My daughter wanted to build the Mystery Machine. With some help and inspiration from Smartyman, I set out on this daunting task. (much thanks!)
To see Smartyman's Mystery Machine, you can click here. http://derbytalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=41 ... ry+machine
First, I took the original block of wood and shaved off the cut-out where the driver sits. I cut the front and backs of the pine wood block and a balsa wood block and glued them together I then took a strip of balsa wood and cut it to the width of the car to add the spoilers, and bumpers. After some wood glue and much sanding, this is what it looked like.
I had to hollow out the bottom to get the weight down.
Because the top half was balsa wood, I put some special sealer the hobby shop sold me - Aerogloss or something like that. More sanding, more sealer, more sanding. Actually, the sealer left a little rubbery residue, which later caused a bit of a problem with the paint cracking and chipping, but oh well. On to primer:
We painted it blue and added most of the decals. I got some of the decals from Smartyman, and I had to make a couple of the other ones. Be careful with the clear decals. I thought the clear decals would be easier because I would not have to be as precise in the cutting, but the clear decals do not have the same richness of colors and anything white, or off-white will become transparent. The white decals worked much better for me. I guess it depends on your application. The clear decals worked great for the "Scooby Rocks" on the top and the "Will Work 4 Scooby Snacks" on the back. Also, the decals took a lot of getting used to. They were not easy to work with at all. I probably went through six-seven rounds of decals before I figured out the whole, printing, spraying with acrylic, cutting, etc. But, then again, I can be a bit slow.
Here's the Mystery Machine from a few different angles.
We put on a "front spare tire" and went off to the races.
Our car was not the fastest, but by far, it was the one of the coolest cars out there. (I personally think it was the best, but who knows). We got lots of comments from the other girls and dads. If I could do it again, I would have added more wood on the sides to make fenders, thus making the car a little wider, but overall, I thought it came out pretty nice and my daughter enjoyed working on it with me, which is the important part, right? Our car was clearly the tallest, though.
Let me know what you all think.
