117 replies to this topic

[Matt Bacon]

Thanks, Skip, Paul!

 

Skip.... it's going to be Ferrari Rosso Rubino, which has a very light, fine gold flake. It's not quite a Maserati colour, but close enough to their version for, and available on my shelf in a Hiroboy paint! Tan interior, I think. For your one, how about getting a pearl white, and adding drops of black (and maybe a drop or two of dark blue) until you get the grey you want? It worked very well for the "Silver Birch" on my James Bond DB6...

 

Paul... thanks.... I think. I think I'm committed now, since I'm not reworking the windscreen master! However, it'd be interesting to know what I'm missing!

 

bestest,

M.

[sjordan2]

Alas, I have to rely on aerosol spray cans.

 

To be totally anal about this, there should be a thin strip of body color between the vertical part of the windshield chrome and the door window chrome.

[Matt Bacon]

You're right, of course. I need to have a look at how the chrome on the door parts work, but it looks to me as though I need to scribe down the pillar (that thin, fragile pillar), and also carve the windscreen lower corner trim up into a curve to meet the vertical. And I can see, now Paul mentions it, that the base of the windscreen is too rectangular, But I'me really not going to try to fix that!

 

bestest,

M.

Edited by Matt Bacon, 25 February 2013 - 12:07 PM.

[blunc]

perhaps they used the windscreen specs from this 3500

 

http://www.flickr.co...ray/4637648604/

[Erik Smith]

Cool project.  I have wanted to see one of these go together.  Nice work so far.

[Matt Bacon]

Yep... there are a few out there with the "raised eyebrow" windscreen, but they are far from common. Actually, if you look at loads of pictures, as I now have, you can see a fair degree of variation in the windscreen line. I think it must have changed subtly over different "model years". 

 

Anyway... Boy, am I glad to get THIS done:

 

 

Obviously, now I "just" need to sort out the badge, grille itself and the chrome effect. Easy! 

 

One thing I have noticed is that it looks from the instructions like it will be impossible to get the chassis in with the rear underbody in place. Can anyone who has built the kit confirm that is really so?

 

If it is the case, my inclination is to tack the part in position, prime, paint and clearcoat as normal, then remove it by cutting through the Clear with a VERY sharp knife. Hopefully, then I can put the chassis in and fit the part back in place, and once it's set just polish over the join if needed. It won't _quite_ disappear, but most of it's behind the rear bumper. I do NOT want to be filling sanding and repainting and revarnishing a seam right at the end of the build!

 

Anyone got any better suggestions?

 

bestest,

M.

Edited by Matt Bacon, 26 February 2013 - 03:19 AM.

[John Goschke]

Very impressive work on this old kit!

[sjordan2]

perhaps they used the windscreen specs from this 3500

 

http://www.flickr.co...ray/4637648604/

 

That's a Vignale-designed coupe, known mostly as a Maserati Sebring Series 1, or 3500 GTiS. Different car, body-wise. Less than 400 made between 1962 and 1965.

 

PS: Matt, I'm waiting with bated breath to see how you solve the rear valance issue, especially since you're using metallic paint. On non-metallic, the fit is close enough that it isn't too obvious.

Edited by sjordan2, 26 February 2013 - 07:55 AM.

[sjordan2]

General note: simonr did a fantastic build of the Aston DB5, which is a sister kit to the Maserati -- many of the same issues, including fixing the hood scoops. Might check it out. It's somewhere on this forum.

 

About the valances: The tricky part about mounting the body, as you slide it on from the front, is making sure that the front fender liners (attached to firewall and front of chassis) tuck inside the fender tops. It's tight, and I highly recommend that you do a test fit here.

 

As you mentioned, the rear valance leaves a big seam along the rear quarter panels. That type of seam is typical of every XKE model. Here's one approach to covering it up after assembly on the 1/8 E-Type, using a masking/feathering paint technique...

 

http://www.modelcars...showtopic=64075

 

PS: As you build the grille, I wonder if photo-etched mesh for the '57 Chevy would work?

Edited by sjordan2, 26 February 2013 - 08:10 AM.

[Matt Bacon]

That's a relief! I thought you were saying the body wouldn't go on the chassis with the front valance in place... Certainly on my Monogram instructions, it's glued in position well before the body is attached to the chassis. I'll have a look at the instructions -- I wonder if there's any mileage in fitting the fender liners and firewall in place inside the body before fitting the whole chassis...

 

bestest,

M.

[sjordan2]

That's a relief! I thought you were saying the body wouldn't go on the chassis with the front valance in place... Certainly on my Monogram instructions, it's glued in position well before the body is attached to the chassis. I'll have a look at the instructions -- I wonder if there's any mileage in fitting the fender liners and firewall in place inside the body before fitting the whole chassis...

 

bestest,

M.

I had similar ideas about the fender liners, but you'll have to consider how they fit against the firewall and chassis. Maybe you could cut off the notches.

