GEC's Layout Progress

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Really nice, I've always thought about adding more realistic grilles but don't know how I feel about making those major cuts into the shell.

I wouldn't get to worried, they aren't really that major, just time consuming (and even then, not too terribly long).

Basically all you need to do is drill a series of small holes around the inside of what you want to open up. It helps that most screens have a little bit of a depth to them that help guide you, so its easy to put a reasonably sized drill into a pinvise and just work around the perimeter.

as long as your holes are close together (again, easy to do using the existing screen as a guide), you should be able to connect the dots really easily with a sharp knife. Once you punch out the middle (which should no longer be really attached), you just need to file or sand down the edges. Jewelers files, and a sanding stick make short work of this. If you're careful, you can even use a knife to scrape away the remainder initially so that you don't have to sand little bumps down for an eternity.


In fact, I'd be far more worried about shaving off the "frame" molded into the shell, since there its possible for the knife to slip and shave off something you don't want it to. It helps to put down some masking tape as a guide sometimes.

You'll notice in the close up shot of the GP7 Radiator intake, there are little scrapes, but in the "overall" shot, you can't even see them. You can't really see them with the model sitting there either (and I have good eyes). It might be wise to polish it, but once the paint goes on (particular, the dark blue paint of the NJ DOT), even those minor imperfections will go unnoticed.


Ultimately, its the sort of thing that after you do it a few times, no longer becomes scary.