PAGE 3 ALL FINISHED! "Checkered Past" Rusty Impala vignette

Modeling Subjects Autos
1

Hi guys,

Well, it’s time for another junker. This particular project comes from a real-life experience and car. Lemme explain.

If you saw my thread about the '34 modified race car that took me 9 time and one body ruined to finish, you’ll remember that it was a fond “tribute” so to speak, to an old quarter-mile dirt track that I used to go to as a kid, but that has long since closed. Well, this past winter, Jenn and I took a trip up to Moc-A-Tek Speedway in Pennsylvania to see what was left of it–it is remarkably still there, and fairly intact.

Anyway, as the main gate was closed, we had to go in “the back way” (through the woods) and we came upon this old modified stocker–an old Impala that had been raced at one time. The hood scoop wasn’t stock; it had racing tires, and unbelievably someone had put the '63 shell over a '64 interior! The engine was gone, of course, but it remained there, a mute testimony to good times gone past.

First, here’s some looks at the car;

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/1963ChevyImpalaSSatMok-A-Tek.jpg)

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/1963ChevyImpalaSSatMok-A-Tek4.jpg)

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/1963ChevyImpalaSSatMok-A-Tek3.jpg)

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/1963ChevyImpalaSSatMok-A-Tek7.jpg)

Pretty roached, huh? So the first thing I had to do was to procure two kits to put together. Luckily, Revell makes both! I hoped that this would make the “squeeze” a little easier. Hmmmm…lesson #1–NEVER ASSUME!

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/100_7325.jpg)

First, the two kits are completely different in the way the tub and floorpan fit;

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/100_7328.jpg)

I wound ip having to cut the front off both, and join the 63 transmission hump to the 64 floorpan.

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/April10thupdate1.jpg)

When I tried to mate some spare “Goodyear” tires instead of the stock whitewall-type tires, I got this mismatch–the tires wouldn’t fit.

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/100_7383.jpg)

I had to fix that, and got a good sit by using a Dremel to ground down the hubs. I also cut out the hood for the scoop, and used a scoop sent by a friend from a '49 Ford kit.

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/100_7349.jpg)

The grille was just too heavy-looking, and too much work to make usable. I used a Detail Master 64 Impala PE set to fashion a new grille.

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/100_7356.jpg)

I had to detach the grille from the bumper; I also then removed the individual light sockets from the plastic frame.

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/100_7362.jpg)

…and then carefully cut those in half, joining the two halves around the PE frame. In #1 you can see that they wouldn’t have fit without this mod–they would sit too high in the PE frame.

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/100_7366.jpg)

The seats needed some aging. I cut into the seat with a razor saw, opened up the cut with a #11, and used BMF to simulate the ripped fabric.

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/April10thupdate2.jpg)

The car’s carpets have been pulled up near the tranny hump, exposing red primer. I painted this with a Tamiya mixture, and used lead foil to simulate the ripped-up carpet. Then, the floor was “flocked” with embossing powder (THANKS JTRACING!) and then MIG “502 Abteilung” oils were used to tint and paint the piece.

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/April10thupdate15.jpg)

The “bottom” of the “carpet” was coated with Squadron White putty–this would be “cracked” later to simulate the degraded insulation underneath the carpet. Note too, the ripped seats.

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/April10thupdate16.jpg)

The interior pieces. I cut out the glove compartment, and fashioned an inside. The door panels have BF trim, and Detail Master door handles set upon styrene posts.The interior of the steering wheel was also hollowed out.

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/April10thupdate17.jpg)

Compare the finished interior with the above photo. The insulation has been painted, and I noticed that the console had been ripped out as well in the real car, so with a pair of channel-lock pliers, I did the same. MIG weathering pigments were used to rust that area, and a Dremel used to open a hole for the shift linkage.

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/April10thupdate19.jpg)

Now, getting to the exterior–I had to plan how to portray that degraded finish. There was a lot of cracking and fracturing of the paint, with gray primer showing through beneath, and of course, the rust. I decided to use the hair spray method.

Once again, I called upon my old lover, Aqua Net Extra Super Hold, to assist me. I mixed up an appropriate dark rust color from Tamiya Red-Brown, Orange, and Black, with some added Tamiya Clear to give a glossy shine to the paint. Tamiya “Clear” is NOT a “clear gloss” that you can spray over a finish! If you do that, it will fog and ruin your finish! In this photo, the car has been sprayed with the color, then sprayed with some hair spray, and pieces of tape used to block off areas that I know I will want exposed This also helps to facilitate the passage of water into the hair spray underneath the next color coat, As the hair spray is easily water-soluble, the hair sray dissolves and carries away the top layer of paint.

