1968 Plymouth Roadrunner COMPLETE 2-19-2017

Thanks Custom8. I too have issues with reading French so. (I actually can not read it at all!) BUT I use Google Translate, which helps a bunch!

I find if you right click on the sides of the screen, a little screen will pop up that says to "Translate to English" so for you it should say "Translate to French" to help you if your interested in reading.....

Well it has sure been a long time since I've worked on this one!!!!! I would LIKE to get this one dine before 2017.... BUT, in order to do that, I have to "work" on it, its not gonna finish itself! LOL
There really isn't much left ot do on this one, but me being me, I was stuck on a decal needed for the hoods edge, as well as the trunks edge! And I refused to go on without those decals! NOW however, I got those needed decals! So onto finishing this one we go.....
All this model needs to be completed, is the decals (as I mentioned) and clear coated over them and then the BMF added to the windows, and then final assembly! I also have some grille work to do (blackening) so.... BUT that shouldn't be too bad to do! SO, to get moving to the finish line, I got the "black" over the hood, as planned!




That looks KILLER! The red is polished right down ready for gloss clear coat!!!! The black was sprayed on "flat" and will be gloss coated with the rest of the hood! I think this is gonna look KILLER when done!


The underside.... I have to add the hood insulation, and then I THINK that line in the front of the hood that goes all the way across, is to be a rubber "seal-like" thing that makes contact with the real cars radiator core support..... (I for the life of me, can not remember what thats called!) BUT that needs painted black... as its a rubber-like stripe! I'm not going to worry about the line for cutting a hole in the hood on this one, As I'm gonna be adding some other details in here that are for "fresh-air" duct-work.... Should cover most, if not all of that recess.....
A little work but not impossible to do by the years end! (I'll be working on this one New Years Eve if I have too!)
Enjoy, more will come as I get things done! Thanks for looking, Comments always welcome ~Enjoy

Well its December 31, 2016.... AND I'm working on this model (I KNOW its not going to be "Completed" today), BUT I can say once I have the decals for it, it won't be long as I'm putting things together for that time so that its completion happens easily.
So with that, I revamped the Wiper motor, with a new "found" part within the kit, and then added the "Beep, Beep" horn, painted correctly & wired in, so I'm getting there! I also painted and got the decal on the air cleaner as well, (Waiting for that to dry to add another coat of decal set to that to make the decal "lay out flat"...

Shows no "Beep, Beep" horn in-place....

NEW chrome part found within kit, for the Wiper Motor.... Installed, NOT "wired" in yet!

Wiper Motor installed, chrome is dullcoated to look like Aluminum, motor in the housing painted Gloss Black, and wired in with the little blue wire that went to the last one!


A little better detail shots of the Wiper Motor details....


"Beep, Beep" Horn in-place, and wired in.... Looking really good!!!!! -I'm pretty pleased with how the under-hood details has turned out on this model! I'm actually excited to get this one done, as it will be the first Plymouth I've finished in decades!!!! LITERALLY!
And then last but not least for now:

The grille has all is black shadowing, and lens. I did the normal with the black shadowing work, and the lens, I made from Testors clear glass glue that doesn't "smear" just dropped into place and left to "pool" up and look like a lens right over the locations on the grille, (MIGHT get a second "Coat", not sure yet!)
Thats it for now everyone, thanks for following along and looking, as always comments welcome and enjoyed! -HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So in my last updating of this build, I got to add some more details under the hood, (NEW Wiper motor) and some other small things like the "Beep, Beep" horn, as well as wiring it in, and then a steering shaft, I also had the grille black shadowing done, and was working on the hood. The underside of the hood needed some attention, as well as some detailing painting to it. So with that, thats where I'll begin....
I took the hood and being a "Stock" kinda guy, I wanted the Roadrunner to have its under-hood insulation for vibration and sound as well as heat. (MOST Roadrunners this was either not ordered with the car, OR had been removed from the car (to lighten the car for racing), or in some cases later in years fell out and was never replaced. Anyway, in either of those scenarios, I choose to add it, like the car should have had from new, BUT could be ordered without, OR simply put, My car was the "basic" Family Guy cheap "muscle car".... SO then I added this to the underside of the car!

