Return to the BUILD
“… continue the assembly of your DeLorean.”
Contents
Parts
Materials: The Left Reactor Exhaust Cowl and ends of the Pipe are plastic, and the black cord is elastic.
Magazine
- Drive Time: Model Instructions
- Scream Awards 2010: Celebrating 25 Years of Time Travel
- A Time Traveler’s Guide: It’s Been… Educational
Build
Left Reactor Exhaust Cowl
There are varying opinions among builders about what color these exhaust cowls should be. These thoughts typically range somewhere between silver and black. However, based on my photos of the ‘A’ Car, the cowls are just welded aluminum sheets with some added weathering:
One thing we can all agree on is that there is a ribbed black rubber strip attached across the middle of the lower cowl. So, I masked this section off and airbrushed it with a coat of Tamiya XF-85 Rubber Black acrylic paint:
This is the intermediate result. So far so good, but I was not done yet:
The next thing I wanted to do was dull down the bright silver and add some weathering to better match the same on the hero car. I went straight for my Tamiya Weathering Powders. First, I used Burnt Blue from Set D to give that heat-scorched look, then layered Soot from Set B over the blue and along the edges. Here is my attempt to replicate the appearance of the real cowls and add a little extra where I thought leaks and heat marks might occur:
Personally, I am very happy with the end result! It is worth noting that this powder will rub off unless you seal it under some clearcoat or other finish. I did not want to put a clearcoat on these, so I just needed to take care handling them and reapplying powder as needed:
Steps 1-2
Fit the Pipe to the side of the Left Reactor Exhaust Cowl.
The 45° angled end of the Pipe fits into the rear hole of the cowl, as shown:
Thoughts
OK, this might just be the shortest issue we have ever built! Keep this nearby as we will need it right away in the next issue.
Next Up
Issue 122 – Reactor: Rear Exhaust Vanes/Cable (Left)