# You Can Shut The Door On This One Max!



## whiskeyrat

My not-so-straight-out-of-the-box Interceptor. It took quite a while before I finally landed this one, and even more time until I thought I had acquired the skill to do her justice. I made a few minor corrections and additions to this kit, and there are some inaccuracies that remain but on the whole she's turning out pretty well, or at least better than I had expected! Although this kit crosses over both the science fiction/model car genres I thought it belonged in this forum more than anywhere else.










Parts washed and air dried. No peeling paint later on down the road! Ugh, bad memories of kits gone by...


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## whiskeyrat

Started on the interior parts, filling and sanding seams on the seats.


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## whiskeyrat

Interior parts and chassis primed. Door handles and window cranks already sprayed silver and masked.










Interior and chassis parts sprayed flat black.


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## whiskeyrat

Here's the body after cleaning up some seams on the roof edges, just above the doors, and on the underside of the rear bumper.


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## whiskeyrat

More seams cleaned up on the nose piece. 










Front wheel strut/brake assemblies











Rear corners smoothed


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## Daikaiju1

Cool kit!

Kick 'er in the guts, Barry!


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## whiskeyrat

Daikaiju1 said:


> Cool kit!
> 
> Kick 'er in the guts, Barry!


A p-p-p-piece from 'ere and a p-p-p-piece from theya...


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## terryr

She's the ducks guts.


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## whiskeyrat

'Engine' painted. Since this is a curbside (is that right?) kit it doesn't have a complete motor and transmission assembly, rather the bottom half of one molded into the kit chassis. Disappointing, but on the other hand it stops me from making more work for myself by adding spark plug wires, harness, etc.











Lower control arms, tie-rod ends and strut assemblies situated. I'm not sure if the struts are accurate for this car in reality...does anyone else know? They look a little small to me...










Chromed parts being stripped with bleach, exhaust tips, blower, belt-drive, etc. I've never really liked kit-supplied chrome plated parts, they just look too toy-ish to me, so I usually strip them and respray silver or aluminum, or sometimes a mixture of both. 











I figured since I had the chassis pretty much ready (except for the exhaust) I would go ahead and weather it up. Here's the first pass with silver dry brush...


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## Daikaiju1

Hey Whiskey, my dad had XB & XC Falcons (not GT's) the 70's and I think the kit suspension is pretty accurate. 
Your progress looks good.

"Max, you've seen it, you've heard it, and you're still asking questions?"
"When do we go for a ride?!"


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## whiskeyrat

Daikaiju1 said:


> Hey Whiskey, my dad had XB & XC Falcons (not GT's) the 70's and I think the kit suspension is pretty accurate.
> Your progress looks good.
> 
> "Max, you've seen it, you've heard it, and you're still asking questions?"
> "When do we go for a ride?!"


Thanks for the info Daikaiju. I'm pretty unfamiliar with Australian cars so I'm sort of playing this one by ear. I checked a couple of reference pages but couldn't really find anything about the suspension/undercarriage or any images. No matter they really won't be seen anyway. Got a couple more pics coming later.

"Phase four heads! She sucks nitro!"


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## terryr

I had this one bookmarked;

http://www.aus-ford-uk.co.uk/html/underneath_2.html

Very thorough look underneath.


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## whiskeyrat

terryr said:


> I had this one bookmarked;
> 
> Underneath 2
> 
> Very thorough look underneath.


Great find, Thanks terryr! Had I more time to spend on this one I might have accurized it quite a bit more, but I have so many kits waiting to be built I just couldn't do it. Modifying the chassis and putting in an whole engine/trans assembly would have set me back a bit. No worries I think she's still turning out halfway decent.

More pics of the chassis.





















I added some sand and dirt colors from my Tamiya weathering set, and did a black paint wash on the engine/trans assembly to sort of simulate oil staining, and the exhaust pipes, which HAVE to be inaccurate, but c'est la vie:


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## whiskeyrat

A little while back I discovered something interesting about the way the car appeared at the beginning of_ Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior_. When the film opens, the front of the Interceptor is shown _missing the airdam_. The concorde nose-piece is still there for about 45 seconds, and then gets promptly smashed off the car when Max rams into one of the vehicles trying to run him down. At some point between the end of the first film and the beginning of the second film, the airdam is either broken off, or Max removes it for whatever reason. Ground clearance maybe? I really liked the way the car looked as a whole, and the kit did not come with a separate airdam, so I began fabricating my own. So this model will represent the car as it might have appeared during that time frame, perhaps shortly before the airdam was lost.

Front piece cut and marked for holes.










Center hole cut.











At this point I also realized the sides of the bumpers were wrong and needed reshaping. They should be straight, not angled as molded. I sanded them down.



















Sides attached. I used some small styrene rod to create the rounded corners, and it also added a little rigidity to the structure.


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## terryr

If that new Mad Max movie ever comes out maybe we'll see how the air dam broke off.


