1998-2002 Dodge Viper Rt/10

Wow it has been a long time since I have posted a wip here and its good to be back. For this project I will be building a 2002 Dodge Viper Rt/10. As much as I like the new 03-present viper it does not compare in body style. Nothing beats those snake like curves. Iv’e always wanted to build this model as I did not like the 93 rt/10 revell put out, the car itself its not aggressive enough for my tastes. Now as you may or may not know the 98-02 rt/10’s had the gts hood and rear exhaust which is what I will be duplicating. I had to buy both revel kits for this gts + rt/10 from Revell. I realize that some of these photos are blurry and for that I apologize, I did the best I could at the moment. I would like for the final product to look something like this.
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii204/Roushpimpn/4427Dodge_Viper_RT-10_in_Sapphire_B.jpg

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii204/Roushpimpn/IMGP0382Large-1.jpg

It was very important to me to have the gts hood while keeping the rt/10 side emblems so i had to do some surgery. Now I don’t have progress photos of the hood construction but I will describe in detail of how I did it. With a razor blade I cut along the mold lines located on the sides of the rt/10 hood, when the pieces were removed I masked them and cut a template out and placed those templates on the side of the gts hood, then I cut away those 2 portions. Next I glued the rt/10 sides to the gts hood. Its pretty tricky getting the right position. Then I filled and sanded the gaps with squadron putty and super glues. This is probably the hardest body modification for this model. Its not too bad though.
Next you see the opening for the rear exhaust. Unfortunately you also see the nast cut I got from trying to cut through that damn plastic.
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii204/Roushpimpn/IMGP0362-1.jpg

Some more mock up photos. The color I will be using is a custom. It will be a base coat of duplicolor dark blue metallic and then Midnight blue metallic over that. The parts that you see painted are from a previous rt/10 and a gts front bumper. They are painted with color i will be using. Also on a side note if you see nails in the engine that because I like add weight to my models for realism so if I can fit it in the engine block i will. Engine is painted with Tamiyas silver leaf and drybrushed with flat aluminum.
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii204/Roushpimpn/IMGP0381-1.jpg http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii204/Roushpimpn/IMGP0385-1.jpg

I will also use gts wheels
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii204/Roushpimpn/IMGP0379-1-1.jpg http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii204/Roushpimpn/IMGP0386-1.jpg
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii204/Roushpimpn/IMGP0383-1.jpghttp://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii204/Roushpimpn/IMGP0378-1.jpg
The next modification will be to fill in the side exhaust. I'll need some Tamiya light curing putty for that job so ill have to order it. Hopefully I'll get more progress later in the week. Thanks for looking, and feedback would be much appreciated.:)

I'm building 2 vipers right now, so I'm tuned. That duplicolor dark blue metallic is one of the prettiest blues I've seen. It is THICK though! If you can, AB it as it goes on like butter!

Yay, a topless viper, i love this car and i m happy you're doing such a great job, keep up the good work!

Very nice! My Viper is killing me right now, but Im enjoying it! I love the curves on the rt/10 and GTS, but nothing beats the the headlights of the srt10...nothing ever looked so mean! Awesome job with the mods!

Well it seems ive come across a dilema. If you notice in the 1st picture of the real viper the side emblems on the hood are placed lower than the side emblems on my model. I hate to say " its just a model as an excuse but i cant really fix it now. With all that super glue i used to make it rock hard it would probably break the whole hood. I know its not that big of a deal its only off by a little bit to my eye. I think I will continue on with this hood and then if it still bothers me in the futue i will make a replacement order for both hoods and i will make another and have the emblems pushed down a little farther.