1955 Chevy Convertible Indy 500 pace Car by CDW - Revell - 1:25 Scale - PLASTIC

[CDW]

The Revell 55 Chevy Convertible Indy 500 Pace Car is one of three model cars I plan to complete in time for the upcoming Southlandz 2025 Spring Model Car Show, June 7, 2025.

I may be biting off more than I can chew in this short time span, but we'll see what happens together.

[ccoyle]

My folks had a '55 Chevy. Sold it before I was old enough to drive it. 😢

[CDW]

This 55 Chevy Indy Pace Car is the third model of the three I planned to enter in the Southlandz Model Car Show coming up June 7. I previously finished the Audi race car and the Ferrari Testa Rossa for this event. With a little more than two weeks left, I think I am on target to finish the Chevy in time. Most of the painting and construction has been completed with the interior and body trim, decals remaining. To keep things moving quickly, I will make fewer progress posts with this one. Just took the masking off the body this morning. Chrome trim will tidy up the demarcation between red and white. Paint is MCW white and red enamels. The body spent 8 hours in the dehydrator overnight. It can now be safely handled(gently).

[CDW]

Closing in on a finish for the Southlandz show coming up on Saturday, June 7. Will it be finished by then? Rat Fink and Ed Roth seem to have their doubts. Stay tuned.

[Old Collingwood]

You should get  Rat Fink and Ed Roth  to help  they could do the miniature work.

 

OC.

[Canute]

May have to pull some all-nighters. 😁

[CDW]

5 hours ago, Canute said:

May have to pull some all-nighters. 😁

I'll pass on that. As it is, I have four models that have not been previously entered somewhere. There's no real prohibition I know of to enter a model multiple times, but since I have taken medals with them, it doesn't seem sportsmanlike to do that, so I won't. This Chevy is no show winner, it's just something to help fill the display tables and support the show. I'm glad there are people who take enough interest to spend the time, money, and effort to put on shows like this. 

Our new great granddaughter is taking up a lot of our spare time nowadays. She's already 4-months-old!

[CDW]

Took almost a year for me to get fired back up on this project, but it's closer to a finished product now, just a few more small but important details to add. 

One major thing I did was to wet sand that enamel paint down with 4000, 6000, 8000, and 12000 micro mesh before applying a gloss clear coat while testing out a new product on the market, Kaleido Gloss Acrylic Varnish. This acrylic acts and hardens more like lacquer. Hard as nails after 48 hours. I also wet sanded and polished it out using the same method described above with additional polishing with Hasegawa Ceramic Extra Fine compound.

 

 

 

Edited 22 hours ago by CDW

[gsdpic]

Looking good!  That first picture in the garage, where you can see the reflection in the hood and trunk, really show the shine you achieved.  I'm always looking for alternatives for a nice clear coat, I'll have to give that stuff a try.

 

[CDW]

There is a back story on using this new, Kaleido gloss acrylic varnish. When I read about the new line of Kaleido paints, it got my interest. Reliable sources were giving very good reviews, so I ordered all their line of colors, primers, and clear varnishes. I didn't intend on using any of it on this model, rather, I intended to lay down a clear lacquer clear finish over the MCW gloss enamels I used for the colors last summer. It sounds counter-intuitive to use lacquer over enamel, but it's quite doable provided the enamel is fully cured and because my enamel was months old, it was ready. To do something like this, I like to use Mr Color thinner to reduce Geos GW100 ultra clear 50:50, then lay down two very lights coats over top of the enamel and decals to seal it all in. After those light seal coats, I then use the same Creos GW100 ultra clear reduced with Mr Color Leveling Thinner. Having run out of Mr Color thinner, I substituted Tamiya lacquer thinner for my first light coats. This turned out to be a near-disaster. The clear dried almost instantly, way too fast, leaving a pebbly finish over the enamel. I thought I was going to need to strip off all the paint and just start over again. I decided it was worth a try to polish down that pebbly clear, so I went to work with all my micromesh wet sanding through each grit, from 3200 to 12000. It didn't achieve perfect results, but I thought, hey, maybe this is a good time to try out this new Kaleido acrylic gloss clear. The worst that could happen is having to strip it all off which I would need to do anyway. While it not as perfect as I would have liked, it certainly not the fault of the Kaleido varnish. I got a better result than I could have dreamed of getting had I continued on with lacquer. Anyway, the model is almost finished, just a few more details to add before calling it done. Windshield wipers, side mirror, door handles, and a license tag.