74 replies to this topic

[ViperDave]

I have two tools that I made. The first is for scribing panel lines and cutting out doors. It also cleans out panel lines with they get filled with primer. I made it from an old X-Acto blade and a little grinding with the dremel grinding stone. As you can see I drag it along the lines and it doesn't slip very much at all. Much easier than using the back of the blade and keeping the tool upright.




The second one is used for scribing the lines around windows for a guide for BMF. I made it from brass tubes, a pin and a used X-Acto blade. I put 3 tubes of brass together and soldered them. I took the pin and put it in the tubes epoxied it to the blade with the point of the blade up about 1/2 inch from the end of the pin. The T at the top of the pin goes through the hole in the blade. Now use the pin as a guide along the inside edge of the window you can make a uniform line around the window and it makes BMF a breeze.

[RJWood]

8) great tools Dave, and to think I was about to go and spend my kit money on a set of them scribers ($19.95 a set) this is a great tip, Thanks Dave darn, why did'ent I think of that.

[yenkosc]

I am about to start on a 1968 yenko camaro and I would like to know some different ways to make opening doors, trunk, and realistic hinged doors. I want to make it my most detailed model.

[abedooley]

If you've been here for awhile then you know that Bill Geary is the man to talk to AND listen to. He can answer ANY question you would have on that subject (or any other subject for that matter).

[Clay]

A buddy of mine, Raul Perez, built this one for me using brass rods, as to where he got them, I have no idea. Others would know though.

[yenkosc]

Hey, Abe how can I contact Bill?

[abedooley]

Hey, Abe how can I contact Bill?

Just go through some of the tips and tricks posts and look for MR.OBSESSION. I'll send him a PM and tell him his assistace is needed. He is awesome at replying VERY fast and prompt.

[abedooley]

SENT. If anyone was to help, it would be BILL!!

And if ya wanna see some of his AMAZING work heres his fotki link: http://public.fotki.com/MrObsessive/

CHECK OUT THE '69 DODGE CHARGER DAYTONA!!! He even made the doors LATCH!!!!!!!!!!!!! TALK ABOUT TALENT!! He's also made a few with windows that ROLL UP AND DOWN!!!! I still stop and drule over his work at least once a day.

Edited by abedooley, 19 June 2008 - 08:02 PM.

[MrObsessive]

Okay! Sorry it took me so long to answer..............I actually saw the question late last evening, but that's a tough time for me to do any lengthy posts as I work third shift-------and I have to eat dinner, get myself ready, and be out the door by 10:00 PM.

Now, the first thing I recommend about opening anything is good reference. I'll comb the 'net to find pics of a particular car I'm interested in to get pics of the doors open, pics of the door jambs, and in what manner do the doors open.

Most cars of the '50's thru about the mid '60's, the doors swing outside of the fender------so they used a gooseneck hinge-------pretty much like what Clay showed in his post above. The car you're describing the door would turn toward the inside of the fender, so that would use a different type hinge that can swivel on a pin or something.

When cutting out the doors on my models, (unless I go the chicken route and they're already cut open-- ) I'll use the backedge of an exacto blade. Other guys have they're own methods to cut open doors------some use thread, others have used a hot knife (YIKES!!) and others have drilled holes around the perimeter of the door and then popped it out.

The thread method never quite worked for me as trying to hold the model between my thighs..............Well lets just say the body ended up in the parts box!

After you cut out the doors you'll want to add plastic where the door was cut...........nothing to me looks more unsightly than HUGE gaps where the doors were cut away only to be able to practically see right through the model as the gaps are GINORMOUS!

Here's a pic to illustrate............



This is from the '55 Ford which is having it's paint dry (second time!) thoroughly as I speak. Even though the model's doors were already opened by AMT, the gaps were still a bit larger than I'd like so I just glued on a piece of .020 thick sheet plastic, used Ambroid Pro Weld, and let dry thoroughly. After it was dry, I cut away the excess, then sanded and shaped the plastic to the contour of the door.

After you get the doors done, now you'll want to build door jambs. This is where good reference material will come in. While you may not want to replicate every shape and contour of the stamping, you want it to look reasonable enough to minimize the plain boring look. This is what your door will rest on, so you'll want to test fit, test fit...........and test fit some more! You'll need to build jambs on the doors themselves as that's what your interior panels will rest on, as well as support for your hinge retainers.

Here's a coupla pics of the now stillborn GTO door jambs while I was in the middle of building it............




