Zenrat's Flying Circus

[DogfighterZen]

........reminds me that i'd like to build a Dodge Charger...

Oh yes! I've got a Monogram ProModeller Charger, a '68 RT I think, that's just crying out to be built!

I did the earlier '66 car from the MPC/Airfix kit umpteen years ago, and that's impressive, but not as stylish as the '69/'69 car to my mind.

Yep, it's a gorgeous thing... my favorite is the '69 model, i believe, it's the General Lee from the Dukes TV show.

[PR19_Kit]

Isn't the General Lee a Charger 500? The one without the buttresses alongside the flush rear window?

[zenrat]

Thanks folks.  Plenty of scope for me to stuff it up yet...

...Were all the real ones the same colour?

I think (but am by no means sure) that they were all painted "Turbine Bronze".  A darker metallic than the gold I used.  But I like this colour and (possibly more importantly) already had some in the paint cupboard amongst the "like that shade i'll buy some and then figure out what to use it on later" selection.

The first generation ('66 &'67) Chargers were based on the Coronet.  Pretty much a fastback roof added to a two door Coronet body.  I much prefer the second generation ('68 to '70) cars.
General Lee is nominally a '69 but when the DoH was in production they would build jump cars out of both '68 and '69 cars.  '70's were not be used because they required too much work to get them to look like a '69.
I've written before on here (possibly in this blog) on how to build a General Lee.  It's complex, needing a number of Charger kits (depends on which way you do it) but I do have almost everything I need.

Monogram Pro Modeller Charger is a '69 R/T.

[zenrat]

Isn't the General Lee a Charger 500? The one without the buttresses alongside the flush rear window?

No.  The early MPC General Lee kits incorrectly used the Charger 500 body moulds.  AIUI Charger 500s were NASCAR homologation specials which would have made them hard to find in the numbers the TV show required given how many they wrecked.
General Lee was not only a buttressed rear window car but also didn't "got a Hemi".

[NARSES2]

Nice looking motor sir 

Talking of motors, I saw a what I think was a Mazda sports something or other this morning that looked as though it had been chromed all over. Never seen what looked like a chromed body before, super shiny and certainly not polished steel.

[PR19_Kit]

Monogram Pro Modeller Charger is a '69 R/T.

Yep, that's exactly the box I've got. 

[DogfighterZen]

Thanks for clarifying the year of the General Lee. 
I know close to nothing about the kits available and i've already seen that the MPC kit of the Dukes' car isn't easy to find in Europe at a reasonable price. The Monogram kit you guys have is even harder to find so, when i do get one, i'll probably have to settle for one of the cheaper and more readily available kits.

[zenrat]

The MPC kit had the body corrected at some stage.  However I think that coincided with them removing the confederate flag from the transfer sheet.
The transfers are going to be the hardest thing when I build my General.  Not the flag, I can print that, but the General Lee script alongside it on the roof as that has white borders.  Some precise cutting with my exact knife will be in order.

I foiled the lower body trim of the Turbine Car today.  It was fairly painless as the trim is straight.  The extra thick 1960's foil was hard to cut though and the glue left a lot of residue which I had to carefully remove with a cotton bud and Tamiya Acrylic Thinners (which I assume is just alcohol).

And because i've only got one aircraft build on the go at the moment (Eagle Tempest) I have been pondering starting another for the last few days.
Something fairly simple with good fit.
I nearly joined in the Me 109 (and variants thereof) building frenzy, and then I had a good look at a Tamiya Mosquito or making another High Speed Bomber out of a Ginger Frances, but in the end I went for what has been staring at me from the calendar on the back of the toilet door and have started an Airfix Do 17z.  This will be getting the floats from an Airfix Ju 52 and may be Finnish.
My first thoughts are that Airfix took a leaf out of Takom's book and broke this down into more parts than was necessary.

[NARSES2]

Airfix catalogue on the back of the toilet door ? 

and have started an Airfix Do 17z.  This will be getting the floats from an Airfix Ju 52 and may be Finnish.
My first thoughts are that Airfix took a leaf out of Takom's book and broke this down into more parts than was necessary.

Interesting idea. I've not seen the current (2004) tooling so can't comment on the parts, but it surprises me a little I must admit.

[zenrat]

It's the same age as the Shack moulds which feature all that internal detail you'll never see through those tiny windows.

Fit is good but.

[zenrat]

Thinking I might make this an amphibian.  Mainwheels mounted in the floats with smaller ones on the water rudders.

[NARSES2]

It's the same age as the Shack moulds which feature all that internal detail you'll never see through those tiny windows.

Fit is good but.

Ah, right

[zenrat]

Painted the vinyl top and the roof lining of the Turbine Car today.  Both need more coats.

Assembled more of the small and delicate cockpit parts of the Do.17 and painted the interior.  It'll need more coats.
I dug out the Airfix Ju-52 which will donate the floats.  While it was released at the same time moulds date from '64 and it's a completely different beast to the Do-17 with minimal internal detail, horrific sprue attachment points on the floats, and heaps of flash.  Corrugations look finely moulded but i'm not sure how they'll match up if I build it.

[NARSES2]

Corrugations look finely moulded but i'm not sure how they'll match up if I build it.

Plus psr completely screws them 

[zenrat]

Which would be a shame because i'd quite like to put this together with alternate engines.

Some time at the bench today but the sound of heavy rain on the tin shed roof drove me back into the house.