In that pic you'll see that I semi-filled in that recess for the hood to be cust for a hole and engine parts to come through, OR a BIG center mounted hood scoop to be placed! I filled that recess in and painted to what it matched to be on the hood, to attempt to hide it. Not as good as it could be, but being as far a long in the build and work on the hood that I was, I wasn't going back and literally "FILL IN" that areas with putty, or glue and baking soda, SO I just made a "band" filler pressed into place and CA glued along its edges! Once dry, painted to match the mating surfaces it touches.


Seen in the last pic is that sealer strip that on the 1:1 would "seal" the engine compartment to the top of the Radiator Core Support, painted flat black, to look like a rubber seal! For what it is, (I'm not exactly 100% happy with the recess job, BUT I can live with it how it is! SO, I'm good and this is how its gonna stay! (I AM NOT, however adding the "Ramcharger", for lack of that same things name by Plymouth) As my Roadrunner got the 383 4 barrel and NOT the Hemi, and besides the '68's the "Power Bulges" on the hood did NOT "operate" and would not till I believe 1969, till they were replaced in late year refinements to the "Air Grabber" seen mostly on the 1970 Roadrunner!
Stay tuned, more to follow!

More thats been done, not thats been "A LOT" but a little is always better then nothing at all, this model is really close to being completed. Sadly, in the end of any build (I have found) its always a lot of little things, little "added" things, light lens, license plate decals, etc. -All while the body is getting finished up (Yep I'm waiting for Clear Gloss Lacquer to dry!) So doing as much as I can, to get the parts ready to be put onto it, when it is finally "done" with the finish on the body! SO, with that I got to choosing what License plate the car would get, (The kit comes with 4 choices) and the "Hemi" one is not going on this car (I have a better car for that one!) besides the car doesn't even have a Hemi in it! But there were 3 others to choose from and with that, I picked the "1968" one with the red heart.... Figured this one, thats a pretty good plate for it.
Sadly, I found "test fitting" or well "dry fitting" the plate, on the back was "OK" but the front one, well there was no real way to put it, as a "decal" and that lead me to make my own license plate "backing plates" to add the decal too.... Just thin .020 of an inch thick sheet styrene cut to fit the decal and fitted to fit the location. (the front area is more narrow side-to-side then the rear bumper area is! SO to have to be careful on its assembly and all with that. So there is a "front" and a "rear" plate once on the backing plates! And me being, well me, I can't just cut the decal out out and white glue it to the bumpers, they have to become literal parts of the car, (I don't like parts falling off my models over time even being protected!)

The license plates look really good! I'm pleased with how that all turned out!

Then I've went and gone to painting in the Turn Signals in the front bumper. That looks great over the chrome! This little extra looks great too! -I will be taking a soft Q-Tip to lightly polish the chrome once the bumpers are on the car! I left a few finger prints on it, NOTY paint, and not glue.... So should easily wipe off.
Then, the last thing I worked on was the tail lights! They needed a little work, and still need a little bit. BUT I got the taillight red painted over the Chrome, as well as the flat black shadowing it needed!

I have a little more to "clean-up" on it as the flat black needs to have a little removed from the chrome trim lip between the red lens and the black shadowing. I see some more black that needs removed! But, it looks good for what more needs done!
Thats all I've gotten done on this kit, (I'm getting ready) to begin painting the gloss clear coat on the Hood! Stay tuned for those following along this build, I'll be posting pics of the body as soon soon as I can "handle it" from being clear coated!
Thanks for following along! Comments always welcome & encouraged! ~ENJOY

Well a little further on this one (the body and hood sit in wait for a chance of another coat of Gloss Lacquer Clear Coat to be applied currently) SO I thought while I was waiting for things to dry on another build, I'd see what "little things" this one could use to be done to have waiting for when it came its turn!
The one thing I had waited on in finishing was the Air Cleaner... -I did not get the "proper" air cleaner decal, BUT I did get something close and I THINK I added just enough "Roadrunner" to it to make it "passable"! Thats not to say I won't go back later on and give it the correct "pie-tin" decal, if I get one, as I made the air cleaner removable from the model! (I do that on almost all of my builds!) But, if not I'm good with how its currently done too!

