Daisy's Plymouth -- WIP

[Andrew D Charger Chaser]

Okay, back to business.  Earlier I had gone to the trouble of cutting away the GTX emblem from the grill (since all such emblems were removed from all cars in the show), then priming/painting and re-chroming the bumper with Alclad.  

 

Next the chrome bumper was masked, and the grill and its surround was sprayed with enamel Steel, and a wash used for the grill's recesses.

Then to make the headlights.  I use acrylic gemstones because they're soft enough to have the facets sanded away to make it rounded, then polished.  When finished with Future/Clear acrylic floor polish, they make very convincing light lenses, better than what comes with any kit.  In this case I used 5mm gemstones for the headlights, and 3mm for the signal lights.

[Andrew D Charger Chaser]

And now the last daunting challenge, the stripe.  To my knowledge no decals exist for this body type.  I do have the decals from the MPC kit of Daisy's 74 Roadrunner, but this is a different body type with different contours, and the subtleties of the strip were very different between the two vehicles.  

I also noticed the first '71s they painted for this had stripes that didn't quite fit the countours of the new type, but by partway into the second season the paint crews seem to have mastered the marriage of '71 body style and stripe style.

My solution: use the roof decals, the paint the thick stripe center along the sides, then use fine striping for the pinstriping.  

I used a photocopy of the roof decals from the MPC kit as reference to set up the masking for the side striping.  Through this I saw the side square from each end would have to be cut off.  The rest would work fine.

 

[RogerDuke]

If it weren't for that roll of tape and tool laying there I would have thought that this is a real car. Unbelievable attention to details......a true work of art! Thanks for taking the time to share it. 

[Andrew D Charger Chaser]

Thank you my friend....and just like Jesse, you're always generous with the encouragement! 

Already have one more project lined up, been doing the research on it   That'll bring the fleet to ten!

[RogerDuke]

I'm only generous with it because it is deserved....are all 10 of your projects from Dukes? Any chance of posting a group picture when you're done with Daisy's car? 

[Andrew D Charger Chaser]

Well, these are definitely not my only builds, but these are my specifically-Duke builds.  I've been building since I was a kid in the over the past 40 years, and have been blessed to have won awards at competition over the years.  I mostly do aircraft; I spent several years researching and building the entire history of my favorite Navy fighter squadron.  

Into each build you see comes a lot of research, and often automotive advice from an automotive modelmaking site forum.  

Definitely planning a "family photo" at some point!

[RogerDuke]

Did you ever do Pappy Boyington's Mustang fighter plane from WW II? I used to love Robert Conrad's old TV show Baa Baa Black Sheep. They stuck a bunch of rebellious  trouble making fighter pilots together and they turned into a pretty elite force. It was based on a true story. 

[Andrew D Charger Chaser]

No, not them specifically; that was the Marine fighter squadron VMF-214, the "Black Sheep".  The squadron I did began their days in the same general island chain flying the same planes (F4U-1A Corsairs) and were also a bunch of outcasts from other squadrons due to behavior; they were VF-17 Jolly Rogers, a unit which technically still flies today as VFA-103 Jolly Rogers.  Was amazed at the information I was able to gather, and then having to create markings for decals that did not exist, and sometimes modifying to create planes for which there were no existing models either.  Was quite a project, but finally accomplished their entire aircraft history from 1943-present day.

[RogerDuke]

Breathtaking! Museum quality craftsmanship. Thanks for sharing it. 

[Andrew D Charger Chaser]

Kindest thanks for the invite!  Didn't expect to show those in here.... 

[Andrew D Charger Chaser]

Now for the really scary part: the pinstriping around the main stripe. 

In my research, I took special notice of how they did the real one around the door handle and at the very front. 

 

I've got plenty of straight-line fine decal striping, but the curves are a problem.  Trying to paint those fine curves right alongside the large stripe AND make them look good is an awfully tall order.  My experience (both successes and failures) tells me to go another route. 

I decided an ususual approach: cut away the pinstriping from the decals of MPC's Daisy's car, the very-different '74 Roadrunner, and cut the curves into pieces to match each little bit of the Satellite's stripe. 

Wasn't easy, nor was it fun at first, but it actually worked!

 

 

[Hobie Hartkins]

WOW! Those planes! Daisy's car too!  Andrew, you are awesome! You've got  tons of talent!  I'm very impressed!    

Edited June 28, 2021 by Hobie Hartkins

[Andrew D Charger Chaser]

Thank you for the kind words Hobie!

