Putting Fire Into The Transparent Chevelle

 

-A Scale-Master Project-

Converting the Transparent Chevelle

Author:       Mark D. Jones aka Scale-Master
Vehicles Needed:     HWs Transparent Chevelle

Special Tools:     Scale-Master Decal Sheet – See bottom of page

Rating:       Beginner/Novice
Started with an X-Racer donated by Mr.5OA. I began work on this one back around the 4th of July, 2006 and tinkered with it between other jobs and whenever I felt like working on it, just a little at a time. I finished it at the end of August 2006. It could have easily been done in a week or less if I had the time.

I drilled it apart like usual with cordless drill and a 1/4 inch drill bit. It only takes a light touch.  These metal chassis, plastic bodied cars come apart real clean and easy. You can even take them apart quickly with a sharp drill bit between your fingers. Either way, use common sense, and be safe.

Here’s the parts…

The body mold lines were cleaned up and the tampos were sanded off with 400 grit wet sand paper.  The silver tampos would not come off with oven cleaner, alcohol, brake fluid or mineral spirits. Lacquer thinner or acetone would have eaten away at the plastic body. Sanding was a pretty easy way to remove them.

A few light mist coats of Tamiya Bright Orange right over the plastic about 10 minutes apart…

A couple light coats of a Tamiya flat gray for the interior, not too much at once over the chrome or it will pull away from the edges…

Some of the chassis detail was hand painted with Tamiya Flat Black.

A final wet coat of the orange after a full summer day of drying…  If you put the wet coat on too soon after the base coats, the paint will pull away from edges like the door lines and fender peaks.

Some headlight decals from my Scale-Master sheet… A little decal solvent was used to help them conform to the convex surface.

Stripes from the same sheet (#6201) were cut out and applied like normal… I left the body lightly attached to the chassis for easier handling during decaling.

You can see the wavy edges, a little decal solvent will take care of that…  Note the extra amount of decal extending onto the windshield area, some solvent on that on both sides and it will wrap right around without cracking.

The wrinkles are normal and will easily settle down and conform with a little gentle work with a Q-Tip.

The rear deck gets the same treatment… A good brush for decaling is a huge help too. This one is relegated to decal use only.

A couple of Fuel Injection detail decals from the same sheet…

The chrome trim was brush painted as well as the side marker and taillight bases with Tamiya Chrome Silver…

The colored lights were brushed Tamiya Clear Red and Yellow…

A coat of Testors Clear Top Coat was airbrushed over the whole body. A really small drop of silver was mixed into a little more Top Cote and diluted with a generous amount of lacquer thinner, about 50/50. The whole body was lightly and evenly dusted with the mixture to give a pearl effect. Then a couple small drops of the Clear Yellow were added to the mixture and thoroughly mixed. Everything but the stripes were carefully airbrushed to give it a candy –metalflake orange appearance. Then, just the rearward edges of the stripes were featheredged with the mixture.

The chrome trim had to be repainted of course with the Chrome Silver… That was done after it dried for a while.   The parts were reassembled but I left out the roll cage part.

You can see that tiny drop of silver suspended in the clear acts as a pearl on the white and as the metalflake under the Clear Yellow.

OK, so it may not be totally Burnin’, but it did singe its stripes… Still hot, no?… Or are you still waiting for flames? Maybe next time…