microwheel Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 (edited) Hi Guys, Â A couple weeks ago I decided to start a new project. I took a couple of kits out of the closet and asked my wife which one she wanted me to do. This is the one she selected. It's a pretty good kit from what I can see, and I decided to give it the full detail treatment. I usually work on one kit at a time and it takes me a few months to do one when I detail them out. Â Â I am going with a non traditional color. After getting the body prepped it got a few coats of tamiya white primer, then 4 coats of model masters Anthracitc Grey Metallic enamel mixed 50/50 with lacquer thinner. Then 2 medium coats of model masters black enamel was added where the decals wouldn't cover. The decals where then added after the color coats dried for 3 days, then 4 coats of model masters clear enamel where applied. The paint has been gassing out for about a week now and will soon be ready for wet sanding and polishing. Â Â Â The interior has been started while waiting for the paint to dry. The interior is a combination of testors flat dark green and flat medium green with a light coat of semi gloss clear. The wood grain inserts are replicated by painting the areas with light tan with a flat black wash added and then over-coated with tamiya's clear orange. The window cranks were carefully cut off the door panels and with get painted with Alclad chrome before being re-attached. Bare metal foil was added to the door trim around the wood grain inserts. Â Â Once I get the dash and floor pan done, the interior will get aftermarket seat belts as well as a few other odds and ends details. Â Â Â Continued........... Edited September 15, 2015 by microwheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930fordpickup Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 Wow this looks nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted October 16, 2014 Author Share Posted October 16, 2014 (edited) Next work was started on the chassis. I got the chassis painted with red oxide primer, then a light over spray on the edges of body color, then the back of the chassis was painted with semi-gloss black. I then painted and installed the electric fuel pumps and detailed them out with fuel lines and clamps, as well as electrical harness. I then added the main fuel line and back brake line to the chassis with line brackets. Next it was on to the rear-end. Assembling it and detailing it with brake lines and Emergency brake cables. I still need to add the rear end housing cover. Continued....... Edited October 16, 2014 by microwheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted October 16, 2014 Author Share Posted October 16, 2014 Here is a few images of how the chassis and rear end look test fitted together. Keep in mind I still need to add the rear end cover and shocks (which I'm thinking of making air-shocks for) More to come as work continues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunkypeanutbutter Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hjracing Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 Just amaizing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdhog Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 Very nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 Very nice. One thing,the stripes should be over the clear, not under it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w451973 Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 Very nice work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 Awesome work and paint so far.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted October 16, 2014 Author Share Posted October 16, 2014 (edited) Very nice. One thing,the stripes should be over the clear, not under it. Thanks and I Agree, however the decals are more of a semi gloss black, and the black areas of the car were done in gloss black, And to have painted the black areas of the body in Semi-gloss black over the clear would have left a mask line, so to take care of that, it was better to apply the decals before the clear and then blend them into the black paint with the clear over them. Had AMT (round 2) produced truely gloss black decals, it would have worked over the clear. Besides this build is more along the lines of what a modern day, better than factory stock, show car restoration would be. Hence the color. If it were a factory stock build, I would have went with a more traditional factor color. And besides that, Clear coats weren't used back in the early 70's. Edited October 16, 2014 by microwheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted October 17, 2014 Author Share Posted October 17, 2014 (edited) Thanks alot for the kind comments guys. Here is a little update for today. Got a little more done on the chassis this morning. The rear suspension is now permanently installed, chrome foiled the rear end housing cover. Painted the shocks flat white and installed air lines to represent air shocks. finished up making and installing the emergency brake cable. Next, it's on to the front frame and suspension. Edited October 17, 2014 by microwheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nova-ss Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 Great looking work.I like how you think about the era and the what I call the story behind the build.all the detail you are putting in this car.smokin work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my80malibu Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 Excellent work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted October 18, 2014 Author Share Posted October 18, 2014 (edited) Great looking work.I like how you think about the era and the what I call the story behind the build.all the detail you are putting in this car.smokin work. Thanks Chris, This one is a little bit of a challenge because there is very little web info (especially detail shot pics) out there on the internet. There is lots of body and engine shots, but very little chassis detail pics. Lucky for me I grew up in the 60's and 70's and had a older brother who had a 70 Baldwin Motion Camaro that he was lucky enough to buy in 1974 from a New Jersey Dealer who took it in on a trade in. Not only did I get to cruz around with him in it, but turned my share of wrenches on it also. One good thing about growing up in that era, I saw first hand, and owned, as daily drivers, alot of the cars that are considered classics from that period. Here is a little tid-bit of info from that era for ya, that washing cars as a teen, for a dealer on the east coast helped me learn. The early 70's was right around the time that undercoating became popular, and while GM didnt