At least, I think it’s been a 30 year project. I returned to model building late last year, starting with finishing this Fairlane 500.
Originally, it was all Testors and pretty much all the same color. I didn’t really like the monochromatic interior so I soaked it in 99% IPA for a few days which stripped it clean. I then repainted it with my newest airbrush and Kaleido paints. I didn’t like cleaning my Snap-on Blue Point siphon feed so I sprung for a GHAD-39 from Gaahleri for Christmas. So much nicer!
Days after finishing, the passenger door and rear bumper fell off (again) but that’s OK. I’ll just be careful when taking pictures and no one will be the wiser. I’m counting on you guys to not tell…
Well “Laser Mike” is appropriate on this interior for sure. Impressive detail painting and the color combination really smacks. The red…has a softness to it that catches my eye really well. I’d for sure like to know how you got the detail painted so well…it’s tiny stuff…I mean look at that dash and shifter! Hear that Mike? Yea, that’s me shaking my head…Thank-you for sharing your work.
While I’ve never been known for a laser like focus, those bits were actually pretty easy. The radio was done long ago but I suspect it was with a brush, the instruments were an attempt at dry brushing using a tiny foam tipped touch up brush. The shift lever bezel and door trim were done with a Molotow chrome pen and maybe another foam touch up brush.
My user name comes from the laser engraver sitting right behind me. An early customer called me lasermike and it stuck.
Thanks for posting this build, Mike. Nicely done! I really like your interior design choices here. I like that color combo and the modern racing style seats matching front and back, looks great. I’d like to see more. Thanks again.
Originally, the interior was monochrome and the same color as the exterior with the exception of the radio knobs and shifter. I think I did this in the era where monochrome and billet ruled, maybe in '93-96? When I dug this out of the attic this January, it really didn’t look that good anymore so I figured it needed at least two colors so I picked colors from my then new Kaelido paint sets and gave it a try. I really like the color combo too. The seats and interior bucket got a coat of their semi gloss varnish which I think gives it the right level of satin.
This was a bit of a glue bomb, I may have used Pactra odorless glue to put it together so I did have to do some disassembly and repair to get it to this state which is probably why the rear bumper fell of after completion. There just isn’t much structure left in some areas. I’ll have to give it another try and maybe add a bit of material to fill the gaps.
Thank you,
Tis good to be back. I’ve been building models since the late 60’s and shouldn’t have taken such a long break. With retirement looming, maybe I can catch up!