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## whiskeyrat

terryr said:


> If that new Mad Max movie ever comes out maybe we'll see how the air dam broke off.


That would be cool, but I think the movies that are under production right now are supposed to be after Thunderdome, right? Unless I assumed wrongly about that. Release date is supposed to be summer next year. I've seen a few images from the shooting location in Namibia and things look good so far, with lots of post-apocalyptic looking vehicles and people, but haven't seen any images of the Interceptor, so I'm sorta figuring the setting will be after Thunderdome, perhaps a couple of years or so, long after the Interceptor met her fate at the hands of The Humongous' minions. A shame we probably won't be seeing her again. 

Turn the sound down or hit mute when you watch the below video of images from the shooting location, the music's awful.






Below is a really cool video of the original cast of Mad Max (minus Gibson) reunion Q and A. (Caution: Strong Language)









As for the Interceptor, that was the last we ever saw of her. She lives now...only in my memories...


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## terryr

I thought it was supposed to be before the Road Warrior.

I saw a shot of the black on black, if it was the car. It isn't a perfect copy of the 'real' one.


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## MadCap Romanian

Awesome stuff! 

Those cars that you linked the you-tube video to give me some good ideas of what can become of all these poor shape model car kits and parts customers have given me over the years. 

I own Monster Hobbies in High River Alberta, Canada...which was flooded out not too long ago.


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## MadCap Romanian

Awesome stuff! 

Those cars that you linked the you-tube video to give me some good ideas of what can become of all these poor shape model car kits and parts customers have given me over the years. 

I own Monster Hobbies in High River Alberta, Canada...which was flooded out not too long ago.


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## whiskeyrat

MadCap Romanian said:


> Awesome stuff!
> 
> Those cars that you linked the you-tube video to give me some good ideas of what can become of all these poor shape model car kits and parts customers have given me over the years.
> 
> I own Monster Hobbies in High River Alberta, Canada...which was flooded out not too long ago.


Truly sorry to read that  Hope you were able to salvage your stock! I suppose the flooded ones might make great scratch/bashes of Mad Max cars! Cool idea!

Here I've got the center hole boxed in, and started cutting and framing the two smaller side ones. The fog lamps I'll make later.










Finished with the airdam holes. 










The rear spoiler remnants glued on and some other depressions filled.


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## whiskeyrat

With the airdam finished and the body primed she's starting to come together. I had to scribe in some panel lines along the front above the headlamp windows in the nose piece, and at the top front of the doors, where the pillar meets the door. If there were no line there in reality the door wouldn't open!










Door line scribed in and panel contour sanded to match.










The finished airdam










Front corner panel lines added. Sanding and re-priming to go.


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## terryr

It's the little details that make it look real.


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## whiskeyrat

terryr said:


> It's the little details that make it look real.


Right? Even though this was supposed to be a not-so-complicated build it's turning out to be otherwise. After priming the car I didn't really look too closely at the grain on the paint, and after applying the two topcoats of flat and gloss black for the upper and lower parts of the car they appeared REALLY grainy. So much so that I decided to completely strip the body and start over with the paint. A good thing I did, because I also spotted some puttied areas that need pinholes filled, and some x-acto blade scratches that need filling. As if that wasn't enough, I picked up ANOTHER kit of the car; this one includes the extra parts to build the correct interior from the second movie, with the correct rear wheels and photo-etch parts for all of Max's tools and dog food boxes and what-not littered around the floor. SO... I have to build another complete interior AND re-prime the car. Ugh. This time I'm going to sand the living daylights out of the primer coat to make ABSOLUTELY sure there's no noticeable grain.

First stab at the black paint showing very bad and noticeable grain. UNACCEPTABLE!










Extra parts for the correct interior. More work. Can't decide if I'm happy 
about that or not...


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## terryr

The primer looked very smooth. Maybe the paint was contaminated.

So there's 2 versions of the same kit?


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## whiskeyrat

terryr said:


> The primer looked very smooth. Maybe the paint was contaminated.
> 
> So there's 2 versions of the same kit?


Yeah, the primer looked smooth to me too, but after the first coat of gloss black the grain was so bad that I could see it from more than a yard away. I tried a couple of consecutive coats and then some MM clear gloss coat but it really didn't help to smooth things out. So it was into a bath of Purple Power degreaser with her for a couple of hours to strip everything off so I can start again.

A little web searching revealed there may be up to 6 versions of this kit from Aoshima! I got my second version here. It's a Japanese site but it has an english language version.


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## whiskeyrat

Sometimes going forwards means going backwards. After stripping off the paint and primer I re-primed, and then scrubbed the whole body down with #0000 Super Fine steel wool. The results were well worth the effort, the primer was just about silky smooth. In the process I managed to completely remove the primer in some spots, particularly along corners and edges, so I knew I had to do several coats/rubdowns in order to get the even coverage I want, but I'm okay with that as long as I get a smooth finish, and it looks like it's going to work this time. The other thing I did was *thin* the primer even more, so I got a finer mist from my airbrush. That helped a lot!

