Zenrat's Flying Circus

[NARSES2]

At least when they made the show they didn't destroy a bunch of cars like "them Duke boys".

But they had Daisey 

[Rheged]

At least when they made the show they didn't destroy a bunch of cars like "them Duke boys".

But they had Daisey 

Are you offering this as evidence for the prosecution or the defence?

[kerick]

No

[zenrat]

I have, and have watched, every episode of The Dukes of Hazzard.  I dread to think how many '68 to '70 Chargers I have seen die.
The figures are out the on the interweb somewhere.  Probly a bit less than one per episode as they did straighten out the cars and reuse them if they could and also recycled some of the footage.
They must have destroyed more Dodge Monacos as they liked to trash both Rosco's and his deputy's cars in every show.  Sometimes more than once.
They also used them in TJ Hooker, and the A Team, and I suspect a whole heap of other shows made around the same time.
The A Team also wrote off a lot of Jeeps.

Having built Starsky's Striped Tomato I feel the need to build a General Lee to accompany it on my shelves.  For this i'll need a '69 Dodge Charger.  Round Two have re-released the old General Lee kit (now with the correct body shell rather than the incorrect Charger 500 one it had when I built it as a youth) as a "Country Charger".  It still has all the General Lee specific parts (Nudge Bar, Roll Cage, Vector wheels) but has a Hemi engine which is wrong for the TV car.  It does not have the transfers for obvious reasons (It has a set of faintly ridiculous "General Stuart" transfers with a Stars and Stripes).  I can draw them up easilly enough though.  In fact I already have the basics which I did for this build.
68DodgeChargerWreckscued009_zpsae5229fc by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
The above kit is the Revell '68 Charger.  The grille and rear light panel are incorrect for The General but I think they can be replaced with same parts from the earlier Revell '69 Charger.
It is possible to use the whole Revell '69 but you have to sand off the moulded on vinyl roof.  An onerous task i have no wish to undertake.  IIRC the Revell '68 comes with both a Hemi (as built above) or a 440 wedge so can provide the required engine.
So, to build a General Lee I will need to buy two or three kits.  Two of which I will only use parts from.  The recipe is to build pretty much a complete Revell '69 with the non-Hemi engine,  but use the grille and rear light panel from the vinyl roofed Revell '69 Charger and add the nudge bar, roll cage and wheels from the MPC Country Charger.
The nudge bar and roll cage could TBH be scratchbuilt fairly easilly (the MPC roll cage is not particularly accurate IIRC) and the wheels can be sourced from other kits.  I don't have a set in my big box of wheels but a bit of rummaging through the stash might reveal a set.  Has to be the correct number of spokes though as Vectors were made with various numbers.
Paint is NOT Hemi Orange as is quoted by some sources but was, IIRC, a Chevrolet colour.  Possibly a Corvette shade.  it was what the paint shop used on the first General for the pilot and they then continued to use it on all the rest.
Aftermarket transfer sheets are available but as I said above i can make a set myself.  The fonts are ordinary enough and I have already got the basics of the flag.

[zenrat]

So, now the S&H Torino is finished I can concentrate on the Delahaye.  The deadline for which is the Ballarat NNL on Sunday 23rd May.  So I have 9 days.
I'm optimistic I can finish it unless I hit a major fit issue or screw something up.
I'd also like to get the S&H resin figures painted for the show.  I've started but their pants are going to be time consuming as they are both wearing jeans which means lots of complicated colour variations to get the fade/wear looking realistic.
Third priority is to finish the VICA.  I'm also hopeful I can achieve this.

[zenrat]

Starsky's jeans have come out OK.
Starsky WIP 14-05-2021 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

[Old Wombat]

So-o 70's!

[Rick Lowe]

All coming along well, Fred - or has come out nicely, in the case of the Torino.   

[NARSES2]

Looks good Fred 

[DogfighterZen]

Great stuff, Fred. Starsky's looking very good.

[zenrat]

Thanks folks.

Hutch also has jeans but they are darker and so should be less work so I did Starsky's first.

More progress on there Delahaye today.  Got the windows fitted.  It's a Heller kit and it doesn't assemble like "normal" car kits.  Rather than having an interior tub which is put together and then fits into the body you assemble the dash, steering wheel and rear seat into the body and the front seats and firewall to the floor before gluing the floor up into the body.

[PR19_Kit]

Oh yes, I have the Heller Renault R8 Gordini Rally car that assembles like that, or should do.

But the two 'Rally Seats' are wider than the inside of the body shell when you try and put it together. 

[zenrat]

Delahaye.
I got enough stuff glued on and in to enable me to do some test fitting.
The seats were not an issue but the firewall is.  If I position the rear axle (already glued to the chassis) centrally in the wheel arches then there is a significant gap between the firewall and the cowl.
I could move the rear axle and position the floor and chassis so that the firewall is inside the cowl but that would put the front axle too far back and moving the front axle would be a far more complicated operation than moving the rear.
So instead I have started adding a strip of styrene onto the back of the firewall which will bridge the gap.
Plan B would be to glue the bonnet in place but that would hide the engine as well as the gap.

[zenrat]

Delahaye WIP 18-05-2021 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

[PR19_Kit]

Very elegant Fred, and I LOVE the colour.