I made that air cleaner too! From what I have had and those I've used as well as knowing whats all out there for "stock" air cleaners for a 383 Roadrunner engine, nothing was even close to the actual part in looks! SO, it was turned on my Unimat lathe, with all the proper contours (or VERY close to), and made a tad bit "higher" as they were on the 383 Roadrunner engines, and then got painted as close as I could get it to be to resemble that of the real thing. Then once dry, The Pie-Tin area got gloss coated to seal on the decals, and the air cleaner itself got flat "dullcoted", as per the real thing, or what I've seen and remember seeing in the garage. The only "detail" left under the hood now is the PCV hose from the valve in the valve cover, to the air cleaner. Thats yet to come!
This is all I've gotten done on this build but there WILL be some more to follow! As I need to get the hood and the body in the spray booth for hopefully the last coat of gloss Lacquer Clear Coat!
Thats all for now folks! More will come as I get closer to the finish line! Comments always welcome too, ~ENJOY

I've finally got the clear coat done on the body! SO I got right to polishing it up a bit, and getting it ready for the grille and tail light parts as well as bumpers, and such as this model NOW only needs BMF, window glass, tail lights, bumpers, interior roof liner painted to match the rest of the interior, and assembled! The frame is DONE, the interior is DONE, most of the details are ALL in place! SO there actually is very little left to do to this one before its completed!!!! So with that, I thought I'd give a little background on the body work, and the things needing done yet and then go right to the pics of the nice bright Red paint job! (Goes somewhere between PP-1 Matador Red and E-5 Rallye Red)....




All these taken WITH my shops general overhead lighting as well as my work bench lighting AND my Camera flash!
Then you got these:



These were taken with no camera flash but the use of my bench lighting and overhead lighting!

NO camera flash, no bench lighting, and only overhead lighting!
I'm absolutely AMAZED at that finish! It looks GREAT! So with that, I got right to adding chrome parts....

The grille is in-place and there to stay! The BMF is coming tho!
Thanks for looking & following along on yet another build of mine! This one is SO CLOSE done! Stay tuned! Comments welcome and encouraged! ~ENJOY!

So this past weekend I was hoping to get this and one other model in the "COMPLETE" category, but that didn't happen as I had so much going on with a box I got on Saturday that well, the work did not pan-out as I had planed or hopped for, BUT the box I found, I am not complaining about, I am glad I got it! I just did not plan or expect anything quite that intense, BUT up till I had found it on my front porch, I did get some work done those 2 models! So, where to begin? Lets see, ohh yeah, I had gotten to look at the tail lights of a real 1:1 '68 Roadrunner and noticed the lights on the kit had some slight issues, that I HAD to remedy, AFTER they were already painted and such so I had to go about what I was going to do in a slightly different way! The outer edges on a real '68 Roadrunner has a chrome trim ring. The model parts did not have that molded into the castings,. and me being well....... ME I could live with them out of the box! SO, on a look for things to make those rings from I went..... And I found what is the best wire to be one, polished, and two, correct or close diameter of the rest of the chrome "outlines" so it symmetrically "match" the rest of the lens!

Seen here is one thats "stuck" to tape made to hold the lens while I went and bent up the wire to fit the outer edges of the lens and be polished at the same time! The other lens thats still ON the sprue is the factory look, thats been painted! I added that trim ring on the other one thats NOT on the sprue!

A little better in-depth look....
Then you have the wire as its being bent and shaped to the lens circumference!



