ERTL KITT - Help needed

[einzwei]

Dear KR fans,

I have an ERTL KITT 1:18 which I would like to modify as to the original screen version. Does anyone of you know someone (model builder etc) who is able to modify such model?

thx

Chris

[MID KNIGHT]

I just started doing a custom ground up fully modded 4th season conversion on my 1/18, whatcha thinkin about doing?

[Dave Knight]

well the obvious things you need to do is:

1: smooth the outward curving tail light panel on the back of the car.
2: add the 'black outs' on the nose in front of the closed headlights, I have heard people either scratching the shape into the body and then repainting it, or an easier method is clear decals cut to the correct shape and applied to the nose of the car.
3: make the fog lamps (even that stupid orange one) not flush

as the body is mostly metal that kind of work can be hard unless you have proper power tools for the grinding/sanding

the EASY stuff you can do that will make a WORLD of difference is:

1: remove the clutch pedal from the dashboard (far left pedal)
2: paint the rear cargo area 'carpet' tan instead of black, for some reason the back side of the rear seat and everything behind and to the sides of it are black instead of tan.
3: use a black wash (blend of paint and thinner to water down the black paint) on the recessed areas on the rims that are all silver
4: (this could be tough unless you have a good printer) get a better 'KNIGHT' plate on the back of the car, the color is off and the font on the letter I in KNIGHT is incorrect. here is a good 'replacement plate, just reduce to proper scale and print, apply a piece of scotch tape over it for that 'glossy' look.



if you have any questions feel free to ask me

[corlando52]

First, and I can't stress this enough, KITT NEVER had an orange fog light. I don't know where this idea came from, but I absolutely HATE it.
Second, Hot Wheels is coming out with the same size (1/18) scale as the Ertl, only First Season. There's a discussion about it on this board, and I've been in touch with the person in charge of the project at Hot Wheels and he's trying to get it as accurate as possible.
If you still want to fix the Ertl, I would suggest getting that tinting film they use for windows and cut out the signal covers from that. You can just use water and stick them down where they belong and they'll look great.
I don't know how detail oriented you want to get, but the plastic interior panels have carpeting on them. You can use flocking for this and it makes it look like real carpet. You can do this to the rest of the carpeted parts of the car, too, including the rear cargo area.
Hope some of this helps. I intend to wait for the Hot Wheels Elite KITT, and see if I need to make improvement to that. I've heard good things about the scanner, fog lights, and headlights that raise and lower.

Chris