 

PS: I was finishing some edits to my prior post, probably before you saw them. Might look again.

Edited by sjordan2, 26 February 2013 - 08:14 AM.

[Matt Bacon]

Thanks, Skip... are you thinking something like this (55 Bel Air from The Model Car Garage)

 

 

bestest,

M.

Edited by Matt Bacon, 26 February 2013 - 08:32 AM.

[sjordan2]

 Like that, but the mesh may be too open. I take stuff like that and reduce it to scale width, then print it out and look at it.

 

I had another thought about dealing with the fender liners. Go back and look at the engine bay shots on page 1. You'll see that the driver's side has sort of a wide aluminum "shelf" at the hood opening, and the passenger side has a deep retaining lip that goes downward. These could hide any gaps in the fender liners.

[sjordan2]

As long as you're doing the bodywork, and in my annoying quest to add considerations to the build, you might want to think about adding a small louver in front of the inaccurate side vents.

 

[blunc]

I have 3 of these kits, I was surprised to see yours in white plastic since the one I have opened is molded with red plastic.

 

I have see a separate grill offering from Detail Master SKU: dm2585, in case you don't want to buy a whole detail set just for a grill.

 

I haven't opened my kit of this for a while but you might be able to resolve the rear valance problem by separating some of the parts from the chassis (that make it impossible to get the chassis in with the valance attached) and attaching them to the body.

 

this kit looks like it may have been an produced by aurora originally, I have a DB4 that has many of the same build/assembly features.

[blunc]

if you don't mind a little extra work at this point, I suggest attaching the boot and doors with removable pins at this point so you can get them properly aligned and sanded so they match the surrounding panels.

[Matt Bacon]

Thanks, guys! This is precisely the right time for "a bit more work" suggestions -- I can actually do them! There's nothing worse than posts AFTER the body is painted and cleared saying "did you think about...?" when I obviously didn't ;-P

 

Skip... don't worry, suggestions are always welcome... as you can see:

 

 

 

I was probably going to get to this at some time -- I already did it on my Astons -- but it was a worthwhile reminder. I scribed a line along the front face of the "scoop" with a P-Cutter, used flat -- ie parallel with the bonnet. Once that was reasonably deep, I scraped away under the bonnet, and alternated both until I had a narrow slot cut through. Then I used a "Flexi-File" - thin strips of abrasive on a plastic backing held in a U-shaped handle. I threaded the strip through the slot before attaching it to the handle, and then used it to widen the slot at both sides. I also used a fresh  #11 blade to carve away a bit on the inside of the scoop as well, to get the sort of "W" cross section. Finally I sanded the upper corners of the scoop a bit, which are too square on the kit...

 

...best part of an hour to make a small hole. Who'd'a thunk it? ;-P

 

bestest,

M.

[sjordan2]

The scoops are great (the inside of the hood has sort of a tray that runs underneath them). Some survivors have a very thin strip of chrome trim on the front edges of the scoops, some don't, but I think the chrome looks cool (I think that's because some restorers simply can't find the trim). Likewise, one thing I've never figured out is why some cars have a triangular piece of chrome running along the top of the rear fenders and why some don't.

Edited by sjordan2, 26 February 2013 - 11:11 AM.

[Paul H]

Regarding the rear valance, it looks possible to install the body with the valance attached.  I'd got as far as checking this as a dry assembly with it taped in place, but that's without a lot of other interior & engine bay parts fitted....  I will try to find my kit, and have a closer look.

 

Don't blame you for not wanting to modify the screen as per the pics I emailed - looks rather daunting!  However I may well borrow your screen moulding technique for some screens I need to make for a  Air Trax resin Volvo 1800 model I'm also building.

Edited by Paul H, 27 February 2013 - 12:27 AM.

[Matt Bacon]

Yep... thanks for the pictures, Paul. I think it probably could be done, but you'd have to reshape the windscreen "master" a lot to remove a good chunk of the lower corners, sanding through to the Milliput and well into it, to get the smoother curve along the bottom edge instead of the rectangular shape. Compared to that, adding some styrene to fill in the corners of the aperture in the body and rebuilding the "lip" would be almost trivial!

 

Looking at the instructions on mine, the problem with getting a chassis you can test seems to be that there are four sections that have to be assembled before you have something you can test fit -- the back end with interior, the main chassis with front frame, the suspension assembly which sits on the end of that frame, and the extreme front frame which attaches to the axle assembly. I don't know how positive the mounting locations are, either. I'd like to use the chassis as a jig to assemble the firewall and engine bay sides (fender liners) on their mount points, and then remove them and attach them to the body interior, if that works. My worry is, though, that they are essential bracing to support the front frame assembly!

 

Also, does anyone who has built this kit know for sure whether the engine bay sides sit at right angles to the firewall, or taper in toward the front to follow the line of the bonnet cut-out? The instructions are very unclear, and the fit into the slots isn't positive enough to tell one way or the other!

 

bestest,

M.