Revell’s 1971 Hemi ‘Cuda convertible

[Wolf]

I've been playing around with casting the tail light and reverse light assemblies. I found that I could pour the red section by itself, cure it with a UV light, and then pour the rest of the assembly in clear resin creating a complete red and clear light assembly. I then traced out the shape of the kit part on to thin styrene sheet and cut it out. This part was then covered in Bare Metal Foil to create a background reflector and then glued to the clear section with 5 minute epoxy. The raised ribs on each section were painted with a Molotow fine tipped chrome pen. First the clear red section was given a very thin top coat of Tamiya clear red to give it a bit more depth than just the red resin alone.

I also managed to clean up most of my work bench. That gave me space to actually paint something. I gathered up the pieces of Fireball's Rallye wheels and painted the steel wheel section with Testors Metallic Silver decanted from the spray can. Once dry I gave each wheel a coat of Pledge Shine (Future Floor Wax) to give them a shine just off dead flat. Each trim ring was painted with Tamiya's Gloss Black lacquer, also decanted from the spray can, and then sprayed with four very light coats of Alclad II Polished Aluminum. The wheel centre caps were painted with Gunze Mr. Metal Dark Iron. The centre cap was masked off and sprayed with Polished Aluminum as well. The fine edge along the circumference of each centre cap was painted with the Molotow chrome pen as were each of the wheel nuts. The assemblies have been dry fit into the tires as I still have to add the valve stems from the backside of each trim ring. Fireball's Rallye wheels are fantastic and well worth the price in my opinion. I still have to add the raised white lettering decals to each tire and that will come from Ray's Kits decal sheet.

Still lots to do but some progress has been made. Work, family, friends, and summer weather has kept me away from the bench so I'll take whatever progress I can get. Right?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
 

Cheers,    
Wolf 

 

Edited July 17, 2022 by Wolf

[1972coronet]

Tail lamps & back-up lamps look fantastique! 

The Fireball Rallye Wheels are lovely, aren't they? Joseph's wheels, hubcaps, and wheel covers are the absolute best.

Keep up the great work!

[espo]

Great looking taillights and backup lights. Realistic looking finishes on the wheels and tires. 

[Bills72sj]

I am enjoying the progress so far. The detailed rallys look great.

[Wolf]

15 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

Tail lamps & back-up lamps look fantastique! 

The Fireball Rallye Wheels are lovely, aren't they? Joseph's wheels, hubcaps, and wheel covers are the absolute best.

Keep up the great work!

Hi John,

Thanks for the comments regarding the tail light/reverse light assemblies. I thought I had good castings the first time around but found a couple of flaws when I went to paint the thin chrome trim. The 2nd time was the charm.

I was impressed with Joseph’s Rallye Wheels when I saw them on the Fireball website. Now even more so since cleaning them up and painting them. They really are beautiful pieces and go together perfectly. I’m extremely happy with having purchased them.

Cheers,     
Wolf

[Wolf]

10 hours ago, espo said:

Great looking taillights and backup lights. Realistic looking finishes on the wheels and tires. 

Thank-you David!

This was my first attempt at moulding and casting clear parts so it was a good learning experience. As for the wheels and tires, all credit goes to Joseph from Fireball Models, I just painted ‘em. ?

Cheers,    
Wolf

Edited July 18, 2022 by Wolf

[Wolf]

4 hours ago, Bills72sj said:

I am enjoying the progress so far. The detailed rallys look great.

Thank-you Bill.

I have to say I’m enjoying the progress so far myself. Surprisingly though there’s definitely a lot more work involved than I originally had anticipated. I suspect correcting (as much as possible) the inner fender walls and firewall are going to be the biggest challenge of this build.

Cheers,    
Wolf

[adamelvis]

Absolutely fantastic work on this build Wolf.  I also corrected the front headlights on my '71 Cuda project.

TCB,

Adam