A LOT of compound bends to make that fit that factory kit lens part! And polished up nice too! WHY does it polish up nice? Well thats a secret to be said now, that "wire" I used? isn't "wire" at all! Thats 100% Pure Jewelers Silver Solder! -Expensive? yeah just a little, I bought it for when I was building trains and needed it to seal up bearings and polish things smoothly to have a bit of a gleaming smooth surface as those bearings require a little different approach to the making of them when made of brass, and well, silver is easily workable the other way is nickel plating and I didn't want to have to send the parts out to someone else, so I did everything in-house, its not often I use the silver solder specially on a model car or truck, but its not a lot that I used here and to that, nothing else was correct in diameter to match up to the other chrome trim within that tail light lens! SO.... I think it looks GREAT and it bends and forms a lot easier then actual wire and looks good all at the same time! It was "fastened" to the lens much the same way I did black wire trim rings on another model headlights.... With that clear glass glue from Testors, applied a really thin line of glue where the ring would make contact, and then once dry, around the outer edges and added some more, let dry, and then sealed that in with brush on gloss coat lacquer.... -LOOKS great too!
So while I was doing this, I was conjuring up the gut fortitude to go on with the BMF work too! *GULP* I still question that task with me.... Stay tuned, thats to follow! Thanks for following along and as always, Comments & Commentary welcome!

So while that work on the tail lights dried I got to getting ready to do the BMF on this car! I always second guess myself on that task, as I say I don't think I'm all that good at it, BUT, I am starting to prove myself wrong, I think.... This car however has an interesting BMFing task to it, that rear freakin' window! WOW, what fun that one is gonna be (What I was thinking as I was saving it for last!)



I also forgot about going around the windshield wiper arms too! That was an interesting task, as well, but wasn't as difficult as I first anticipated! -Did those first, and then went on to do the trim around the windshield.... Turned out pretty good! I'm actually pleased with my efforts here and work! (I keep it up I'll have a better outlook at my BMF skills I keep this up!


...And about the time I had a little more confidence, I was slapped, hard in the face, with a side "wing vent window trim" man does those SUCK! LOL I musta pulled the BMF off the drivers side 3 times BEFORE I was happy with it! (I hate wasting materials) but I simply could NOT live with how it looked either! And I found that the MPC cars, have an issue not noticed back when I actually "painted" the chrome onto the model, the windshield pillars, in the front, where the windshield meets the side vent wing windows, don't always have a "line" for the chrome trim on the pillar itself! SO as a modeler you sort of have to create it as you put the BMF on..... Making sure its semi even and straight.....  As its so close to the windshield trim that off by the thickness of your blade can and will be seen! Damn, is that a difficult one to do and look right! -THEN I get to do that rear window! OMG....


WOW........ I'm am amazed at myself! Really, I'm so surprised how that window chrome went on, went down, and trimmed off.... I'm pleased with that and how it looks! I sat and stared at that work for at least 2 minutes in absolute amazement! LOL
Then while doing trim, I ran into something that I was working on a whole other model... (one thats in my "Round Robin" build here, BUT, sat aside, the '68 Dodge Dart.... There is ONE detail this Roadrunner does NOT have on it, or with it as a detail part, thats partly "trim" and is chrome or well part of it is chrome and then rest is just metal.....

Enjoy for now!!

So hows about a couple updates on this build? Yeah, I think its time! I've been busy in the shop with a box I had found last weekend, as I was hoping then to at least have completed THIS model. BUT, things just didn't happen the way I had planned so I took the week this week to clean up that mess and get things organized and had to revamp my WHOLE way of storing my own parts! WOW. so that left me day after day getting things taken care of all week. Not a lot of modeling time, BUT the last 2 days have been difficult, I still had a mess 2 days ago but wanted to get back to where I had left off! WELL now, I'm BACK! LOL
So then, that little Aluminum part in the last posting? Thats an Antenna base! And heres how it all went together!

As I mentioned, I "locate" the part, as close as I can (from pictures of the real thing if need be!) and then drill a hole just big enough that a long CHROME straight pin is a "loose press fit" through it from underneath. This way the head of said straight pin is part of the "mount" to hold it in-place! I hold the pin straight side-to-side & front-to-back, and super glue from underneath as well. Once that dries (pretty quick) I slip the polished aluminum base over the pointed end of the the straight pin and leave it just above the body. I then take a small amount of super glue onto a toothpick BARELY touch the pin close to the body of the car, to leave a small amount and then while "wet" (you have to act quick here) push the polished aluminum base down till it touches the body of the car having the super glue get inside the base to hold it in-place! Looking at the picture, it looks really good!

