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Bullitt - Phil and 'Icepick' Mike's Dodge Charger R/T - Finished


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Hi all,

 

Here is my attempt to get back in the swing of things:

 

The 68' Dodge Charger R/T from the 1968 movie 'Bullitt' staring 'Mr Cool' Steve Mc Queen, slimy Robert Vaughn and two nasty Mob hitmen and featuring THE seminal 'Car Chase' and a brilliant score by Lalo Schifrin.

 

48788242282_90a543c6c1_b.jpg

 

I had already made a limited start a while ago, but nothing more than stripping the chrome parts, washing all the parts and cleaning up the mold lines/sanding the body in preparation for primer and as you can see a few of the motor components have been assembled.

I have some Flocking powder to do the interior of both cars and some paint and lacquer on order for both this and the Mustang.

 

Such a cool car.

 

Cheers,

Mark.

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Own the Blue ray of this. I always ALWAYS crank the volume up on the surround sound and close 😑my eyes during the chase. I can pick out the scene in my head. And I can see the speed shifting McQueen’s 😎 doing in the Mustang. Still gives me chills to this day how good he was as a driver and actor. We’ll never see his kind again. 😪 RIP King of Kool ! 
 

Dennis

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Yes indeedy! the Mustang thread to follow soon. I too have the Blu-ray of Bullitt and it's still one of my favourite films, several parts of the soundtrack also feature prominently on my Spotify playlist, especially 'shifting gears' which is used in the build up to the car chase and when I'm about to undertake my evening commute although thankfully it normally ends in far less explosive a manner.

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  • MarkSH changed the title to Bullitt - Phil and 'Icepick' Mike's Dodge Charger R/T

This looks to be compulsory viewing for all Bullitt fans.... that must be 99% of the membership on here! Great choice(s) on what must be some very popular subjects. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

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Speaking of classic car movies, I dragged out the DVD of the original Gone in 60 Seconds yesterday (not that horrible remake...what was Angelina thinking!), was going to watch it last night but forgot. Might do it tonight or tomorrow I think. 

 

 

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Is Bullitt really 50 years old? OMG! I saw it at the cinema and fell instantly in love with the car and the noise. I have the title music on my mp3 player.

Somewhere on the tube is film of an original car being shown to mcQueens' Grand Daughter!

I found the below on IMDB

There were two Mustangs used for the movie Bullitt. They were identically prepped for the movie by Lee Brown owner of an exotic sports car body shop in LA. Lee and his crew put matching door dings and scratches in the two cars to give it that "used" look of a car belonging to a SFPD Detective. When the film wrapped the trucking company was told to return the cars to the place where they picked them up which was Lee's body shop in LA. Lee returned from lunch one day to see two completely trashed Mustangs sitting in the parking lot of his high end body shop that specialized in Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati. He called the studio and asked them to come get the cars. They offered to let him keep the cars for just a few dollars. He said he would push the cars out onto Sunset Blvd. if they did not come and get them. The studio picked them up and sold them. One car went back east and was a daily driver until it was parked in a barn and hidden away for over 30 years. The other car supposedly went to Mexico and recently turned up back in LA. 

The 'daily driver' was apparently used by a real SFPD officer who sold later it to a School teacher!

There is a 2018 film, 'Chasing Bullitt'

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6692926/?ref_=tttr_tr_tt

Looking forward to your build.

Pete

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Good morning Mark

Very good choice , Bullit is one of my favourite movie , McQueen is one of favourite actor and Mr Lalo Schiffrin is one of my favourite film music composer ...

So I will follow your build especially the Ford Mustang ..

All the best

Patrice

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Afternoon all,

 

I have finally managed to make a start on the Charger. As Scale Auto modelling is not my natural habitat I felt that it was a good idea to just follow the basic sequence of the instructions. The first task is to construct the engine, I did decide to add some lead wire ignition leads just to busy the whole thing up a bit. The engine block colour is my own mix so apologies if you feel its a little off, it was washed with a darker version of the main colour and then dry brushed with a lightened shade. The photos have shown me that I need to make a few touch ups to the pulley belts but otherwise good enough.

 

48896823288_7ce23557e6_b.jpg

 

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The only other bit of progress is the addition of the vinyl roof seams made from thin strips of plastic rod glued allowed to cure thoroughly, trimmed and then sanded to a flat profile.

 

48897556032_828c87b108_b.jpg

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

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Evening all,

 

A little more progress, I am continuing in sequence and the next step was assembling and detailing the interior:

 

48904783696_e090727466_b.jpg

 

I have had a go at doing the carpet with flocking and the result is surprisingly convincing, I used Humbrol satin black as a base and it's slight reflectivity shows through the flocking here and there. My reference photo for the interior had a very smart carpet footwell mat and seeing as there was a spare 'Charger R/T' decal I made one for the model. The central console wood effect is done with Burnt and Raw Sienna oils streaked over Tamiya Dark Yellow acrylic. 

