Jump to content
Model Cars Magazine Forum

Matt Bacon

Members
  • Posts

    2,715
  • Joined

  • Last visited

5 Followers

Previous Fields

  • Scale I Build
    1/24

Profile Information

  • Full Name
    Matt

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

Matt Bacon's Achievements

MCM Ohana

MCM Ohana (6/6)

  1. Though come to think of it, a two stage Merlin would have made for a heck of a Pike’s Peak contender, if you could carry enough fuel! best, M.
  2. Well, it's not what I thought it was, nor designed by who I thought.... back to thinking... best, M.
  3. Issue #223 has touched down here in South Yorkshire. Still no sign of #222, though... best, M.
  4. A bout with COVID starting last weekend has put a bit of a dent in progress. Just about starting to feel normal now... I should have taken a proper "before" picture, but I didn't think about it in time. I pondered how best to the flip the dash for a while. It's made easier by being a flat panel. In the end I decided just to _actually_ flip it. I cut the ends off cleanly, then punched the two big dials out with a leather hole-punch. I drilled the smaller dials through, and small holes in the locations of each of the switches. I scribed out the glovebox door. Then I flipped it over and glued the big dials back in place. I made switches from plastic rod, and a new glovebox door from card traced through the hole. I backed the whole thing with plastic card, and textured the main dash with liquid cement. Then a coat of matt black, scratch out the dial markings on the small dials with a pin, dry brush the raised detail in the big dials, and add "glass" to all using Citadel 'ardcoat varnish. Finally the switches with an SMS Hyperchrome pen and a black paint maker. Tub finished with textured paint and then Vallejo Dark Prussian Blue. The pedals actually stay the same way round as the LHD version. Gear lever surround done in BMF. Moving forward, if slower than I would have liked! best, M.
  5. 60s and 70s cars in the UK and Europe very much came painted body colour all over (and under). Rust proofing and weather protection was an aftermarket service and Ziebart, Waxoyl and DiNitrol were big names to the enthusiastic motorist (and motor sport fan… their sponsor stickers are very visible on rally cars of the period especially). The canny owner or sensible garage mechanic gave the underside a good wipe over or spray with the used engine oil after a change… those were the days! best, M.
  6. , but with the paper folded over each time so each one couldn't see what the people before had done... best, M.
  7. That nose panel can’t have been much fun to fabricate for an aluminium bodied car… best, M.
  8. Jensen, AC and Bristol were top of mind, but given what I’m building at the moment and that “family resemblance” I narrowed it down to AC pretty quickly… beat, M.
  9. This is just mocked up rather than assembled... there's more painting to do before I get to actually put it together, but I wanted to reassure myself that the engine would fit in the chassis. And it does: I moved the locating pin on the transmission back by a 1/16" or so and put a shim on the mounting point to lift the tail end by a similar amount, which then meant that the sockets on the engine lined up with the mounts already on the chassis. That seemed to indicate design, though it might be blind luck. A couple of short lengths of square plastic rod formed new lugs on the block that would drop into the mounts. The bell housing is right behind the transverse chassis tube, but I only had to reshape the lower rear edge of the sump to get it all to fit and align horizontally, rather than having to shorten the sump significantly. I also had to shave the bottom of the starter motor, but not so's you'd notice. Boy, that 427 is shoehorned in... best, M.
  10. I don’t know the company, Steve, but there are companies in the UK that will “chrome plate” things like your baby’s first shoes. If no one knows the specific company, it might be worth exploring similar operations in the US? best, Matt
  11. Next rod for my own back... the original I'm building is a right hand drive, like about half the 289 Sports built. So, time to start changing the kit over. There's more to it than "just" flipping the dash... The easy bit... that three pronged box between the outriggers at the right is the pedal booster set-up. It snipped out neatly from the left and slotted into place on the right with no issues. The left footwell is shortened and the right extended by 4mm to give room for the pedals so they will sit over the booster box. The firewall has a reasonable amount of moulded in detail. That will clearly need to be redistributed and probably adapted, because the 289 Sports I have found online have a different layout of bits and pieces in the engine bay. That said, really good, clear pictures are hard to come by. With the help of a good razor saw, I've got most of them off more or less intact and started to shape the firewall itself. I can't finally glue it in place until I've sorted out the "carpets" and fitted the pedals at the far end of the foot well. First check of the engine position. Getting that in place is the next big challenge of swapping out the power plants. I think it will need to be higher so the starter motor when fitted clears the transverse chassis tube, and probably a bit further forward as a result so the bell housing doesn't clash with the transmission tunnel moulded into the tub. Who knows, the engine mounts might even line up and save me a job! best, M.
  12. This is the IMC/Union kit Ace-Garageguy posted above: The full gory details of what it takes to convert what Bill posted into the above: In short, it was hard work, but I think it was worth it... best, M.
  13. I'd take that burgundy Alpine 610/GTA in a heartbeat.... it looks as if it's a Euro-spec one, rather the GTA USA... best, M
  14. So, that was a bit of a battle, but I think I'm done... The first part of the plan, implementing the cuts marked above, worked fine. That was when it got interesting. I started mocking up the wheels, suspension and tub. The narrowed arches mean that the tub needs trimming around the upper rear cabin corners to fit. Then I discovered that the tires were rubbing on the inside of the arches and wouldn't go in without lots of camber.There's not much room to thin the arches, and after doing all that filling and paintwork I wasn't planning to risk it. So I looked VERY closely at the tires. It turns out that they are handed. Whether deliberately or a moulding artefact, one shoulder of the tread is markedly more curved than the other, and I'd got it on the inside. I turned the tires round on the hubs. This also made the inner hub halves click into place deeper inside the tire. I suspect it may be designed that way, but the only way you'd ever notice on a normal build of a 427 is if you actually followed the instructions closely enough to put the right-numbered tire on the right side, and who does that? 😜 That bought me some more clearance at the top of the arch, but the wheels still weren't going all the way on. I shaved the front outside edges of the rear pan, as you can see above, and the rear corners of the tub for 0.5mm or so extra clearance each side. Even then, the wheels were still too far up in the arches. I cut off the axle stubs from the wheel carriers, filed everything smooth, and re-glued them 1.5mm or so lower, which is why they no longer line up with the half-shaft universal joints on the inside of the wheel carriers... and this is where I am tonight: The wheels are just pushed onto the axles, and the front end of the chassis is floating free, so it's not how it will finally look when it's glued together, but I'm happy that it will eventually look more or less OK. On with the engine now... best, M.
  15. @Pierre Rivard, I was thinking of using narrower wheels on the back, but closer inspection of the photos of the real blue one I'm basing this one suggest that it does have the wider rear wheels: There are two more "rows" of tread on the rears than there are on the front, and you can see they pretty much fill the full width of the bulged fenders. I think the plan has worked. Just letting some things set before putting the body over the top for a test.... best, M.
×
×
  • Create New...