Okay as promised, here is the new version of the Chevy SSR from Revell. After we took another look at the truck, we decided to lay down a coat of Testors transparent blue #1257 over Testors metallic gold #1244 as a base coat. As the paint job was being laid a few mishaps happened.
Note to self: self do yourself a favor and don't have two different cans of the same color, or close to the same color. As the transparent blue was sprayed on, we were called away for three minutes. As soon as the task was done we jumped back on the spray mode, only to spray the truck with the can that had regular bright blue. Needless to say it took a couple of seconds for a mistake, but it took a full day away from the painting, just to dry. Learn from your mistakes.
Okay! We then cleaned and rebased it with the gold, it was a bright sunny day with some heat added to it and that helped it dry faster. About 1:30 pm it was ready to spray a new layer of transparent blue, we were careful to spray evenly with the contour of the truck. The head Honcho of D.A.Designs, also of Santa Fe Springs, CA taught us to dip the can of spray in a for five minutes in a pan of hot water than spray your model for a fine finish and higher gloss. We followed directions and we were so excited, that we ran to get witnesses. But as luck would have it when we got back all we could see was the footprints from a curious fly landing on the hood of the truck. With revenge in our eyes we searched for the, but we couldn't find it, we know it was there, we know it was watching and waiting for the next time.
After we relaxed we started to restore the hood and let it and the truck completely dry for three days. By this time we had visions of sugarplum fairies (sorry wrong story,) graphics, murals, two-tone paint and pinstriping for the SSR. So again we took the truck to the guys at the Drag-n-Shop for advice. There we thought of the paint scheme and maybe adding rabbit ears and the old curb-feelers for the nostalgia look, but we settled on just the pinstriping instead.
To find a pinstriper that could do the job and make it right we had to go clear across the table and persuade cool dude David Anthony Garcia to do some fine line work on the truck. No more than a half hour later David had the truck lookin' like a worthy ride ready for the streets.
The next day we started on the bed of the truck and drove to Hobby People in Orange, California for some 1/32 x 3 x 36 Balsa wood #6301 for the inside of the bed and a sheet of 1/32-inch plastic to make the chrome rails. After the wood was cut to fit, lines were drawn with pencil for position of the rails, at first they were spaced at 1/8-inch apart, then we decided to open the rails to a 1/4-inch to see the more of the wood in the bed of the truck. The rails were cut in 1/16-inch strips and rapped in Bare-Metal foil than clued to the pencil marks. If the plastic curves when you cut it, don't panic, work it back to shape with your fingers and then wrap it and clue it. We also taped the piece that was meant for the tailgate and laid the rails completely across, than cut a 1/16-inch at the fold so that it would sit in place and the rails would be aligned with each other. The top of the truck was sprayed with Testors silver #1246 to get ready for some colorful graphics.
For part two, the last thing we did was to name the truck and tag it. We thought of some cool names, but they just didn't define the real reason for the project, we needed to sum it up with one word. And because we had one of Revell's newest model kits to work with, we couldn't pass up the fact that it just might be the only SSR Lowrider at the show. So we came up with the name "Revell-ation" the only thing we regret is that due to the short amount of time, we computer generated the name and laid it on the inside of the tonneau cover. The name fit just right and looked good on the truck. Thanks Revell!
Well, check it out this Friday as we add to the bed and finish the interior. Basically, we will be done and ready for the Victorville show on Sunday the 21st of November.