After you're satisfied with the door jambs, then you can start on hinging the doors. Now the way I hinge my doors may not be to everyone's liking............but this way to me is effective without being too overly complicated yet sturdy.

The example I'm using here is the GTO since the leading edge of it's doors turn inside of the fender. The first thing I'll do is build a support post from the A pillar down to the rocker on the door jamb.




Next, since you've built the structure on the doors............now you're going to make a hinge retainer. I like to use .030-.040 size plastic rod, and using a #74 drill bit drill a hole in both ends of the rod.




This is a recently built Turbine Car which also had opening doors, but the hinges were dubious at best so I chucked them and scratchbuilt my own. Once again trial and error are my way of doing things so a lot of test fitting to eliminate binding and to ensure straightness will be of importance.

Speaking of straightness, when you build your hinge supports, it's very important that the supports are as straight as possible in a head on view, and also in a side view. If they're leaning, the doors will open and close, but they'll have either a sidewalk dragging appearance, or they'll swing up in the air like butterflies!

Note in the Turbine Car pic that the I drilled holes through the hinge supports to accept .020 size brass pins. Brass of this type can be found at a good Hobby/Train shop.......just check out the different sizes they have. You're going to have to play around where to drill the holes as this'll depend on the model, type/size of plastic, etc.

Once I'm satisfied with the movement of the doors and how they sit in the body, I'll epoxy the pins in the supports, let dry thoroughly and cut the excess away. The supports on the inside will then be covered with the kick panels.

Now, moving on to the trunk............same techniques apply as above, except you're going to use a gooseneck type hinge as shown above. I don't know if you'll have the patience, but a trunk with the metal bracing/stiffener attached underneath really adds to the visual impact of an open trunk.





Once again, reference pics are a MUST!

I hope this helps a bit......sorry for the lengthy post but this is one of the most labor intensive steps in getting hinging down pat. If you haven't attempted this before, I strongly recommend practicing on a junk body as you don't want to make your prize project a guinea pig!

If you've got any more questions, ask away or you can PM me.

HTH!

Edited by MrObsessive, 20 June 2008 - 03:01 AM.

[abedooley]

WHAT'D I TELL YA??? BILL IS THE MAN!!!! BILL, PLEASE, WRITE A BOOK!!!! YOU COULD MAKE PLENTY OF MONEY AND YOU COULD MAKE ALOT OF US MUCH MORE TALENTED!! Another good person to talk to about SUPERDETAIL is TREEHUGGER DAVE. Look for his "LIL' MIXER". http://www.modelcars...showtopic=12511
TALK ABOUT SUPER COOL!!! TREEHUGGER DAVE IS AMONG MY TOP 2 FAVORITE BUILDERS HERE!!! HE EVEN HAS HIS OWN CHROMING SYSTEM!! There are so many talented people here, and I'm sure alot of them I dont even know about. The best thing to do is just go through the "Under Glass" posts and look at everyone of them. I'm now on page 13 of 47 and its taken me nearly 2 months to get that far because there are so many that i just sit and look at every detail for at least an hour. Also look for Marcos Cruz's CUDA!! http://www.modelcars...showtopic=12156 Talk about BADA$$!!!! I LOVE THIS SITE!!! I just cant get enough!!

I started a 70 Dodge Challenger BEFORE I saw this site and AFTER I ran into it I immediately stripped the paint off of the small parts and ordered a new body and started COMPLETELY over. I was nearly half way done and just couldn't stand the way it looked after seeing EVERYONE'S builds!! This site has inspired me like nothing else has before and I doubt anything AFTER!!

Edited by abedooley, 20 June 2008 - 09:52 AM.

[yenkosc]

Hey, Bill you never showed me how to make a gooseneck hinge or how to do the hinges on the hood.

[MrObsessive]

Hey, Bill you never showed me how to make a gooseneck hinge or how to do the hinges on the hood.

Gooseneck hinges are going to vary by shape and radius depending on the model, shape of the door, door jamb space, etc.

I've made mine with .030 brass rod and needlenose pliers and simply bent them according to how I see fit. I can't give you an exact radius and measurement of a particular car as that wouldn't be practical for many reasons. As I mentioned, all that I do is trial and error with making a hinge on one side of a model taking maybe several hours to get right.

If you go here and starting with pic #77 or so, I have a series of pics in my '55 Ford album that shows how I made the hinges for it. Each pic has a description for it-------at least as best as I can explain!

Hood hinges on most models I've done are not my forté..............Since I put a lot of detail into my engine bays, I simply leave the hood a lift off as the hood shadows would hide a lot of details.

