thanks for the comments. you're too kind :alien:
i'm not too happy with the results. i had much more agressive plans for this kit. the reason it took me so long was that i just kinda lost interest in finishing it up... i envisioned doors which opened and closed with a removable front end that had some sort of 'catch' to keep it on. it wasn't until i removed the passenger side door that i realized that the plastic was too weak to support the hinges (not to mention the door was very weak due to the shape) so i decided to scrap that idea and put the door back on only to realize i used the wrong putty and could not recreate the panel lines. the tamiya putty is brittle and would crack it you do this. you will need some sort of epoxy putty. so strike one... authenticity down the tube. when i finally got around to do the decal work... microsol all over the driver side door decal... had to airbrush the messed up part on. it looks okay but the decal folded leaving a bit of a 'lip'... strike two... when i hit the third strike, i'm going out to buy a new kit!
but to answer your questions...
i removed the front and added a 'lip' for support and cut out the plastic molded latches. i recreated them with .020mm plastic sheet (did this for all the latches) i angled them inward so that when the hood is back on, it will have an interference fit with the body and the new latches will fall in place holding the piece together.
here is a pic of the circuit layout. i used a piece of wire mesh to hide the hardware from being seen from the outside. otherwise the source and switch will be seen through the grill. i used a 397 battery for this application. any 1.5v source would do the trick if you use a parallel setup. keep in mind that you need a 3.0v source if you intend to use the series method. i used the parallel method. there are alot of advantages to using parallel over series but i think i'd just bore you with the details. the switch is a sub mini slide switch.
a.