# next tjet project : chapparal



## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

Hi, 

Today I started a new project, based on an old aurora chapparal. The goal is to reproduce the same car I've got in 1/32. 

The biggest challenge is to introduce a real driver, inside the car. 

I'll add decals, painting details, and some extra parts (rrr wheels, clear windows, styren driver, and perhaps a brass pan).











I started sanding the tampography, and mold defects. Then, I made my first polishing with some tooth paste :











Now, I'm polishing again, with chrome polish. To be continued


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

Next ! I installed the RRR wheels, with thin tires (not the final tires, it's just to help to see the chassi fitting). 

as you know, the slim body of the chapparal doesn't look very good on the tjet chassis... : 












So I started to sand off the gear assembly (I did the same on my ferrari gto250) : 











to be continued...


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

Next ! 

I sanded off the fixation tubes, sanded (with dremel tool) the body interior too. 

Now, it looks better :thumbsup:











But the issue is that I can't put a driver in that cockpit, because of the gears 


to be continued


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## joegri (Feb 13, 2008)

hey d the chapperal is a tuff body to get it to look respectical.you,ve done a fine job of doing that! i thinkin with the final tire como and some fresh decals you,re gonna have a keeper. looks good and thanx for posting pic ! we love pics,


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

Thanks ! 

Another little issue, is the wheelbase. I noticed that when I use a aurora body on a JL/AW chassis, it's never perfect ?


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## rod766 (May 11, 2010)

looking good, I have some chaparrals in ho. but I can't find a h model. Does anyone know if someone made one


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

for your question, I don't know, the only models I know are the tyco ones, the aurora, and some vaccum formed lexan ones (I've got one). 


Anyway, I continued the job, adding painted details, and pin stripping to reveal the body sculpting. As usual, the aurora bodies are finer than you may think :thumbsup:



















I'm pretty proud of the hand painted chapparal logo on the front  I didn't have any decal, so I tried to paint it. 


I also finally painted the window in black, since there is no room for a driver. 




Now, I have to add other details (fake lights, rear lights, etc...) and decals. Then, I'll have to work on the wing. 

I also added weathering effect on the wheels, I'll show you that later.


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

Next! 

painted rivets and other metallic details

motor mesh painted and "weatherized"

Painting of the fake front lights, with a big coat of acrylic gloss medium on it. 


Here's the pics, it's drying 





















And the photo of the treated wheels : 











to be continued!


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## pshoe64 (Jun 10, 2008)

rod766 said:


> looking good, I have some chaparrals in ho. but I can't find a h model. Does anyone know if someone made one


No "H" that I'm aware of. But there was a scratchbuilt one in the the Aurora Handbook. I think it was form a Car Model Contest entry. I will look through my stuff and post a shot of it. Although it only raced as the Quasi-coupe, it would be cool to build one with the full canopy.

-Paul


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## pshoe64 (Jun 10, 2008)

Okay, found a shot of the 2H done in 1970. It was from a Car Model Magazine Contest. I'm working up a version of the 2D that will fit on an AFX chassis. This from a friend in Germany. I think Carrera made these as a toy. Still reworking it quite a bit to keep it low and some what in scale.

-Paul

2H









2D in Progress


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## pshoe64 (Jun 10, 2008)

demether said:


> Next!



Awesome work Demether! You have really brought out the details and made that pop. Work of art! The bi-plane venting on the hip radiators is a great touch of detail! 

-Paul


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## bearsox (Apr 22, 2006)

I Love to follow your projects as i allways see an artist at work and way cool outcomes ! This is no exception and i am also loving what i see . A couple of years back i did a mold of a 2D so i put up a pic of what one of my friends did with his body i sent him . Still got the mold around i think unless i recycled it allready. Anyway it fit well for tjets but much like the Aurora Chappy's don't cotton to JL's. Keep up the fine work i love to watch !

Bear :wave:


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

thank you ! :thumbsup:

I believe the best thing I should do is to find some original aurora tjet chassis, to fit that tight bodies I sometimes build !

Anyway, here's some new pics. It will show you the fake lights effect. 

it's pretty simple to realise : 

paint the light in flat black
make some round dots (depands of the car you want to reproduce) in dark metalic grey
add just some highliths in the dots, with light metalic paint (silver, for example).

