Spiny Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 Having finished the Countach, it's time to move onto the next project - Revell's 2009 Dodge Challenger. Given that I had the news today that I've been put on furlough, I think it's a fairly safe bet that this one is going to be completed in a short space of time (for me). The kit seems fairly typical really. It doesn't wow me like the Countach kit did, but equally, apart from the rear bumper and the fact that the pedals appear to have bent in the box, it doesn't have any obvious issues really. Painting got done towards the back end of last year, and it was a bit of a rush to get it done before winter in the end, but I made it and over winter got the panel lines washed and body polished. Tomorrow, I should get a start on the build proper, but in the meantime here's the story so far. The body itself seems pretty good apart from a very prominent mould line along each side and a couple of sink marks on the wing. The mould lines were sanded back, although they do seem to have left a slight hollow in a couple of places which are just visible after painting in the correct light. Forgot to take a photo of it in primer (but it was just plain white anyway), so this is jumping straight onto it with colour coat on. Being a metallic paint, I decided to attach the bumpers at an offset to try to get a similar shade to the body. Unfortunately I couldn't work out a good way of doing the same with the bonnet without leaving a mark somewhere noticeable. As this is proper car, rather than model, paint I'm hoping that the flakes aren't going to be too big. In real life, they aren't but I am conscious that in photos those flakes can sometimes grow massively. This one is with the clear lacquer applied - I'd forgotten how much of a difference this made to the finish Moving onto the interior & engine bay, this piece was finished in semi-gloss black as was the chassis. Masking was done by various types of masking tape and kitchen foil to enable me to colour coat the engine bay. And this was how it ended up ready for winter. Over winter, I applied black wash to the panel gaps, the blue tack being there to stop the wash running along where it wasn't wanted. Don't worry, those blobs of wash didn't stay there as they didn't survive the polishing. More polishing than I care to think about as I moved from 6000 through to 12,000 grit micromesh before applying Tamiya Fine and Finish polish. Apart from the final coat of wax, this is the end result for the paint. So that's the spray painting done. Time to start building... 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 Great colour choice, looking forward to watching this come together Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper645 Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 Holy cow, that polishing was worth it. What a difference it makes to the finish. good idea with the foil masking too, I may have to try that one, I tend to stick a spare rubber glove and a bit of tape to secure it over the parts not receiving paint. i hope this build turns out as well as your Lambo. 👍🏼 Coops 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted April 4, 2020 Author Share Posted April 4, 2020 I'd love it to turn out as good as the Countach, but while this appears at first glance to be a pretty good kit, I don't think it reaches the lofty standards Aoshima achieved with the Countach. As for the foil, I'm not sure if it's the best way, but my thinking was to minimise the amount of tape put on previous paintwork while also finding a material which wasn't going to risk being eaten by the paint as cling film might be. It seems to work pretty well, just have to make sure you tape up all the joins and keep checking that the tape isn't lifting between coats. I'd love to say that the colour was specially selected for the car, but in truth this was a can of spray paint for an old car, the can had been sat in the garage for about 10 years so I was looking for an excuse to use it. It was more a case of finding a car to match the colour rather than the more usual colour to match the car. Today I've made a start on the build (pics tomorrow), or more accurately I've removed some bits from the sprue and started painting them. As if there wasn't enough orange on the Countach, first thing on this one is an orange engine block... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy J Posted April 4, 2020 Share Posted April 4, 2020 Great colour choice and a nice gloss finish think I'll follow along 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted April 5, 2020 Share Posted April 5, 2020 A fine job on the body, looking forward to another one of your tidy builds. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted April 5, 2020 Author Share Posted April 5, 2020 The funny thing is that when I started modelling and looking around forums for tips, I kept seeing things about people having their own style but didn't really get what they meant. Now it seems I've settled into my own style - 'tidy' One thing I can't fault this model for is having a detailed engine - if I've counted right there's 19 pieces to it so this may take me a while. Started building yesterday. Actually that's a lie, I started painting parts yesterday but have barely stuck anything together. The two halves of the engine went together very well and lined up pretty much perfectly. I thought a run around with Tamiya Extra Thin and then sanding down when dry would give me a neat join without having to try filler and it worked.... right up until I put paint on it where the join reappeared in many placed. Fortunately, I think once all the auxillaries are on it won't be too visible. The other bits done so far have all bee quite simple apart from the usual suspect in the form of the serpentine belt. This one is a monster and took quite a bit of detail painting getting the black belt (sort of) right. Anyway, this is where I am at present, all ready to start assembly: Not the biggest update, but I'm more will be along before too long. