1/12 '57 Chevy

[Quick GMC]

This is another I am working on. It's on the engine and trans assembly so far, but since this turned into a model in itself i figured it would be nice to show.

This is the kit that got me back into modelling after I stopped at about 10 years old. All my models were glue bombs and I specifically remember one Countach I put together while eating skittles, so the completed product was quite colorful.

I was trying to find an auto related hobby to replace RC cars as it as becoming way too expensive. I remembered my dad had a couple of old large scale models he saved. I dug out the 57 Chevy and it was the glue bomb from hell. I still have the kit, but i have bought couple more since then.

Here is the Model Car Garage photo etch kit I am going to use

I am also using Scale Hardware and Micro Fasteners to replace pretty much every bolt on the car. I didn't realize how much this was going to cost until I was knee deep, so this is a long term build. All holes were drilled through the center of each molded bolt, then the molded piece shaved off and surfaces sanded flat.

There are over 120 actual fastners on the engine and trans assembly alone, and about 60 hours so far. I'm stuck on the alternator, I'm trying to figure out how to make a metal fan blade because the molded in one isn't going to cut it.

The beginning

Assembly

[Quick GMC]

RB Motion spark plugs with porcelain part painted white

Fulie top end assembly

[Quick GMC]

The exhaust manifolds were painted using a two part kit from Michael's. It's an iron oxide paint, then you brush on an oxidizer, wrap in saran wrap and leave it overnight. The manifolds are covered in actual rust, not simulated paint.

[Quick GMC]

I added a little weathering on the valve covers.

Tranny was painted with Duplicolor engine enamel Cast Iron, then weathered with a wash and Tamiya weathering powders.

Next up I might mess with the ride height a little. I have started drilling the holes and preparing the rear end.

[jrherald420]

I love the bolts!! Detailing a 1/12 scale just takes it to another level.

[hacked]

''very nice'' the detail is spot on.

[the goon]

Lookin' Great. Keep it coming.

Mark

[kobuzz]

Very nice!! Can you post a pic of the iron oxide stuff you used? It looks really good!

[cobraman]

Engine looks great !

[kendog261]

awesome job

[Custom Hearse]

COOL!!! Gotta watch this!

[gray07]

Looking sweet

[David G.]

Excellent engine detail!

David G.

[Quick GMC]

I took the alternator fan blade from the Scale Details Testarossa PE kit, which is too big for the kit it's made for anyway

I started cutting up an extra generator I had

I chucked it up in the drill and sanded it a bit. Left is original, right is new.

Nice looking piece once the blades are bent in shape.

Rough mockup, more details needed

original vs. new

[checkmate]

Looking real good so far, should be sensational when finished.

[blunc]

really liking the detailing you've done to the engine.<br /><br />one "rivet" to bring up and it's not something you've done...<br /><br />that distributor cap is about twice as tall as real caps are, don't know what the designers were working from but it looks like they never saw the distributor caps that are on the 1:1 cars.

[Quick GMC]

really liking the detailing you've done to the engine.<br /><br />one "rivet" to bring up and it's not something you've done...<br /><br />that distributor cap is about twice as tall as real caps are, don't know what the designers were working from but it looks like they never saw the distributor caps that are on the 1:1 cars.

was actually looking at this last night, it's nearly the same size as the generator. I will see if I can address this. I have an extra one to mess with

[semijoe]

man you brought that engine to life, looks awesome

[Davewilly]

Looking great Love what your doing to this so far! keep it coming!

[Bugatti Fan]

This is quite an interesting post as I have recently built this kit 'from the box'. It certainly makes up into a very impressive model, but I found that the fit of some of the parts could have been a lot better in places. I did not like the black colour scheme as per kit and went for a two tone scheme of blue body with white roof instead, that I thought might look a bit more 'Rock n Roll' considering the late 50's era the car was built in. Only wish that I knew about the Model Car Garage Photo Etched parts for this kit beforehand.

Cameron's engine detailing work looks really good and he will certainly do justice to the rest of this popular car model. Really looking forward to seeing how his build progresses.

The kit is showing its 1970's origins now and really cries out to be retooled and brought up to the standard of modern kits. It is such an iconic car that I am sure that there would be a good market for a more detailed accurate new kit to replace this one. Basically it looks like an upscaled 1/24th scale kit when you look at the way the kit goes together. I had a bit of difficulty aligning the hood on the body as it was slightly distorted. Trouble is, looking at it in the box it seemed to be O.K. It may have just been my particular kit that was at fault, but I would suggest that anybody building this model physically check the alignment of the hood to body before doing any painting to be able to sort it out first.