Coat everything with a good coat of acrylic gloss medium, and it's done. 



























































You 'll see on the pics, that the car's lights reflects the lamp light diferently, depanding of the angle, exactly like the real thing. It's a simple way to add something we 're not used to see in our scale. 

With little work, h0 can be really good looking. It stills my favorite scale, even if I have some 1/32 cars too. Nothing better than h0 :thumbsup:


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## pshoe64 (Jun 10, 2008)

Those headlights look so 3D. Thanks for the tips on how to do that!
BTW, I'd like to correct my consistent typo in the post above. I meant Chappy 2F on the body I'm working up. Boy the D is sure close to the F on the keyboard.:freak:

-Paul


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## XracerHO (Feb 6, 2008)

Awesome paint detailing, demether, a real artist!! :thumbsup: ..RL


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

That trick with the lights is awesome. Recently, I've seen diecast companies do some similar things with tampos to make lights look 3-D, but this is the first I've seen a home hobbyist do it. Wow, it looks GREAT...

--rick


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## WesJY (Mar 4, 2004)

DANG!! AWESOME WORK !! I would go blind if I did this! 

Wes


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## Rolls (Jan 1, 2010)

You really have an eye and imagination for building! 

I wouldn't have thought the accenting of the body seams would improve the all-white Chappy body. I thought it would make it look chopped up. But I couldn't be more wrong. You nailed it! It really brings out the detail of the body and it looks *great*! 

Your headlight treatment is way cool, too. Great job lowering it, too. 

Nice!!:thumbsup:


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## kiwidave (Jul 20, 2009)

Excellent work D!


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

The details are astounding!!! Incredible work D!!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

demether,

What a neat build up and explination...Thanks for telling us how to do this headlight trick!

Yeah ho scale is fun becuase, it would be possible to put these in the botom of a Cracker Jack Box.....now that would be a suprise wouldn't it. Hey Mom look what I got a slot car...that's nice son. lol

Bob...love your little white racer...zilla


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

many thanks for all the comments! 

I didn't progress on the model, because of a lack of decals (the ones I had were to big for the car side)...So I created my own, including license plate and other stuff. 

Here's some pics : 




















I use a free software (Inkscape) and a HP desket (inkjet) printer. The result is pretty good, I believe, for home made decals. 

Now, It's drying..next steps tommorow 


bye


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

Hi, 

Tonight with my hobby lamp, I discovered that my decal attempt yesterday (using too big decals) caused some slightly noticeable damages. I used Future to seal the decals, and unfortunatly, Future is not compatible with the black ink I used for detailing :drunk:

It caused some dark dirty glazes on the body. On dark light, you barely can't notice that, but with good light...

i tried to fix the problem, polishing the car...but in fact the only solution should be start the whole project again.

But I'm lazy, so I tried a diferent thing. I used that defects to create a during/after racing aspect, like you can find in bigger scale. Since the car is a endurance-type one, it had sense. 

here's the current work in progress pics. Of course, I need to add the decals, and polish the aspect (making it less rough), but it's not so bad in my opinion 









































Please, don't tell anyone it's the result of a mistake : tell that I WANTED to represant a weathered racing car  :wave:


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## GTPguy (Oct 17, 2008)

Outstanding artistry. Just needs a weathered wing now!


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## pshoe64 (Jun 10, 2008)

Secret's safe with me! I like the weathering/dirt/oil/rubber stains. Makes an already outstanding job even more realistic.

-Paul


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

*Rainy days*

Hey D!

One of my favorite sayings..."When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!" Most of us have unwittingly had Future mess up something on one of our builds at one point or another. For that reason I tend to be in the clear lacquer camp.

Your re-visit of the Chappy has served to inspire me. I'm a closet 2F fan, and remember the intrigue and controversy that wings brought to auto racing.

Nice save!...now ya gotta schmootz up all your cars...


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## scratch (May 16, 2005)

Scores right up there, _very _nice detail work on this ride, nicely done.

Jas


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## kiwidave (Jul 20, 2009)

I like the weathered look! I screwed up this paint job and hid my mistake by weathering! Some of my favorite builds have started from one idea and evolved into something completely different!! It's all part of the fun!!