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy J Posted April 5, 2020 Share Posted April 5, 2020 I agree that the serpentine belts are a pain to paint so last time I sprayed the whole thing black and then detail painted the silver. I found this easier to do however I still dislike painting them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted April 6, 2020 Author Share Posted April 6, 2020 I did try it that way around once, but my hand just wasn't steady enough to get a good edge between silver and black. If I can paint up to an angle I can usually get a decent edge, but if I have to paint over (as when painting the cogs after the belt) I usually end up with something incredibly wavy. It takes me longer, and is a pain to do, but I will suffer it for the result. In the meantime, I got those bits stuck together today. Once again, the close-up camera does not favours and introduces brush marks in the silver I hadn't noticed before., More engine parts have been painted, so I should get some more done at it tomorrow. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted April 8, 2020 Author Share Posted April 8, 2020 I had it all figured out - while on furlough not only could I get this build done in record time (for me at least), but with the good weather and no work for a while I could also get ahead by doing spraywork for the next few projects. And then today, I was in the garage and noticed a robin in the doorway. Lovely to see a robin at any time, and to see one at such close quarters was pretty special. Even more special was that it then flew up to the small ledge over the door and I noticed it's building a nest. "So what does that have to do with modelling?" I hear you ask. Well, the place where it's nest building is about 6 inches away from, and directly above, the outflow from the extract fan from my paint booth. I am not going to shoo the robins away, and neither do I want to poison them with paint fumes, so for a few weeks the paint booth is out of action until either the robins change their mind about nesting there or until any young fledge. Any painting will have to be done outside in the garden so if anyone has any tips for spraying I'm all ears. Back to the Challenger, and over the last couple of days I've made slow progress (decorating took up a bit too much time), but this morning I got the top end of the engine fitted. The intake manifold is a tad annoying as it has no fixing points whatsoever, and can slide back and forth along the top of the engine. In the end, I dry-fitted the left-hand coil pack+ rocker-cover which has an indent for the oil cap on the manifold and used that to line up the manifold. Not perfect, but I'm hoping it will do. With the engine complete, it was time to fit it into the chassis. This time it proved an easy job and went in smoothly. The radiator and top hose is currently being painted then it will be onto the interior. Thanks for watching. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 And good to see you are respecting wildlife in your area as well 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted April 9, 2020 Author Share Posted April 9, 2020 In a contest between a model and a nest of robins, the model doesn't stand a chance! A bit grainy, but this was as good as I could get with my phone. Tried painting outside today, it seemed to work ok so as long as the weather holds I may still get some more spraying done. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang1989 Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 This is looking great!!! These really are great looking cars. Just too many of 'em on the road. Like what you're doing with this car so far and looking forward to more. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted April 10, 2020 Author Share Posted April 10, 2020 Thanks. You might have too many on the roads over in the USA, but they're quite rare over here - I think the number I've seen would be in double figures, although one was a Hellcat so that might count twice They also look very large on British roads. Anyway, 'progress' such as it is... one of the things I'm noticing about the instructions, and particularly the painting instructions, is that while they're not wrong, they are quite simplified. the picture below shows the engine and radiator in the chassis exactly as the instructions would have it: Nothing wrong with that unless you're determined to start wiring up all the HT leads etc. which isn't really my bag, but the instructions also show the engine bay surround as being a mix of body colour and black. Now it struck me that it's an unusual car which has a black washer bottle, so I thought I'd look up the engine bay on Google, which is where I found that the 'HEMI 6.1' text isn't just moulded by also coloured. That had to be painted in situ. I've got the black done, but as usual the white is demanding more layers for complete coverage, probably two or three more, but this should give the picture. I dry fitted the interior/inner wing piece onto the chassis just to check and the fitment is fine - thought it worth grabbing a shot while it was on there. Good job this seems to fit ok, as it's mounted in the body before going onto the chassis and I didn't want any clashes to add more complications to that process. While that was going on, I've moved on the in interior. The centre console is mostly painted and just needs sticking together, and the front seats have had the two parts stuck together, the gap filled and sanded and now have all their paint on. Just need to decal them and they'll be ready to fit. It doesn't feel like much to show for two days, but things are moving on. Thanks for looking. