Zokusha Celica, Impala & Mark2 Update

Today is the day of the Bull, well at least for me it is. It's my 31'st birthday and I'm spending the first half at work...haha gotta make that money..lols So far, so good though. All 3 of my builds have some updates due on here.

First the Celica, it's the one that is coming close to getting done and hopefully before the weekend. I have clear coated, painted the window trims black, added decals to the body, painted the interior, chassis and wheels. I still need to make a muffler for the star and do some detail painting to the interor.

Second is the Impala. This one still has a ways to go but I have applied some BMF to the window trim, lower sills and wheel arches. I only have one picture of this one...so it's like a teaser. Although I have primered the chassis, frame and rear end and painted the some of the interior in a tan color.

Third is the Stanced Mark2. This one so far has been one of my favorite builds cause it's coming along pretty nice and it will be the first build to ever get a paint job with nail polish. So far I have worked on the front bumper(has been puttied since that last pic) and painted some of the suspension parts. The chassis has recieved its coat of paint. It's a teaser to my choice in color, it's called "apple mint" my wife thought it was a nice color and I thought so too. A color like this on a big ass 4 door sedan slammed to the floor should look sick, the only thing now is, what color should I do the interior?? typically it would be a tan color or even black..but I already have done several black interiors, might just go with a darker tan.

That's about it for now. I promise to take more pics of my progress as it's more than I am showing you here. Till next time.

Thanks for stopping by.

1967 Impala: It's Blue!

Alright, so let me run this down for you real quick. When I first got into building model cars it was due to the LowRider scene. I actually only completed one and the rest were either not done or turned into hoppers/dancers....So lets fast forward to 2012 and I'm at it again. Back to basics I guess.

I am using AMT's 67 Impala Super Sport. It's the "street machine" series with the bright yellow car on the box art. It's a pretty nice kit. Nicely detailed frame, chassis and interior. The only down side was the body details, the window trim was pretty much not there and some flaws on the body lines made it soft. The panel lines needed to be deepened to not lose them in the painting process. I spent about 10 hours on the body alone. Plenty of sanding and trimming, then some more sanding and well, trimming. After all that I primered it with some duplicolor sandable primer to find the scratches. After some more sanding I threw on some Tamiya fine gray primer and it was ready for some real paint. I used Testors one coat De Ja Blue and wet clear gloss right before we got rain, perfect timing. The hood on the other hand, well it's back to square one. I removed the putty that was in the rectangle shaped vent. It wasnt holding up well, it kept cracking. So I am going to fill it in with some styrene, should do the trick. The suspension is set up to be raked up on the front side. The rear is dialed in, but the front required a bit more work. I ended up making some tubular style upper control arms and adding a bit more length to the bottom control arm. I'ts not done, but ya kinda get the idea.

I hope to have more done tonight on the other Projects. You can see my MarkII and Celica peeking in that last pic.

Thanks for stopping by.

New Kits: 2012 Kick Off...

I have never shared (on here) any of the new kits that I add the my ever growing collection. I have enough kits to last me a couple of lifetimes. It's no 1000+ kits like I have seen others have nor should I really call it a collection since I do plan to build them. Lets call them my "Stash" I like to think of it as something to do for when I retire, even if that is no where near to happening... I am lucky to have a wife that accepts me for who I am, a styrene addict.. Now I dont splurge and pay up the ass for kits like my others do. I shop around and look for deals, sometimes I just happen to be in the right place at the right time. Some are rare and hard to find, so when a good deal pops up on them, I try to buy it.

It's been discussed on several forums at different times. Is it hoarding, collecting or an addiction?? You be the judge.

My wife got me this one. Weld MKII. Im a Toyota nut, so she knew I would like this one.

Italeri Volvo. Found this one at a swapmeet at a good deal. It has some decent details. I couldn't find much about it online, but I have a buddy working on getting me some intel about it. This one is screaming for a ground scrapping lowereing and some wide, deep offset wheels.

Aoshima AE86 LEVIN. These are a "must have" kits for the AE enthusiast. Great details inside and out. This one comes with Buddy Club P1 wheels and working suspension.

A Bandai CORONA MKII. Now this is a jem in my 1/20 scale finds. This one is brand new and complete. It comes with full engine detail, opening doors and trunk. I got this one from a forum member for a great deal. It still even has the original price tag. 1,200 yen...that would be around 15 bucks, man I wish I was around for that.

Picked this one and the civic from Pegasus Hobbies in Montclair at their montly meet.
My uncle had a chevy van when I was a kid. It did not look like this, but it was pretty nice either way. Im thinking J-tin support van... =)
AMT reissued this kit along with many others. I read great reviews on it and had to get one.

Tamiya Mugen Civic is a reissue. It's a kit I have wanted for quit sometime, but they were going for like 60+ on ebay. Good thing I waited. It's a must have for any race car enthusiast.

These next 5 kits I got from a fellow modeler. killer deal for these, again right place, right time.
Revell 62 Impala. Brand new and still sealed. Nothing real special about it, other than the fact that I got it for more than half the retail price. Low Rider anyone?? Will be the first in over a decade.

Aoshima Blitz R32 4door Skyline. I like this one a lot, especially the driver Ken Nomura. It's been started already, but it's complete. The paint job looks good and the decals have been applied already. All it really needs is clear coat. Am I going to finish whats been started?? I don't think so, but if I change my mind all credits will be appliled properly.

This Revell Golf kit is still intact and complete. Im no Euro guy, but after seeing Raess' Golf builds I felt like adding at least one to my display.

Now these 2 Intergras were out of the box and thrown into a zip lock bag. They are from Revell "Street Tuner" series. They seem to be complete as far as I can tell. One of them is started already, doesn't look too bad either. I had bought this kit when it first came out. I was pretty disappointed with it and well got rid of it, now I have 2...Hey, it was 2 for way more than half the retail price. But what to do, what to do?? Stance? HellaFlush? Drag?

So two things to think about. It's not the end of the month and you have not seen my collection, what comes to mind when you see this?? Hoarder or an addiction to styrene/plastic??

Thanks for stopping by. Stay tuned for "New Supplies: 2012" and a complete view of my stash.

Update: Ford Vicky has some paint

Well I have been a bit lazy lately. I havent been to the workdesk in a few days. we have a 3 day weekend coming up for Labor day and I certainly hope to get something done. whether it's to clean and organize my stuff or build some more?? hmmm, we'll see.

A couple of nights ago I did hit the desk for a bit. I decided to paint the body. now take into mind that this is not a rat rod or a show rod, so the paint might look a bit clean at the moment. it's all I really did.

First I laid some primer the night before. then I went ahead and sprayed some Tamiya Black(x-14) I like the Tamiy line, they are easy to use and dry quickly. so while it was drying, I grabbed my airbrush and some Alclad steel. shook it and pourd some into the jar. about 10 minutes later I shot the alclad. it came out pretty nice I think.

At the moment the paint looks like a metallic gray, but it's suppose to be the color of bare, raw steel before it gets hit with a grinder or sanding pad/disc.

Stay tuned for more, for the next update will have the body looking a bit weathered and some surface rust as well.

Thanks for stopping by.