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/April10thupdate3.jpg)

Next, the model was painted with a mix of Tamiya White + Black, both gloss colors. The tape was removed, and then a swath of water put on the exposed rust/hair spray and left to sit for a few minutes.

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/April10thupdate4.jpg)

Using short and stiff-bristled brushes as well as toothpicks, I started removing paint where I wanted the rust to be prominent.

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/April10thupdate5.jpg)

I then used some MIG “602 Abteilung” oils to play up the rust color to a lighter shade.

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/April10thupdate6.jpg)

OK, fast forward a bit…the model was then sealed–yes, sealed!–(I RARELY EVER use sealing coats!) using some Testor’s Gloss. Why gloss? Because again, the gloss helps the next layer of paint slide off the dissolving hair spray easier. I then used some MicroMask to cover the rusted parts, instead of the tape, which is rather imprecise. Then, another generous coat of hair spray. The model then got a few coats of Model Master acrylic Flat White. I used MM acrylic, because it’s not as “toothy” as Tamiya, which is actually a form of acrylic/lacquer.

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/April10thupdate7.jpg)

And then, this wonderful “accident” happened–I used a hair dryer to speed up the drying time (it was a somewhat humid day) and the paint crackled and split in a most unexpectedly wonderful way!

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/April10thupdate8.jpg)

I’ll take it! The next step was to then weather and beat-up the finish as per the photo of the real car.

I used th Exacto, toothpicks, and even rough sandpaper to remove selected areas of paint, I used water to loosen the hair spray.

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/April10thupdate9.jpg)

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/April10thupdate10.jpg)

I then used some gray mixed oil paint to accentuate the degradation of white-into-gray.

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/April10thupdate11.jpg)

And the result so far…

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/April10thupdate14.jpg)

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/April10thupdate13.jpg)

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/63 Impala in the snow/April10thupdate12.jpg)

Well, that’s where I’m at for now. I’m currently working on BMF’ing the car, and still need to do the rust streaking and pigments. Plus a lot of small detailing. Hope you like it so far!

All critiques, observations, and comments are always welcomed and appreciated!

Karl the doog

2

Looking great Karl. I’m learning a lot from your builds. Utterly fantastic. [t$t]

Jim [cptn]

3

Oh,Man !

It pains me to see a car in that condition.

Great job on rusting plastic !

Makes me want to look under the model for rust flakes falling to the table.

4

Great work Karl, I fondly remember Aquanet… Not for this application though lol… That was when stock cars were stock cars. What track did you go to back then? In the 70’s with my first step dad (mom’s working on number 7 now lol) we hit alot in Pa./NJ/NY

John

5

Karl, you constantly amaze me how you can take plain old styrene and make it look like a 45 year old wreck.

6

Thanks, guys! Fox, Spruce-ce, and Bill–I do really appreciate your kind compliments! Glad you’re enjoying and learning from the build!

John; thanks, man!

Moc-a-Tek Speedway was up in Lakeville, Pa, on route 590, not far from Lake Wallenpaupack. It was an old dirt quarter-mile. run on Saturday nights. Here’s what the concourse and track looked like…

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/Model Cars/CopyofMoc-A-TekSpeedwayruins1.jpg)

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/Model Cars/CopyofMoc-A-TekSpeedwayruins10.jpg)

The first turn…

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/Model Cars/CopyofMoc-A-TekSpeedwayruins22.jpg)

Coming off the back stretch…bleachers in front…

!(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u244/heydoog/Model Cars/CopyofMoc-A-TekSpeedwayruins23.jpg)

Have you ever been there? It was a good time–rough, dirt racing, with always a good spill or two, and real nitty-gritty dueling on a small track!

7

“…the paint crackled and split in a most unexpectedly wonderful way”.

Man, even your goof ups turn into gold! Oh, how I hate you [;)] .

Seriously, this is some major nice looking work, as per usual.

I just wish Tamiya would do some current M/X bikes to compliment their crop of roadracers so we could see what you’d do with that.

Regards, PWB.

8

Unbelievable workmanship.