paint alot of their chassis before the cars left the assembly lines, dealers were begining to offer rust proofing to their customers. So building a early to mid 70's model with a semi- or flat- black under carriage to simulate undercoating would not really be incorrect if you were building a model based on how you could order it off the dealer lot. Not all dealers offered rubberized undercoating but lot of them did. And it wasnt unusual for the buyer to sometimes go to a independent undercoating dealer right after buying a new car and having it undercoated. However my dad had his brand new 70 impala undercoated right at Willis Chevrolet before he drove it home. Undercoating back in those days wasnt as good as it is today and it usually began peeling off with in a few years. So why am I not doing this one that way? Because I just like the looks of a raw, non-undercoated, detailed chassis. LOL Excellent work Thanks Gilbert Edited October 18, 2014 by microwheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted October 18, 2014 Author Share Posted October 18, 2014 (edited) Just a few small updates for today guys. I didnt like the way the emergency pull cable tied into the emergency cable, so I corrected it with a small triange shaped peice of evergreen sheet plastic. I also scratch made the front body mount braces where the front frame mounts rest on the chassis, as it seems AMT for some season didnt think to mold them into the chassis. I'll be adding a little semi-gloss black and body color over spray to them before the front frame gets mounted to them. I also started work on the front frame cleaning up mold lines, filling in sink marks and the top of the frame rails with green squadron puddy. Once the puddy sets up good, I will coat it with a little Medium grade CA glue coated with baking soda to take care of the puddy shrinking problem. Then it will get sanded smooth. I also will work on the front suspension and see if I can cut the tie rod apart and make it workable. I've done this before with other AMT kits, and it works out fine. Just takes alot of time and careful cutting and sand shaping. The pivet joints will get drilled out with a pin vice and then the joints will get pinned. I'll post pics, if I get time, of the progress so you can see how I plan to do it. To be continued. Edited October 18, 2014 by microwheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 Real clean and detailed work on the rear chassis Jim.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted October 19, 2014 Author Share Posted October 19, 2014 Work started on the front suspension this evening. I plan to separate and make the Tie Rod bar move with the front spindles. I'm not sure why AMT didnt do this with this kit, especially since they made the front spindles as separate parts and made them so they could turn individually. To separate the Tie Rod bar, I will first drill out the pivot points of all the areas of the tie rod that need to move. Then I will cut and clean up all the areas of the Tie Rod that need to be separated from the other parts of the front suspension. I plan to leave the spindle arms attached to the tie rod ends and to the front A-arms untill I have everything else done and pinned. Then I will set the spindles in place and then cut the Spindle A-arms loose and attache them to the Spindles. For pivot point pins, I will use straight pins cut off to size. The pins will be inserted into the holes and then the joints where any 2 areas meet the need to pivot, will be carefully seperated. Doing this will allow the pins to give the joints strength as I separate them with a xacto knife. I will add more pics of the process as I go along. For now, here is a pic of the start of things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Jon Posted October 19, 2014 Share Posted October 19, 2014 Superb workmanship, looks great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted October 19, 2014 Author Share Posted October 19, 2014 Update for this morning. More work done on the front tie rod bar. The first thing I did was to create a "L" shaped mounting bracket on the frame for the passenger side pitman arm. Next I finished drilling, cutting, and cleaning up the tie rid bar to get it ready for pinning the pivot joints and separating it. Then I started working on pinning and separating the pitman arms. This will give you some Idea of how all the pivot joints will be done. I first drill out a section of evergreen round rod with a pin vise the same diamator of a strait pin. Then I cut that section off and slipped it over the strait pin. Then using the trip of a NEW exacto blade, (this makes sure it cuts easy. A used one would be a little dull and could cause the parts to split as they were cut), I cut a small ring off the piece I placed over the straight pin. This will be used as lock ring one the part is cut loose from the tie rod. Next I pushed a straight pin through the hole on the tie rod going through the pitman arm, and then using just the very tip of the exacto blade, carefully and slowly worked the blade around the area seperating the pitman arm from the tie rod. Slipping a pin through the hole gives the area strength so when it's cut, there is less chance of damaging the thin joint area. Next the lock ring I had made earlier was placed over the pitman arm straight pin. Everything was then slid tightly together and a small drop of CA glue was added to the lock ring side to hold it all together. Once both pitman arms were done, the pins were cut, with a pair of spru-cutters, flush to the locking rings Continued.................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted October 19, 2014 Author Share Posted October 19, 2014 (edited) And finally this is how the completed pitman arms look from the bottom. This image shows how the pitman arms will move with the tie rod. All the other joints on the tie rod will get this same process. I will post more pics as I get the tie rod completed. Edited October 19, 2014 by microwheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixx Posted October 19, 2014 Share Posted October 19, 2014 WOW!!!!! Nice work Jim!!!!!!! Awesome paint too!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustybill1960 Posted October 19, 2014 Share Posted October 19, 2014 Oh My word! WOW! I am going to be watching this one for sure! WOW! Thank You for sharing Later Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrone Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 Splendid work.... enjoying your build.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 Real nice work Jim.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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