MrObsessive Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 (edited) Well, having a much needed jump start from building the 1/43 Ferrari.............I've been looking over this for a while now. I haven't seen one of these built up in a very long time, so I figured it's time to do this nice kit some attention. As most of you know, this was an old tool reissued by Lindberg some years ago. The tooling has held up well as I see no excessive flash, and the parts are molded pretty crisply for tooling that dates back to the mid '60's. Some foibles are bound to turn up, such as the finicky door hinges------I haven't decided to use these or to make brass ones for durabilty. I'll have to see how my patience holds up to this point. Not a whole lot to show right now, but I have started on making the gas door functional as well as make the door creases a bit crisper than they were.............some tweaking will be done to the door jambs to make them sit more flush to the body. Here's a couple shots of the door creases made a little more defined......... I used the back edge of the exacto blade to open up the gas door------here is the rough hewn shape of it at the moment.......... The gas door needed some plastic around the perimeter to fill out the gap......... Just a scooch more tweaking, and it'll fit perfect in the opening------the next step is to hinge it swivel style. Here's the package of the Herb Deeks PE set of wire wheels............the jury's out if they'll work or not, but the diameter appears to look correct for this type of car as opposed to the junky wheels in it now. That's all for now-----later I'll hinge the headlights and tweak the body a bit more to accept acetate glass and then start on the engine a bit. Painting the body will be way down the road as I like to make sure everything will fit well without much hassle..............that's the last thing I want! Stay tuned! Edited July 5, 2009 by MrObsessive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george 53 Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 It's GREAT ta see ya back at the bench there Buddy! It looks like nothins changed, your STILL showin signs of obsessivness, so PLEASE by all means just go head and work it out of you. You'll be MUCH healthier for it! Remember, the whole idea is to RELAX and enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Looking forward to watching this build unfold! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stump Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Looking forward to watching this build unfold! X 2 Right here with ya..... I know this is gonna be a killa Bill.....don't keep us waiting too long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Flowers Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 I have always liked that kit myself. Looking forward to your progress on this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrObsessive Posted January 11, 2009 Author Share Posted January 11, 2009 This past week I tried to squeeze in some time and make some much needed changes to the kit. I remember trying to build this some 30 years ago in 1979, and recall the hinges were not as sturdy as I'd like. Now granted, I was fairly new to the hobby scene back then, and opening/working doors was a new thing for me! I figured I didn't build the car right or something as the hinges broke off maybe 6 months after I built it...............or I was simply too rough! Anyway, I decided to ditch the plastic hinges and make new ones from brass. Before all of that, I wanted to finish making the hinges for the gas door................I can't show a pic of it working only because it won't be installed until after everything is painted and the hinge retainers epoxied in. Here are a couple pics of what I did though............... I drilled a piece of .040 plastic rod with a #76 drill bit and ran a piece of bead wire through it. This was then capped on the ends with a couple more .040 pieces which will sit under the bodywork so the door can swivel. Now on to the brass hinges..............I took the plastic hinge from the kit, and took note of its radius............. Now I wanted to duplicate that same radius in brass---------I took a file I had laying around and compared it to the plastic hinge. The radius was very close, so I then bent some 1/64 x 1/16 flat brass stock around it.............. Before I went much further, I wanted to check out the kick panels and the hinge retainers in the kit to see if they would need much modifying. The kick panels are pretty realistic, so I decided to use those instead of scratchbuilding new ones. I went ahead and glued them in ahead of time, as it serves a great locating point for the dash later in the assembly. Note the groove in the second pic above.............this was another reason I went with the kit kick panels as those grooves makes my hinging job a little easier too for what I'm going to use. Once things were fully dry, now I can move on to solder the pins on the hinges, and test fit them. I also want to tighten up the gaps on the upper parts of the body door jambs with some strip plastic. Stay tuned for more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrObsessive Posted January 11, 2009 Author Share Posted January 11, 2009 (edited) After I bent the hinges to my satisfaction, it was now time to start soldering. I used plain 'ol lead no clean silver bearing solder (Radio Shack), with a fair amount of core flux embedded. I wanted to first put a small pool of solder on the hinge.......... Then, taking a piece of .050 brass rod, soldered it to the hinge. A good rule of thumb to soldering, is you always want your iron to have a dollop of solder on the tip. This will serve as a "heat bridge" to get the solder to flow where it's needed. It's also a good idea to leave a slight fillet on each side of the part being soldered so that it serves as extra strength for the joint. I then filed down some of the excess, so the hinge could swing freely where it's installed. Here's the hinge being test fitted in the kick panels............ AAAHHH..........the hinge fits nice and snug in the groove! Now the kit supplied kick panel retainers will be modified slightly and test fitted, as will as the hinge retainer for the door. I'll have to scratchbuild those as they will need to be made so the door glass can clear them when the windows are down. Stay tuned! Edited January 12, 2009 by MrObsessive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clay Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Really nice, Bill. Love the hinges. I wonder if its the government computer not showing all the pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Custom Hearse Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Why do I feel sick to my stomach when I compare my builds to yours? Looks great so far Bill! I'll be looking forward to seeing this one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrObsessive Posted January 11, 2009 Author Share Posted January 11, 2009 Really nice, Bill. Love the hinges. I wonder if its the government computer not showing all the pictures. Thanks Clay! Fotki has been doing "maintenance" lately...........so from time to time their server may have indigestion and not want to let the pics load. I thought the maintenance was done----------but who knows with Fotki. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruz Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Looks like the seminar you just came out with in the magazine this month, there's a lot to learn from you man!!!! Lots of detail and this is just the gas tank door!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raul_Perez Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 (edited) The hinges look GREAT!! Keep up the EXCELLENT work, Bill!! Later, Edited January 14, 2009 by Raul_Perez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clay Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 The hinges look GREAT!! Keep up the EXCELLENT work, Bill!! Later, Kinda messed up the reply huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stump Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 That's a pretty nice looking hinge Bill.. One could also apply this technique to a door where the leading edge swings inside the fender ? Loving the progress mate. cheers Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilsdropshop1 Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 great job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrObsessive Posted January 12, 2009 Author Share Posted January 12, 2009 That's a pretty nice looking hinge Bill. One could also apply this technique to a door where the leading edge swings inside the fender? Loving the progress mate. cheers Ya, that would work Greg.......just reverse the hinge around so it pivots on the door instead of inside the fender. The shape of the hinge makes it possible either way. The next hurdle is getting the door glass to lower down without hitting/scraping the retainer. Looks like I'll have to modify the interior door panel a bit........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Will you be using Ford OEM head gaskets or aftermarket??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harold Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 If this turns out anything like your Turbine Car, this one is gonna rock. I just picked this kit up the other day (along with several others) and will be following your progress with bated breath.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eshaver Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Bill, a friend of my wife's thinks I would do well using Photo Bucket , any comments there? As for what you have presented , wow . I can well remember the time I had with the I M C kit as I built it back when the plastic was Metallic Red in 1965. Yes , I remember the SLOPPY HINGES TOO! Dad burn things were terrible ! Had we had what the aftermarket offers us now as per strip plastic and metal, we would have had some real killer builds then. I guess we can thank the Slot car boys for the brass as thats when I first saw that product show up. Yes Bill, NOW IS A GOOOD TIME TO BUILD THAT KIT! Ed Shaver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Nice work. Thank you for the tutorials. I've yet to attempt opening a door on a project yet, but seeing this and your article in MCM should get me on my way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kk916 Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Bill, a friend of my wife's thinks I would do well using Photo Bucket , any comments there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrObsessive Posted January 21, 2009 Author Share Posted January 21, 2009 Well, I got my new computer bugs worked out which kept me kind of tied up last week to post any updates. Ain't 2009 technology grand?? I recently got a new laptop which I want to use when I travel from time to time...........it wasn't cooperating with the router which is hooked up to my desktop. I got the two to play nice and now I'm free to do some model building! Last week I got some more bodywork done on the Cougar, mainly getting the doors to line up properly and getting the large gaps closed in. One of the bigger hangups with this kit is the body creases don't quite line up with the separate doors, so some work was needed there as well. Well here's what we have so far.............. I needed something for the hinges to slide into, so I made these pieces from C-Channel plastic and added some strip plastic inside to minimize slop when the hinges are slid in........ I glued the hinge retainer for the door in with liquid glue and likewise the hinge retainer for the body door jamb, which'll trap the hinge permanently now. The hinge slides in easily with a little movement, but once the hinge is epoxied in the door this should eliminate any up and down movement. Once I was satisfied with the hinges and door movement, I noticed this big gap in the lower front corners of the doors...................this just won't do! So I glued some strip plastic to the front of the doors, and I let it set until fully dry............. Once the contours of the doors were back to where I wanted them, I took to making the creases line up properly. Here you can see where I laid masking tape across the body creases and took a sanding block to line things up. Working carefully so the body doesn't become to "flat", I lined things up as best I could. You can see above that the gaps are now more acceptable...........I'll tweak them a teensy bit more to allow for paint------but the gaps are more in scale with the model. Next, I'll move on to the flip up headlights.............I can't figure out why IMC didn't originally make them fully functional. I remember losing one of the headlight lids years ago when I built this because there were no retainers for the pins on the headlight lids--------I have a remedy for this as you'll see. Thanks for stayin' tuned! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrObsessive Posted January 21, 2009 Author Share Posted January 21, 2009 Bill, a friend of my wife's thinks I would do well using Photo Bucket , any comments there? Ed, I use Fotki mainly for posting pics here..............maybe because I find it a bit more user friendly for pics. However, when I want to send a video I made for someone, I'll use Photobucket because I find it a bit more reliable for things like that. Hope this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrObsessive Posted January 21, 2009 Author Share Posted January 21, 2009 BTW, I've decided on a color for the Cougar.......... I ran across this pic (I think someone else posted it here)......I really like this color! It's a great contrast with the brushed stainless steel top. Any suggestions guys for a close match? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrObsessive Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 (edited) I've been in a mini slump building wise lately................the job front still doesn't look promising. I'm one of those guys that when things aren't going well on the job (ie: possible layoff) I don't do well when it comes to getting work done in a timely manner on models. Maybe it has to do with priorities..............but models don't seem as important if your job's on the line and you have to worry about keeping yourself (and your models) in a house down the road. Nevertheless, I wanted to get some more done on the Cougar, so I went online and got some nice and tiny magnets from "Simply Magnets" to make sure the doors stay shut when closed. There's no room to do a latching mechanism due to the working glass and the shape of the door, so magnets were the next best thing. I got out my pin vise and drilled straight through the door in place as well as the door jamb so the magnets would line up....................... Here's a shot to show you how tiny these things are! I backed up the hole drilled in the door jamb with some sheet plastic so the magnet would sit just about flush with the jamb........... These magnets are powerful!! They hold the door tight as a dog with a bone! I'm satisfied with all of the bodywork now. It's time to move on to the engine.............. The engine needed some small changes so it looks a little more lively than the lump of plastic Lindberg gives you. I added fuel lines, a vacuum advance with the line, a oil filter, coil and some other doodads and such to bring some life to it. Not every detail is 100% correct for a 260, I had to fudge some details due to the fact this car is a concept and there are NO pics I could find of the engine itself or engine bay................ So far the engine is fitting well in the chassis which will be the next thing I turn my attention to. I did have to notch the frame somewhat to clear the oil filter ..................... That's all for now folks...............hopefully soon I'll paint and detail the chassis----------I may add brake/emergency brake lines as well as fuel lines. It'll depend on how my ambition holds up! Thanks for looking! Edited March 13, 2009 by MrObsessive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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