[lanesteele240]

Ok, im very impressed, but will you please tell me what bolt sizes you used on your engine and which ones you use the most when detailing a build.

I have visted scale hardware's web site but when i get there i'm set aback by all the choices an frankly the prices. I would not mind paying for the ones i can use but i would hate to start out with 130 bucks worth of bolts that i can never use

Any info would be welcome and thanks for sharing your build

[ewaskew]

Looks real good man and the extra detail is a great little touch.

[Casey]

Ok, im very impressed, but will you please tell me what bolt sizes you used on your engine and which ones you use the most when detailing a build.

Quite honestly, you use whatever bolt size the real car uses in various places. 3/8" hex head is common for bolting fenders and inner fender to the main body structure, 5/16" or 3/8" for oil pan bolts, 1/2" or 9/16" hex head for water pump bolts, bellhousing to engine block bolts are 9/16" or sometimes 5/8" hex head, and so on. Divide the real hex head dimension/size by the scale you're working in, and pick the closest size RB Motion or Scale Hardware offers. You might only need to use the threaded rod or threaded bolts for things like the motor mounts or control arms, since most of the time only the bolt/nut heads and washers are visible.

Looking great on the FI unit, Cameron. That's a lotta plumbing.

[Bugatti Fan]

Regarding making bolts (or rather bolt heads). I looked at proprietary stuff like proper tiny bolts for modellers and also the various photo etched stuff as well.....Too expensive! Could not find any hexagonal shaped plastic rods to slice, either from Plastruct or any other company and that I found surprising!

I also tried the old heat stretched sprue method on a hexagonal a bic biro outer case. Stretched it ok but it was too brittle to cut even with a a razor saw.

I needed lots of bolt heads of different sizes. So how could they be made really cheaply and made of plastic so that they could be cemented in place with a spot of Contacta or similar?

Then I hit upon an idea! Maybe I could punch them out of plastic card? I got a cheap set of Allen keys and selected some of the smaller ones that looked about the right size for the bolt heads that I wanted to make. I hacksawed off the long straight section of each key I needed and ground one end flat to give sharp edges to each side of the hexagon shape. These would become my PUNCHES.

Next job was to make a COMBINATION DIE that would take each size. What I used was a piece of 1.5mm (approx 1/16th inch) gauge plate (mild steel would also do) about 75mm (3 inches) by 50mm (2 inches) then got a a piece of wood battening about 20mm (3/4 inch square) and cut 2 lengths from it of 50mm (2 inches). I drilled 2 holes to take suitable screws at each end of the 3 inch long piece of steel plate. These are to screw the 2 battens to the underside of the steel plate to make a bridge shape once all the die holes are drilled.

Now I drilled a number of suitably sized holes to match each of the punches in the plate positioned in the centre section that would be between the support battens to act as die holes for the punches to go through. To determine each of the hole sizes, I carefully measured the diameter across each of the Allen key pieces from point to opposite point (not across the flats) that were cut from the Allen keys. After drilling a set of holes as dies, I then screwed the bits of batten to each end of the piece of steel plate to form the bridge section. This was to make some clearance for the punched hexagonal plastic card shapes to fall through onto some card that was located underneath. This method is a bit crude, but it works. Basically we are punching a hexagonal punch through a round drilled hole. This will have to be set up on a small bench drill press for accuracy. The selected punch is be mounted in the machine's chuck and brought down to accurately align and go through the corresponding drilled die hole.

The die bridge part will need to be clamped down at this stage. If you have a small milling machine this is much easier as the die can be clamped in a vice or on the machine bed and the X ( RH to LH), and Y (Front to Rear) axis movement handles can be used to accurately align the punch and die required.

This is a very cheap way to knock out loads of plastic card hex bolt heads once the machine is set up. Trial and error will show how thick you can go with the plastic card however.

Hope that this is of help to other modellers.

Edited May 31, 2013 by Bugatti Fan

[AzTom]

That engine looks awesome!

Someone makes one of those punch dies for hex bolts, I have the one for round holes and it works great.

For the record, Plastruck does have the hex rod, that is what I use.