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy J Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 Nice work the engine in particular looks great 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper645 Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 That engine bay is looking spectacular, it just so happens I was doing a little work outside this morning and a robin also fluttered around the garden, I had the camera with me as I was trying some different settings in order to try and improve my photography skills. Fortunately he wasn't nesting in the office. Could you extend the hose elsewhere for now? Maybe get another cheap one and run it to an alternative outlet so not disturb the little fellas? Picture of the little guy Looking forward to more progress soon. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted April 11, 2020 Author Share Posted April 11, 2020 23 hours ago, Cooper645 said: That engine bay is looking spectacular, it just so happens I was doing a little work outside this morning and a robin also fluttered around the garden, I had the camera with me as I was trying some different settings in order to try and improve my photography skills. Fortunately he wasn't nesting in the office. Could you extend the hose elsewhere for now? Maybe get another cheap one and run it to an alternative outlet so not disturb the little fellas? Picture of the little guy Looking forward to more progress soon. Friendly little chap you have there by the looks of it. Have to say that I love robins. Extending the extract hose should be the easiest thing in the world - it's only a 5m length of flexiduct stretched out to about 2m at the moment, with the end housing the fan and supported by a loop of string hanging from a nail in the roof joist just by the entrance door. The reason I say "should" is becuase the robins are building directly above the extract fan and their next overhangs the nail No pics today (will hopefully have some tomorrow), but it's been a Great Leap Backwards (to paraphrase Mao Tse Tung). First of all, I noticed that there seemed to be a moulded in texture to the central section of the seats. A bit of googling showed that the standard SRT8 seats appear to be leather with alcantara (or similar) centres, so I once again ignored the instructions (silk black) and recovered these areas with matt black. It doesn't stand out, and will probably be invisible once in the car, but looks better now. Another step back was the dashboard which has the pedals already included on the part. Trouble is, those pedals look as though they are quite exposed and the brake pedal on mine had got a bit twisted. A soak in hot tap water softened it enough for me to straighten the pedal, and a run under the cold tap seems to have set it straight. Thefinal step backwards concerns the wheels. I've been wondering about the chrome rims for a while, and yesterday came to the conclusion that the chrome was too bright. So I had this 'genius' idea to give them a clear coat to dull the shine a little. Unfortunately, the clear didn't seem to stick to the chrome and instead even the mistcoat ran down and collected at the bottom of the wheel. So into the bath of bleach they went... with no success at all - it seems that there must have been just enough paint on the wheels to protect the chrome from the bleach. So, an hour in IPA (I'm getting a bit low on that and for some strange reason there seems to be a shortage at the moment 😷) then back into the bleach and now the chrome is starting to shift. Four hours in and one wheel has dechromed fully and the others are on the way. Ideally I'd like to get the primer on tomorrow as I think this is going to be a rush job getting the wheels painted - hopefully a south-facing conservatory will act as a bit of an incubator and dry/cure the paint more quickly. Fingers crossed. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooper645 Posted April 12, 2020 Share Posted April 12, 2020 Sounds like you have a fair share of dramas there. I’m sure you will overcome the whole lot of them. The 2009 Dodge “Challenge”r is living up to its name. Coops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted April 12, 2020 Author Share Posted April 12, 2020 It is living up to its name, although to be fair to Revell many of the issues are of my own making (e.g. seats). However, it does seem to be one of those builds which, although it appears as if it will make a very nice model, is just lacking that last little bit to make it into a really good kit - a good design let down my a lack of TLC in the final stages of production in my opinion. The aforementioned pedal issue is more a packaging issue, but two things spring to mind which I've found so far. Neither is a breaking matter, just a little disappointing. The first is the plastic for the interior, and seats in particular, seems to have some mysterious small lumps in places, almost as if someone had been sanding some plastic down nearby as it came out of the mould and the dust has got onto the part. I've removed the worst offenders where i could, but where it's on a textured area, such as the cloth/alcantara part of the seat there's a limit to what can be done without removing the texture. The second is the instructions, which as also mentioned before seem to be very simplified in terms of calling out paint colour - the interior for example is all semi-gloss black. I thought I'd found another one today with the lettering for the engine mentioned above as not being in the instructions and me having to paint it on. Today, looking at the decal sheet I found 'Hemi' and 'Hemi 6.1' decals just as I'd painted and which aren't in the instruction manual. So I started to apply one, and found it was bigger than the moulded in text on the part See what I mean about a lack of TLC? Ultimately though, this is all nitpicking and there's nothing here which is insurmountable or even prevent the building of a perfectly good out of the box model. I certainly wouldn't discourage anyone from buying the kit. As