Author Topic: Ideas to share concerning 1:18 '67-'69 GMP Penske Donohue Camaros.  (Read 326626 times)

BULLITT65

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Re: Ideas to share concerning 1:18 '67-'69 GMP Penske Donohue Camaros.
« Reply #330 on: June 20, 2017, 08:13:49 PM »
The Mustang turned out nice. I did notice the 1:1 car the rear marker lights are recessed, but than pronounced on yours. This is likely moulded into your shell when you start. I am surprised that the 1:1 would have a plate or something welded in. Maybe they welded them in to prevent a broken reflector cutting a tire or something. Also the fenders on the 1:1 look flared quite a bit, but again that may be hard to duplicate.

How many cars do you have on display in your collection?
Are they behind glass, or how do you prevent dust from collecting on them?
1969 garnet red Z/28 46k mile unrestored X77
-Looking for 3192477 (front) spiral shocks 3192851 (rear)
-Looking for an original LOF soft ray windshield
-Looking for original Delco side post negative battery cable part # 6297651AV

Oldtimer

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Re: Ideas to share concerning 1:18 '67-'69 GMP Penske Donohue Camaros.
« Reply #331 on: June 20, 2017, 08:36:09 PM »
Nice job on the Mustang, Mike!

Trans Åm

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Re: Ideas to share concerning 1:18 '67-'69 GMP Penske Donohue Camaros.
« Reply #332 on: June 21, 2017, 01:23:27 AM »
Great looking Mustang, very keen job. How many "G" can it pull around the bends?
Nick

Jon Mello

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Re: Ideas to share concerning 1:18 '67-'69 GMP Penske Donohue Camaros.
« Reply #333 on: June 23, 2017, 03:28:35 AM »
Mike, the Mustang looks great as a result of your efforts.  Thanks for sharing the pics.  I would have never known that acetone could take off the white lettering without screwing up the blue underneath.
Jon Mello
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Swede70

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Re: Ideas to share concerning 1:18 '67-'69 GMP Penske Donohue Camaros.
« Reply #334 on: June 30, 2017, 06:08:45 PM »
Thanks everyone for the kind interest displayed and replies afforded...

Indeed, most every project I have vanishes into a sealed case largely to ward away dust.  I imagine too that observing such protocol prevents me from endlessly revising some projects for the labor to move all the cases necessary to access this or that project is often judged prohibitive! 

Concerning necessary body modifications, a more elaborate Greenlight-based '68 Mustang project has been harbored and kept out of sight for some time, this complete with factory flares and revised front and rear valences.  Initially intended to be a blue late-season entry, in time I hope it will emerge as a reasoned earlier season pale yellow #1.  At first I just didn't believe that my multi-part wheels would be strong enough to support the weight of the project, but happily this concern hasn't proved as debilitating as first feared. 



...this would be the revised '67-'68 front valence, looking a bit shark-like for removal of the usual blade bumper.  The valence of another Greenlight Mustang was cut off with a razor saw, plugged for holes, and then cast in resin before being reshaped to result in what is seen here.  The upper portion is wholly scratch built.  Look closely and front flares can just be made out...



...flare work further discerned (a bit chubby in point of fact), with the GT-style exhaust cutouts removed entirely from the valence panel for scratch building a substitute.  Some contours have been added as has been a license plate mount. 

-



...'68-specific door panels from an earlier Greenlight tool waiting for paint prior to being added to the factory-finished blue example then.  The model came through with '67 panels, while the door-mounted shoulder pad seen in the reference photo needed to be scratch built and added as shown.

Lastly, for much not strictly obvious effort, the rather odd two-thirds length sun screen has been added to the top of the windscreen of the late '68 season Shelby Racing Co. Mustang.  Initial efforts to mask the area in situ failed miserably for poor finish control; i.e. puddling along the edges, seepage, etc.  Eventually I obtained some clear decal film and sprayed Tamiya Smoke tint onto it prior to applying Testor's Decal Bonder atop it to effect a seal.  A pattern reproducing the radius of the top of the screen helped me to cut the material accurately without strictly chipping it, whereupon the finished tinted panel was transferred as a typical water slide decal to the work proper without much fuss.  The exterior rear view mirror has been removed and touched in, as has the antenna mount atop the fender.  Yep - the windshield wipers are missing!  Perhaps not much to see, but still looking fairly good. 



Thanks for your reviewing this update.


Mike K.

