Why the big lump of time in one post?

Well, I didn’t feel like I had enough work to post progress month by month. On top of having very little time to give to the hobby, I also realized that I was stuck in a nasty slump.

My main woe was that the VW Bus had been painted for the second time and was sprayed with clear. I had an un-repairable problem that was caused by sanding out a few specks of dust. Those sand marks didn’t go away once the clear was sprayed. Although it was hard to see, I couldn’t leave it that way. It was time to start over again. Once it was stripped, I had to rework all of the body work. My earlier success with JB Weld did not carry through to round 3. No matter what I did, the JB weld would not sand smooth at the transition from the material to the plastic. After several failed attempts, I scrapped the filler idea and used CA glue to fill the crack. Prior to filling the crack, I used a scribing tool to aggressively tear open the crack to give the glue some extra surface area. Once the glue cured, I was able to properly work the area and move on. I really wish I had started with this idea.

Late last year, I decided that my goal would be to finish all active projects on my bench, prior to starting anything new. Looking at all of the active projects, The VW bus, 70 Roadrunner, 69 Vette, and the 82 Charger, I realized that all of my active projects where those that had really been giving me trouble and numbing my drive. I knew had to start something new if I was going to kick-start my motivation.

How to get motivated?

Knowing that, I started two reworks. My ’79 Camaro and 53 Chevy were picked out of my case. I also started the 1/32 scale VW split window bug, 70 Buick GSX, and 1st Gen Honda CRX.

I tore apart the Camaro and 53 Chevy and dug into the rest. My active project list grew to more than 10 at this point. Although my work area is more cluttered than I would care to see, the new projects really helped get my model building back on track.

During this time, I was able to get the VW bus back in color, the 70 Superbird continued moving forward, the Buick made it from the box to color in very short order. The Bug and CRX were worked and primed. The 79 Camaro was completely torn down and stripped and the 53 Chevy was pulled apart to have it’s chassis, interior, engine suspension reworked.

Next month, the progress continues in the right direction!