WIP - Boot Hill Express

[kabdriver]

Had this on my shelf for probably a decade and had the urge to build it suddenly...so here goes!

Now, I never realized the engine was missing from the kit but it's a bit late to complain to the eBay seller now   I had a spare AMT Hemi, so I did a little work on the frame first off to make a mount that would work:

This is a WACKY frame - that rear suspension especially

I wanted to go with a candy paintjob - similar in actual colors to the 1:1, but more sparkles and less wood   First step was to hit some of the parts with a 'chrome' base:

I had an idea for the roof, so got to that first.  First up, some flames:

I wanted to run a kinda wide pinstripe around the border of the roof, but I wanted it to look like the flames were sitting over the top of that stripe and dropping some shadows on it...so first up I had to shoot an outline of black around the flames:

Next up, designed some lettering (using a font called Boothill, appropriately enough):

I did the same outline trick with the lettering and then added the stripe.  I'm going to be using a subtle skull pattern underneath the candy on some other parts of the build, and I wanted to have it on this panel too even though with all the other crap on there it won't be too visible.  So, I cut a mask..

And then shot over that with some Tamiya gunmetal silver to give some contrast:

Then, peeled that off and we're left with this:

And then, after a mist coat of black around the roof's edges, time to peel the masking off:

Looking pretty good, I think (although these big photos show up every little imperfection, seeing as the part is double the size on my screen that it is in real life )!  Next up, some candy yellow - mostly so I can have gold letters but I misted some over the whole panel:

Then some red highlights for the flames...

And finally, a coat of orange!

Pretty pleased with it - need to paint the rest of the body now so I can see how it'd look all together!  More soon!

[kabdriver]

A little more on this one; cut some more masks to add a little detail to some of the body parts and frame today:


Then gave them a little red candy:



Then some yellow:


And then the main color - pleased with how this candy orange looks on there!

Got a bunch of clearing to do now! More soon, soon as I’ve done more!

[TooOld]

The paint work is really going to make this one a "Top Shelf" model !
I know you've mentioned it before but remind me what brand of cutter do you have ? And what's the material you use for the stencils ?

[kabdriver]

Hey Bob! Thanks for the kind words!

The cutter is the Silhouette Portrait 2, their little one:

www.amazon.com/Silhouette-America-Portrait-2/dp/B009GZUPFA

I had their bigger one, the Cameo but I really didnt need the extra size it could cut so I sold it used and had enough for a brand new one of the little ones!

The stencil film is this stuff - works GREAT, the best out there in my opinion:

www.amazon.com/Oracal-ORAMASK-Stencil-silhouette-cutters/dp/B078T4PQMV/ref=sr_1_6?crid=33MR3ZX2FE8HM&keywords=oramask+813+stencil+film&qid=1576946625&s=arts-crafts&sprefix=oramas%2Celectronics%2C153&sr=1-6

[rocketeer]

Is the engine really parallel to the chassis on the real car? I always thought it had a pretty large nose-up angle.

Later:  Indeed it does:

[hobbybobby]

A very convincing paint job so far, Jim, love it!

[kabdriver]

Dec 23, 2019 17:44:43 GMT -6 rocketeer said:

Is the engine really parallel to the chassis on the real car? I always thought it had a pretty large nose-up angle.

Later:  Indeed it does:

Yessir, you’re right! My block kinda flops forward like that in my mockups but once the driveshaft’s in for good I think the angle will be more like the 1:1 🤞

Waiting for some low-humidity weather here so I can shoot more clear - but more on this one soon! Thanks for looking everyone, and for the nice comments!

[farmboy]

That is some gorgeous paint color selection and application. Lovely job.

[kabdriver]

Thanks buddy! This one is on the backburner for a few weeks whilst I work on my builds for NNL East in April, but I shot some clear on the painted parts and they look NICE with some clear over them! More soon (ish)

[Dennis M]

Looking real good Jim'' I will look threw my stash & see if I have an engine for you.