Swede70

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Re: Ideas to share concerning 1:18 '67-'69 GMP Penske Donohue Camaros.
« Reply #335 on: June 16, 2018, 05:26:28 PM »
Greetings,

With the revision of the Photobucket.com fee schedule I will likely return to the airwaves here, whereas what is seen below is in essence a test image to confirm that old links back to the third-party photo hosting site work as before.  $400 per year was not justifiable, although the revised and smaller scale pricing options will likely allow me to 'do what I do' consistent with lending a bit of hobby color to the CRG.  For some time I've been posting on various Facebook.com boards either directed related to the historic SCCA Trans Am scene or upon various driver's fan pages such as they exist.  Third-party hosting fees were thereby sidestepped, although know I miss the community here.  At the very least, old images hitherto stored on Photobucket.com are now visible and can be linked to irrespective of the fact that I've not yet reupped at any strict level...

Quite a few new releases in 1:18th scale diecast have either been released or have been announced since I last passed through the virtual heavens, this including both 1970 Chrysler Corp. factory efforts, a Sam Posey '69 Lime Rock winning BOSS 302, as well as further Greenlight '68 Mustang variants.   Into the future sealed resin models (i.e. no opening hood or deck lid, non-opening doors and scant chassis detail) will come to dominate, with a pair of 1:18th '71/'72 Trans Am American Motors Javelins expected at some time via Replicarz.  Retail for the latter is expected to be a nose-bleedy $200 and (perhaps) an October '18 delivery date. 

The inflationary pressure on the manufacturers translates into old tools being quite endlessly recycled, old releases demanding more on the used market, and rather trimmed back detail on what few newly-tooled releases eventually surface.  At least I'll have a lot of work to do given I'll likely not be satisfied with anything that comes down the proverbial pike!  The old tools will still need a considerable shove in the right direction to look tolerable, whereas the cheaper and decontented newer tools will require infusion of this and that simply to compare to releases of old - sigh...

I have picked up both the ACME (Hwy. 61 tool w/mods.) '70 AAR 'Cuda Dan Gurney racer as well as the same make '70 Autodynamics Challenger, while both have received quite a bit of work consistent with what it is I do.  I hope to share the same soon.  My Gurney 'Cuda has been done over cosmetically to reflect his '70 Riverside retirement ride, while the Sam Posey Challenger has a nice and very flat black top at the very least as it darn well ought!  I had to paint the semi-gloss finish over - I just had to.  Kind regards to the board...



Mike K.

MO

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Re: Ideas to share concerning 1:18 '67-'69 GMP Penske Donohue Camaros.
« Reply #336 on: June 17, 2018, 01:02:21 AM »
Great to see you back on Mike! Look forward to seeing your progress!

Jon Mello

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Re: Ideas to share concerning 1:18 '67-'69 GMP Penske Donohue Camaros.
« Reply #337 on: June 20, 2018, 03:50:30 AM »
Great to have you back, Mike.  I understand your issues with Photobucket.  I paid the $400 just to keep the pics alive here but I'm very relieved that they got wise to that lunacy and made the cost more manageable.
Jon Mello
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MO

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Re: Ideas to share concerning 1:18 '67-'69 GMP Penske Donohue Camaros.
« Reply #338 on: June 20, 2018, 04:46:24 AM »
That's an amazing gesture Jon!

Trans Åm

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Re: Ideas to share concerning 1:18 '67-'69 GMP Penske Donohue Camaros.
« Reply #339 on: July 07, 2018, 03:17:59 AM »
Great to have you back, Mike.  I understand your issues with Photobucket.  I paid the $400 just to keep the pics alive here but I'm very relieved that they got wise to that lunacy and made the cost more manageable.
Might they offer a refund for your, Jon?
Nick

Swede70

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Re: Ideas to share concerning 1:18 '67-'69 GMP Penske Donohue Camaros.
« Reply #340 on: July 03, 2020, 08:36:56 PM »
Greetings,

An Imgur third-party photo image hosting experiment this (yes - it took me long enough), noticed would be a 1:18th scale '70 Chaparral Camaro based upon the very old ERTL tool taking shape.  Replicarz has announced a sealed resin iteration of the same topic, although for $239.95, I'm thinking I need to work up something with opening panels even if the tabulated expenses run quite close to what might be eventually asked for the sealed model.  I have a backlog of SCCA Trans-Am projects harboring in the shadows, hence more may yet be seen, while know I miss the interest and feedback registered in the past.  Kind thanks...



This would be Vic Elford circulating around Riverside, CA during the '70 Mission Bell 200.  Basically it's the topic, and pretty much what I desire even at Watkins Glen is the obvious choice in relation to final specification.  In a descriptive sense, what follows is much-compressed.  Look closely and one will see my '70 T/G Firebird project beneath some images which features progress and far better rendered rear flares as contrasted to before.  And yes - I do own paint and proper finishing supplies - but will I ever use such?



