Tom Geiger Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 A bit of background... I always have had the week between Christmas and New Years off. Either the company shut down or I just took vacation days. I like it as an end of the year unwind. No work, no house projects. Just perfect time to work on a model. So I started my Christmas Model Car Amnesty Project about a dozen years ago. Just as the president pardons a turkey at Thanksgiving, I reach up onto my unfinished project shelf and give amnesty to one of them for Christmas! There are years I've made the deadline. There was the year I finished one on Christmas morning before the family got up. There are years I finish the model a week or two into January and there have been the years where I've failed! Anyway, here's this year's project. This '34 Ford dates back to 2005 and has been on the bench a couple of times since. I have her out on the bench and the goal is to finish it by New Years Day. I am still working on the Dog House Camper and I have a '51 Chevy custom that someone else built but I'm detailing out on the bench. But at the stage these three projects are at, I alternate while stuff is drying. Here's where I left off in 2005. The body had been sectioned 6 scale inches at the belt line. The Plymouth flatty six was finished and ready to install. The chassis componets are just posed. Here's the difference of what I sectioned out of the body. It was really easy, the two remaining pieces just fit right back together. the good part about revisiting an old project is that you notice things you didn't before. On this one, the car was just sitting up way too high, like a highboy with the chassis showing below the bottom of the body. Back in 2005, I was playing with (and destroying!) chassis and suspension parts. Go to 2012 and I immediately saw my issue... I sectioned 6" out of the body but still had the stock height interior. So per the above photo, I took a second interior tub and cut the corresponding 6" out of it. It was a three part process. I needed the top of the doors since they had detail on them. I needed the lower half of the back for the arm rests. So I cut the floor out, then seperated the doors forward from the back of the tub. I cut 6" from the bottom of the doors, 6" from the top of the tub and then glued it all back together. It worked fairly well. I did have the seats all done in the taller interior, but I needed to redo the rear one from a fresh part. Here it is completed, it's supposed to look like burlap. In reality it's Taco Bell napkin. I can do a tutorial on how easy this is to do with good results if desired. and here's the completed interior. The front seat was previously done in 2005 and was made from the two kit bucket seats. Seat belts are ribbon with seat belt buckles cut off those huge seat belts we find in kits. Flooring is old Turkish carpet that I actually printed to use in the camper. It works here. I also thought the interior side panels were too plain and I had sanded off the very light detail to do the resin handles. So I glued some of the Turkish carpet to thin plastic. Side view as you'd see through the windows. I forgot to thin out the belt buckles so they're a bit thick. Door handles / window cranks are resin from Norm Veber. I did an 8 ball shifter on another car, so here's a 6 ball shifter because this car has a flat head 6 in it. It's green and the number is one of those little decal numbers you find on decal sheets. So that's the progress to date. The suspension just needs to be glued to the chassis, engine will drop right in also. The challenge to finish it is the body and the grill / radiator detail up front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jantrix Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Looks cool! Get to it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramfins59 Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Great looking project Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Cowboy Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Man that is cool. You are going all out on the detailing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimJ Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Nice work so far. Love the carpet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyrichard Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 cool ! i like it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted February 27, 2013 Author Share Posted February 27, 2013 I hadn't updated the board on this project in two months, so here's where we've gone since the last installment: The chassis is complete. The Plymouth flathead 6 is in place. The exhaust has been routed. I fit my exhaust like you would on a 1:1. I cut all the pieces apart and then pin it all together I leave the pins loose while I bend and twist the assembly until I'm happy. Then I glue them much like you would clamp it all tight. Note the pin from the chassis. I pin everything! This early January shot shows the chassis up on wheels and the single exhaust peaking out just as I imagined it would. The exhaust tip is something I picked up at a doll house store eons ago when I was working on an ice cream truck and I wanted to make bells. At this point I thought I'd leave the body in red primer as I got used to looking at it this way. I had painted the roof canvas but wasn't all that happy with the way it looked. I was trying not to do dead black, so I tried a grey. It looked like duct tape in person. Also around this time someone pointed out that the kit body's roof was much too square. So I dumped it in the pond. I reshaped the roof and redid the entire scheme after this photo. Here's the body after I sanded the roof. I used the new Revell '32 sedan as a guide to the shape. I hope I got it, or at least it's better than it was. Fresh primer with snow on the ground. Paper test of the tire carrier. The design is from an old 1920s postcard I own and thought it would be cool to use on a model someday. Last week I decided to take the car back to my original intent... RED. I had originally called it Project Red Rum. And I knew it needed to be weathered up, so I added grey primer over the red primer, then shot the dark red gloss, all Duplicolor paint. A bit of wet sanding, a sprinkling of rust and some strategic spraying of both dullcote and gloss and here we are. I did shoot the roof black this time around and it looks fine. And here we were last evening. I had mounted the tail lights and wanted to see how they looked in photos. I believe they are large truck roof lights. I found them in a huge bag of parts I bought at a show a while back. The chrome on them was bad, which worked perfect for my needs. The lenses are custom units from the AMT '57 Ford kit. I have them pinned in place, then glued. I had also glued the headliner in place and the front windshield frame. I still have to add glass, sun visors, mirrors and the whole grill / radiator unit up front. There is also a spare tire to mount on the back. The project is at the point where you can only glue one piece on at a time, then walk away for that to dry. It will be finished for my club meeting in two weeks. Comments, cheers and jeers are welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Great , I'm glad you're back on this build ! I like what you've done to the shape of the body and the new paint job , and the engine and wheels are icing on the cake ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyrichard Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 nice job !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramfins59 Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 That looks dynamite Tom. I agree on the pinning method for some assemblies. I makes for a secure attachment. Isn't drilling all those little holes for the pins fun...??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted February 27, 2013 Author Share Posted February 27, 2013 . I agree on the pinning method for some assemblies. I makes for a secure attachment. Isn't drilling all those little holes for the pins fun...??? I don't mind because I have a small Exacto brand battery power drill. I've had it over 20 years and haven't seen another one for years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony T Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 Love the build! Great job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 Finally done! I'm posting in Under Glass next! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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