Re-primed body, quite a bit less lumpy this time...













Since I'm going to build a new interior, I had to cannibilize the dash off the first interior I had built. Apparently I enjoy creating more work for myself and spending twice the amount of money for one kit. Looks like I'll be making two versions of this car... maybe the second one will be as she appeared when we first saw her, in the garage under MFP Headquarters in the first film. That requires building a trunk and another airdam, and the rear glass and spoiler. See? I'm a glutton for punishment...

First interior with the dash popped out, ready to swap into the new one. I'll have to add one or two details to it before the swap but it beats gluing up and painting another.


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## whiskeyrat

Making a little more headway with the new interior. It's a totally different look than the first tub I put together for the car, and it looks a heck of a lot better and much more accurate. I'm glad I decided to get the second kit now!

Photo-etched wire shelf bent up and installed. It took a couple of tries to get the bend right on the seam, and I almost ruined the part. Got lucky and it looks great:










Roll cage and interior primed, just have to make sure the upper hoop of the roll cage fits properly before I super-glue it on, and I need to touch up the sprue connecting points and coat the wire mesh shelf. Well-thinned primer left very little grain this time. Much better!


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## whiskeyrat

The new interior is starting to shape up. I had to lengthen the upper roll bar a little, and added a new length of bar down by the driver's seat now properly attached at the footwell. The kit part was too high and too short. Unfortunately now the driver's seat doesn't fit all the way down on the floor, so I'll have to fabricate some short legs for it to sit at the right height. Also added the two straps on the transmission tunnel made from leftover brass photo-etch sprue.

Tub temporarily in place. You can see the two brass straps on the trans tunnel, and the section on the rollbar I lengthened.











A comparison shot of the two interiors. A huge difference.










New tub painted up. Still needs a lot more work but already looks great, IMHO!


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## terryr

Niiiice. Not many have the roll cage. It looks accurate based on pics I've seen. Best I've seen.

I think the shifter should have a raised squarish hump on the floor. And those angled rear braces should be flat. They are stock ford stiffeners.

And the dash needs an ignition coil and upside down troll doll or something.


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## whiskeyrat

terryr said:


> Niiiice. Not many have the roll cage. It looks accurate based on pics I've seen. Best I've seen.
> 
> I think the shifter should have a raised squarish hump on the floor. And those angled rear braces should be flat. They are stock ford stiffeners.
> 
> And the dash needs an ignition coil and upside down troll doll or something.


Thanks terryr! And you are right on all counts; raised squarish hump on trans tunnel, and flat rear braces, troll doll head and ignition coil. The last two are included in the new parts trees. I'm correcting the hump, but the braces I'm leaving as is since they'll be difficult to see anyway under all the other bits and pieces. I'm listening to the soundtrack to _The Road Warrior_ as I build...

Found this image online showing the interior and the raised hump on the trans tunnel.



Here I've got the new interior dry fitted together, and my fabricated transmission shifter hump. How many times can I work the word hump into this post?


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## whiskeyrat

Some more aging and wear & tear done to the interior, and I got the wire shelf and rear deck painted and weathered. I still have to prime and paint the trans hump, (there's that word again) and the little extra greeblies for the dash, and the stuff on the floor and shelf but I'm really happy with what I got so far.


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## Andrij

WOW, You are doing a fantastic job on this model. The work on the transmission "hump" is incredible. The amount of details you have gone into, including the "hump" is incredible. I am not sure if I have mentioned the "hump' yet, but the "hump" is incredible.
Looking forward to seeing the completed vehicle.

I have 2 Interceptor models I have not touched, not including a die cast version I picked up a few years ago.

Good Luck.

Andrij.

PS: Did I mention that you did a fantastic job on the transmission "hump"?


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## whiskeyrat

Andrij said:


> WOW, You are doing a fantastic job on this model. The work on the transmission "hump" is incredible. The amount of details you have gone into, including the "hump" is incredible. I am not sure if I have mentioned the "hump' yet, but the "hump" is incredible.
> Looking forward to seeing the completed vehicle.
> 
> I have 2 Interceptor models I have not touched, not including a die cast version I picked up a few years ago.
> 
> Good Luck.
> 
> Andrij.
> 
> PS: Did I mention that you did a fantastic job on the transmission "hump"?


Thanks for the compliments Andrij! I promise I won't mention the word hump ANYMORE after this post! I see just like me you have two Interceptor kits...time to get building! Bust a hump! Sorry.

A while back I figured out the driver's seat was the wrong shape and quite a bit too large, so I cut it into sections, thinned the parts by Dremeling off about 1.5mm per side, then I cut the headrest off, sliced it in half and thinned it the same way. Glued it all back together and it looks much closer to the real thing.












Newly modified seat painted and weathered, next to the old one.










Interior with the light mount over the glovebox replaced with photo-etch part, and trans bulge finally painted and weathered to match. I didn't say Hump!


