Cross Kit General Lee....ish-Completed-12/28

[mustang1989]

Thank you guys. Hope to have more progress tomorrow.

[mustang1989]

Okay......I managed to get the hair raising task of installing the wheels all done. Sounds simple but I made the wheel mounting holes on the rims an oval so I could get this one just wee tad lower. Had to get all the wheels at just the right height so I wouldn't wind up with a "3 wheeler". The stance is now locked in.

I also got the back panel all painted up, detailed up and bumpered up and installed. I hit the body with a little more polish but can tell I need to do it again just to get it just right.

[keavdog]

That's crazy good dude!!! Tire's, wheels, paint all fantastic. DAMN!
You have to tell me how you did the tires.

[Stikpusher]

That's crazy good dude!!! Tire's, wheels, paint all fantastic. DAMN!

[mustang1989]

Thanks guys!

John: It may not seem like a whole lot of work but believe me....it took me FOUR friggin' paint strippings to get the wheels done. Additionally I sanded off all of the mold seams on the tires with 1000 grit sanding sticks and worked my way to the 12000 grit range and then chucked 'em up in the drill and spun 'em up with the sidewalls held against my blue jean pants to polish up the sidewalls. After that these two tires got a treatment to some BFGooodrich Radial T/A decals. After I let the cals dry thoroughly I airbrushed the tires with a VERY light coat of Model Master Acrylic Flat Clear cut with isopropyl alcohol.

Engine is ready for the assembly process (which I've already started):



I've already got one of these same 440 engines painted up for use in my sons 1970 Superbird. Everything looks like it'll fit fine in there:

[Stuart]

That really does look stunning Joe - lovely work my man.

So is the engine for this build going to be Orange as well?

[mustang1989]

Thanks Stuart! Yes sir but I think I'm going to jog it up a little bit with some chrome bits here and there so it won't be so boring under the hood.

[mustang1989]

I have been working on this one guys. With this pig in the works for my son's FFA project it's been hit or miss at the bench. Sometimes it's a 1/2 hour at the bench....sometimes 20 minutes.....sometimes no bench time at all. I make the most of the time so there is progress being made but none worth showing yet. Lots of painting, hole drilling for plug wires, alternator wiring/ ignition coil wiring and things of the sort but no real assembly as of yet. I have shot the rocker covers and air cleaner with Molotow Chrome and am pretty pleased with that so tomorrow morning after the 48 hour cure out time for Molotow I should be ready to hit those parts up with some Spaztix Ultimate Chrome Clear to seal those off for a coat of Tamiya Smoke. After that I think I'll be getting to the point to where I can start assembling things pretty soon.

[mustang1989]

Ok fellas! I finally have an update. After painting and weathering and masking and shooting Molotow coat after Molotow coat on these rocker covers(and not succeeding at it this time around) I'm at the point where I think I can post something worth lookin' at. I must've stripped those rocker covers 3 times and tried the Molotow treatment on them. Just wasn't working out this time so I finally grabbed a set of chrome rocker covers from one of my spare Revell Hemi Dart kits that had a 440 in it and put them on. Still have some detail painting on those to do, exhaust manifolds install, carburetor & return spring & bracket and throttle linkage build and install, engine electrical harness and plug wires to put together and install but after a long couple of weeks I figured it was time to post something. I've still got a long way to go on this engine but here it is so far:

[LyleW]

Sorry you had such a struggle with those covers! Good recovery, though. This looks great!