I had a chance to buy a couple of vintage MPC kits off Ebay--MPC 1-7506, '75 Vette Roadster. This is before the ERTL days or whatever, and I remember back as a kid, MPC was "way cool"--they always made stuff that had the right look. Now that I bought these vintage MPC kits it means they will be reissued soon right?
Getting right down to work: body time. I love the lines on the 1:1 Vettes with this later body style. The front bumper assembly on the kit didn't fit quite right, but I am hammering it into place.
Besides getting rid of mold lines and all the usual steps, I disliked how MPC mastered the front grill for the model--just a blob of chrome with none of the European-looking refinement. Let's fix that....
Using the back end of a #11 blade I cut out the offensive inner facades of the one-piece front bumper assembly.
Tricky work, because the entire front bumper piece doesn't fit on the body that well to begin with and is pretty fragile.....after both inner panels were removed, I replaced them with blanks made from .010 styrene. Looking better already.
The actual mesh for the grillwork is presenting a challenge. Nothing is available in the aftermarket I can find for this, so I am trying to modify some leftover photoetch from an old GTO build. The guitar pick is in there to give you an idea of how tiny this work is, at 1:25 scale.
The other thing I didn't like was the vent in the top of the dash, so I found a more suitable vent on an Avanti kit from the parts bin....
I cast the vent in resin, and then cut it into the dash. I didn't quite center it right, but after some sanding it's probably going to be OK. I am still somewhat of a beginner, so this is as much about learning technique as anything else.
And of course! You have to get rid of the "1975" license plates....many kits that were derived from promos seem to have the year stamped on the plate, which obviously isn't realistic. Poof--sanded off--gone. Are we ready for paint yet?
3 comments:
I have really enjoyed reading your blog! and was wondering where you got or how you made those awseome holders for painting the body's and small parts. It looks like they spin as well. I just built a spray booth and need somthing cool like you have to complete the project and make life a lot easier!
Thanks for your input in advance!
Hi Jason
I am glad you like the blog! The parts holders is an idea I stole from the guy who always writes for "Scale Auto", Clay Kemp:
--Go to Harbor Freight and buy a baggie full of small alligator clips.
--Get a bunch of brass rods (buy brass stock and cut them into say 4 inch pieces, using a dremel cutting tool or metal saw
--Solder the rods to the clips
--Stick the clips into hard styrofoam--the kind you get in electronics packaging for instance.
--Paint!
BTW, another Clay trick: using just a tiny bit of styrene glue, CA, or white glue, temporarily glue some styrene rod, or whatever you have lying around, to a bit of the part you're painting that no one will ever see. Then clip that to the alligator clip, which goes into the foam. That way, you won't have a bit of the part unpainted because it was clipped. When you are completely done with the part (painted, detailed, BMF'd, etc) break or cut the rod off the part.
This was a great tip from Scale Auto and I might do a blog just about it--it has radically changed the way I paint and handle parts.
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