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## terryr

And one more thing. A teensy picture of his wife and baby in the center of the steering wheel.

I was going to mention the light mount but you changed it. I saw a behind the scenes pic that showed the light came off and could be placed on the roof, ala Starsky and Hutch.


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## whiskeyrat

terryr said:


> And one more thing. A teensy picture of his wife and baby in the center of the steering wheel.
> 
> I was going to mention the light mount but you changed it. I saw a behind the scenes pic that showed the light came off and could be placed on the roof, ala Starsky and Hutch.


Yikes I don't think I could manage the picture of Jesse and Sprog, maybe I'll just dollop a couple tiny drops of different colored paint in the depression and call that a picture. And I love the Starsky and Hutch Torino! Another one of my favorite cars! If there were a good kit of that car I'd love to have it next to the Interceptor and BTTF II DeLorean on my shelf. And I started assembling and painting the rest of the photo-etch parts which is why the light mount was finally changed.

Got a little further with the small bits and pieces, and folded up and glued together the dog food boxes.













Upside-down Trollhead, check. Ignition coil, check. Utility belt on driver's door, check.










So here's a dilemma. This is now the second Aoshima kit I have built which developed split vinyl tires after I mounted them on to the wheels. Apparently there is some chemical out-gassing from the styrene that reacts with the vinyl tire and causes this depressing result pictured below. Does anyone have any more information on why this happens? I'm researching some alternatives to vinyl but the kit tires are really sharp and look great, it's a doggoned shame to have to replace them.


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## BARRYZ28

Go check this site out on Mad Max / Road Warrior models.
http://www.madmaxmodels.com


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## whiskeyrat

BARRYZ28 said:


> Go check this site out on Mad Max / Road Warrior models.
> MadMaxModels.com


Really cool, lots of different Interceptors! Thanks for the link BARRYZ28. I never knew there were more than two or three makers of Mad Max models. After looking at all of them I think the Aoshima kit captures the look of the car best. A couple of the garage kits looked a touch out of proportion to my eye. 

As for the split vinyl tire, I flipped it over on the wheel so that the split side won't be visible, for now. Hopefully it won't propagate before I can come up with a solution, either by making my own or finding suitable replacements.

Made a little more progress, and corrected yet another mistake. Below I've got the rest of the photo-etch tools and door strap ready for priming and painting. It was pretty tough to handle the parts as I tried to glue them together; I'm not looking forward to the windshield wipers, which are 4 microscopic pieces each!










After looking more closely at the film I realized the seat was STILL wrong, it's not supposed to have a headrest! Ugh! So I sawed it off and puttied over the hole, and brushed over it with some more semi-gloss black after sanding.










Door strap glued into place. Bolt-cutters, gun, bucket and tire-iron all painted and sort of dropped in. I'll secure them with tiny drops of CA glue later. Lightly weathered and threw in the spare just to see how things look.










Tub dry-fitted again, just for ducks...


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## whiskeyrat

One last quick update before the weekend closes. I've been adding bits and pieces to the interior all afternoon, blanket, netting, hose, etc., but the kit didn't come with a fire extinguisher or water canteen, so I made my own from bits in my spares box, and some thread.


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## aarivers

Good lord that's some detail! Amazing work so far, can't wait to see the final product.


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## terryr

If you really want an accurate seat, here's the actual car, but at a car show in Oz.


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## whiskeyrat

> Good lord that's some detail! Amazing work so far, can't wait to see the final product.


Thanks aarivers! I can't wait to see her finished either. She's definitely taking a heck of a lot longer than I originally anticipated, but I am determined to keep moving and get her done and on the shelf before Halloween.



> If you really want an accurate seat, here's the actual car, but at a car show in Oz.


Great pic, thanks terryr! I'm pretty much done with the seat at this point, at least in general it looks closer to the real thing than when I began. I'm forging ahead with more interior detail work, trying to hurry-up and get done with it so I can tackle the body paint again.

In this image you can see I added the brownish foam padding on Dog's seat, and his blanket in the corner, which is made of a piece of paper towel dipped in a 50/50 water/Elmer's white glue solution. I gently pressed into place to make it look draped over the roll cage and floor. I weathered it with some light brown paint. The new parts pack came with a length of tiny chain, and that still needs to be added to the metal shelf. Also glued a small hook onto the roll bar to hang the bucket from.












Here's the blower with some oil stains and weathering, and the finished fire extinguisher and canteen. Not pictured is a small spare blower belt that I made, I didn't get around to priming it yet and left it out of the picture. While I was at it I made a frying pan for Max. You can't eat _raw _roadkill, you gotta cook them Joeys! I also stripped and repainted the Jerry cans; upon closer inspection it turns out they're supposed to be a sort of olive green. I had painted them flat black by mistake.










Here's those microscopic 4-piece windshield wipers I was talking about last week. I'm deathly afraid of accidentally inhaling one. As a bit of trivia there are a couple of shots in the movie where the wipers are missing! And then magically re-appear in others. So much for continuity I guess.


