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My Ultimate General Lee build


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Photos to be posted soon. I wanted to put everything I could into the ultimate build, and this one took me about three years of on-and-off work. Seriously.

MY G.L. BUILD PHILOSOPHY

My main criticism of most GL builds is that they are 'way too immaculate to be an in-use back-roads racing car driven by good-ol-boys on a farm. They always look...well, sterilized comes to mind. Absolutely gorgeous, like they're going for the trophy at a car show, with a car that's never driven except on and off a trailer. Not this one!!

-Interior: Agree with many that the darker brown "saddle" color of the earlier series looks better, but a darker interior will hide most great detail. So, cliche though it is, I went with the light tan. HOWEVER I weathered it plenty, with very stained floor carpeting, and some wear on the seats. Scratchbuilt items are a CB radio and a detailed, padded-looking roll bar with tape around the padding.

-Engine Bay: Despite most builds painting the engine bay interior orange, indicating a total engine-out restoration, the actual "Hero" Generals had their engine bays hastily painted black around the engine. This would also fit with the storyline of the original color being black. 

Additionally, I sanded out all the molded on wiring and scratchbuilt the entire engine wiring and detail. When you see these photos you may be shocked. I know I am....not eager to do this again, although it was worth it!!

-Underside: Dark primer gray with orange overspray indicating a home-done paint job. Lots wear and some general rusting, with a ton of dust and dirt oversprayed. 

So much more involved in this build, but those are some of the basic philosophies I followed on this.

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Here, the windshield and other window glass has been tinted with future and food coloring:

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Scratchbuilt Roll Bar has been made to look like it's padded with tape holding on the padding:

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And, the interior, including Photoetched steering wheel spokes, scratchbult CB radio, heavily stained flocking for carpeting:

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5 hours ago, Lancer512 said:

Wow! Excellent build!

So whose car did you disassemble to see how the tubes and wires are routed below the hood?

One thing I've always wondered is why are there no seat belts included in car models?

 

Wondered that myself; was going to put them in mine, flung to the side/unused of course, but didn't....

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Next batch here. Soaked all the bumper/grill bits in bleach to remove the chrome. Cleaned up the imperfections on both, and removed the grill from its surround. Used the same passenger-side grill section from another kit to use on the left side since no Charger emblem should be there. Refinished with Alclad II on the bumpers and trim, flat aluminum on the grill tunnels, lots of drybrushing etc on the grill once sprayed flat black, and semigloss on the middle sections where the non-headlight sections are. Scratchbuilt narrow-style push bar.

 

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9 hours ago, Kurt H. said:

What is the source of the detail wire you are using?  I would like to try something similar.

 

Hey Kurt! It's plastic-coated detail wire, available in many sizes and colors. It's readily available wherever model car parts are sold. You can also easily peruse many choices on Ebay by searching for "Detail Wire" and then narrowing the search to "Models and Kits". :cheers: 

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Here's the chassis, suspension and exhaust, weathered with wear 'n' tear, and even some rust at appropriate places. Much of it will be covered/disguised by the road dust to be sprayed on last. Once installed, the edges received some orange overspray, indicating a home-done paint job.

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The wheel hubs are from the old MPC General Lee kit. Chrome removed with bleach, then heavily sanded on the rear until the five openings were actually opened as they should be. Then primed, sprayed flat black, and detailed with aluminum paint. Not chrome. Those bits are shiny, but not quite chrome, with the possible exception of the lug nuts.Tires sanded with fine sandpaper and fine steel wool to remove the shiny vinyl "toy" look.

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And, even the CB antenna; scratchbuilt styrene base, with a bit of High "E" metal guitar string. 

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