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Better late then never to start my next GB that I won't finish!

For this one, I'll be building the Revell/Monogram Kurtis Midget powered by an Offenhauser 4 cylinder.

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I've heard that these kits are absolute gems, but I have yet to build one. As stated, I'll be building an Offy version for this go around. I've still got one more Offy as well as the Edelbrock V-8 version in the stash.

I haven't decided yet how I want to paint it, but I'm leaning towards something in Pearl Blue or Black. In addition to the kit decals, I've got a Vintage Racing Miniatures sheet that has a ton of different markings for them including some beautiful simulated engine turned gold foil numbers that I'd really like to use. The kit includes a trailer and hitch that I'll be building at some point but I'm not going to include them in the build log as yet. Being that I have a trailer and hitch, I'd like to do a cool looking tow vehicle as well, but for now I'll just stick to the Midget.

Here is a shot of the rear cowling, which as you can see is slightly distorted. The sides should stick out straight and not bow in. I don't know yet if I'll need to try and bend them back into place with some hot water, or if they will get braced into position with some of the kit parts. We shall have to see.

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In addition to the bent sides, you can also see that the panel line on the right side is a little on the soft side compared to the other.

Left side, as it should be:

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Right side, soft detail:

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After a few quick swipes with the scribing tool it was good as new.

I started assembly of the little jewel of a four cylinder engine and transmission that you can see here ready for paint:

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The only issue that I had with the engine was a small sink mark on the shift knob that I have taken care of with some Tamiya liquid surface primer.

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I've also worked on cleaning up sprue attachment points and some minor seams on the tube chassis and some of the bodywork. Also shown is the engine mount/water pump that needs to be painted as well as the assembled two piece radiator.

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After that, I worked on assembling the rear axle and trailing links, which are all chrome plated. You'll notice that the quick change rear end is a slightly different shade than the axle and trailing links. The kit comes with two sprues of bright chrome parts, and two of a slightly duller chrome that closely simulates a polished aluminum surface. It looks really nice and the attachment points are hidden from view from the most part as long as you don't look at the car from the bottom. Getting the quick change pieces to fit over the axle was a little tricky as the chrome plating made everything bigger and not wanting to fit very well. I had to spend some time with a file to get the parts to fit together nice and square with no gaps.

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I also couldn't resist putting the wheels and tires together. As you can see, the wheels come from the slightly duller chrome sprue. I think that the stars of the show so far are the tires though. It's hard to see here, but later on, you'll be able to see the very crisp and delicate tread pattern on the tires.

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There's not much left to do before I have to hit the paint booth, which will include deciding on a body color, which leads me to a question.

Am I required to do a scheme of an actual race car, or am I free to come up with my own WIF scheme? I have a few different sets of markings for actual cars, so no problem there, but for this one I'd prefer to do my own that way I can do my own custom tow vehicle for it too.

Later!

-Dave

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