At last the '66 Stingray is in the collection. The gigantic 5SPs definitely
did not sit right after seeing a gorgeous Exoto 1/18 version:
Can I make a replica of it? It looks possible. The wheels are very close to
the RR10SP ("Halibrand"-style wheels), or even the J5 wheels in size 1.
Let's start from the beginning. This is what a pretty mainline with bad wheels look like:
So indeed I tried shaving down J5 wheels and fitting RR hub tires on it.
Needless to say I filing down the wheels still leave extremely messy edges.
I still am unable to fit them in the metal tubing like other hobbyist, and honestly
up to this point, it baffles me why I'm unable to produce the same results.
Unable to get a single wheel in the tube, I got creative by working with size-2
J5 wheels where the rim would be shaven down and I could create the impression of
thicker tires. That much worked out, but the results still were not satisfying.
So I scrounged through the bin of unopened donor cars and took wheels off a Racing
Champions Nascar. IT's got thick tires AND it has print on it. It meets 90% of my
needs and I can settle on that at this point in time.
It is strange how the body can have all the brand name tampos but not have any tail lights.
The Fast & Furious mainline had something, so why it's not on this is beyond me. The front lamps
were coloured in through standard means, but topped with the Tamiya "Smoke", which is a
translucent black, perfect for creating the illusion of depth needed for the lamps.
Steering wheel's a bit on the sloppy side, but a plain cylinder piece of plastic leaves
a lot to be inspired. The silver stretching to the back is a nice touch though it's probably
not a feature on the real thing. Lastly, I topped the bonnet vents with flat black to give it more presence.
It wasn't fun dealing with paint bleeding into the negative spaces, but the results
are good enough. These wheels came off a Racing Champions nascar, one of the hundreds
of cars sitting in a bin waiting for its wheels to be taken. It's times like these I
don't regret stocking up on random cars for their wheels, despite it being money poorly spent.
Much more toned down unlike the first! The premise was simple, and the amount of work required was minimal.
On the real car, the series of openings at the rear lacks tampos. Come on, Mattel.
You already filled in 4 of 11 circles, why not do 'em all!?
What a difference that made.
Touched up the vents as well. Skipped the interior work. Now the whole car looks like it needs more.
Wheels look proper. Now that I review these photos, I feel the metalflake paint actually
takes away the impact the wheels put on the body. Perhaps I should revisit this and go for more. We will see.
