Aaronw Posted April 30, 2007 Share Posted April 30, 2007 I ran across a diecast of a 40's Ford COE (although it might have been a Chevy, don't really remember now), not a bad looking diecast and it was 1/24. The only bad part was it is a custom and has a chopped top. I'm primarily interested in the cab but would want it stock, anyone have experience restoring a chopped top to stock? How much work would be involved? If it is a fairly reasonable project I will keep my eye out for another one, it wasn't very expensive. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jairus Posted April 30, 2007 Share Posted April 30, 2007 I have done this to a plastic kit (Revell Rancharo Custom pickup) and it was a pain in the butt with plastic. Working with metal will be nearly impossible. You will only be frustrated unless someone finds a way to braze the crappy metals most die-cast companies use for casting with. I would avoid that project..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mademan Posted April 30, 2007 Share Posted April 30, 2007 hmm, my other hobby is working with hot wheels, I build all sorts of custom stuff. it can be done, but it will be a huge pain in the butt. Jb weld, marine epoxy (<moldable/shapable) files, spot putty, etc will be your friend. youll need some sheet /strip styrine to build up the pillars, what would work even better is if you had 2 of the same casting , then you could join roof pillars so that door lines, etc. will line up. shoot me som pictures speedbird_tbird@hotmail.com, and Ill take a look at it. to cut the metal , I usualy use a diamond wheel in my dremel, most die cast companies use a metal refered to as ZAMAC, its a compoud zink, aluminum, magnesium and copper. it will get hot with a dremel cutting wheel, but the metal will not melt until very hot temperatures (758 degrees). good luck with this project. check out www.joesdiecastshack.com and look on the message boards for the customs section, there are lots of great customizers that will help you out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDO Posted April 30, 2007 Share Posted April 30, 2007 The problem with "unchopping" is that you will have two glue joints per pillar. You'll have a piece of filler material, be it plastic or metal, "floating" in the middle of a structural member. If it were going to be a rat rod with weld marks showing, this would be no big deal. If you want it to look stock, you're going to have major problems when you try to smooth out the body work. It will come unglued. With eight joints to unglue...well...it doesn't look good. There's no easy way to do this. You could copy it in resin, then unchop the resin piece. Still not fun, but at least CA sticks to resin. You can reinforce the joints with very light fiberglass cloth. I've done that one chopped cars with very thin pillars and it works. As far as cutting two of these truck to raise the roof, you've got a problem there too. If the A pillars are slanted, you'll need to shorten the roof. That's one more glue joint to come unglued when trying to smooth it out. If the roof has any "tumblehome" (posts angled inward when looking at it from the front or back), the roof will need to be narrowed. Again, one more glue joint. IMHO, have it copied in resin or find out of one is already out there in resin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaronw Posted April 30, 2007 Author Share Posted April 30, 2007 Ok, I found one on ebay that has photos, turns out its a '47 Ford http://cgi.ebay.com/1947-FORD-COE-FLATBED-...1QQcmdZViewItem Unfortunately it sounds like you all agree its going to be a pain to make a stock cab out of it. If it was already in resin I'd just go with that, however if I could modify it then cast it that would also be fine, I've cast cabs before and could come up with a couple of projects to make it worthwhile. Casting then modifying though doesn't seem worth the effort or money. I'll check out that diecast site, thanks for the link. Its cheap enough so I might pick one up in case I get into the mood to be really frustrated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mademan Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 it would be alot of work, but it would def. pay off. if you are ok with me working with your idea, mabey later on in the year I will try to unchop one, I was kinda kicking the idea around of doing a custom with that casting anyway, dunno if it will ever happen, but if i have some spare time, I wouldnt mind giving it a go, and mabey having another member cast us a few in resin. thx, Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveInTheHat Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 I'm not positive but, I think the truck cab you're talking about was made from a resin. The original was made from a modified Monogram '40. You could probably use that cab and just replace the top part of the cab. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaronw Posted May 3, 2007 Author Share Posted May 3, 2007 I'm not positive but, I think the truck cab you're talking about was made from a resin. The original was made from a modified Monogram '40. You could probably use that cab and just replace the top part of the cab. That sounds reasonable, I didn't even think about using the top from something similar. I have both the Monogram '40 Ford and '50 Ford so its at least worth investigating. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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