104 replies to this topic

[Custom Mike]

This one stretches way back in history to my BMC days, Sam (Sam I Am over here on MCM) and a couple of other guys had tossed this idea around prior to my joining, but nothing ever came of it. I arrived, and it popped up again somehow, and I volunteered my services to make it a reality. So Sam sent me an AMT '71 Duster kit, and the nose and wing from AMT's horrible '69 Daytona kit, and I made them magically come together. If Fotki wasn't being such a pain, I'd post some of the pics of what it took to get it looking the way it does, but nooooo! 95% of the progress pics are missing at the moment, so we'll just have to start with current pics, if the original pics ever come back, I'll post a few. This one has large amounts of Acrylic Filler around the nose, and it shows zero signs of shrinkage, even though it was completed back in 2007! Here's some pics of how she looks right now, let the completion of this long suffering build commence!

When you see this, it means I did it! Otherwise, I'm completely innocent unless you have witnesses!








And the nasty little chip in the paint...it wasn't like this when I sent it to Sam, so give him grief for it, it's gonna be a bear to fix!

 

And a few close-ups of the nose. I took build this on for Sam mainly because I wasn't happy with my '71 Daytona's bodywork around the nose, so this one allowed me to fix my mistakes. It's also where I learned that you could cut a perfect panel line in Acrylic Filler, along with character lines from the existing body.! The underside of the nose has the lower pan from AMT's '71 Charger molded in, this was done to cover the front suspension and K-member that was clearly visible from the front.

Edited by Custom Mike, 07 January 2013 - 04:56 PM.

[Custom Mike]

Oh, and Sam wanted it to have a Pro Street chassis too, so I've got to make that happen too, more fun for me! Now onto the real work, making the AMT '70 Super Bee Pro-Street chassis play nice with the '71 Duster chassis. This will be my 3rd or 4th time doing this, so I've gotten pretty good at it I hope. I started with the Pro Street chassis, I cut the rear section off so I could mate it to the Duster chassis, then removed the front section so I could use the front of the Duster chassis.



Hacking the rear of the Duster chassis loose so I can attach to the body easily with the new, modified chassis...


Next up, removing the rear wheel well area from the Duster chassis. I left the two side "rails" so I could make sure I had proper alignment with the original chassis location to make assembly of the modified chassis easier...


Once the rear section of the Duster chassis was removed, I needed to fill in the holes for the kit exhaust, and fill in the holes left by the original frame rails...

Edited by Custom Mike, 01 January 2013 - 05:39 PM.

[Custom Mike]

More chassis work? Of course, you didn't thing this was gonna be quick, did ya?

Here's the cleaned up and prepped section of the Pro Street chassis...


And it's soon to be mate, the front section of the Duster chassis!


Now here's where I got smart for once. The Pro Street wheel wells will not fit in the Duster body, they're too wide and straight. So I took the wheel well section of the Duster chassis and "painted" the edges with a Black Sharpie, then set it in the Pro Street wheel wells. Now I'll start sanding the Pro Street wheel wells until they match the curvature of the Duster wheel wells.  When the Sharpie is gone, I've sanded far enough...


Look at that, it worked! No sign of the Pro Street wheel wells anywhere!


Not too bad, huh? A bit more sanding was needed, mainly because of the height of the Pro Street wheel wells, but it fits perfectly now!

 

Now comes the fun part, making sure my wheels line up in the wheel wells. I taped the sections of the chassis together, built the rear axle, and front suspension temporarily, and checked out my work...








Since we look good and lined up, a bit of Tamiya glue was applied to the joints between the different sections. Once it's dried well (Tomorrow night), I'll pop the chassis loose, and apply some Acrylic Filler to the top sides of the joints to strengthen it all!

Edited by Custom Mike, 01 January 2013 - 05:41 PM.

[Sam I Am]

That chip wasn't in it when it left me either, and I have picture proof of it as well. 

 

So is this the last place its popping up at Mike, or do I need to go other places also? 

[Custom Mike]

That chip wasn't in it when it left me either, and I have picture proof of it as well. 