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

Printing decals can be tricky, and there is one step that is critical when you make your own, or buy from certain vendors. They have to be clear coated!!! A light mist with clear enamel, or the stuff the decal paper maker recommends is important, and will stop those runs. I do a light coat, and follow along with a fairly wet coat about 20 minutes later. This, of course, is after letting the ink dry for at least an hour. The weathered look works though! :thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

demether,

Looks like a racecar that has been raced now! 

Weather or not you did this on purpose...it looks Awesum still! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Bob...just don't drop it (doh)...zilla


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

thanks for the comments 



> For that reason I tend to be in the clear lacquer camp.


Yeah, here in France Future is not very popular...So it's fun to do exactly the opposite way they do  kind of masochism I guess  Anyway, most of my projects are varnished the "classic" way with spray can varnish. But I'm used to use future to at least seal the decals...Here it was a bad idea 

But in a way, products interactions happens, no matter the product you use : everyone (I believe) had bubble issues using a bad varnish spray can, for example 


@Dave : nice porsche :thumbsup:


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

Hi, 

I finally succeeded to make and pose good decals 

Here's the current pictures of the body : 





























I have to work a little on the rear side and weathering effects, and of course make the wing. 

To be continued


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

Hi, 

Finally I removed the weathering effects  the result stills OK. 

I varnished the body with an aquarethane gloss varnish, applied with a brush. The result is quite good, but it's difficult to work with (it dries extremly fast). But it was fun, since it's my first attempt using it. 



Here's some pics :


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## Hilltop Raceway (Feb 12, 2006)

Looks Ok to me too, actually it looks real good!!! Looks to smooth to be brushed on, what is this miracle elixir!!! RM


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

it's a special varnish (for vitrification), for wood, usually you use a special plastic brush. I used it to restore old pinball boards.

Ths time, I diluted the stuff with some water, and heavily brushed it on the car, then with a towel I sponged it. 

It's not perfect (the picture make it looking good, but there is defects), but it was fun to experiment a new technic


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## bobhch (Apr 22, 2007)

Looks waaaaaaaaaaay beter than the aurora chapparal that you started with!

This came out great...Cool!

Bob...very crisp and sharp looking white lil" car...zilla


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## roadrner (Jul 21, 1999)

Great details and job! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: rr


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

Thank you for the comments :thumbsup:

Today I made the wing. I need to fix 2-3 things and coat the wing with varnish, but it's almost finished. 






























Of course, the car is far from being a real racing car. I need to work on the chassis, now.


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## pshoe64 (Jun 10, 2008)

Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful!!!

-Paul


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

thanks


the wing is made of plasticard (styrene?) and the wings posts are made of steel (didn't find any plastic to do the job).


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## WesJY (Mar 4, 2004)

DAMN... That's a beauty!! 

Wes


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

Last pics, mounted on a (non-tuned) JL chassis : 























pictures with her 1/32 sister  : 






























My 60's endurance racing lineup (magna on left, tjet on right) :


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## videojimmy (Jan 12, 2006)

looks great!


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## XracerHO (Feb 6, 2008)

Great Work on the Chapparal & the headlights look like they are under lenses! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: ..RL


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## Hilltop Raceway (Feb 12, 2006)

demether said:


>


Personally, I like the HO version better, but that's just me. It's a lot harder to get the details just right. Finished product looks excellent!!! :thumbsup::thumbsup: RM


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

I agree with Randy...Nice finish D!


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## tjd241 (Jan 25, 2004)

*If Aurora made them this nice...*

... I suspect they'd be worth alot more and be hard to come by. Nice finish :thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

thank you all for the comments ! 

Now it's time to work on the track a little


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## kiwidave (Jul 20, 2009)

Really,really nice work!


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## demether (Aug 26, 2008)

thanks a lot, especially you, Dave


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## 1scalevolvo (Feb 5, 2004)

:thumbsup::thumbsup:


:dude:


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## Lype Motorsport (Mar 14, 2004)

Hi demether
The chappy looks fantastic! Thank you for showing all of us how ya did that! Now, where do I send mine to have ya make another one? 


Best Regards from Daytona Beach FL
Larry


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