Seen underhood with hideous dog leg hinges on full display, a GMP '68 Chevrolet Trans-Am crossram-equipped small block engine sold on a blisterpack has been revised somewhat to suggest a '70 Chaparral spec.  A '67 single 4BBL intake was cast, as were finned LT1-style valvecovers.  The air cleaner lid is a Hwy. 61 '69 COPO Camaro part separated from what would otherwise be a combined lid and seal assembly, while a narrowed and tilted GMP Trans-Am Camaro Harrison radiator assembly is sited on scratch built support structure. 

Also discerned will be a coolant expansion tank w/mount, a remote oil filter installation, and what is intended to appear as a near-standard accessory drive with the alternator installed high and to the right.  The master cylinder and brake booster assembly is standard GMP Trans-Am Camaro fare, while the visible third of the resin upper control arms are similarly sourced.  Headers are standard GMP items, although if someway to work up the shape and design of Kustom Headers is found, then that will be the path forward. 

Experiments with clear plastic sheet of various thicknesses continues consistent with replacing the fabricated front spoiler with something akin to 'unbreakable Lexan'.  Unfortunately my efforts will likely prove delicate indeed by way of contrast.  And just in passing, here may be seen one front bumper option without the delicate bumper guards in-place, while further below a stripped part with bumper guards is difficult to make out given it's cast in black plastic.  The casting and contour of the bumpers front and rear required work, and will subsequently be vacuum-plated as COVID-19 (the original horror versus the expected sequels) winds down.



Long pushed to the side given I'd hadn't a clue how to reproduce the panel flares, behold the model with - gasp - panel flares.  A spare body was fitted out with plastic walls or borders outlining the extent of each flare as per information gleaned from the relevant FIA homologation forms, whereupon I set the shell on it's side and poured resin directly into a succession of four pockets.  Mold release was sprayed into each pocket or recess, while eventually the material set up and the resultant chunks 'o resin were snapped off and reshaped to resemble what is seen here.  Not the work of an afternoon, or even several afternoons.  I'm hoping to create a mold to do duplicates if only to backstop my efforts, versus attempting to install the single set and risking all for so-doing.  Oh, and just in passing, note that the low-rent ERTL plastic 'glass' can be polished up to look better than one might suspect...



Here the model is seen in profile, consuming as it does body work from about three ERTL releases for having a flat hood, unperforated doors sans exterior racing mirrors, a standard nose versus the usual RS-treatment, and the taller D80 rear spoiler.  Just turning up an interior without the upgraded trim with faux wood inserts is something of a challenge, although a few ERTL releases afford such.  The cage may be done again given the main hoop could have been positioned further back, although it's very tight as-is.  To ensure the cage fits as tight at it might relative to the thick body shell metal, the plastic headliner that otherwise joins the front and rear screens has been cut out.  Tires are Jouef/Eagle's Race Ford GT40/Gulf Mirage Firestones, the wheels are revised resin Minilites done before to support other efforts.  The standard exterior rear view mirror is from a Lane '68 Firebird 400 H.O., while the outlines of the fabricated fuel cell housing can barely be discerned below.



Briefly glimpsed would be the Chaparral gauge pod set into the dash, as well as the ERTL D80 rear spoiler that required and has received a degree of attention.  The spoiler as-delivered is missing material beneath the main element as it floods over each respective quarter panel top, while the end profiles and height of the element itself needed subtle correcting.  A former concern about the height of the side screen/glass openings around the passenger compartment has been seen too to the extent that each opening has been filed flat to eliminate the rain gutter and window seal detail, while some file work served to enlarge each opening for expanding upwards into the roof.  Note how the rear windscreen border profile matches the contour of where the side window openings pick up (best appreciated for examining an unmodified example).  It does look better!  Thanks for your review and consideration of yet another unfinished scale project, suitably-themed.

Mike K./Swede70
« Last Edit: July 03, 2020, 09:03:16 PM by Swede70 »

MO

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Re: Ideas to share concerning 1:18 '67-'69 GMP Penske Donohue Camaros.
« Reply #341 on: July 04, 2020, 08:41:57 PM »
Mike,

Glad to see you back posting again. I've missed seeing your outstanding projects and workmanship!!

Jon Mello

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Re: Ideas to share concerning 1:18 '67-'69 GMP Penske Donohue Camaros.
« Reply #342 on: July 06, 2020, 01:11:23 AM »
Mike,

Very nice to have you back.  Can't believe you can stomach that '70 model with those horrible hood hinges but I'm guessing you haven't found something better to work with.  When will you get back on that '67 Penske Camaro project that has languished for too long?
Jon Mello
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Swede70

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Re: Ideas to share concerning 1:18 '67-'69 GMP Penske Donohue Camaros.
« Reply #343 on: July 08, 2020, 04:13:36 AM »
Thanks for the renewed interest...

