XE Falcon S-Pack ** so anyway 8 years later- **

That looks more like a Falcon ...than a Falcon does. Only thing wrong is its not parked on the side of the road with the bonnet up hehehe !

Bloody awesome mate. Love that trailer too. Great work.

Continues to impress.  Some great work.  Thanks for sharing.

And that is the kerbside version. Heck. Still amazes me.

Hi guys. Nothing too mega this time. I am damn close to finishing the final details for the curbside version so this is a glimpse of what it will eventually look like in the end. I started by blocking off the gaps between the wheels to stop daylight coming through. I also decided that I could sneak some front springs in to the mix.
Here are the front springs with the low detail saddle and shock combo. I could have gone over the top with detail but as you'll hardly see them I didn't bother (for a change).

The wheel wells were next. I made it to also cover up the visible area of the interior tub.
 



I also covered up the rear wheel wells too.

I had to remove the locating tabs that I had earlier put on the front of the interior tub and figure out a way to give the chassis a mounting point at the front, this is what I came up with.
Two pins at the front of the chassis.

A mount glued under the bonnet.

It goes together as you would expect it would.

Next up I decided to add yet more detail to the rear end, this time it is the sway bar.

I drilled holes in the diff and glued mounting brackets to the chassis rails.


Time for the fuel and brake lines.  I've never made a full set of brake and fuel lines for a model before so I decided to pre-fab it all and install after the painting is done to reduce the chances of damaging the paint. So everything you see here is temporary.
I don't have any decent reference pics of the correct way the lines sit under the 1:1 version so this is just an approximation. I used 0.3mm wire.


For the handbrake wires I used the same wire and some brass tube.

Here is what it'll look like when it's done. (when is that? I dunno)


It looks like I will have to fix a broken bracket too. I didn't notice it when I was taking the pics but it's there now.

Okay I have a couple of questions for you.
If you look at this pic of a 1:1 you can see a rough texture on the spare wheel carrier and it's on a fair bit of the underbody too, what would be the best way to replicate it?


Question 2
Should I even bother?

Something for you to ponder.

CheersSS

Try mixing some fine sand or sanding dust into the paint. May do the trick.

havent tried it but a suggestion is to paint and while the paint is still wet sprinkle fine sand/dust (just as u would with flocking) then paint again.

More awesome work.

if the sand idea for the sound-deadening looks too coarse, you could spray it from a long way back to give it a fuzz texture.

Looking fantastic. For the deadener, I would brush on some aquadhere, sprinkle the sand on before paint, should give a great finish.

I swear I replied to this.

Either spray light coats from a rattle can at a distance of at least 12 inches to get deliberate orange peel built up or block the breather hole in the paint jar of an airbrush for a texture like sandpaper (don't ask me how I know this).

Looks like I have some experimenting to do. Thanks for the tips guys.

try some fine sand or powder with white glue , then when dried sand it back a bit the get a rough/smooth finish , then coat by brush so theres texture maby
?

Cool idea for the fuel and brake lines.

Ben

You could try and find this, I have seen it at a LHS before but not sure if it's still "findable" easily?

You could flock the underside then paint over the flocking.... either way its looking great!

Hi guys. I have experimented with a few techniques so far, here is what I've found.

White glue and a couple of different grades of fine sand- I have found that I can't get an even coverage of the glue as it pools in the nooks and crannys and doesn't stay sticky enough on the high points. 
I have tried paint instead of white glue and had no luck with that either.
I have tried mixing the sand with the paint but it came out with an inconsistent splotchy finish and hid too much detail.
I have tried using a stiff brush and dabbing (stippling) on some liquid primer- no result.
I have tried painting the liquid primer on to the chassis and then stippling it with the stiff brush- no result.

I am waiting for Adelaides awesome hot weather to clear up so I can go outside to try and splatter on some thickish paint with the airbrush. I think that I have accidentally done it before on several occasions so I am confident of a result with that.

Please keep the suggestions coming in as all options are considered.

CheersSS

Thick paint through the A/B, and put it on from a distance,  very dry like, should give you the effect nobody else wants to see in a paint job.  

Shawn, I've had mediocre results with "hot" thinners like lacquer thinners and a small wire (bronze I think) brush. Be liberal with the thinners, let it sit for a minute and soften the plastic then dab/stab it with the stiff brush, working in a small area at a time. You'll get a subtle finish that may just work for what you want

Perhaps it would be worth trying a textured spray paint?
http://www.ebay.com/bhp/textured-spray-paint

Or microballoons.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXHZ15

Spray, dip parts in microballoons, and when dry spray again. I've never used the stuff, but plenty of people do. Some seats done that way:



I've had luck with doing the same with talc powder too, I used it on my Ferrari engine, although the effect might be too small for the bottom of the chassis.

hey shaun,
there is a textured paint from Games Workshop that will give you a rough, even finish. it's in a can, fairly high pressure, so you would need lots of masking. I use it to make metal look rusty,

By the way, absolutely a brilliant build! I wish I could scratch build as half as good as what you can!

Thanks for the handy tips. I still haven't had a chance to try out the thick paint through the airbrush method (a combination of the hot weather and the raging CBF's) but I have just ordered some textured paints and I will give them a go too. Thanks to all you guys, there are now quite a few options for me to investigate for various textures through out the whole of the build not just the chassis. I'll keep you posted.

CheersSS

Hi all, I think I have found what I was looking for. It's a textured paint from Vallejo called Black Lava. It's water based and brushes evenly onto high and low surfaces.

It's a gluggy mixture of natural stone and black pigment.

I painted up an area of my practice chassis that I hadn't previously touched and was pleased with the result. It's dries fairly quickly but not too fast so there is plenty of scope for fiddling around with it to get the desired effect. I gave the area one even coat then after it dried for ten or so minutes I was able to flick the larger pieces of stone off with a tooth pick to get a consistant finish, I then gave it another thin coat.

The final effect has a slight metalic shimmer in the right light so I gave it a quick mist coat of Tamiya rubber black spray paint. The best thing about it is that it cleans off with water if you stuff it up. Too easy.

I'm happy with that. What do you guys reckon?

CheersSS

Looks "FACTORY PERFECT" mate, nice score i reckon.

reckon it looks great