SPA Modeler

Engine is looking up to speed, looks good from here!

BTW, how do you accomplish the cast texture on the exhaust manifold, Joe? It looks pretty convincing.

I regret being a bit late to the party Joe but, I'm on board now to enjoy your latest amazing endeavors. Love the choice of your new subject. Without a doubt , my favorite model of Camaro. This should be a treat to watch. Although it might be a challenge of a kit I've seen you tackle worse lemons and turn them into lemonade. Very righteous work so far my friend. I'll be with you all the way on this.
I'm interested in where you got the MAD distributors. They look sweet.

My apologies for not getting back to you all sooner fellas. On the way to work late last week my 406 in my truck broke a rocker stud off on the #5 cylinder. I've seen alot of things but never a broken rocker stud. I've seen 'em pull out but never break. The culprit was a collapsed lifter which I'm getting warrantied out and was going to have to remove the heads and have my machinist put in screw in studs. The thing is that is going to take a week or better on that end and I'm waiting to hear back from the vendor on the lifter warranty. I still had my old 383 in the garage so I elected to pull the 406 and install the 383 in its place so I can have wheels in the meantime. I may go with the aluminum heads that I want on the 406 now. In any case I spent all day last Friday swapping out engines and got it all tuned and ready to go the next morning.
After that, the company that I've been contracted out to for the last eight years is ready to absorb us into the company so I've spent the last week getting my resume together and completing the application process. The "interview" is slated for this next Monday so I'm ready to get this all going.
Today is my wifes B-day so I've been prepping for that for the last few days. So....with all THAT being said I'm just now getting back to you.

Thank you all for the very nice comments.

Greg: I always shoot black on the intake and exhaust manifolds first. I come behind that with a VERY light coat of MM steel for the exhaust and MM aluminum for the intake manifold and dry brush ground up black pastel lightly over them afterwards. Go easy on the pastel. It's easy to get too much on there.

Give the Missus Happy Birthday wishes from us! Sorry to hear about your truck issues. But, seems like you got it covered.

Yikes, you have a lot on your plate. Hope things go well with the truck and job, and Happy Birthday to your wife.

Thanks for explaining your method for achieving the 'cast' effect on the exhaust manifold.

Any damage other than the busted stud? Sounds like you have a lot on your plate!

Joe, I'm glad you're okay. Bummer about the truck engine, but hey, you got that covered well. Give my best to your Mrs. Mustang, a happy birthday to her! Take care; family comes first, we'll all be here when you return.

Thanks fellas!!

John: God I hope that's all that happened. Engine still ran so let's hope I get off light with a set of two lifters and a stud.