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This is a Duesenburg SJ Roadster, 1934, 1/24th scale Monogram kit. This is one of a series of classic auto kits produced in the 1970s. Although not terribly popular at the time, these kits are remarkably high quality and very detailed. They're long gone from store shelves, but can still be found from dealers, and on eBay and such.
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Anyway, the first step is to carefully wash and dry all the parts with cool water and a grease cutting dish soap.
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The parts of this model that I'm hoping to get a really good paint finish on get carefully trimmed and sanded to remove imperfections. Then the whole thing gets scuffed with 800 grit paper, and washed again with a toothbrush to remove dust, prior to a coat of primer.
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Getting some parts ready to go... Trim, sand, prime, sand, paint, sand, paint again...
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I like to stash little bits of lead inside of parts on a scale model. You don't want to over do it, but it gives the result a nice hefty feel.
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The major body parts sanded, primed and sanded again...
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Here is the completed engine for this 1/24 scale model.
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The interior sub-assembly...
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The instrument panel...
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There are some panels of wood that show under the car. The plastic has wood grained planks molded in. I first thought to paint these black, then tan, then sand lightly so the raised detail (the grain) showed in black.
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I wasn't happy with this though, so I just used real wood. Sanded and polyurethaned, this looked pretty good.
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Here is the completed chassis.
Googling up photos of the actual car, I came across a red Duesenburg that had a red stripe around the wheel edge. That specific car had solid, not spoked, wheels, but I thought that was a nice detail so I went ahead and add it. |
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It's starting to look good. The paint came out much better this time than on the last project.
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One thing that this sort of project has in common with working on watches is that a key to a good job is treating each detail as a whole project in itself. Each individual component of the whole, no matter how small, has to be crafted as though it were itself alone the entirety of the work. There are no short cuts. With each part small treated with great care, then, one part at a time, the completed whole will succeed.
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The rear end details are almost completed. There is a couple more things to add yet, and a bit of touch up here and there.
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And that's most of the front details... It's nearly done now.
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Here is the completed 1/24th scale 1934 Duesenburg SJ Roadster. There are some imperfections, but all in in all it gives a good impression I think.
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On the actual car, the convertible top folds away inside the body. Very modern!
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