30 replies to this topic

[Christopher J]

Not too long ago a buddy of mine had a 66 SS that he had a bad paint job on and gave up on the model. He knew I wanted to try some things on a model and rather than risk messing up a new one he gave me this one. The paint had reacted with the body and it looked like finely wrinkled fabric.. I can't remember the type of paint but the plastic DID NOT like it!! It was dipped in easy off for 24 hrs which only softened the paint. Next it was put in the purple potion for a little over a week. Once down to the bare plastic I started doing body work and some sanding to try and get it back to looking somewhat decent. Since I had it to practice on I decided to open it up as well, I watched a few vids of Dr Cranky's a few times and dove in. My first attempt at hinges and opening doors and trunk. Here's what the body looks like so far....

 

 

 

[Dragfreak]

cool project!! what do you use to make the hinges for the openig body panels?

[Christopher J]

While tinkering with trying things since I'm thinking of making this a mix of a custom street/lowrider I decided the suspention needed to be funcional so I can display and different attitudes.....

 

The front suspention was carefully cut apart, modified, and sanded then included was some styrene tube cut to needed length and brass rod cut to put things together to check for fit and operation. Down the road I'll cut the rods down to a millimeter or so under length and glue them in.

 

 

Next came the rear. This took me a couple days to wrap my mind around and figure out, but so far so good...

 

The one thing I learned on the front was to drill smaller holes so I could use smaller pins

 

 

Next I'll work on cleaning it up some and making the hydraulic cylinders

[Christopher J]

cool project!! what do you use to make the hinges for the openig body panels?

Dragfreak, I use brass wire. I bought a few different guages. I was looking for somewhat easy to bend, yet strong enough to retain shape and strength. I'll have to take a look at the pakage and get back to you on the guage I ended up using. For the retainers to be able to slide the panels off and on until the final stages I use small diameter Plastruct tube. When I get ready to glue them in place I'll use E6000 glue as I found it sticks to metals rather well.

[Miatatom]

Almost daily I'm amazed at something I see on the forums. That suspension is really nice work.

[AUGIEDOGGIE]

sweet ride so far cant wait to see more

[Dragfreak]

Dragfreak, I use brass wire. I bought a few different guages. I was looking for somewhat easy to bend, yet strong enough to retain shape and strength. I'll have to take a look at the pakage and get back to you on the guage I ended up using. For the retainers to be able to slide the panels off and on until the final stages I use small diameter Plastruct tube. When I get ready to glue them in place I'll use E6000 glue as I found it sticks to metals rather well.

Thanks ill have to find me some of that brass! suspension looks great keep it up!

[Tom Geiger]

Ah, another straight pin builder.  I pin nearly everything.  Others will use wire or even plastic rod, but you can't beat the strength of the straight pin!

 

Neat build, I'll be a watchin'! 

[Christopher J]

Had a chance to get some more work done to the rear suspension last night. I looked around the parts boxes of RC Helicopter odd n ends and model boxes before I found a good way to make spring retainers. I found that the brass inserts for the servo grommets to keeps screws from smashing them were a perfect fit for the brass tube I was using. For springs I took a spring from an ink pin, cut it in half than cut it down to desired size. I used JB Weld Quick to set the brass retainers.

 

 

Next I worked on the inner tube. I first slid in the square arms and marked on the arm were I wanted to drill my holes. because the tube fit perfectly in the arm I was able to use the arm to hold the tube so I could drill through it without the drill bit wandering. Next the inner tubes were cut to length and fit. I had to remove some more material from arms to allow for a little bit of swing of the inner rod depending on the suspensions position. So far here is what I have....

 

 

I believe this is pretty much final minus some sanding and cutting the pins to size before painting. Next I'll be wrapping my mind around the front shocks.

[Christopher J]

Been busy working on several projects but have been on the 66 as well. So far the interior has been painted and flocked as well as some small details added.

 

 

 

The kit engine partially built up and wired....

 

 

Took the 19 inch T's and stripped them. Painted the centers Gun Metal and the rims gloss black. I plan on very little chrome on the exterior. The bumpers and grill were stripped and painted black as well.

 

 

After doing some looking around, I decided to go with a Ros Gibsome 350 motor for the build. Here it is after being cleaned up and washed.

[Christopher J]

Trunk with interior panel for the amps.

 

The body painted

 

The chassis... After painting a contrasting color to the body I gave it three coats of liquild mask and trimmed it out, from there I used Alclad chrome to detail it a bit on the frame sections.

 

I ordered some decals from Franklin Ink. You can find him on the lowrider forum. He makes decals for a lot of different models in various patterns and color choices that fit very well.  He also makes murals which I will be using on couple other lowrider builds. When Micro Sol and Micro Set are used they conform to the body extremly well.

[outragis]

looking cool!

[slammedi'am]

Very nice!

[Tompidom]

Wow, Those decals look amazing! Really cool. I like what you did with the opening doors hood and trunk!

[Christopher J]

Thanks for the compliments guys. This is one of those builds where I've been pushing myself.

After the roof decal settled and dried I put the side ones on and washed up the Ros Gibson engine. I'll start that tonight and post some more wip pics later.

[vintagedragfan]

great progress Chris, nice work

[Modlbldr]

Great looking build. Decals look awesome. Got a link to Franklin Ink?

Later-

[Jantrix]

Franklin Ink is on Facebook. That's the best way to touch base with him and see what he has available.

[Christopher J]

Great looking build. Decals look awesome. Got a link to Franklin Ink?

Later-

You can find his stuff on Facebook at http://api.viglink.c..._13660421645034 (sorry for the long URL, did a cut n paste and that's what came) If you order you can pay via paypal to mailto:LS6450hspwr@aol.com  In the order just put which ones you want and shipping address and he'll send em out. Sometimes he has to print them up and it takes a week or so depending on how busy he is. He goes by Trendsetta on the lowrider forum. 

[66belair]

Nice looking ride! How do you get those decals again?