Al Unser Jr 1983 Eagle

Kyle DeHart
Diving right back into another resin Eagle build. This will be my main project going forward. Everything else in progress will continue to putter along as I need breaks from this kit or if I don't have much time available at the bench. Learned a ton from the last resin project so hoping this one goes even better

Bozzer
I'm jumping in the pits, for this one. Keen to see what you come up with next.

Dave
Definitely watching the progress on this one

Kyle DeHart
Welcome Bozzer and Dave. It won't be a fast project but I've gotten a start cleaning up parts and drilling holes for pins.

Ben Rocke
Augh ! another resin kit. you are a brave soul- your last one was excellent so away you go !

Kyle DeHart
Thanks Ben, I decided I enjoyed pulling my hair out so much that I should do it again! This is a full kit anyways so at least no cutting up a plastic donor. It's all there. Hopefully I can do it justice.

bossy122
It's the cutting out those vac form windscreens that make my hair fall out just even thinking about it. Is that the car he used to block someone with so daddy could win Indy?

Kyle DeHart
Bossy, when I pulled the vac formed windshield out of the box I instantly aged 30 years. Ha! This is indeed the car that Little Al blocked for his daddy with in the closing laps. Didn't end up working though. Sneva got around him at the end and Al senior couldn't do anything with him.

Bozzer
I've watched your racing, and believe me, it's bats*#t crazy! I liked it so much, that I still can't figure out what goes on! But I'll catch up, eventually!

Mona
Watching 👀

Jennifer Franklin
Following 👀

bossy122
I went back and watched the end of that Indy on YT and down in the suggestions it had the start of the '71 Indy when some local car dealer in his Challenger was the pace car. You ever see that?! Dude goes FLYING through the pit lane at well over 100 mph then crashes into the photographers bleachers. I had never seen that before! So there's your next project: bright orange '71 Challenger.

Kyle DeHart
Bozzer, it is the month of May. Good time to watch. Nothing quite like the Indy 500. My dad loved racing of all kinds which is where if got into it. Mostly open wheel stuff or sports cars. We watched F1 every weekend, all of Indycar we could. went to local races. Didn't matter. Which is why I build a lot of race cars.

Welcome Mona and Jennifer! It'll be slow going right at the moment as I'm busy working on the real life race car I help out with, but I'll get to it when I can.

Bossy, oh yes, that would be Eldon Palmer. Palmer dodge was an Indianapolis institution. Orange Challenger convertible with white top and interior. That's a well known story here. He actually kept the pace car and had to give Al Unser a different car off his lot because he damaged the pace car. So Unser got a brand new yellow Charger for his win. Palmer eventually fixed the pace car. The story goes the chief starter told Palmer he needed to cross the start finish line at the same time as the leader but this was much faster than they had practiced. After this incident the local car dealers weren't allowed to drive the pace car anymore. Ha.

bossy122
Can't imagine why.

Bozzer
Excellent story! You definitely get a full day of excitement, here on Scalemates!

Kyle DeHart
Never a dull moment! Luckily no one was killed in that one. There are endless great stories from that race alone!

Kyle DeHart
So, I have been working on this. Cleaning, sanding priming. Rinse and repeat. Got it where I was happy. Got it painted white and spent a solid couple hours this morning getting the decals laid down. Fun to line up across the nose and down both sides. I'm pretty happy about how they turned out. Next clear coat once they're good and dry and then I can start attaching things to the body.

Jv
Very nice work on all those decals

Kyle DeHart
Thanks Jv

Jv
I just got the last pocher 1/8 scale kit last week
Sure you would love that one

Kyle DeHart
No doubt. Those poacher kits are wild

Jv
Yes very nice also got the garage yo built and a few others bits

Jv
Tamiya is also releasing the same kit in 1/12 scale sometime sune
Should be in shops anytime now
And dda is sune releasing the holden Torana and panel van kits

Kyle DeHart
I'm going to give some of those bigger scale kits a try sometime once I get through some of my stash.

Jv
There is many new ones around at the moment
I missed out on a 1/12 Bugatti kit that was in the shop
It sold before I got there hope thay will get it back in stock again

Kyle DeHart
Oh yeah. A friend has been building that one. Looks nice!

Bozzer
Lol, if you want a big kit mate, try the 1/16 Kenworth or Peterbilt! Those tyres are like donuts! The kit comes with a jig, to help you keep the frame aligned, until it dries! At nearly 2' long and 8" high, it's an impressive build.

Jv
Yep that would be a very big model bozzer and very impressive
Love to see an album whed build pics of that

Mike Thomas
@Bozzer I have 2 of the 1/16 Kenworths. One was sealed, the other I bought opened for $20. It's complete except for the missing...frame! lol. So much for my good deal! Anyway, thought I might take the tires, wheels and axles from that and scratch build a trailer for the truck...it would only be a metre long! 😲

Bozzer
@mike. I also have a trailer. They're pretty hard to come by these days and over here, they can sell for upto £200+! My advice is to get an AMT flatbed trailer and use that as a template for your scratchbuild. It's pretty much exactly the same. And the bonus is, then you can physically see every part you need to replicate. Unfortunately, finding parts for these 1/16 trucks is hard. I chase them, when I see them, basically to help out fellow builders, like yourself? I actually scratchbuilt a radiator top, for a buddy of mine, because his was missing.

Kyle DeHart
Good grief. 1/16 scale big rigs? I don't know where I'd put them. Open wheel cars are minuscule and take up no room in the display cabinet. 🤣

Lawrence Landis
Very nice workmanship. Thank you for sharing.