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## whiskeyrat

Well, I've been thinking about it and thinking about it, and finally decided to correct the rear ride height. As built, the car would sit level, and there were no ladder bars included in the kit to raise the rear to the proper height. I tried to let it go for a while, thinking I would get used to looking at a level car, but the more I pictured it the more it bothered me; it just wouldn't look like the car in the movie, so I dove in and started tearing down the rear axle assembly to rebuild it to the proper height.

I gently pried up the leaf spring mounts with the edge of my Xacto blade. Luckily all four corners came up clean with no cracking. Whew!












The stock shocks would now be too short for the lifted rear axle, so I had to fabricate some mounts for the new ones that I'm making to ensure they'll be long enough.













New shocks made from aluminum and copper tubing next to the old ones. I may just paint the copper parts black and leave the aluminum bare.















And just because, here's the spare blower belt. It'll be tucked between the roll cage and the door panel on the passenger side.


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## terryr

It must have powerful springs. Someone estimated that full load of gas would be 731 liters [190 gallons] weighing 1100 pounds.

So empty, the rear would be up in the air.


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## whiskeyrat

terryr said:


> It must have powerful springs. Someone estimated that full load of gas would be 731 liters [190 gallons] weighing 1100 pounds.
> 
> So empty, the rear would be up in the air.


You know, that never occurred to me but you're right, with all that fuel in the extra tanks, *PLUS* the fuel tank under the car it's a wonder the thing could even get out of its own way. I'll bet those tanks were empty during filming so the car wouldn't wallow like a pig under its own weight. As far as this model is concerned, I'm going to pretend the tanks are empty (O Mighty Wez) and Max is out scavenging for fuel to fill them. Thus, lifted rear!


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## terryr

It would weigh over 5000lbs and handle like crap. No wonder The Humongous' vehicle ran him down so fast.


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## whiskeyrat

terryr said:


> It would weigh over 5000lbs and handle like crap. No wonder The Humongous' vehicle ran him down so fast.


Also The Humongous had nitrous, so his vehicle was more than a match for the fully-loaded-down Interceptor. They caught Max by surprise and didn't give him time to react. Maybe he could have shot out one of their tires or something if he'd seen them coming up on him.

This morning I finally got the rest of the modified rear axle assembly back together. I cleaned up the new shocks I had made, and ground the proper mounting angle onto the lower end of each shock so they would sit properly on the perches. I mistakenly drilled holes into the ladder bars I had made, and not long after looking more closely at the film did I realize there WERE no holes in them, so I scrapped those and fabricated new solid ones, painted them up, and cut tiny lengths of brass rod to go through the leaf spring mounts to simulate bolts.












The axle superglued back into place with the new ladder bars and shocks. It was a bit tricky to get the shocks in (had to do it with the chassis right side up) but I managed not to get glue all over the place. I'm getting better at this model building thing!


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## whiskeyrat

Not much progress to report on this week, but still slowly pushing forward. Sometimes I just don't get the time to myself on the weekends and I have to make do with what I _can_ get. I did a little work on the blower, and finally finished the interior. I got the re-primed body buffed down with steel wool again; washed, rinsed and ready to re-paint. I wanted to thin-out the kit-supplied clear plastic to try and reduce the amount of distortion from the molding, but I snapped in half while sanding (!#&[email protected]*!!) and decided that I might be better off trying to create my own windshield and quarter glass with clear styrene sheet.

Here's the chassis now at the correct ride height. The weight of the car is actually sitting on the brass pins I cut for the bolts.














Top view of the completed interior, one last time. From what I can tell the spare tire has no wheel in it, so I removed it and filled the tire tread with sand colored weathering pastel. I added the chain and miscellaneous box-like items to the wire shelf, and got everything else tacked down with CA glue.












I added the hard vacuum lines to the blower, just underneath the snorkel. I used thin solder for the lines and short brass rod pins to simulate the taps.
























Custom cut windshield from clear sheet styrene. I'm going to try and install this using Micro-Kristal-Klear adhesive, but if that doesn't work I may have to resort to using the second kit-supplied window I got from my duplicate.


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## Rondo

Wow, great attention to detail and weathering! This will be a winner.


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## whiskeyrat

Rondo said:


> Wow, great attention to detail and weathering! This will be a winner.


Thanks Rondo! I've been a fan of these films since I was a kid in the eighties, and when I finally learned about the Aoshima kit I knew I had to have it, and I also knew that I needed to make it as good as I possibly can, which meant waiting to build up my meager model-building skills and patience so that I could do it justice. Despite this model not being 100% accurate I think it's the best car kit I've ever put together, and I'm still learning new things every time I sit down at my workbench. The experience I've gained from this kit will be applied heavily in future builds, there's a lot here I've never done before, so I'm getting the double benefit of having an Interceptor on my shelf AND gaining precious build knowledge. 

