1970 Dodge Challenger T/A 2'n1 - work in progress

The pillar snapped as I was manipulating the body, and wouldn't come back into place. 

So I coaxed it with the help of my wife's hair dryer, some Extra Thin glue and some masking tape. 

A dab of Sharpie pen reveals the subsequent gap that needs to be filled. 

I first tried to fill the gap with some acrylic filler, but didn't like the result. 

I then put some superglue on. 

And after careful sanding and rescribing it looks quite good! 

I'm glad the pillar fits the windshield after my stunt... 

I drilled holes for the exhaust pipes. 

I like my Proxxon so much I used it to drill various holes in the engine for later. 

I know... But it won't show. 

I removed the battery connectors with a CMK saw for later. 

Holes for hydraulic pipings... 

This is the first part that is ready! 

Priming is done. 

I love Extreme Metal paint. 

The hood will need some extra sanding. 

This is my first attempt with Vallejo Chrome... and it's nooooot good! 

No. 

Nope. 

A dip in the Glanzer jar will help strip that awful paintjob. 

The parts are primed once again, with AK's Black Base this time. 

I plan to spray them with Molotow Chrome decanted from a paint marker. 

The wheels look good enough in Molotow Chrome... sadly it's not the case with the other parts. 

This is the result of my bad spraying technique with Molotow Chrome. Some areas are shiny, some are not. 

I'll have to strip the paint once again and repaint with a lower pressure. 

This is the paint mix I created with iModelKit Light, using Testors' "Go Mango" as reference. 

Ready! 

This is my first attempt with the embossing powder technique. 

FFSMC's tyre decals look good! I hope the finished tyres will, too! 

I've added safety belts to the front seats, using masking tape and sheet styrene. 

I've temporarily set the engine on the frame for the detailing work to begin, and to check the alignment of the exhaust lines... which of course are warped, but nothing too serious. 

Some more paint work. 

I've reproduced the gauges in Adobe Illustrator 

I used decal paper to print the gauges after resizing them: 4 mm for the speedometer, 2 mm for the other small gauges. 

And voilà! It's barely visible but it's nice, isn't it? 

With some time to spare, I added more detail to the steering wheel. 

The air canister felt bland, I wanted to be able to see the air intake holes all around. 

I know I'm a troubled person 😉 

Aaaand the engine is done! 

If I had followed the painting instructions, the underside would have been kind of dull... 

This is the varnish I will use to protect the chromes I painted. 

The exhaust tips were directly painted with a Molotow Chrome marker and later protected with a layer of E7 Chrome Sealer varnish. 

This is my new take with the bumpers. They've been stripped of the ugly paintjob I had done earlier and sprayed once again with Molotow chrome. This is much much better, albeit a little thick. But this will do. I'll let the bumpers sit for a while before covering them with E7 Chrome Sealer. 

The wheels are assembled, after some sanding of the threads. I'll put on the decals later. 

After the decals were applied, I sprayed a nice coat of Mr. Color GX100 gloss varnish, thinned with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner. Later on I will have to do some masking and painting in and around the engine tub. 

As Revell didn't bother facilitating the placement of the rear view mirrors, I decided to give it a go: I drilled a hole on both sides where the mirrors should be ... 

... and did the same under the base of the mirrors, where I glued a small length of styrene rod. 

The E7 Chrome Sealer did a good job on the Molotow-painted fenders. 

This is, obviously, a wip. 

I know there's one too many brake conduit on the MasterVac... 

And the pillar broke, again. 

Did the repair I should have done long ago, by scribing a 0,5 mm deep line behind the pillar, where I put a piece of copper wire and glued it in place with cyanoacrylate. That should do the trick. 

Varnish is done, but it needs some polishing before it's acceptable. 

Decal No 9 vanished from existence so I had to replace it. Thanks to a close-up picture I found online, refactoring it was only a matter of minutes. I also plan on printing "some" license plates ! 

Not-so-clear parts... 

I'm so happy I managed to finish the hood 🙂 

The lettering stands out quite right. I used my 2 mm Molotow pen quite liberally, and, after a couple of days, I used some Liquitex black ink to refine the contours. Small touches of Tamiya black Panel Liner managed to outline the individual letters. 

Here's a view of the work in progress on the battery connectors. 

Here, the body is ready for polishing. First with 3,000 grit, then 5,000, 7,000 and, finally, 10,000. 

And here's what happens when you're me: I went all the way through to the primer... 

So I prepared the body for painting, by working on the masking with Patafix and masking tape. This allowed me to apply successive layers of thinned paint, without touching the decals, nor having too sharp edges. I let it dry for a few hours, then proceeded to the unmasking. 

Except, as I removed the tape... 

The masking tape pulled off the varnish layer! 

For me, the holes I had drilled to fix the mirrors created a weakness in the varnish layer, so when I pulled the masking tape, the varnish went away... Anyway, I found myself with a new problem to solve, and not the least.
First thing to do: contain the damage. I removed as cleanly as possible the chips of varnish that had come off. 

I then very gently sanded with 2500 grit around the areas where the varnish was gone, to smooth out the transition to the unvarnished area. Of course, this did not prevent me from damaging the decals underneath, which led me to do some paint touch-ups here and there... Finally, I was able to apply a fresh coat of varnish to the affected areas. And the result was so bad that I didn't even dare take pictures of it. So I left the body to dry in a dust-free place, and I let the holidays pass by to start again when I'll have the courage to go back to it. 

The new year has arrived, and having found enough energy, I resumed the body treatment. I sanded the areas that had been painted with 5000 grit, then I applied Tamiya Compound: Coarse first, then Fine, then Finish. After a good rinse under warm water, I applied a body wax, which I shined with a very soft cloth. 

Then, after a lot of hesitation and apprehension, I gathered my courage and took care of the chrome finish of the body and the windows' trim. I was afraid to cut the excess material, but everything went well and the result is quite satisfying. 

Along the way, I progressed to the final assembly without too much difficulty, and here is the (almost) final result. 

The last problem, the one that prevents me from closing this build, is the following: the Tamiya Mark Fit Strong I applied on the license plate decal started a chemical reaction with the paint. The reaction, while spreading, reactivated the paint which, while drying again, stretched the varnish and some cracks appeared. The piece went back into the Glanzer, waiting for a new paint job... 

And it's finally done!  

The front bumper was sprayed with AK Xtreme Metal Chrome and clear coated with Aquagloss. 

...and of course, in the meantime, the rear bumper chrome has cracked... screw it, it will stay that way.