149 replies to this topic

[rustybill1960]

more,
More,
MORE!
please!!

This "GREAT" Alyn!!
Thank You for sharing with Us
later
Russ

Edited by rustybill1960, 18 December 2011 - 08:22 AM.

[Alyn]

No body yet, but the chassis is progressing. Out of the box, the frame rails are open on the top, and this opening can be seen looking down at the engine. I scrounged some square styrene rod and filled in the opening at the front of the frame where it shows. This was followed by a skim coat of spot putty and primer.



Here's a shot of the front showing new coil springs wound with black coated 26 gauge copper wire.



Inspired by some of John Teresi's prolific use of Alclad and since this car is intended to be a show car, I shot the frame in chrome. I was curious how the hobby store chrome spray compared to Alclad so I shot the oil pan in Krylon chrome. In this photo, you can't tell much difference, but in person the Krylon looked a bit dull compared to the Alclad. The Krylon looked reasonably good by itself, but when placed next to the Alclad, the difference was obvious.



Here's the rear axle in place. The brake backing plates(not in the picture) will get drilled for brake lines and then painted. then I'll add the brake line across the rear axle. Otherwise, it's pretty much done.



Here's the top side of the chassis with the motor in place. Since the rear is covered by the body, I only plated the front section of the frame. You can see the ball joint extension that helps lower the front end to where it needs to be.

Rather than finding a decal for the generator, I cut an oval out of .005 aluminum sheet and painted it flat black. Once the paint was dry, I used a new #11 blade to scrape the paint off from around the edge of the oval as well as across the middle. It won't stand up to magnifying glass inspection, but to the unaided eye it looks pretty good.with the light catching the bare metal.

Edited by Alyn, 03 December 2011 - 08:42 PM.

[Michigan Madman]

Wow- its almost a shame that chassis and engine will be covered up with a body. Great work with the Alclad. Like you said- up close and in person, the difference between Alclad and other Chrome paints is night and day.

[Skydime]

Wow- its almost a shame that chassis and engine will be covered up with a body.

Yeah, I'd do a case with a mirrored bottom because this is amazing detail. I can't wait to see this under glass.

Edited by Skydime, 03 December 2011 - 09:27 PM.

[geetee66]

I really liked this kit when I put it together. The worst problem I have seen with it is the alignment of the front bumper. If you look at a lot of the builds of this car, even on this site, the ends of the front bumper are angled up.

True.
I had trouble with mine being tilted up on the trailing edge. I reckon I should've removed the monting posts and re-set the angle. I think I ended up using a combination of force and jiggery-pokery..!
I thought I'd done a reasonable job on my engine. But taking a look at your progress makes me think I have still got a long way to go...

[geetee66]

Sonofadiddly!
I just had another look at the engine pics.
You totally knocked it out of the park. I really like the details...and that wire is so thin!
I've gotta get me some of that fine wire.
I'm keeping my eye on this build. I can tell it's going to be outstanding.

[Alyn]

Chuck, this is only my second attempt at Alclad, so I only show the good parts It is good stuff, though. There''s absolutely no doubt that I'll be buying more. I picked up some of their black base, but I haven't tried that yet. What you see here is shot over Tamiya gloss black.

Thanks, Ken. There's only going to be a moderate amount of detail on the chassis, but I'm hoping the use of color and metalizers will make up the difference.

Glad you like the engine, Guy. Thanks for the compliment. It's surely going to be my favorite part of this car.

Here's where I'm at today.

The top chop is finished. The emblems and door handles have been shaved, and chrome trim strips on the trunk and rear fenders have been removed. After a little more clean up on the hood, the body will be only a wet sand away from paint time.



I sanded off the molded in wiring from the fender wells and firewall. All other detail was removed from the firewall as well to create a clean show-custom look. I also added the small scratch build braces at the top of the fender wells. The brake master cylinder will likely be the only item to remain on the firewall. There's still some block sanding left to do at this point.



I decided to scratch build the battery hold down, so the molded in detail was filed off. The vertical groove on the side will help keep the hold down bolt in place. A little overkill so the glue won't have to do all the work.



Here's the finished battery, detail painted and ready to go. The hold down bolts are 1/32" aluminum rod with the top end pinched and filed to give it the look of a wing nut. The cross bar is just a piece of beaders wire wrapped around the bolts. I found the DieHard decal on an old TransAM decal sheet.

[Alyn]

Here's the engine and battery dropped into the engine compartment. More Alclad covers the fender wells.



The mufflers are covered in Tamiya gold topped with dull coat. The exhaust tubing is covered in more metalizer(buffing aluminum).



Finally, the chassis is in paint. This will show the final body color; kind of a burnt orange pearl. The exhaust is just setting in place. I still need to file to fit where the exhaust meets the headers. (the kind of thing that should be done prior to paint).



and one more...



thanks for looking

[Custom Mike]

Just beautiful work Alyn, that battery itself is enough to get me drooling. Throw in the nearly completed engine compartment and chassis, and you owe me a keyboard buddy!

[LAone]

excellent chassis detail. looking forward to the rest of it.

[Dave42]

Very impressive work, love the engine detailing. I've seen some of your stuff elsewhere in the past, glad to have found you again. Really enjoy your work.
Have this one in the stash, and this is great inspiration.

Edited by Dave42, 07 January 2012 - 02:27 PM.

[gpugh1976]

WOWZERS!!

[SteveG]

Very nice work .... !!

[Gluhead]

Nice

[Alyn]

Once again, I can't thank you guys enough for the great comments.

Dave, the MCM forum is a great place to find some inspiration. Lot's of great guys doing some really cool things around here. Glad to see you found the place.

Mike; don't you have a wagon to finish? Just bringing that up to remind you that messing up a keyboard can be a two-way street

[baloney]

impressive !! lots of work in your build. keep it up!!

[Bartster]

That's it, I quit!!!!! Seriously, Alyn, I've never seen such patience & talent in 1/25 in my life! Purely AmAzInG! I'm dizzy & inspired. I'm back after 30+ years & this is why. 3hank you for showing the possibilites!

[Erik Smith]

I've been following this build as 62 Catalinas are one of my favorites - still loving it. All the little details add up to make such a realistic, great looking model.

[1972coronet]

WOW !! What can I say that hasn't already been said ?? Are you a Neurosurgeon or what ! Those details and all of that scratch-building is too much !

At first I thought that the addition of chromed valve covers would detract from that gorgeous induction system ; however , once you added them , I can honestly say that their addition looks better than the stock , painted ones.

I absolutely MUST buy (at least) one of these kits ! The idea of a customised "O/SS" (Optional / Super Stock) Catalina is too tempting !

Looking forward to more W.I.P. pics and text ...

[Alyn]

Thanks, guys. Bart, I was in the same boat as you about three years ago. I hadn't built a model in 45 years; back to my pre-teen glue bomb days.My wife had bought me an 1:8th scale Corvette to placate my sale of my full size one. I got on the internet to look for supplies and tools. I was blown away by the quality and detail in the hobby today. Nothing like what I remember back in the 60's. Glad to see you've come back around as well. Welcome to the new world.

Erik, I've grown to love the look of this car. I remember back in the day, that Pontiacs ruled the highways. They were know to be the best of the high speed freeway cruisers. This is an excellent kit. Everyone should give it a go.

John, I have the same shaky hands and bad eyes everyone else has. Good magnifying glasses make up for a lot of it. I thought the same thing as you about the valve covers. Since this car will be more akin to a show car, the chrome was definitely the way to go. The stock blue valve covers would still be great on the competition version and would enhance the look of a motor that is "all business"

Thank you all for following along.