I almost forgot to post images of my FIRST Interceptor from many years ago. I dug this out of the closet the other night. I was DESPERATE for an Interceptor kit but I didn't have any clue where to get one, so I made this car from a Mustang Mach 1 funny car;(I forget what scale) shortened the hood, sectioned and swapped the dash parts to the left side, and built a chassis from bits in my spare parts box and sheet styrene. The extra fuel tanks were made from an X-wing fighters engine nacelles! I think I got the wheels from an old Toyota pickup truck kit IIRC... Anyway behold and laugh!


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## whiskeyrat

Made some pretty good progress this weekend. I finally got up the nerve to re-paint the body, and a couple of minor mishaps aside, I managed decent results. I still need to create the flat black pinstripe that follows the contour of the flat black lower part of the body though, that's going to be a challenge.

I started with flat black for the lower half of the car. I steel-wooled it to smooth out some graininess.












Semi-gloss black for the nose-piece and airdam. That actually makes the car a *three-tone *black; flat, semi, and gloss.











Flat black center portion of hood and gloss on the body. Luckily for me this car is going to be dirty and somewhat weathered; this paint job has a few flaws that I'm hoping won't be really noticeable.












And finally a painted body that looks shiny where it's supposed to and dull where it's not. What a gigantic pain in the keester. However I learned some very valuable painting lessons that will come in handy in the near future.


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## scottnkat

Good job. I always seem to have trouble with black myself. Nice job getting all three shades done well.


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## Steve244

excellent read. Thanks for posting the details.


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## whiskeyrat

scottnkat said:


> Good job. I always seem to have trouble with black myself. Nice job getting all three shades done well.


Thanks scottnkat! Yeah the black-on-black-on-black had me gnashing my teeth and pulling out what little of my hair is left! I'm *DEFINITELY* making my next car kit *ONE* color! 



Steve244 said:


> excellent read. Thanks for posting the details


Thanks Steve244! There's more detail that I didn't post up; I'll try to list what I've learned and where I went wrong in a recap at the end of the build. This thread is already a bit longer than I originally anticipated and I didn't want to make it even longer. I do try to make it as pic heavy as possible, because that's what draws _my_ attention in other folk's threads. Whiskeyrat loves the pictures! Also, I have all of the images in this thread (much larger) and many more I haven't posted here, in my photo album. Take a look and please comment and rate!


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## whiskeyrat

terryr said:


> I thought it was supposed to be before the Road Warrior.
> 
> I saw a shot of the black on black, if it was the car. It isn't a perfect copy of the 'real' one.


terryr you're right; I re-watched that video and I did see the Interceptor! Although the wheels were different everything else looked pretty much the same! I don't know how I missed that the first time, I must have been wincing at that awful background music... So it seems if those images are indeed of the car appearing in the new film then maybe we'll get to see her on the big screen again! Woot!:hat: (Good catch, BTW!)


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## whiskeyrat

This week I tried out the Micro Kristal Klear adhesive from Microscale Industries for the first time. I love it! Takes a little practice but it does dry super clear when applied properly. What is this stuff anyway, just white glue?

Photoetch headlamp grills getting glued on with the Micro Kristal Klear. I simply coated the lens, plopped the photoetch grill down on it and then coated over that. I got nice results.



































Tail lamps painted and glued in.












I trimmed down my custom cut windshield a bit more for a better fit, and rigged up a clamping solution to hold it pressed against the inside of the body while the adhesive dries. I thinned it out somewhat with water so capillary action would pull it along the entire seam and fill any voids. I'll need to do a few applications.


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## terryr

Looking good.

Here's a real life Road Warrior;

http://jalopnik.com/meet-the-guy-who-drove-across-the-u-s-in-a-record-28-h-1454092837

Tanks in the trunk, spare tire in the car.


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## Pikitson

..."OUTSTANDING WORK"... You are doing here....:thumbsup:... 
I enjoy looking at any type of Model Building. Most of mine is Mild Customs. I Like the "THE BIG OLD CARS". 49 Mercury's, BUICK's, OLDSMOBILES, all the Old "LEAD SLED CARS"...... 
Great Work You Have Done Here. I don't care who you are you can always learn something if you look with an Open Mind. I liked the way you done the Headlight Bezels........ Great Write Up explaining and Showing Pictures as you went along...:thumbsup:..... 

_..."Take Care My Friend"... _
_...."Skip"..........................._


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## Chrisisall

whiskeyrat said:


>


Most excellent AND accuracy found usually only in Mark's sci-fi modeling. Awesome stuff, yo!:thumbsup:


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## MightyMax

Excellent work all around.

I have a couple of the original releases of the kit and was fortunate to get an ANFX resin conversion for it. It is still in the stash. I now may have to pick up the newer kit as well.

I saw MM in it's original theatrical release. I was more adventerous then and set out to build my own. I used an MPC 73 Mach1 kit and took the nose out of the MPC Chevy Monza kit. I see your original car is like mine in that no way would the doors open because of the zoomie pipes not having enough space on the Mustang kit. I still have that model and I still am proud of it!