 

So is this the last place its popping up at Mike, or do I need to go other places also? 

 

Nah, only here and Scale Avenue, I don't hang out on any other forums these days...well, I may drop it on Kustom Kemps, but not tonight, gotta work in the morning!

Edited by Custom Mike, 01 January 2013 - 05:51 PM.

[hemi]

Boring already been done on another site.

[MachinistMark]

Gotta say the super bird nose works much better on a duster than it does on a super bird. My god what a hideous car those were.
Love the colours too.

[rustybill1960]

This is just what the Doctor ordered Mike!!

I love to watch a Master at work!!

Thank You for sharing

Later

Russ

[Custom Mike]

Boring already been done on another site.

Kevin, go build something already, I know you've got a ton of new stuff, so get to it son!

 

Gotta say the super bird nose works much better on a duster than it does on a super bird. My god what a hideous car those were.
Love the colours too.

Mark, I was impressed by how well it fit myself, almost like it belongs there! And the color is House Of Kolors Tangerine, I wish I had more of it, I love that color!

 

This is just what the Doctor ordered Mike!!

I love to watch a Master at work!!

Thank You for sharing

Later

Russ

Thanks Russ, i hope the rest of it comes out as well as the bodywork did all those years ago!

[Modlbldr]

I've got a 69 Camaro I started back about 1991 or 92 that I've done the same thing to. It is still in primer after all these years. I'll try to shoot some pics of it in the morning.

Later-

[Custom Mike]

I'd love to see pics of yours Tom, bring 'em on! OK, small update time, the chassis has been removed from the body and Acrylic Filler was added to the top side of the joints. Once it's cured fully, I'll work on getting the driveshaft tunnel to match between the front and middle sections, then I can move on to the rest of the build!

Edited by Custom Mike, 06 January 2013 - 07:42 AM.

[Custom Mike]

OK, we're back at it, the chassis is set, I got the driveshaft tunnel to match between the front and rear sections, threw some primer at it, then laid down some Flat Black to make it all pretty! It's not flawless, but I'm not expecting anyone to be inspecting the underside of this model!

 

 

 

 

And I'm going to go with a basic Black interior, just to make it easier. That, and the body is the big draw on this one, who cares what color the interior is, it's a SuperDuster!

 

[Custom Mike]

Next up, I drilled some holes in the chassis to run the fuel line. You'll have to imagine a beautifully detailed, absolutely perfect fuel cell in the trunk, which does not open!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Custom Mike, 09 January 2013 - 06:09 PM.

[Custom Mike]

And now we're on to the engine! I drilled the head for plug wires, drilled the carbs and fuel pump for fuel lines, and made a fuel rail to get the fuel line up to each carb. It may not be accurate, but it looks cool! I also painted the freeze plugs with some Metalizer Brass, and picked out other parts with Metalizer Aluminum Plate.

 

 

 

 

 

[Custom Mike]

And on to the part that took the longest, making a fitting for the fuel rail. I put a piece of sprue in the Dremel, and thinned it down to almost the diameter of the aluminum tube I used for the fuel rail. I carefully drilled a hole down through the center, then I made a crude hex-head shape with some careful sanding, cut a sliver of it off, and stuck it on a piece of 26 Gauge craft wire. I attached it to the fuel pump, and once the epoxy cures, I'll put a few more bends in it and attach the fuel rail to it!

 

 

 

 

Edited by Custom Mike, 06 January 2013 - 07:54 AM.

[hemi]

Nice work Mike it looks great so far.

[rustybill1960]

KILLER MIKE!
ABSOULTELY "KILLER!"

[Ira]

REAL NICE WORK MIKE!

 

Beautiful Body...

[Sam I Am]

 

OK, we're back at it, the chassis is set, I got the driveshaft tunnel to match between the front and rear sections, threw some primer at it, then laid down some Flat Black to make it all pretty! It's not flawless, but I'm not expecting anyone to be inspecting the underside of this model!

 

 

 

 

 

Just call me "nobody"....

[martinfan5]

Coming along very nice Mike