AMT 1/25th '40 Ford
As usual this took me far longer than it should have done, but then cars are only an occasional diversion for me so my building rate for them is even slower than it is for aircraft, if that's possible. Pretty damn slow in other words.... This kit is showing its age now; some of the moulding is not exactly crisp, especially the trim moulded on the sides of the hood. This was very poorly defined so when it came time for the Bare Metal foil trimwork I had to use a piece of acetate as a straightedge on the hood to prevent the knife from wandering all over the place which would not have made me a happy bunny.
There are three building choices in this kit: stock, custom or drag; and by "drag" I don't mean there's a small gingham dress amongst the optional parts. My preference always leans towards muscle cars so I picked the parts I liked best from each version to come up with this. I like the lowered stance that the dropped front end gives the car but I do have to wonder how you'd steer the damn thing without the tires rubbing on the fenders.
The body colour is Testors Modelmaster Burgundy which I picked up on a trip to Vancouver a couple of years ago. Testors products are impossible to acquire in the UK so I tend to stock up on them whenever I go back to the old country. Final clearcoat is Gunze and I used the two finest grades (8,000 & 12,000) of a Detail Master polishing kit to smooth out the paint job followed by a polish with Tamiya rubbing compound. It isn't that "miles deep" shine that's all the rage with dedicated car modellers these days but I don't have the patience for that and I'm not a big fan of that look anyway. Impressively flawless and shiny yes, but so many coats of paint are needed to prevent the polishing regime going right through to bare plastic that all the fine details (or in this case, the not-so-fine details) are competely obliterated.
As you can see by the slightly mangled radiator hose, my first attempt at braided hoses was not exactly a roaring success. I am quite happy with the throttle return spring I made from fine wire and the fan belt made from a strip of double-thickness masking tape painted black however.   I used a pre-wired distributor from Muscle Car Magic which was pretty good, though I think the wires are too thick. Braided hoses, fittings and photo etched alternator support & spark plug wire looms are from Detail Master, as is the turned aluminum coil which you can't see because it's hidden behind the right hand cylinder head. In case you're wondering, the battery wouldn't fit so it's in the trunk (boot), and I defy anyone to prove me wrong. :-)   This was also my first attempt at flocking and it was rather more successful than the braided hoses were. I intended going for a nostalgic look with the interior but I think I ended up with more of a 3-ring circus look. Mum always said no good would come of playing the clown.... The skull gearshift was an experiment. Was it possible to carve a reasonable facsimile of a skull from a 1/48th figure? The answer is no, not really, but I did end up with a rather nifty alien head shifter.
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