Cheers
Max

"Last of the V-8 Interceptors.... Would of been a shame to blow it up"......


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## whiskeyrat

terryr said:


> Looking good.
> 
> Here's a real life Road Warrior;
> 
> http://jalopnik.com/meet-the-guy-who-drove-across-the-u-s-in-a-record-28-h-1454092837
> 
> Tanks in the trunk, spare tire in the car.


Awesome article! Thanks terryr! I wish I had the time/money/intestinal fortitude to do something like that. I never really liked that Rawlings guy from Gas Monkeys anyway, I'm glad his record got beat!



Pikitson said:


> ..."OUTSTANDING WORK"... You are doing here....👍...
> I enjoy looking at any type of Model Building. Most of mine is Mild Customs. I Like the "THE BIG OLD CARS". 49 Mercury's, BUICK's, OLDSMOBILES, all the Old "LEAD SLED CARS"......
> Great Work You Have Done Here. I don't care who you are you can always learn something if you look with an Open Mind. I liked the way you done the Headlight Bezels........ Great Write Up explaining and Showing Pictures as you went along...👍.....
> 
> _..."Take Care My Friend"...
> ...."Skip"..........................._


Thanks a million skip! I tried to include as much detail as I could, I hope it's been entertaining so far!



Chrisisall said:


> Most excellent AND accuracy found usually only in Mark's sci-fi modeling. Awesome stuff, yo!👍


Thanks Chrisisall! Appreciate the compliments! I don't know if my work can be compared to some of the great builds I've seen on this forum but I'm trying!



MightyMax said:


> Excellent work all around.
> 
> I have a couple of the original releases of the kit and was fortunate to get an ANFX resin conversion for it. It is still in the stash. I now may have to pick up the newer kit as well.
> 
> I saw MM in it's original theatrical release. I was more adventurous then and set out to build my own. I used an MPC 73 Mach1 kit and took the nose out of the MPC Chevy Monza kit. I see your original car is like mine in that no way would the doors open because of the zoomie pipes not having enough space on the Mustang kit. I still have that model and I still am proud of it!
> 
> Cheers
> Max
> 
> "Last of the V-8 Interceptors.... Would of been a shame to blow it up"......


Thanks a bunch Max! I had heard tell of the resin aftermarket kit but have never actually seen it... I plan on building the other body complete so I'll be fabricating my own trunk lid, rear glass, spoiler, another air dam and rear seat. And yes, the zoomie pipes on my first Interceptor are trapping the doors shut, you've got a sharp eye!


Well I had a pretty bad setback with my windshield installation. I seem to remember mentioning in an earlier post that I would have this car done by Halloween...WRONG! I should have known.

Although the Micro Kristal Klear is great stuff, it just didn't hold together the way I wanted when I tried to glue the clear plastic to the body. The curvature of the frame was too much for the glue, and the windshield kept popping out every time I applied a new layer. Re-wetting the glue caused it to let go and spring away, even with my clamping setup in place. Changing my clamping strategy didn't work either. So I abandoned the Kristal Klear and decided to _carefully_ cement it in using Tenax 7R applied with a small brush. This took me most of the day.

Here I've got the Kristal Klear slopped in around the window frame, but it ended up springing out and making a mess. I sobbed quietly for about a half hour afterward.











After cutting another new windshield (I scratched the first one badly while clamping) I took an old thin paint brush and held it in place while I slowly brushed glue along the inside edges. It held, and I cried again, but tears of joy this time!











There are a couple of small scratches on this one but after weathering they should be unnoticeable. The windshield is now pretty much distortion free, the interior detail will be easily visible now. Thank goodness for small miracles.





















This is pretty much the last step before the body goes on to the chassis. I've been dreading this part, because I'm really afraid of damaging something in the process, but it has to be done! I still need to attach the rear view mirror but that won't take me long. I'll make the first attempt tomorrow so wish me luck!


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## whiskeyrat

Man, it's been a tough week. The windshield gave me about three minor heart attacks but I conquered it. Gluing the rear view mirror onto the inside of the windshield was made easier (and cleaner) with the Micro-Krystal-Klear adhesive which worked like a charm. Then the BIG step that I had been dreading, putting the body and chassis together, gave me an even BIGGER heart attack when I realized the airdam was in the way, and I had to *cut it off* to assemble the car... :drunk: Thankfully nothing broke in the process, and I was able to re-cement it into place, touching it up with a few dabs of semi-gloss black to hide the seam. And then the microscopic windshield wipers... my head hurts just thinking about how difficult those were to put together. Although they are a nice touch, the parts are so dang small the risk of losing one or more into the carpet is great. *BUT*... the car is almost finished!

Here's the rear view mirror glued in. The first attempt with Tenax 7R messed up the clear plastic so bad I had to cut it out and make another. I went through about 6 windshields. Ugh.











My sheet of clear styrene, and the many failed windshields.











