California Cruiser

[Scale-Master]

I tried to paint the tire lettering, (trying to build it the way kit came), but acrylic paint would not even stick to the vinyl, and I know from experience that enamels never cure on the material. So I sanded the letters off and used resized art I made for my Vega tires.

[Scale-Master]

I painted the black window trim (Tamiya Semi-Gloss Black) and installed the interior side panels. I also painted the interior wood grain panels molded into the upper sides of the body.

[Scale-Master]

Except for the windshield, the body is ready to install onto the chassis. The kit provides two license plates, but both are for the rear. I painted out the rear only registration tags on the front plate. The tail lights looked kind of blah on the sprue, (being molded in smoke tinted clear didn’t help), but once painted look pretty decent.

[Scale-Master]

The chassis fits into the body very well. About all that is left to add are the chrome exterior trim parts.

[Scale-Master]

The side pipes have a different color of metal in the main center sections. Since the mold lines were heavy and the chrome was clunky I did a little clean up and shot those areas a light pearl gray. It’s not like the parts really match the real ones…

Hopefully the next pictures of it will be in the finished section...