.

 

Clamp on the radiator hose with bead guard inserted. Toothpick for scale.

 All in all, there's a bit more work to do on the motor as well as the interior. I haven't even bothered with the body yet, but it is primed. 

 I also noticed that there were no fan blades on the sprues, so I am going to have to dig into my parts boxes and find one. I was going to use the metal fan that came in the dress up kit, but once together, it's as big as the tires. 

 

 As for an update on my brothers build, he hasn't started it yet. He says he'll be done this weekend to start on it. This gonna be fun!!

 

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AMT 1970 Challenger R/T - USPS Tin Boxing

 This is the car I am going to build for the '26 model show. I bought it, mainly because it was the last tin boxed kit HL had, plus the fact I kept passing it buy when I would go to the store. The more I thought about it, I wanted to build it out. After persuading (bribing) my brother to try to build one for the show, I decided I'm going well outside my comfort zone for a auto build.

I did settle on Purple. So it will be painted with a combination of Createx's Pearlized Plum Purple and a few drops of Candy Blood Red. After some thought, I decided to go black and purple for decals and highlights. Mixed with the red, the purple is actually dark, with a tiny tint of green, depending on the light. Almost a natural color shift.

I mixed up a bit of paint, one just the purple and the other the purple and red. Sprayed a few spoons. Two with Mr. Surfacer Black and the other two gray.

 The top one is the purple and red over black (car color), second one is purple and red over gray. Where as the third one is straight purple over black and the last is purple over gray. 

 But it isn't just about the painting, I've decided with building the armor and using PE, that I need to really build out. I ended up picking up from the Model Garage, a set of PE challenger upgrades, along with some battery cables and pre-wired distributor from Hobbylinc.

 

    Oddly, this kit didn't come with a convertible cover, just the detached hardtop. Thankfully, a fellow modeler on the book of face had a spare or two that has sent me free. There's still a few things I am trying to find or figure out building. But I figure with the battery wires, extra heater hoses, plug wires and photo etch, I should have a great start on a show build.

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On This Episode of "It's Only Plastic, What's The Worse That Can Happen?"

 This has been a really messed up year. With losing my wife in early summer, going through changes at work and trying to find myself. It's had a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of thinking and wondering and many nights of not caring. But through everything, I tried to stay building something to keep from going truly insane.

I did spend a bit of cash back in June at the model show, so I have some things to build. Spending time at Eric's working on my first ever plane to building at my kitchen table, I've slowly stayed going.

Finished up a pair of siblings to a bit ago. 

AMT '25 Ford T 

AMT '25 Ford T Chopped

I stopped by HL a few weeks ago to what they had. Ended up grabbing the '70 Challenger R/T USPS Tin box. Kind of think I really bought it because I like the packaging. Looking through the paint, I decided on Createx's Pearl Plum. 

This will be my auto build for the 2026 model show. I have a few more pieces I need to pick up, but I think I will start with testing the paints. I've learned a lot working on armor and other things. I want to try to level up my builds beyond box stock.

Which leads me to the second art of this post. Back in the late 80's early 90's, my brother and I built a lot. Mainly NASCAR but the occasional monster truck or classic car. At one point, we had so many cars we built replica tracks in the basement using a slot car tracks and cereal box fences, signs, stands, etc.. 

I talked (bribed more like it) him into doing another build. I even bought him the kit he wanted. He has until January to complete it for the show. The rules are simple;

- He has to build it himself, no help from anyone.

- Show up and register at the show.

I did give him a list of steps to do, a few tools I had extras of.  Thing is, he doesn't have the patience. I told him I would give him $100 if his build placed. There's five chances at this. Best in Show, Best in Class, Bronze, Silver and Gold.

Things have come along way since we built kits back in the day and building for a show is a whole lot different than a weekend slap paint on it and call it done build. SO, Is he up for the challenge? Will his patience wear thin and plastic flies across the room? Will he give up?

Stay tuned for the next episode of "It's Only Plastic, What's The Worse That Can Happen?"

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1925 Chopped Model T

 This is the first completed built started this year. I needed something to do this weekend since it would have been my 22nd anniversary. 

I wasn't doing anything special, but just needed to get building again. Yeah, I'm working on a plane, however that is for build days over at Eric's.

  I started by stripping the chrome tree in oven cleaner. It's the only thing I found that removes the chrome plating. However, it leaves behind a yellowish, shiny tint. But for what I am doing, that's fine.

 

Really wasn't sure how I was going to proceed. I just knew that I wanted to add a little extra, so I broke out the photo etch from the Stug I built awhile back. I didn't wash the kit before painting, seems to have turned out okay.

Awhile back, I ran out of the black Mr. Surfacer primer in the glass bottle. I bought more, but this time in a can, as it was the only thing available. I tried to decant some into a small glass jar, but i made more a mess than anything. I really need to find another glass bottle of it.

 I took the PE from the Stug and added some bolts to the shifting linkage and a few other places. I added square plates to both sides of the carbs handles to the gas tank and a front plate on the frame. I also added hull mesh to the radiator since it had ejector pin marks that once sanded away, left bald spots in the fins.

 

After priming it, I broke out the Createx paints. I didn't want shiny and I didn't want a rust bucket. Something in between that has the possibilities of still being worked on. I opted for a Pearl Black and  Burnt Umber combo. 

I decanted a bit of the Testors Gloss Black  and sprayed the chrome pieces. I followed that up with AK Interactives Extreme Chrome in a few light coats. To me, it gives it a more realistic look than the plastic coating. Plus, the sprue trees and massive hunks of plastic connected to the chrome bits, and I really didn't want to sand and shave and putty.