Sadly I wrecked the original 1:18th GMP '67 Penske Camaro for misguided experiments related to applying racing stripes right down the back of the tail panel as was desired.  A mess was made, the remains of which were parted out.  With greater experience I'm much more adept at fabricating roll cages, while some effort is being made to husband supplies and research to create what will likely be a '67 Kent, WA iteration given I'd rather have replicate something in a high developmental state versus the '67 Daytona 24HR release GMP initially afforded us.  Some painted subassemblies were saved from attempt #1, while a firm by the name of IndyCals now has four 1967-season Penske Racing Trans-Am Camaro waterslide decal sheets that may be ordered in 1:18th to help revise the livery to suit.  Perhaps ponder these offerings via the link provided:

https://www.indycals.net/decals/canam/67penskecamaro.html

-

Indeed - the ERTL'70 Camaro hood and door hinges are a fright, although the tool is still better proportioned than anything that has come to market as strange as this fact is to report.  For a period the 1:18th Franklin Mint '70 Z/28 was expected to sweep all before it in terms of quality, but ultimately proved very disappointing for its very odd proportions and banana-like side profile in particular.  Somehow these scale oddities (for Franklin Mint then) command more than $125 used and are best avoided.  Older releases of the ERTL tool, especially the first '70 Z/28 iteration in Citrus Green, can be had for not so much secondhand, although I'd hesitate to recommend to anyone purchasing a newer release given prices have crept up to $79.95 for what is really something not much more sophisticated than was sold for $29.95 eons ago. 

Seen just below would be a late 1:18th Autoworld (rebadged ERTL then) release of a '70 SS350 Camaro lightly modified to suggest a SS396 iteration with RPO PO2 wheelcovers, a blacked-out tail panel, rechromed exhaust tips after having first removed the mold lines, and eventual '65 Z16 SS396 Chevelle 'power' if you will from a 1:18 Lane release sold separately by ACME.  It looks nice, although here would be a $79.95 model with wheels and tires from a $150 discontinued model of some rarity.  The AutoART RPO PO2 wheel covers plus tires came from a diecast breaker of sorts in Germany, and were picked up for 15 Euros, but working up something of reasoned quality can quickly grow expensive.  Little wonder I purchase few and work those that I do over hard...



Recently a Maisto '71 Z/28 was released, and while not hateful at the price point afforded, it isn't much better versus the ERTL releases that came before.  Washing ashore at CostCo stores and the like, for about $15 or less, one can be yours.  The hinges are just as hamfisted and glaringly obvious as what would be found on an ERTL or now Autoworld release, although if one seeks low-cost fodder for limited mods, worse choices exist. 

Lastly, the Replicarz sealed resin '70 Chaparral Camaro hasn't strictly been seen, with a 1:43 Spark model subbing for the actual thing on the namesake Replicarz website.   Not much to review when this message was scribbled, but one may follow the link to ponder the announcement of such: 

https://www.replicarz.com/1970-Chaparral-T_A-Road-America-Jim-Hall/productinfo/R18203/

I wonder if the wheels and tires tooled for their '71-'72 Trans-Am Javelins will be reused on this last release, while if so then I'm not hugely hopeful as some shortcuts were taken; i.e. the wheel diameters are different front-to-rear on the Javelin releases to suggest more in the way of difference between each end or axle viewed at a glance.  People love the finish on the Replicarz Trans-Am Javelins, although the price asked ($239.95) has turned others away or soured them completely.  No panels open on either the Javelins or upcoming Chaparral Camaro; i.e. no engine detail, no opening doors or trunk access - this a sign of the times as design, licensing, material and labor costs drive down detail and drives up prices. 

Within days I'll post a limited redo of a Replicarz '71 Penske Javelin consistent with working with what is afforded.  Very nicely developed '68 and '69 Ronnie Kaplan Engineering/Javelin Racing Team scale replicas based upon much older 1:24th Jo-Han plastic kits further linger in the background as projects to share.  Thanks...


Mike K./Swede70

Jon Mello

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Re: Ideas to share concerning 1:18 '67-'69 GMP Penske Donohue Camaros.
« Reply #344 on: July 11, 2020, 09:53:50 PM »
Mike,

Wow, I'm sorry to hear that about the '67 Penske model.  I hope you'll eventually come around to making a second attempt.  It's nice to see somebody has made four different decal sheets for the '67 car.  A pleasant surprise.

Besides the terrible hinges on the '70 model, it seems the side window opening is just not right.  Most of the rest of it seems to be OK.
Jon Mello
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