Looks just a tad "heavy barreled" but is WAY better then ANYTHING a model part could be..... Ain't nothing "round" about a molded model part Antenna!

So I turn on the lights..... Now thats BRIGHT! and that Antenna looks GREAT!
From the other side? Yeah, why not!?

Looks good! I'm so pleased with this whole model I can't even say. I've surprised myself several times during its build and its coming to a close shortly as there really isn't much left to do till its done, and that I hope to have done TODAY! All snow'd in, and more falling as I type this so. I can't see it any other way at this point!
Then, speaking of lights...............remember those tail lights I was working on? What you guys think of them? Have a look:

I thin it could have been a little better, BUT I worked with what I had in-hand and for that reason I think its pretty good! I'm pleased with that! -Thats why they're in-place!
Stay tuned more to follow right after these short messages! Thanks for following along, and Commentary is always welcome!

With all done seen in my last posting, one thing I did not address on the model when doing BMF is the side marker lights! I didn't do them in BMF for a reason.... I think, I have a "better way" of getting that nice chrome trim ring.... So here goes....

As the pic says... pay attention to the marker lights! That pic also was taken with no flash!




Side marker lights drilled right out GONE! But wait, they will return in a whole other light!


So now, the lights are coming back.... With a whole new light (pun intended) trim ring!

Front Turn signal marker light, with a Amber lens!!!!!

Rear red lens in-place!
Marker lights are BACK!!!!!! I think for what I did and how I did it, turned out GREAT! That trim ring? is 3/32nd inch Aluminum tube cut and polished to fit, glued in and left to dry before I made and installed the custom made lens!
Thats all for now! More to come as I get 'er DONE!!!!
Thanks for looking, Comments welcome! ~ENJOY

Well its been a few days.... and as all thats followed along knows, I been fighting the clear coat on the hood to lay out flat and smooth. WELL after several attempts I finally got it to do just that! Fought right to the bitter end!
NOW as you all also know this model, in my last update was very close "complete" WELL.......... She is DONE!!!!! 2-19-2017!









.......and, FINALLY......

ENJOY!!!!!

It's a wonderfull job.
Well done

Nice to read you again John, as always, awesome job on this Roadrunner
The detailing of the engine bay is incredible, you're a master

Loic a écrit:It's a wonderfull job.
Well done

Thank you! Much appreciated!!!! Took a bit to get her done but in the end, all that time was worth it!

Fred74 a écrit:Nice to read you again John, as always, awesome job on this Roadrunner
The detailing of the engine bay is incredible, you're a master

Thanks Fred!!!! Much appreciated! I tell ya, I had my go around with that detail under the hood. a lot of parts that needed something extra to get them to look as you see them!

@ Master...... I'm no master! Master Bullsh!ter maybe!

good job

Thanks Le taiwanais! Much appreciated!!!! Was a fun model..... NOW I wouldn't mind doing another Semi-Street Machine/Pro Street.....

good job nice model

Fred74 a écrit:Nice to read you again John, as always, awesome job on this Roadrunner
The detailing of the engine bay is incredible, you're a master

TOut est dit

taz74 a écrit:good job nice model

Thanks was a very FUN build!!!!! Much appreciated! Thank You!

custom8 a écrit:

Fred74 a écrit:Nice to read you again John, as always, awesome job on this Roadrunner
The detailing of the engine bay is incredible, you're a master

TOut est dit

Thank you! Much appreciated!!!!! Now I'm off to finish one more thats really close done, my '78 Dodge Monaco Police Car to go with my set of cars for the TV Series "Dukes of Hazzard"......

great job!!

Thanks CURRAHEE! Much appreciated!!!!! Glad you like it!!!!!

beautiful very good job