Almost there.  Just using the Daisy's Car kit decals from the MPC kit for the roof-section of the stripe, although the two end sections need to be removed.

 

Daisy's car was in constant use on the country roads and so needs to have a generous amount of Hazzard county road dust.  Just speaking for myself, I don't believe in making showroom-fresh vehicles with immaculate chassis and wheel wells to portray actively used vehicles.  The overall dusting is a shade called Armor Sand, with some Military Earth Brown right behind the wheels and on the bottom of the fenders just behind the wheels.  

[Andrew D Charger Chaser]

I think I forgot to mention the wheel hubs.  The kit wheels are totally wrong; the good folks at the automotive modelers forum guided me toward the wheel hubs from the AMT 77 Ford van, and then one of the members was kind enough to send me a set which he was not going to use.  Once primed and chromed, they were perfect!  They also almost perfectly fit the aftermarket tires which I had ordered (see earlier post June 2).  Absolutely perfect!

 

ONE FINAL DETAIL: the CB antenna.  In the episode "The Meeting," there is a perfect closeup view of it, which I used as reference to scratch-build mine.  Base was carved from two sections of plastic, and the aerial was made from metal guitar string (high "E"). 

And, God-willing, she's done! Finished pics to be posted shortly. 

 

Edited June 30, 2021 by Andrew D Charger Chaser

[RogerDuke]

On 6/28/2021 at 3:33 PM, Hobie Hartkins said:

WOW! Those planes! Daisy's car too!  Andrew, you are awesome! You've got  tons of talent!  I'm very impressed!    

I agree. The detailing is jaw-droppingly amazing. Andrew is a true artist and we are lucky that he takes the time to share these.

[HossC]

2 hours ago, Andrew D Charger Chaser said:

I think I forgot to mention the wheel hubs.  The kit wheels are totally wrong; the good folks at the automotive modelers forum guided me toward the wheel hubs from the AMT 77 Ford van, and then one of the members was kind enough to send me a set which he was not going to use.  Once primed and chromed, they were perfect!  They also almost perfectly fit the aftermarket tires which I had ordered (see earlier post June 2).  Absolutely perfect!

I don't know why it's so hard to get the wheels on Daisy's car right, although I have to admit that I put the wrong wheels on my first attempt at drawing it in the Fan Art forum (I used a lot more reference photos for my later efforts to get them closer to the on-screen vehicles). I did eventually update my artwork (below), and while my stripe might not be quite as accurate as yours, we're not a million miles apart.



For some reason, even the 1:18 diecast version (below) released a few years ago came with the wrong wheels despite the manufacturer having the correct wheels on other models. I commented on this in the Dukes of Hazzard Diecast Models forum.



Great work as always with your model, Andrew. I've been keenly following the build, and look forward to seeing you final photos.

BTW. Do I spy some F-14 Tomcats in your airplane collection? I think I built a model kit of one about 35 years ago, but it wouldn't have looked as good as yours, and I've no idea what happened to it.

[Andrew D Charger Chaser]

Always terrific profiles Hoss!  You should try producing decals as well....seriously, just your profile for Amy's "Lucifer" Mustang is one that would be a lot of fun to build!

And yes, I have several Tomcats just in that Jolly Rogers history, 3 "A's" and two "B's" showing the progression of paint schemes over a quarter century of Jolly Rogers Tomcat operations.  Also did a few other non-JR Tomcats; truly one of my favorite aircraft of all time.

 

Some non-Jolly Roger Tomcats:

[HossC]

15 hours ago, Andrew D Charger Chaser said:

Also did a few other non-JR Tomcats; truly one of my favorite aircraft of all time.

Thanks for the extra pictures, Andrew. The Tomcat is one of my favorites too, along with the A-10 'Warthog' Thunderbolt and Russiam Mil Mi-24 Helicopter.

 

[Andrew D Charger Chaser]

2 hours ago, HossC said:

Thanks for the extra pictures, Andrew. The Tomcat is one of my favorites too, along with the A-10 'Warthog' Thunderbolt and Russiam Mil Mi-24 Helicopter.

 

Thanks Hoss!  Yes, those are also beauties; I'm blessed to be in a city which still has A-10's patrolling over it daily 

[HossC]

3 hours ago, Andrew D Charger Chaser said:

Thanks Hoss!  Yes, those are also beauties; I'm blessed to be in a city which still has A-10's patrolling over it daily 

I can't beat that (I don't think I've ever seen one in real life), but I was in London 18 years ago when the last three Concordes flew into Heathrow one after another. Even at the end, a single Concorde would still get attention, so you can image how special it was to see three.