I've seen that guy's Ebay listings. They frighten me.
I've seen that guy's Ebay listings. They frighten me.
Alright, I think I figured out the provenance of this kit. It's a Monogram, but a bit of a weird one. I can't remember seeing other Monogram "promo-like" kits like this off-hand. It has a detailed interior, but one-piece chassis, no opening hood, etc. It's this version, although they later made a racing version with cool bumpers and a rally version with extra lights on the front.
https://www.scalemates.com/kits/monogram-2103-midnight-capri-ii-s--267022
AMT made a model of this but with full engine detail and two engine options, I kinda wish I'd gotten that one, but it is what it is.
I gave up on saving the fingerprinted green paint and stripped it off. I will apply an appropriate parking lot style crappy spraycan paintjob. (I might be banned from the hotel if I did this in their real-life parking lot.)
Crappy paintjob failed (I tried to sand a rough edge while primer was still wet) so it won't be ready in time for the start of the real challenge tomorrow. But it'll be done before the end of the month.
The Probe, though, is done! Decals applied in the style of 2019's controversial "white vertical stripe" of logos, for reasons that made sense in my head.
Here's autocross mode. Tomorrow when the decals are dry and I can handle it more, I'll show off drag racing mode.
In reply to slowbird :
That's great. I had a paint problem this morning with the Volvo, so don't feel bad! I masked the gold so I could get nice straight lines for the side "rub rails" that Volvo loves to put on their cars. When I pulled the mask a lot of gold came off the lower body. The upper came off fine. Even the primer pulled, I must not have been clean enough, or I shot the primer too dry. Did get the tire trailer done, it came out well, and has spare Hoosier drag slicks for another competitor on board as well.
slowbird said:The Probe is almost done but I'm waiting for my own lazy self to overcome said laziness and get a file from the other computer onto this computer so I can add it to my custom decal sheet and print out the custom decals for this car. And reattach all the stuff that connects to the engine that came off when I separated the chassis and engine.
In the meantime, I was thinking of a doing another one. A last chance/parking lot build, so to speak. I needed something cheap, with character, potential, and lots of crustiness. After almost pulling the trigger on a 4x4 convertible Ford Fairlane junkyard project, and briefly considering both a Corvette/Jeep abomination and a Chevy Cavalier pickup truck conversion, I moved on to something slightly more realistic yet equally gross from the same seller. I present to you: The world's dustiest Mercury Capri II, minus one roof.
At least this one is less likely than the others to have huge ugly plastic sprues holding the chassis together, and the wheels on it are actually not terrible. I'll have to wash it thoroughly (and maybe wear a hazmat suit) but I think I can make this thing cool.
link to the seller?
In reply to solfly :
Here you go. They have lots of other stuff, but their built model kits are the most interesting.
This is the Jeepvette I mentioned:
He's like the model car version of Sid from Toy Story...
You guys are bringing it. I'm glad I sat this one out as I'd not have had the imagination displayed here.
I was thinking about a last minute build but I can't come up with anything. I'll watch from the sidelines and try harder in November.
ddavidv said:You guys are bringing it. I'm glad I sat this one out as I'd not have had the imagination displayed here.
Couldn't agree more!
I'll be waiting for November to see if I have anything that fits the theme.
solfly said:He's like the model car version of Sid from Toy Story...
Ha, that's a good comparison. I give him an A for creativity but an F for execution. Meanwhile, my refurbishment will be a C+ or B- I think. Just decent enough for the flaws to stand out.
Yesterday went all kinds of sideways, so here's the Probe in "low-drag for the drags" mode. Thanks to some help from our old friend Fun-tak, or blue-tak, or poster-tak or whatever people call it. I used it to attach the aero and still be removable. I also stuck a little on the wheel posts to hold the wheels on somewhat snugly without glue..
Those slicks are way too big honestly. I tried to "turn" them down with sandpaper, but it was going to take way too long.
Much paint touchup was needed where the factory spoiler had been glued down previously. I mixed up some blue and black craft paints to get something resembling the right shade, although it lacks the metallic element. Close enough for a race car, anyway.
Capri paint came out kinda bad, which I'm actually okay with for this situation. A real 20-footer, as they say.
Gluing the front valance on was rough. Paint touchup got more rough.
Weathered the underside, not too much, just enough for a well-used but not rusted-out old car.
Cut some tubing and made some sweet bargain-basement exhaust tips. Oh and the tail lights were clear plastic, but I forgot to mask them off before painting, so I just had to hand-paint them with silver and then red/white/orange. Came out alright, I think.
More to come.
I am so far behind. I need to finish prepping the body and shoot the flat black, then paint and assemble the drivtrain, then do the interior. Thankfully I got a bunch of great build pics from Stoyan and Dan. Hoping to get a file for the 3d printing of the tank fan exhaust assembly. Will not be done by the end of October. Like a lot of Challenge builds this one will have to make it's appearance at the next build! ;-)
The Volvo is done. Just as it would drive into the motel lot on Thursday evening. Not my best build, but it looks pretty good.
In reply to TurnerX19 :
That's cool. I love the trailer.
In reply to vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) :
The trailer is even registered to me, unlike most of the models I build. Run the tag on the Volvo and it comes back as "expired/1987 Jaguar XJ6".....
That Volvo looks great and the matching trailer gets extra concours points in my book!
I think I'm done with this one. Maybe one or two more decals. Wanted to keep it simple.
Arizona license plate, for possibly winning the long haul award. And the slightly better cover over the hole behind the seats.
Turner, where do you run the PA tag history?
In reply to ddavidv :
I guess you ask a cop. I pulled that tag off of the Jaguar that I was helping my neighbor part out, and I know it had been registered and inspected on that tag.
I forgot the MOST important detail of the Capri. Somehow or another the shift knob was broken off, whether long ago or in my ownership I don't know. I first thought of sticking a round knob on there, but how would I make a round knob? I could whittle one out of styrene, but that's annoying. Wait! I have a much better idea. One of those ridiculous tall stick-like things that show up on ebay and have presumably been targeted towards neon underglow enthusiasts. Like this:
Instead of the transparent bubble look, I went for something a little more tasteful. And by tasteful I mean metallic purple.
I sort of finished this loathe some thing.
The color isn't right and I lost one of the autocross wheels, but it's got drag mode at least.
Engine bay is almost done. I do like my turbo upgrade and intercooler pipes. Strut bar not as much.
This is how I fixed the glue streak.
I like the underside and the exhaust.
In reply to Javelin (Forum Supporter) :
Hey, not bad! I like the color, personally 
and the sweet graphics.
In reply to slowbird :
Thanks. I'm not sure what to do with this one when I'm done.
In reply to Javelin (Forum Supporter) :
I have put quite a few straight into Model Auto Wreckers to part out. Like an almost perfect Tamiya Jag 3.8Mk2 that got a glue streak on the inside of a side window at the last operation. It has donated a lot over the last 20 years to others.
In reply to Javelin (Forum Supporter) :
It's pretty close in wheelbase to the Revell IMSA Mustangs. Might be able to drop it over top of the tube chassis without too much cutting, if you want to totally redo it. You could keep the F2T and turn it longitudinally for RWD use. That's on my pipe dream list of ideas to do someday.
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