A fair bit of dust and debris is showing up against the predominantly black of the interior in the photos so I need to make sure I deal with that before sealing it all up.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

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Well, I hope you got the firing order right on the plug leads?

Nice engine and interior. What are your plans for the lap belts?

If memory serves, they are seen fastening them.

Pete (Bullitt fan since it was first released!)

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8 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Well, I hope you got the firing order right on the plug leads?

Nice engine and interior. What are your plans for the lap belts?

If memory serves, they are seen fastening them.

The firing order! jeez it was as much as my eyesight could deal with just getting the leads in place!!

And yes you're right 'Phil' (Driver) fastens his seat belt just before the start of the chase proper, 'Mike' remains unfastened and eventually clambers into the back with his Winchester pump action shotgun. So Yes the seat belts will be installed and possibly a suitable firearm on the back seat if I can source one.

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I know that HGW sells seat belts in 1/24 scale and Shapeways 3D printing does 1/24 scale coach shotguns (side by side). I did find this white metal set. 
 

http://www.scalemates.com/kits/scale-production-sp24073-metal-weapons-diorama--968277

 

Or you could take a couple of pieces of plastic rod/tubing and carve a rear stock ?  

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20 hours ago, MarkSH said:

possibly a suitable firearm on the back seat if I can source one.

I know I have a 1/24th shotgun in a spares box. Probably from an old Police car model.

It may just be a pump action though. I'll have a look.

Pete 

 

BTW, Way back, when I built American car kit,s I did wire them to the firing order! My eyesight was better back then.

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Purely out of interest this is the type of shotgun featured in Bullitt:

 

48909939722_4d3c4f5c6a_c.jpg

Winchester Model 1897

I fancy having a go at scratching one if I have time.

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Well I had to have a go at the shotgun, couldn't resist once the idea wedged itself in my brain!.... it looks a tad chunky in mostly white, maybe some paint will help to reduce it's size visually still it was quite good fun, this is just the thing that gives me the modelling bug again.

 

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The real Winchester is about 39in. long but the Bullitt featured example was obviously sawn-off, it might make an acceptable back seat extra once painted. (obviously leaving it on the back seat is exactly what two seasoned mob hit-men would do whilst they are in the diner or the library or what ever mob hit-men do when they're off duty)

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I thought I might be able to make some decent progress this weekend but dealing with a very thick head after my Golf Club's presentation do last night has put paid to that!

 

However, I have got the main chassis and interior parts together:

49036949608_2aa995de8d_b.jpg

 

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The instructions call for assembly of the fan housing, radiator and front bulkhead prior to fitting and also after the body shell is fitted but there is nowhere near enough clearance to actually achieve this so the radiator and fan housing have been loose pre installed and the bulkhead will be fitted after the body has been fitted, talking of which...

 

…. I have primed and wet sanded the body shell:

49037669872_5021f18dcb_b.jpg

I have also tried to see how best to go about fitting the body shell and it looks as though a considerable amount of manipulation will be required to get it over the interior and chassis I hope the paint work will stand up to it!

 

I need to go and lie down now.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

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Hi all,

 

A little bit of work on the Charger body shell paint work:

 

49073518643_8e8eccc687_b.jpg

 

49074045161_fc09b1fd62_b.jpg

I used Humbrol rattle can gloss black - two mist coats and then two more solid applications, the finish isn't bad a very light texture, certainly wouldn't class it as orange peel and a couple of minor imperfections all to be wet sanded out prior to applying a clear coat. This won't be done until after it has cured for quite a while.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Afternoon all,

 

Managed to get some bits and pieces done on the Charger:

 

49137212082_bddc6ff41a_b.jpg

Lots of little bits ready, I'm prevaricating over trying to fit the body shell over the internals! The kit doesn't have the correct wheel/hub cap combination as shown in the movie so I am compromising by trimming down the central part of the wheel and the underside of the hub caps and leaving it at that, I know there should be at least six hub caps if I'm to be true to the film but what can you do!

 

49137016291_5b12d9be71_b.jpg

The front grille painted, as you can see the chrome effect (Vallejo metal colour chrome) isn't, well, chrome to be honest but I prefer it to the tacky looking chrome plating supplied in the kit,

 

49137016331_b5f794e154_b.jpg

Similarly the rear panel.....its true what they say about black painted cars showing up the dirt and dust!

 

49136525223_a531ca2180_b.jpg

….and the underside, although the steering components can't be secured until the body shell is in place, I'm just about to tackle the chrome trim around the body shell and the clear parts.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

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  • 1 month later...

Hello all,

 

Just been adding some of the little bits and pieces to the Charger I added a brass tube aerial. The kit is not supplied with any of the windows for the door or side rear (except the front quarter light) I think that's a shame as there is a prominent chrome divider that completes the look. If I were to do another one I would definitely try scratching one for each side:

 

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A few more bits, some decals and finishing off the chrome trim (I'm using a Molotow liquid chrome pen for that) plus a damn good going over with a tack cloth and some polish - never own a black car!

Cheers,

Mark

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