for progress, it still feels slow but I am beginning to get there. First up, I added matt paint and decals to those front seats so they are now ready for install (I'll put the back seat in first to give more space to work with). I also for the centre console completed, and that did get fitted to the interior tub. I've also finished painting and decalling the engine bay part of the interior tub, so that's done bar the addition of other parts. I followined the instruction for semi-gloss black for the carpet despite usually using matt for carpets. The photo doesn't do it justice, and in real life it looks much less shiny and much better than it does here, The other job I've been on with is the wheels. Unfortunately, the Sainsbury's Basic bleach seems to have been a bit thin to really bite into the chrome, but adding a bit of Domestos did the trick and dechromed the face nicely. Next time I get bleach for stripping, I'll try the regular supermarket brand! After a rinse and dry, the wheels have had a coat of primer and are drying off now. In a few days I'll add the silver paint and hopefully they'll look a bit better. Other parts of the tub have had their semi-gloss black painted on now, so for those it's just a case of the other blacks I'll be using on them and the decals - there are loads on the dash... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codger Posted April 12, 2020 Share Posted April 12, 2020 Your usual diligent and careful work Spiny - always nice to see. But what impresses me most? - that cool jig with additional body bits attached so all the paint goes on evenly. And the tin foil masking. VERY professional. Of course a weirdo like me loves that stuff... Now just build bigger scales.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted April 12, 2020 Author Share Posted April 12, 2020 Thanks for the compliments, although I am a bit confused as to what you mean by 'jig'. Do you mean the small offcuts of barbecue skewers superglued inside the main body and bumpers so I could hang them off the body? Because that's literally all it was - four bits of skewer each about an inch long and superglued to the inside to get similar paint colour without having unpainted panel gaps. I'm alwasy happy to use a simple cheap method if I can get it to work for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codger Posted April 12, 2020 Share Posted April 12, 2020 1 hour ago, Spiny said: Thanks for the compliments, although I am a bit confused as to what you mean by 'jig'. Do you mean the small offcuts of barbecue skewers superglued inside the main body and bumpers so I could hang them off the body? Because that's literally all it was - four bits of skewer each about an inch long and superglued to the inside to get similar paint colour without having unpainted panel gaps. I'm alwasy happy to use a simple cheap method if I can get it to work for me. Hmmmmm.... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoolioPaulio Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 This is looking ace so far. Nice work on the engine, and I love the "choice" of colour you were forced into, looking forward to seeing this one get finished 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Posted April 14, 2020 Author Share Posted April 14, 2020 On 12/04/2020 at 23:26, Codger said: Hmmmmm.... [pic] Glad to see you are also a disciple of the skewers. I have to admit to not using the skewers when it comes to the main body instead having a home-built stand made up of bits lying around - a piece of MDF, offcuts of electrical cable, some blu-tack and masking tape (replaced today by gaffer tape since the paint was getting under it and starting to lift). This is it before I replaced the masking tape. Holes were drilled through the MDF so I could thread the cable through and then these are held in place underneath by tape. The blu-tack sits on the end of the cable to stop the copper scratching the body, and the cables can be bent into the corners of the car to hold it up for spraying. Very home-made, but it's done the job so far Anything non-body is done with the skewer and superglue method. 2 hours ago, HoolioPaulio said: This is looking ace so far. Nice work on the engine, and I love the "choice" of colour you were forced into, looking forward to seeing this one get finished Thanks. Glad you like it, the colour looked good (in my opinion) on a Nissan Almera, so I'm glad to see it finding favour here. Seems like it was a good way to use up a can. Given the current work situation, it's a good bet that this will be finished in much less time than my previous projects took. Speaking of building... as usual the interior can be a bit of a slow process, and with the number of decals on it that is certainly the case with this one. However, I've got all the decals on the dash done now, just the steering wheel to add (and that in itself has another five decals to fit on - with so many small decals in close proximity it's much safer to wait for one to set before moving onto the next one). Unusually for dashboard decals, these don't have great big edges of clear preventing them fitting into the binnacle, instead they fit straight in and it's just a case of lining them up horizontally so a big thimbs up to Revell here. I've also got the seats put into the interior now. Nothing really to say about them that I haven't said above, but once made up and decalled they fit straight in with no bother at all. Just got to get that steering wheel on the dashboard and I can finish off the interior. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codger Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 Spiny - I applaud your inventiveness! Anything to make work more professional-looking well worth the effort. And home-made bits: A. Are free, B. Use up a lot of junk. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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