Here's a kit that I built for a client a long time ago. It's the Heller 1/8 scale Citroen. It took over 6 years to build (on and off). It's not a project for the beginner!! It has about 20 coats of black lacquer hand rubbed and polished with Meguiars.
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/509/medium/DCP_1240.JPG
The engine bay has thousands of scratchbuilt parts added. The full wiring harness has terminals made from solder and all wiring is wrapped in electrical tape cut to proper scale width. All clamps are made from thin aluminium and solder. Texture on cast parts is flour and casting marks and mold seperation lines are as per the real parts. The paint has been chipped from high wear spots revealing the base metals underneath. There's heaps of custom turned aluminium parts like generator, brake master and reservoir, etc. An original factory repair manual and parts book were used to help with scratchbuilding and detailing.
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/509/medium/DCP_1252.JPG
Throttle and starter solenoid cables are guitar strings with part of outer windings removed to replicate the exposed wire underneath (the real car used a single inner wire). Battery terminals are scratchbuilt from styrene, solder, and bolts made using a Waldron hexagonal punch and die set (as were all bolts in the car). The manifolds have an asbestos gasket made from sheet styrene and painted a pinkish colour like old Payen gaskets were. All bracketry is scratchbuilt from sheet styrene and aluminium sheet.
http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/509/medium/DCP_1253.JPG
These are the only pics I have of the model ( I wish I'd taken more), but some of the other details include custom vacformed interior ( the vinyl parts in the kit were very oily and wouldn't take ANY kind of glue or paint),full brake system made from solder, full carpeting , and other stuff I can't remember:drunk:. Heaps of work- heaps of relief and satisfaction when it was finished. I hope you like it.

Chris.:)

Chris that is absolutely phenomenal. That's what I like about these big kits though, super-detailing is a lot easier and much more fun.
The black paint is flawless.
Would you put this right up there with a Pocher kit? Looks like lots of love and time went into it for sure.
Chris

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/509/medium/DCP_1240.JPG



Holy crap: you even got the oil slicks underneath!

Was your client a museum curator?

Chris that is absolutely phenomenal. That's what I like about these big kits though, super-detailing is a lot easier and much more fun.
The black paint is flawless.
Would you put this right up there with a Pocher kit? Looks like lots of love and time went into it for sure.
Chris

Thanks Chris.:)
I've built a few Pocher kits and they've both got their good and bad points. The Pocher classics have nice working features like brakes that operate thru the pedal and engine internals, but they have clunky linkages and exposed screwheads. The Ferraris and Porsches are like Bburago kits. If you take the time and invest in a pile of bolts to replace the screws, they do come up great though. The worst things are bent front axle in the Alfas and malformed wishbones in the Mercs.
The Heller kits are incredibly detailed - much more so than the Pochers, but the vinyl and rubber parts are unusable!! The basic.bodyshells also in about 100 parts!
This kit drove me to despair sometimes... but I hated seeing it go when it was finished!

Chris.:)

Holy crap: you even got the oil slicks underneath!

Was your client a museum curator?

Hi Steve,
:p They're supposed to be puddles, but they could be oil slicks- I never thought about them that way.... They're mirrored perspex to show off the front and rear suspensions.
The owner is a Citroen collector. He has dead ones lying in a paddock and live and restorable ones in an old shed. The model's in its own showcase and he takes it to car shows. It must be nice to have money.........:p

Chris.:)

Only one thing to say about that, It's beautiful. Whoever you made that for was a lucky man. very well done, I envy your modeling skills
-Alyssa

Thank you Alyssa:).
Don't envy my skills - it's all relative. You're coming along in leaps and bounds! You've got heaps of enthusiasm and if you stick with it you'll be up there with the best of 'em in no time!! The main thing to remember is that we're always learning.....:thumbsup:

Chris.:)

Yeah, thank you! :). I can tell that you always have something new to learn, it's great to have a bunch of people like you too to always be helping me out! If I didn't have you guys I would still be lost on the color combo of the engine half! Just kidding, but having guys like you who are always there when I need help is really an inspiration for me to keep building. Also looking at your guys' models definitely makes me want to keep building.
-Alyssa

Wow Chris ,
that is very impressive. I showed my wife the pics of the engine, and then I told her it was a model. She said "Are you kidding?" .....You do awesome work.
Russell

Thanks Russell:). I appreciate your wifes comment too.:wave:
There was one problem I had with the kit that I couldn't fix- the kit comes with a vacformed headlining. The one in this kit was destroyed beyond repair and when I contacted the distributors they refused to replace it as the client had supplied the kit and the shop he bought it from no longer existed. These kits aren't cheap (about AU$400 at the time) but I ended up buying one wholesale from a friend who ran a hobbyshop.
I asked the guy who commissioned it what he wanted me to do with the new kit that I pirated the headlining from. I'll post pics of the result soon....

Chris.:)

Any pics of the interior?

Sorry Steve:o. These pics are all I have left.... I can't find the disc with the other ones on. If I ever locate it I'll send some....

Chris.:)

Chris, that is stunning...thank you for the look.

Steve