Kitbash help

[cobra98]

Hi Fellas,

I recently picked up the following two kits & would like to build them with a bit more detail.

Since complete scratchbuilt items are a bit above my present skills,I was wondering if any of you guys could tell me what would be good donor kits for the interiors,chassis'& suspensions as well as other misc. bits.

Plan to build them as daily driver, stock type rides.

Dead on accuracy isn't a must, just something a bit better than the original kit parts.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Rambler Slammer

[lordairgtar]

On the Rambler, I would try and find a Johan kit of the same car. Not highly detailed, but it will net you an interior and chassis that you might be able to detail out a bit.

[Casey]

The early '60s GM senior compacts (Tempest, F-85, etc.) have 112" wheelbases, so one option would be the 1968-1972 GM A-body 2 doors-- Chevelle, Cutlass, GTO, etc.-- which all have 112" wheelbases. The Revell '72 Olds Cutlass kit would be a great place to start, or the MPC/AMT '69 Hurst/Olds kit would work, too.

[Guest]

I seem to remember Chuck Most built a Rambler X year/s ago. I'll see if I can find the thread for you.

[blunc]

I have a Jo-Han '62 F-85 hardtop kit, the only part of that kit that sucks in the detail department is the chassis which has all suspension detail molded in, I think you should only need a chassis from a '60s vintage GM car which wasn't unibody type construction and of similar wheelbase.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I have a Jo-Han '62 F-85 hardtop kit, the only part of that kit that sucks in the detail department is the chassis which has all suspension detail molded in, I think you should only need a chassis from a '60s vintage GM car which wasn't unibody type construction and of similar wheelbase.

Ummmm....the '61 F-85 IS unibody, pretty sure...........The unibodies for the GM front-engined compacts were only built from '61 to '63. They were entirely redesigned for '64 (the well-known A-body) if I'm not suffering from total brain collapse. I'm not aware of any model versions of the early GM unibodies other than the blobular-chassied Johans. The gen1 Corvairs shared some chassis stampings, but were also very different.

Then again, I could be wrong.......but I don't think so.

Edited December 7, 2012 by Ace-Garageguy

[cobra98]

Thanks for the info fellas. I have some old A bodies in the junk box, I'll take a look & see which would work best for the wagon. Now I just need to do something with the interior,the kit supplied one is very shallow with almost no floorboard. It just hangs from the rear wheel wells with a big gap between it & the chassis plate.

[blunc]

Ummmm....the '61 F-85 IS unibody, pretty sure...........The unibodies for the GM front-engined compacts were only built from '61 to '63. They were entirely redesigned for '64 (the well-known A-body) if I'm not suffering from total brain collapse. I'm not aware of any model versions of the early GM unibodies other than the blobular-chassied Johans. The gen1 Corvairs shared some chassis stampings, but were also very different.

Then again, I could be wrong.......but I don't think so.

Bill, I can't be sure if the real car is unibody or not without researching it more, but...the blobular chassis in the johan kit looks like a full frame was cast.

I might have been misled by shoddy research on the part of the JoHan company product.

That being said(typed), I'm fairly certain that anything cobra98 puts under the body will be better than what was supplied in the kit.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I've been up against much the same problem, as I wanted to build an A/FX version of the F-85 2-door, and got bogged down in the chassis research. A/FX allowed a lot of leeway in car-building, but within fairly strict limits which I wanted to adhere to.

The Johan chassis at first glance looks like a separate frame job, but it COULD have thin-gage sheetmetal hat-section rails spot-welded to the floor stampings and still be technically a unibody.

This is where my research stopped, as I was looking for period crash-books that would show the structure in detail, and put the project on hold before I found them.

EDIT: From 442.com... "Production began with the 1961 model year. The original Cutlass was built on a unibody platform. Rather small and low to the ground compared to the 1964 and later models."

I also found a scan of the '62 Olds chassis dimensions, and it is indeed a unibody, with hat-section sheetmetal rails, and a heavier-gage steel front subframe to carry the engine and suspension loads. The underbody appearance of the Johan kit is more-or-less correct, as far as it goes. There's enough there to make a basis for a nice one, with some work.

Edited December 7, 2012 by Ace-Garageguy