Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy

Final bodywork touchups and priming, and ready for paint. Tough to match the exact color, since in the episode (the way I'm making it) it was disguised/obscured with gray scratchwork all over it, and the recovered wreck was apparently quite weathered and faded. Did the best I could. Finally settled on a mix of 5 different blues and greens. It's actually darker than the photos show.... I settled on: 2 parts Testors Gloss Dark Blue (#1111); 2 parts Testors Dark Beret Green; 1 part Model Master Dark Sea Blue; 1 part Testors Gloss Green; 1 part Gloss Light Blue.

Thank you! FRONT BUMPER Need the front bumper to look like bent metal, and not a bent plastic model part. Made an aluminum foil cast of the central section; removed that plastic, attached the ends to the foil cast. Very carefully bent and dented it to match the photos. Filled with CA glue with wire reinforements for the structure. Primed, will be coated with Alclad chrome tomorrow or Thursday.

Yep, in what I just posted you can see it in the closeup of Cooter sitting in it, and in the pic of it on display at the car show. The car show one has the bar behind the seat missing, though, but you can see the crossbar (seat-bottom level) and the front bent section by the dashboard.

Finished roll cage:

Here's how the scratchbuilding went, using 1/16" rod for the frame and tubing fitted over the rod for the padded sections around the driver's side:

ROLL CAGE Tip: Do NOT use the roll cage from the MPC "General Lee" for this project. Wrong style, wrong design, wrong size. I also found some drawings online which purport to be the actual design sketches for the original. They do match what I see in all the photos.

Thanks for all the kind words! I've never taken as much trouble as this for the accurate steering wheel, but here's what I finally accomplished:

Thank you for all the kind words folks! dnl42, I appreciate the offer! Although I'm past the point of needing them now....if I ever do anything this weird again I know what to do

Thank you! And the technique is my own, this is a grand experiment....wasn't sure how it would work.... The interior needs special work. From what I can see in the episode, the interior panels under the rear windows were removed along with the back seat, although I've read that only the seat was removed to install the full roll cage. So, I had to remove the rear panel and totally rebuild it as the interior structure that the panel would normally cover. Was a 2 full day scratchbuilding job, daunting at first but well worth it in the end. The carpet will be well worn and stained soon.

Still very thankful! 🙂

Thanks everyone! True achterkirch, although also an F-4B; they were one of the earliest users. Also a late F-4J in lo-vis. Even if I did all those, it would be nothing compared to my Jolly Rogers collection (31 planes) 🙂

Once damaged to taste, the foil is filled from behind with tons of gap-filling superglue and plastic strip reinforcements. Then to the body itself, the same treatment but MUCH bigger. LOTS of superglue to fill it all from behind. Then priming and sanding in appropriate areas.

If I can't replicate the body damage, the entire project is pointless. If I only heat up and bend the plastic body it will look toylike, as the body thickness when scaled up would be akin to a couple inches thick. Not convincing at all. THE SOLUTION: Make aluminum foil copies of the body sections to be damaged. Let's try it on the hood first:

For those who didn't know, the Charger wreck used in Dukes Season 1 Episode 4 "Repo Men" was the same car that made the jump at the very end of the show's opening credits. LOVED this car the first time I saw it as a kid, did not know how important it was until decades later. Replicating this wreck in 1/25 will be a VERY ambitious project. Not as simple as wrecking a plastic body.

Thank you!