working on a coupla 1/18 Acme sprint cars

[18degrees]

hey all, i have had a 1/18 GMP sprint car kit (die cast) for a long while now and can't figure out what to create with it.  the 1/18 Dave Blaney #10 Casey Luna Slixx decals that i bought off ebay were lost in the mail back in August    so this kit sits dormant.  however, i did come across the massively updated Acme 1/18 sprint car kit on ebay and ordered one, and then another, and then another... man, it's AWESOME.  completely updated body work and wheels/tires.  lots of choices with wheels and hoods/nose sections.  so i ordered a few Justin Grant #4 NOS wingless USAC car decals and got started on one.  will post when i get a bit of decaling done; hood and nose piece are painted, and the body panels are currently drying after 3 coats of Tamiya TS44 brilliant blue.

only 3 complaints with this kit -
1. the wheels are chrome and don't readily come out of the tires for painting

2. the tail tank (which comes off the frame with a bit of nudging) has the gas cap, fuel lines, and an insert on the underside which are pretty securely in place... which is gonna affect painting

3.  the frame is black and no one can feasibly paint it another color since the engine, rear running gear, and front axle are firmly attached

4.  there are no Vahlco style wheels for the rear to match the ones for the front.

so i am going to build 2 different Grant wingless cars and an Anthony Macri #39m winged sprinter, the 3rd kit should be here soon as should the decals from PrintIt/Circle Track.


these kits aren't for the faint of heart, each one cost me just a few bucks north of $100 counting tax and shipping.  but boy, are they nice...

[Rattlecan Dan]

Sounds like a man with a plan. As much as you seem to like them, they're going to be great. We'll keep an eye out for em'. Happy Modeling!

[18degrees]

here are the eventual targets-

Justin Grant (current project)





Justin Grant (upcoming, decals and kit are in hand)





Anthony Macri (kit and decals incoming)






and here is what i have done so far





I had to fabricate those side sun shields (i guess that is what they are called) from Evergreen sheet and glue them to the body panels before painting.  also fabbed the front sun shield (managed to get the color VERY close to the orange on the decals).  the tires have to be masked off so i can paint the wheels, and i will have to fab the mud covers out of sheet.  gonna be a fun overall project.  the second Grant car only had a side sun shield on the right side, so i went ahead and cut that after i sized the one up for the current one.

the paint is Tamiya Brilliant Blue, which is the seemingly "accepted" Tamiya color for the NOS cars.  however in some pics of the Grant cars it looks a bit metallic.  i am gonna stick with the TS 44.

i will just keep this as an ongoing WiP thread for all 3 of these builds

[18degrees]

here is a pic of what the original body panels (white ones, obviously ) look like out of the box versus what i did. nothing earth shattering, but i do like to make things accurate when i can.




and the aforementioned front sun visor, cut from Evergreen sheet; i think my guess on what tone of orange and primer to use worked out well




ironically, the tone of orange that the decal is, is not bright enough compared with the real thing.  but we work with what we are given.  i am just happy that someone makes decals for these cars and branched out into USAC...

[18degrees]

first completed one posted in the Showroom

[18degrees]

Started on the second Grant car, got everything painted today and a few minor part modifications done, things to me that needed to be done after building the first one. Have to put a second coat of semi gloss black on the wheels. The wheels don't come out of the tires so the tires have to be masked... PitA.

[18degrees]

I could crank one of these kits out in like 2 days if i wanted to invest that type of time in it, given that so much is already painted/assembled. Stupid easy, especially when you have already done one and know how they go together.

[18degrees]

what good is a WiP post if there are no pictures?

this one is done paint and decal wise, just a little bit of assembly to be done, most likely later on tonight.











wanted to include a pic or two of the motor so everyone can see how detailed it is out of the box.

and sorry if some of the pics are slightly blurry, my hand wasn't the steadiest.

also, got the wing painted on the Macri car, gonna get more into it when this Grant car is done.

[Rattlecan Dan]

Really nice job so far. Very neat and clean build.

[18degrees]

second #4 posted in the showroom

also got started on the Macri build



3 coats of Tamiya semi-gloss black TS 29... 3 coats with Tamiya seems to be the sweet spot for proper depth and gloss

[18degrees]

more Macri.  didn't get the hood and side panel decals lined up quite like i woulda liked.  tried something different with the mud covers, had an extra beadlock floating around in a kit so i decided to use it.  they look a lot better than the previous attempts with the Grant builds.

[18degrees]

front and top wings are all that's left, the wing side board decals are gonna be a pain, they are all one piece.  we'll see how things turn out.

[Rattlecan Dan]

 Looks like a beautiful build, clean and mean. Waiting for the big finish.

[18degrees]

The more i look at those pics the more upset I get with myself. Hood decal too high on one side, too low on the other side, right side decal on the body panel was trimmed too close on the top... yeesh.

[18degrees]

Macri should be done tonight, only have to add one wing panel decal.

went ahead and ordered another kit and some Bryan Clauson decals, so that will be next up when it arrives.