I tried working hinges on my GTO...........with a working hood release and all, but they were made of brass and started to wear out, so I have since removed them. Down the road, I'd like to make the hinges where they can function like the 1:1, but can also lift off taking wear and tear off the hinges and springs.

If you go to my GTO Page you can see a couple pics of the hinges I did, along with a pic of the hood latch. These were taken by guys in my club as I had no digicam until I was much further along in building it. In fact I had no digicam until 2004 so a number of the detailed builds I did before then have no in progress pics.

[samdiego]

One alternative starting point that I've found makes things easier, but increases the cost. I don't do it very often because I'm lazy, but when I have to open stuff I'll buy two kits, cut the openings in 1 body and cut the doors, trunk or whatever from the second body, trimming gradually to fit. After that, just channel Senior Obsessive.

Edited by samdiego, 20 June 2008 - 02:44 PM.

[sdrodder]

WHAT'D I TELL YA??? BILL IS THE MAN!!!! BILL, PLEASE, WRITE A BOOK!!!! YOU COULD MAKE PLENTY OF MONEY AND YOU COULD MAKE ALOT OF US MUCH MORE TALENTED!! Another good person to talk to about SUPERDETAIL is TREEHUGGER DAVE. Look for his "LIL' MIXER". http://www.modelcars...showtopic=12511
TALK ABOUT SUPER COOL!!! TREEHUGGER DAVE IS AMONG MY TOP 2 FAVORITE BUILDERS HERE!!! HE EVEN HAS HIS OWN CHROMING SYSTEM!! There are so many talented people here, and I'm sure alot of them I dont even know about. The best thing to do is just go through the "Under Glass" posts and look at everyone of them. I'm now on page 13 of 47 and its taken me nearly 2 months to get that far because there are so many that i just sit and look at every detail for at least an hour. Also look for Marcos Cruz's CUDA!! http://www.modelcars...showtopic=12156 Talk about BADA$$!!!! I LOVE THIS SITE!!! I just cant get enough!!

I started a 70 Dodge Challenger BEFORE I saw this site and AFTER I ran into it I immediately stripped the paint off of the small parts and ordered a new body and started COMPLETELY over. I was nearly half way done and just couldn't stand the way it looked after seeing EVERYONE'S builds!! This site has inspired me like nothing else has before and I doubt anything AFTER!!

dude i agree he should write a book. It would help alot of people.

[dryvr12]

I recently bought a '55 goodguys 2n1 belair HT. Has anyone opened the doors on this kit? If i try to open the door, i come in contact with the trim piece. I'll post a few pics. If you have open the doors, can you pleases post a pic of what it looks like and explain how you did it? Thanks, Dryvr12 (the picture i had was too big)

http://images.google...t...1US262&sa=N

[Jairus]

That is some nice work Bill!
Having done all that to some of my models in the past I have to add that just because you can... is not a reason to do it to all models. If that were the case, you would only complete one project every-other year! The amount of work and time spent triples each time you cut open a single door or trunk! The only reason to open a door or hood is to give the viewer access to greater detail INSIDE. For instance, if I am building a Convertible.... I usually don't open the doors, but a tight little coupe.... sure!

About the only thing you have done that I have not is roll down windows. That to my knowledge has only been done by you, Shuklis and Hamilton.

[evilone]

danb bill if i seen this pae earlier i wouldnt have the hole in my head that i scratched in tryin to figure out how to hinge my hearse model

[MrObsessive]

Thanks for the link Mark!

That's the first I've seen of those. I wish there were bigger photos of the hinges to get a better idea of how they're engineered-------the hood hinges particularly look interesting. I was wondering what happened to M.A.S................I had heard they closed up shop but apparently not.

Jairus, I don't worry too much about the length of time in building a model anymore. If I'm really into it like the '55 Ford I want it to be as good as possible, because I gotta live with it forever!

To get rid of the doldrums, I might get into "quickie" builds like the few I did last year, but now I'm back into the superdetail mode again!

As far as opening doors in convertibles..........it was a must as my big 'ol fingers woulda had a hard time rolling the windows down if they didn't!

[Exotics_Builder]

Thanks for the link Mark!

That's the first I've seen of those. I wish there were bigger photos of the hinges to get a better idea of how they're engineered-------the hood hinges particularly look interesting.

Bill, I have some sets of those hinges at home. I'll take closeup photos and post them.

[Terry Sumner]

Here's a short article I did once on hinges. It may be of some help to you.

http://www.themodelc...iles/hinges.htm

Terry Sumner