While the chrome dried, I painted the body, followed by the rims and seats.  This gave the body enough time to dry to mask the roof off, since it was to be Burnt Umber as well.

I let it dry over night and began working on the engine. I used Testors Enamels for this. Keeping the majority of the black flat coat from the primer.  Parts of the engine were also painted using Vallejo Acrylics. Followed this up by painting small things like the fire extinguisher, adding a bit if detail using panel liner to the engine. Finishing up the gas tank.

 

Starting assembly, things went together fairly decent. With the exception on the body to the chassis. It was such a tight fit, I had to remove the roll bar because no matter how I tried, the body kept wanting to rip it out. I also added a custom shifter from another kit for a bit more personalization and moved the fire extinguisher to the floor next to the shifter.

Though I pre-drilled the axle holes, I had to go back and re-drill them to clear them of dried paint.  Once the wheels were, I began final assembly. The windows were a very tight fit as well. I ended up cutting them in half so I could get them properly installed.

 

 Knowing how the struggle was going to be with the body, I opted to wait before adding anything else. Once the body was on, I was able to add the exhaust pipes, shifting linkage, etc. 

 Wasn't keen on the included decals, even went through my box of extra decals and didn't find much I liked. So I did opt for the skull set. Which in away turned out, because the name is faded but the rest remain. 

But with all of that, I still have a few touch ups to do to the shocks. Might added a few more PE parts painting them either in brass or copper. I kind of look forward to build the stock Model T from this it as well.

But with that, here is the weekend build, where Ford met a German tank.

 With the Pearl Black over black primer, I still get the "pearl look," but it's dulled down. And the Burnt Umber was a good second choice of color for a slightly shade variance. 

There as no sanding parts, other than removing flash. No clear coat or scratch remover. Just plastic and paint.

 

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Hasegawa Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero Fighter (Zeke) Type 21

 The Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero Type 21 is a first for me, as it's the first plane I've ever built. Spent about 5 hours over at Eric's for a build day. He was able to accomplish more on his build than I, since I was fighting PE, even losing a few microscopic model sacrifices.

 

I am not building this as a show piece, but I am also not building this to historically accurate either. I just need to get my hands wet with this type of kit.

So far, The cockpit is almost complete with some extra PE and the fuselage is together with tape. Everything but the resin seat sits the way it should. After painting, I will glue in the cockpit PE.

 

 

 

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That's A Wrap

This weekend finished off on a good note.  First, I ended up buying a new car. Actually my first ever "new" car. Mine has been down for about 6 months and costing way more than it's worth to fix and my wife's car started having issues. I went as cheap as I could, but still got a decent car that I like.

Secondly, the Chattanooga Model on was this weekend. I had a mission this weekend. Take the Thunderbird one last time and show off first time builds. At the end of the day, I was surprised and ecstatic. I showed up and got registered around 9:30 and there were already about 100 entries across of the classes. I knew this was going to be a long day.

After walking and walking all the vendors, I spent more than I wanted to. However, I was looking for deals. Oddly, there was little supplies. A few here and there, other than Squadron Hobby who is headquartered about 45 min away. They had a good amount of their own acrylic paints. 

In the end, I ended up with a good stash of auto's, armor and figures. Only thing not purchased yesterday are the 5 cars on the left and the King Tiger on the lower left. 

The wife's Thunderbird took a Bronze finish last year. The judges stated that it wasn't shiny enough. So as I gathered everything friday night, I took out the wax, sprayed a dab on a cloth and wiped it down. Needless to say, maybe it's what was needed. This year it took a gold placing in the automotive category. It is a complete box stock build other than the custom plate decal that reflects the wife.

Two Gold finishes

Gold and Bronze awards

As planned, the car will sit in it's display case with both awards. I broke down when I got home, because she wasn't here to see this. 

The Lost Germans diorama was a first for me. It took a gold finish in the Diorama class. The judges stated that there was good attention to detail. I was thrilled about this because I really had no idea how I was going to do it, even after watching a load of videos. And figure painting still isn't a strong suit for me.

Both my tanks, the first one I ever built, the Panzer IV Late model and the Panther Late model took silvers. Oddly, there was no feedback on the Panzer IV, but it's fine. Both judges took points off the Panther for a few semi deep scratches on the front from when I was applying the weathering and the right drive wheel was a tad out of alignment. Both stated the camo was spot on and there was good attention to details.

Both tanks took a Silver finish

Panzer IV Late Model

Lost Germans diorama

Panther Late Model 

The Panther will be part of a diorama, since that what it was built for. I just wanted to show it off for now, get feedback, etc. The amount of builds was amazing. The paint jobs, even in the JR. class was superb. I agree with the judges, that I wish there had been more JR. class builds, but they knocked it out. 

Plans for the future? A lot. I still have to build a diorama for the Panther. I've researched it all, now it's time to build. Rebuild the Thunderbird. The goal is to rebuild the bird, same colors, etc, however adding all the wires and hoses. Using photo etch for handles and knobs, etc. The way it should look from the factory floor. 

I also have childhood dream build that I want to do, based on a stunt show I used to go to every year as a kid. And I want to try my hand at scratch building with a custom diorama based on an Italian cafe from a screen capture from a WW2 video game, which will be A LOT of firsts for me in it's construction. And I plan on building my first ever airplane. 

It's going to be a bit difficult as I get back into building, because my wife isn't here to show off my stuff, get input, etc. But my builds can and only will get better. If my eyesight doesn't go first. 

Here's a link to all the photos from this years Modelcon. Enjoy!

2025 Chattanooga Modelcon

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