And finally the car in one piece... This day was way too long in arriving!






















Miniature wipers, a giant pain.











Started on the weathering after I got the wipers on. Since this version of the car is BEFORE The Road Warrior the dust is a different color than the oxidized red seen in the film.


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## scottnkat

excellent job on this!


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## Chrisisall

Doubleyou-O-doubleyou.


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## BARRYZ28

Like how you drilled out the side pipes to make them look more scale correct.
I also like the rear wheels. looks movie correct.
I wish someone would make a correct resin roof spoiler for this kit.


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## XracerHO

Awesome work! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: ..RL


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## SJF

Outstanding job! 

Sean


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## Chrisisall

whiskeyrat said:


>


I'd SWEAR that was pic of the real, mate!


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## whiskeyrat

Chrisisall said:


> Doubleyou-O-doubleyou.





BARRYZ28 said:


> Like how you drilled out the side pipes to make them look more scale correct.
> I also like the rear wheels. looks movie correct.
> I wish someone would make a correct resin roof spoiler for this kit.





XracerHO said:


> Awesome work! 👍 👍 ..RL





SJF said:


> Outstanding job!
> 
> Sean





Chrisisall said:


> I'd SWEAR that was pic of the real, mate!


A sincere and humble Thank You, everyone, for the kind comments! I am honored!

Well the day has finally arrived. After many weeks of toiling away at this car, she is done. I finished up the weathering on the body, and cut and formed the turn-signals (fog lamps?) for the air dam. I painted the centers silver and used two tiny drops of CA glue at both ends to adhere them. Then I cleared off my workbench, sat The Interceptor down in the middle of some white paper, and began to take photos.


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## whiskeyrat




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## Chrisisall

GEEZSUS, that's just CRAZY amazing. Every spec is spot-on.


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## whiskeyrat

Chrisisall said:


> GEEZSUS, that's just CRAZY amazing. Every spec is spot-on.


Thanks Chrisisall! I really wanted to do more to this car but I'm sorta glad she's finished and on the shelf, now I can move on to my next project.


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## MightyMax

Your hard work has paid off with excellence. The model is gorgeous.

Years back I was emailing back and forth with another modeler who I met at a show where I saw his model interceptor. He was the one who I found out about the resin conversion from. The conversion does not come with a rear window. He was kind enough to email me a template he had made for his rear window. I wonder now if I can find it if I ever build mine. I know the way I operate, so I cannot imagine I put the template in the kit box along with the resin conversion... Too easy LOL!

I applaude you and your model. Outstanding!!!

Cheers
Max Bryant


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## whiskeyrat

MightyMax said:


> Your hard work has paid off with excellence. The model is gorgeous.
> 
> Years back I was emailing back and forth with another modeler who I met at a show where I saw his model interceptor. He was the one who I found out about the resin conversion from. The conversion does not come with a rear window. He was kind enough to email me a template he had made for his rear window. I wonder now if I can find it if I ever build mine. I know the way I operate, so I cannot imagine I put the template in the kit box along with the resin conversion... Too easy LOL!
> 
> I applaude you and your model. Outstanding!!!
> 
> Cheers
> Max Bryant


Most kind, MightyMax... my humble thanks! 

I still have the spare body from the second kit and someday I'll be turning that into the original car... I highly recommend trying to find that resin kit I'd like to see images of it!


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## whiskeyrat

Argh! I accidentally moved my images in photobucket and had to rebuild this whole thread this morning! I'm an idiot... Sorry fellas if you've linked any images in your replies you'll have to edit. My bad!

:drunk:


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## whiskeyrat

Excuse me for dragging up an old thread, _*BUT...*_

http://madmax4movietrailer.blogspot.com/

Both new trailers for the upcoming movie! *WOOT!!* :woohoo:


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## terryr

I want to like it, but it looks more like a re-do of Road Warrior than anything new. And they've been delaying it for years. Never a good sign.


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## whiskeyrat

terryr said:


> I want to like it, but it looks more like a re-do of Road Warrior than anything new. And they've been delaying it for years. Never a good sign.


Well, you might be right about that. I believe it is a re-hash of The Road warrior, so I guess you could call it a re-boot. I can't help it though, it still looks entertaining at the very least! Plus, any excuse to see The Interceptor back on the big screen again, even if it _does_ get destroyed in the first ten minutes of the film... But, no Humungous?? I'm a little sore about that...


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## DCH10664

If the name of the movie is Mad Max 4, then doesn't that make it a continuation ?? Not sure, but in any case, I will certainly being watching this one. If for no other reason, just to see the Interceptor in action once again ! And of course to check out all the wicked looking vehicles they have cobbled together.
With all the vehicles, crashes, and explosions I seen in the trailers, it can't be too bad.

And on another note,....I don't mind seeing such an excellent build as this one, being dragged up from the past. I imagine there are some guys that are new here. And never got the chance to see such an inspiring build as this one.


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## Chrisisall

Wow....


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