Godspeed SpeedyJ, rest in peace. Our condolences to his family and friends.
Hello everyone, I’ve been mostly away from building for the last year or so. Got a couple started just haven’t had the time to finish them.
I just returned to the site and am figuring out the new updates, and the first thing that caught my eye was this group build. I guess I’ll be a late starter but I have a kit I recently got that I really want to build and this group build is perfect for it.
Here is what I wish I had in my driveway again… A Ford Pinto. This 1972 Pinto was my first car, that I drove from 1986 to about 1990. On a stormy day I got to close to the roadside and hit the concreate lip of a culvert and tore the right front wheel assembly from the unibody, making it unrepairable.
Round2 has recently re-released some of the AMT Ford Pinto kits, I have the 77 Pinto Popper kit which can be built as a stock or custom version… I got this one to add to my coke machine collection. I will be building it mostly stock. Maybe with a few custom touches.
Delby
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Welcome Delbert, great to see you return to the ranks here and I’m looking forward to progress reports on your build!
Cheers, D
Inching along. Finally got the drive shafts installed. Kinda tricky, have to thread the driveshaft in through the suspension, up over the exhaust pipes and into the transaxle. Neither one made the trip unscathed. and they might be a bit too long. The carefully applied paints didn’t survive the rough handling so I have to go back and touch things up,
Looks great Mark. Are you going to do any weathering on the underside and engine or leave it pristine? I usually do armour and aircraft, so not sure what the norm is with car models.
I’m waiting on the Paragrafix etch set for mine. The set has a lot of corrections and details to match the car seen on set, rather the restoration which has a lot of the interior missing. I don’t often bother with PE, but I think it will make a huge difference on my build. It’s something of a labour of love as it’s my favourite film.
Damian, I don’t want to be a pain but could it be possible to edit my kit in the list to Blade Runner Deckard’s Sedan?
Thanks
Good question. I heavily weathered my '51 Ford, but that was the way I remembered the car, rusting chrome, oxidized paint, it was well loved before we traded it in in '62. But this is a Ferrari! Of course it’s pristine, or as pristine as my meager painting skills can manage.
Given the whole Blade Runner vibe, I think some wear, tear and grime is appropriate. 
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Oh yeah a sports car needs to be pristine! Wonder if a light oil wash could bring out the engine details out?
I think any vehicle in the BR universe just needs some wear and tear. All that rain and pollution, nothing is going to stay nice and clean very long! Should help to tone down the bronze paint I’m using too.
Early on, I tried an ink/alcohol wash, you can sort of see it in the ribs of the oil pan. And the glossy bands on the exhaust pipes.
IIRC it’s 1 teaspoon of India ink in a pint of alcohol (91%?). Stole it from a model railroad scenery book.
2 Likes
Looks good. Brings out the details very nicely while still looking clean and looked after.
Delby,
Welcome back to the darkside.
Looking forward to your 1977 Pinto build. And please share more of your memories of your time with it.
Joel
Looking good Mark. It’s one of my favourite moments at the bench when I get to the stage of adding a pin wash. It really is amazing how such a simple and quick process can add so much to the depth and detail.
Cheers, D
Mark,
The bottom of the engine, transaxle, and rear suspension looks fantastic. It’s been years and years since I used the Inda Ink and Alcohol mix for a wash. Like you, I got it from my Model Railroading days. Your mix is about right, but I do remember using 70% Iso as it was cheaper and worked just as well.
Joel
Well guys, since I finished the Cobra, I started on the Tamiya Lola as a regular build, as one just doesn’t dream about owning a Indy race car. Didn’t get very far as my eye sight has further deteriorated to the point that I just couldn’t see the smaller parts well enough to even try and work on them, and that’s with the readers the eye surgeon told me to wear plus my #5 Optivisor. Saw him on Tuesday, and now I need Bi-focals again, plus computer glasses. And this is after the Cataract surgery.
the Retina disease causes the Retina to swell, then shrink but never back to the previous curvature, so that my vision constantly changes in my one good eye. I can be 20/30, then in a day or so it’s 20/50 or worse.
It’s getting harder and harder to model. I have an appointment on Tuesday to get measured for my glasses, and hopefully, I’ll have them within a week or two.
Joel
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Joel, I am so sorry to see that your eye problems are continuing. Obviously all of us are hoping to see that it can be sorted and that you will be back at the bench ASAP.
Cheers, D
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Hi Joel.
I know how you feel ,I am waiting for eye surgery on my left eye.
Getting old sucks!
Spent some time masking engine parts ready to prime tomorrow.
Rebuilt a new fire wall and next up some details.
Happy New Year!
Richard.
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D & Richard,
Thanks guys so much for your support. Hard to believe that even with Cataract surgery I still need bi-focals just to see about the same as I did before, but at least the prescription is a little less.
I will now be wearing bi-focals for distance and reading/cell phone, have two separate pairs of readers for computer work, and modeling, as well as my #5 Optivisor. Still no real close up depth of field.
The injections in my right eye will continue until they come up with a better option. The day after the injection, my eye feels like I was in a fight, and I lost big time.
Will be starting a new build within a few days, and I’m about to bite the bullet on trying a Resin 1/25th scale Indy car kit for a change of pace.
Richard, good luck with your eye surgery. I’ll be in your corner all the way.
Joel
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Hello again… Getting ready to start my build and just went through some old boxes of keepsakes… kinda got the wife wired up with wanting to know what I was doing… Anyways, here is the item I found. Before I sent my trusty old Pinto to the junkyard, I took off this little piece and put it away for the future…
and also here are a couple of photos from in the box…
The Basic Body
Choice of Clear, or Coke Bottle Green
More Chrome than I remember being on a Pinto
Nice decals mostly for the coke machine.
Ok I’ll be quiet now…
Delby 
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Please don’t! We like the noises and smells of the workshop here, the hammers and rattleguns, the oil and grease and fuel. For most of us it has now become air compressors and Dremels, and lacquer thinner and enamel though 
Cheers, D
Delby,
Always looking forward to following another GBer’s memory lane build. Should bring back a ton of really great memories.
For nearly 10 years I owned what I called a sleeper 1970 302ci Mustang. Drove her eventually into the ground with one engine rebuild, 2 trans, more brake jobs then I care to remember, and got her past the 200,000 mark. The sleeper part is because it wasn’t exactly stock, and generally held its own when I needed it to.
Joel