9

Karl, the solution to all of your problems here are easy…

Remember the armour?

That’s the vehicles that got glorified for the looks you present on this beast in this thread…

Please come home! [blkeye]

Forgot the adress?

It’s right here: /forums/3.aspx

I for one miss your armour builds a lot…

But that beside, absolutely fantastic, Karl! Just eyecandy all the way!

Cheers!

-Lasse [t$t]

10

An absolute wreck that looks so cool! Mighty fine work Karl!

11

Thanks, PWB! [:)] Yup. I have to say that I dind’t see that paint crackle coming–but it sure looks COOL!

I have been aching for some real dirt bikes for YEARS! I wish nearly ANYBODY would release some current, up-to-date models!

Ed, thanks for looking in and commenting!

Thanks, John–I appreciate ya looking in and leaving a [Y]!# Gotta say, Huxy–you made me laugh with that one! lol! Yeah, I feel guilty about not coming back sooner to Armor. I’m just onto a “new frontier” here, and learning a lot that will actually help me in Armor building. It’s like “Cross training”! I just am having fun with some cool cars that I’ve always wanted to have in my display case; problem was, I could never gloss paints to work, but now that I’ve kinda figured it out, I’m just catchin’ up on some cool vehicles that I always have admired.

DOn’t worry; I’ll get back to the treads soon enough. I just have to build a few more “shinys”. [:)]

12

outstanding work …please check out my 69 nova …needs work post…better photos

13

Karl, went there in the early 90’s my buddy Art Taylor ran there once in a while and I helped him out. Also in Pa been to Williamsgrove alot,Evergreen,Selingsgrove,Pocono Mt. Nazereth (both dirt and paved tracks) gotta be more I don’t recall.In NY I love Syracuse,Rolling Wheels, Middletown etc… one asphalt track on Long Island, Riverhead I love short track racing going Sat. night to Wall Stadium in Belmar NJ. 1st asphalt track I ever went to in like 76-77 or so(still own a Street Stock for there)

John

14

Awesome work! [:D[

15

You nailed it Karl. The decayed paint is super impressive. I think it is the sealing coat that allowed the white to crack like that. As paint dries it shrinks and if it doesn’t key into the lower layer it can crack like that…its sometimes called ductile cracking. People who “antique” furniture do the same thing…they apply acrylic paint over a layer of dried white glue (I’ve heard it called school glue) and it cracks beautifully.

The seats are phenomenal. The yellow foam is so evocative of old cars and a great detail. I didn’t know about the BMF technique and it gives great results. Its so cool how you can take your careful observations and incorporate them into your models. I’m really loving these cars you are building lately. Keep them coming.

16

John, that’s cool that you were at Moc-A-Tek! I wish now more than ever that it was still open so I could go there and actually root for someone who I knew!

Do you remember anything specifically about the track? What did you run–the stockers or a modified?

I still have an old program from there. I’ll have to look and see if your buddy was running in any of the races listed in there!

17

Thank for the compliment, James!

Narayan, thanks for the nice compliments! And I think you hit it right on the head about the paint cracking–I never knew that, but yes, it makes perfect sense, That seems to be the perfect explanation. I hurried up the drying of the paint and being that it was over gloss, it had no “bite” to speak of, and so it shrunk and contracted. “Ductile cracking”–yup; gotta file that term away for the future! Hey, you don’t mind if I quote you if this build ever makes it into article form, do you? [:D] lol!

I’m glad you like this style of building. Something about old, rotting cars just speaks to me, and I’m always on the lookout for them. This one was just a lucky find! [:)]

18

Doog,

Your work never ceases to amaze me, you are a genius and when it comes to weathering you are a master, i hope someday i can be as good as you. In fact your work inspires me to keep trying!

Darren

19

Hi, Karl sorry I don’t call over here too much, I will be calling in on this one more often and thats for sure. THat is just amazing work. I kinda missed you in armour but you are obviously happy wit your current project. Its a stunner and really this one is a true showcase for your skills as a modeller.

Terry.

20

Darren and Terry,

Thanks, guys! You make me blush! [:$]

You should know me by now, Terry-always trying to push myself to new frontiers and new standards of excellence in different genres. I think it helps to prevent me from getting bored with the hobby? I’m gald that you like what I’m doing!

And Darren, I’m pleased to know that I inspire you! I shall try to not let you down! [:)]