Kyle DeHart
Thanks Lawrence!

Kyle DeHart
Got the engine/transmission and rear suspension stuck together last night. Fairly straightforward process. I set the engine on the undertray to line up the transmission mounts, glued those on and then glued the engine to the main body. The undertray then goes on to cover it all up so you can't see any of it. Happy with how it's looking so far

Lawrence Landis
Looks great.

Kyle DeHart
Thank you. I will try to make some more progress this morning.

Kyle DeHart
A bit more progress here. Turbocharger detailed and installed, wheels and tires painted. Pop off valve, roll bar, fueling bits all attached to the tops and sides of the car. And got a start on the first pieces of front suspension. More soon

Lawrence Landis
You are making great progress.

Jv
Kyle is a machine when it comes to building kits
And lately I have seen his game has gone up after he got a airbrush

Bozzer
JV, couldn't agree more mate! This guy is chomping at the bit, like a racehorse!

Kyle DeHart
Thanks guys. I just keep piddling away.

Bozzer
Lol, and literally! Piddling, is what we describe as peeing, to young children! So basically you have just told everyone in the UK, you have a bladder issue 🙂 Man, I love this community. Just when you think you got all the pockets covered, the 8 ball slides right by 😛

Lawrence Landis
Reminds me of an old story titled, "The Piddling Pup".😎😎😎😎😅😅😅😅

Kyle DeHart
Bozzer, it all depends on how many adult beverages I imbibe. 🤣🤣

Mona
I thought everyone has bladder issues ..as we grow ..older 🤔

Lawrence Landis
I looked at your wall and am impressed with your work. I have an idea for you in your IDF builds. Years ago I took a Tamiya M 247 Sergeant York and modified it with a storage basket on the turret, a 50 caliber spotting rifle over the twin 40mm bofors and blazer type reactive armor all wrapped up in Israeli sand. My idea was it would make a great vehicle to interdict supply convoys.

Kyle DeHart
I don't think there's any doubt about the bladder issues as we age. 😂😂

Lawrence Landis
I'm 69years old and I try not to drink anything after about 7 PM. That seems to help.

Mona
hi Lawrence ..that's a good suggestion (re: M247) I shall look in to that for a possible future build 😉

Lawrence Landis
Can't wait to see how you tackle it. The downfall of the Sergeant York was the implementation of the F-16 targeting system for targeting other aircraft. It should have been adequate for targeting ground vehicles. The basic chassis is the M-48, and that has been used by the IDF.

Kyle DeHart
And just like that, the Eagle has flown across the finish line. Another enjoyable build, and I look forward to the next one.

Jv
Very nice kyle as always I record time

Lawrence Landis
Very nicely done Kyle

Bozzer
You've aced it again, captain! I think that you're gonna have to make a chequered flag dio, to display these on? It'll look great on the final reveal photos 100% 👍

Kyle DeHart
Thanks Jv and thank you Lawrence.

Thank you as well Bozzer. I was actually thinking of building a diorama. Maybe trying to make the famous yard of bricks from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the cars crossing it. I've just recently been giving that some thought.

Bozzer
Great minds, and all that, mate? I'm kinda thinking about something myself, for my end result, phone shoots. I've seen a couple of dioramas, in the past, for big rigs, and they look great. They are a fair size, because of the attached trailer, but I should have the room soon, to create something. I'm torn between a city scene, or on some highway, somewhere? Hell, I might even do both? It's definitely something to tinker around with, in the future.

Kyle DeHart
Ahh. A big rig diorama would be really sweet!! Two would be even better!!

Lawrence Landis
That sounds really ambitious. I love it.

Jv
To save space a pic behind the model could be part of the diorama

Bozzer
JV, I was thinking something similar. Kinda like they have, for fish tanks? And I thought that if I used my bozzer skills, I can make them fit together, so they form a box, for storage, when not in use? Sorta like a Chinese puzzle? What do you guys think?

Lawrence Landis
A vignette to create a forced perspective would marry all the ideas together and form a more transportable display. It could be used to force the important details to stand out.

Jv
Sounds like a great idea bozzer and Lawrence

Lawrence Landis
Thank you. You can force the perspective by mixing the scales. Large scale in front of progressively smaller scales will impose distance between items.

Jv
Now that sounds a bit complicated Lawrence
But sure is an interesting idea
I haven't seen that before
Sounds like for a big diorama

Lawrence Landis
If the car is closest to the front glass, everything behind is a progressively smaller scale. If you have a 1/25th scale car in front and place a 1/48th scale item directly behind it, it tricks your eye to think it is much farther away and so on. If you place a 1/87th scale item directly behind the 1/25th scale car, it looks even farther away. It all depends on what you want to achieve.

Lawrence Landis
Actually you can make a few inches appear to be several feet.

Lawrence Landis
A small picture behind the item in the foreground can accomplish something similar.

Jv
Great idea
I just hate the idea of painting smaller models
1/32
Would be the smallest I would consider
I do have 3x1/43 models
I won't be putting much into detail painting on them lol
One of our mates here just started an album whed some f1 cars in 1/144
I will sure follow that build
But no way would I attempt anything like that myself
The painting and decals will be a challenging task

Lawrence Landis
You can buy some pre-painted model railroad figures or pre-painted 1/350th ship figures for a group of people that are in the distance. The item in the foreground is your focal point, the rest in the background are just gingerbread.