Sunbeam Tiger

[Kevin]

Hello, I promised Iron Mike I would do a WIP for this build a couple of months ago and now that the weather is decent (its finally under 90 degrees!) its time to get going. I bought this kit as a Blueprinter Special in the 90's and never got around to building it.
About 5 years ago I traded it to Mike when he lived across the street. Then he went and ran off to North Carolina But, he sent it back to me earlier this year, so this bugger has quite a few miles on it already. It made it safely back to Iowa and what's the first thing I do, break the windshield frame! It was a minor break so super glue will hold it together until the windshield gets put in place.
The body is painted with Tamiya spray cans, base coat of Italian Red then a coat of Mica Red. Still needs a clear coat.
The interior has a base coat of a light flat brown, I plan to dry brush some brown oil paint for a leather look. The wheel and tire choices the kit comes with are pretty uninspiring, there is a racing set and stock. I have something in my parts box that will work nicely, the third one in the tire photo.
The engine is a small block Ford, just need to be wired and it is ready.
Thanks for looking!

 

[Iron Mike]

Man, am I glad to see you on this one!! I wanted to build it, but somehow I knew it needed to come back to Iowa.

Missed it by that much!

 

[phantom II]

Hi Kev. Looking forward to this build. I remember the Tigers, just not many of them .

Sound to me like a high mileage auto already ...

Cheers, Christian B)

 

[Sherman 18]

Cool!!!!!!!!!! B)

I will be following along.

 

[Kevin]

Thanks you guys!
A little progress this weekend, the engine is wired and mounted. The interior has been dry brushed with Burnt Sienna oil paint for a leather look, I may do a bit more to darken it a little.
The wire wheels have been given a black wash and now the they really stand out, I found so knock offs in my parts box that are just the right size for these wheels.

 

[Iron Mike]

Hey Kevin!! She's looking good! Brown wash over the interior, maybe?

 

[moon puppy]

 

[MrT]

 

[jknaus]

James

 

[Dave wahl]

Kevin:

That is going to be one Sweeeeeeeeeeet little roadster. I was thinking about getting myself one of them myself, and painting it BRG. I like what you've done already on it.

Dave

 

[Kevin]

Thanks for all the comments guys!
I clear coated the body a few days ago and did the BMF on all the trim and windshield frame. The trim that runs the length of the
body looks to be pretty simple, but it is so thin and narrow that it turned out to be the most difficult BMF I've ever done. Just not enough surface area to get good adhesion I guess. Plus my hands and eyes are getting old and shaky.
I don't have a shot of the interior but I did the brown wash that Mike suggested. I want to do just a bit more dry brushed oil paint
and I think it will look good.
The other day a friend ask me what kind of box art this kit had, The Blueprinter kits came in a generic white box, but the instructions have some interesting history of the car. There is a photo of a drag car from the 60's that held a record for it's class
one year. Pretty cool little car!

 

[Iron Mike]

WOW!! Given the light engraving, that is an excellent job!! AMT did a nice job of keeping the body proportions to scale, but that means there isn't much to work with. Kevin, you should take a photo of the body next to something to show the size of the model. It is quite tiny and that is what makes this such a special and well done build!! The letters look great too! :drinks

 

[moon puppy]

I always hear that opening score for "Get Smart" when I see this. Good work Kevin!

 

[Kevin]

I always hear that opening score for "Get Smart" when I see this. Good work Kevin!

 

[Iron Mike]

Would you believe....?

 

[Kevin]

Kevin, you should take a photo of the body next to something to show the size of the model

Yeah, it is an ity bity thing.

 

[Iron Mike]

Hey, that's looking slick! :drinks

 

[Kevin]

Well after the body work was finished there really wasn't much left to do on this one. I like how the interior turned out with the wash and more oil paint. The bumpers seem a bit big to me and the mounting position of the front bumper seems a tad high but I can live with that.
This was a fun little kit to do and I'm happy with how it turned out. Thanks to everyone that followed along!

 

[Iron Mike]

 

[moon puppy]

I'm so jealous! Beautiful finish Kevin :drinks