Ace-Garageguy Posted August 10, 2019 Author Share Posted August 10, 2019 Well then...with the steering mocked up, I was able to get some exhaust pipes in place to make sure I could get them in prior to permanently locating the steering. Two pipes are peeking out under the fender. All of 'em can be straight, except for the forward left (driver's side), which will have to make a little joggle to clear the steering box. The chassis is pretty much done at this point, with the exception of cleaning up some "welds" and final painting. The bracket for the steering box is in, and the Pitman arm will just clear the spring perch, with the drag-link running forward to the spindle. The bracket with the hole in it, in the corner towards the viewer next to the steering shaft, carries the brake master cylinder. From the rear, with the revised rollover hoop (removable so the body can come off for display) and the steering column-drop in place. Steering shaft in the center of the cockpit, and nice fit of the rollover hoop pass-through. Squiggly thing on the left is the brake pedal arm. This little car is going to run front disc brakes (probably junkyard XK-E), so it will need a longish brake arm, as there's no engine vacuum with a supercharger to run a conventional brake booster. Even after being obsessively careful to get the suspension dead square, I noticed a little tendency towards only 3 wheels touching the ground. Most annoying. Turned out I'd drilled the center of one front wheel slightly off. It's been filled with 1/16" rod stock and machined flat. I'll try to hit the actual center next time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted August 10, 2019 Author Share Posted August 10, 2019 Machined aluminum pulleys for the crank blower-drive and water pump. Locating the water pump drive ahead of the blower drive requires extending the water pump shaft, not the best possible idea, but it's better than running the blower drive way out. Lotsa load on blower drives. Not so much on water pumps. Cylinder heads got their huge gaping exhaust attachment holes filled. Block required some mods to be closer to legit too. It's still not 100% accurate, but it's close enough for what will be visible. And the bellhousing is getting modded to better represent the appearance of something with a torque-converter in it, rather than a flywheel and clutch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobthehobbyguy Posted August 10, 2019 Share Posted August 10, 2019 Nice update. Looking good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYRENE-SURFER Posted August 11, 2019 Share Posted August 11, 2019 Ace, I just reread this thread from the start. Great info, wish I had as much knowledge of "real cars". Sadly I don't, so have to muddle along . Its looking great buy the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afx Posted August 11, 2019 Share Posted August 11, 2019 Chassis looks great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldnslow Posted August 11, 2019 Share Posted August 11, 2019 Nice work Bill , if I didn't know better , I'd think you were trying to finish something ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drag racer 15 Posted August 11, 2019 Share Posted August 11, 2019 I love old school drag racing corvettes. You have done some amazing work. Looking forward to more progress. Also i’m not sure if you have seen this picture but it is a fibreglass Corvette with a Chevy 409 in it. I found it on George Klass remembers website under modified sports cars. As you have stated and as the caption states these bodies were not always accurate replicas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted August 12, 2019 Author Share Posted August 12, 2019 Thanks for your interest and comments, gentleman. Had a little setback on the chassis paint. A gloss dark gray aircraft-engine enamel I've been able to use previously over black etching primer with no issues cracked in several areas over the red MPC portion the chassis is built up on. The chassis is complex, obviously, will be difficult to strip completely, and I'm a little disheartened at the moment. Press on regardless. There is always a solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobthehobbyguy Posted August 12, 2019 Share Posted August 12, 2019 Bummer on the paint. Hoping you can recover from this setback. Definitely a cool project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boss 302 mustang Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 On 8/11/2019 at 2:36 PM, drag racer 15 said: I love old school drag racing corvettes. You have done some amazing work. Looking forward to more progress. Also i’m not sure if you have seen this picture but it is a fibreglass Corvette with a Chevy 409 in it. I found it on George Klass remembers website under modified sports cars. As you have stated and as the caption states these bodies were not always accurate replicas. A Devin was in no way intended to be a replica of a Corvette. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afx Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 48 minutes ago, boss 302 mustang said: A Devin was in no way intended to be a replica of a Corvette. "Devin Enterprises is an American automotive manufacturer that operated from 1955 to 1964. Devin was mainly known for producing high quality fiberglass car bodies that were sold as kits, but they also produced automotive accessories as well as complete automobiles. The company was founded by Bill Devin." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devin_Enterprises Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drag racer 15 Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 Thanks for correcting me. I don’t like to be the guy who accidentally spreads misinformation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted August 14, 2019 Author Share Posted August 14, 2019 11 hours ago, drag racer 15 said: Thanks for correcting me. I don’t like to be the guy who accidentally spreads misinformation. That's a good position to take, sir. The internet needs more people with that attitude. That said, I appreciate the shot of the 409-powered Devin. There were a lot of really interesting fiberglass bodies available in the '50s and '60s, many of which ended up as M/SP drag cars. Here's a few more... https://www.undiscoveredclassics.com/forgotten-fiberglass/fiberglass/forgotten-fiberglass/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted August 14, 2019 Author Share Posted August 14, 2019 On 8/12/2019 at 6:53 PM, bobthehobbyguy said: Bummer on the paint. Hoping you can recover from this setback. Definitely a cool project. Thanks Bob. She'll be OK eventually, one way or another. I have too much time and effort invested at this point to quit now. I'm always harping on "test on the plastic your model is made of". I've used the SEM self-etching primer on lotsa stuff with no issues, and overcoated it with both lacquers and enamels likewise. But THIS time, the red plastic the old MPC Corvette chassis that's the basis of this model's underpinnings did something weird. I didn't see it coming, at all, and was really REALLY surprised when the topcoat cracked ONLY over the old red MPC plastic. I seem to recall somebody having a somewhat similar problem with different materials not too long ago... But it's just a matter of more work and testing to get it sorted and back on track...and there's plenty of other stuff on this build that I can do simultaneously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 (edited) SEPT 9, 2019 PROGRESS REPORT I did some remedial work on the block, shown earlier, and then realized the valve covers I wanted to use were rather too large for the engine I'm using, which is from an old AMT '57 Chebby kit. As it's kinda late in the game to change engines, and as I really didn't want to split up a better engine to get heads, the best solution was to add .020" stock on 3 faces of each head. This got me in the ballpark, and still works fine with the modified block. With the head situation largely resolved, I went ahead and built some simple headers out of scale 2" rod, drilled on the ends to represent tubing. The flanges are .020" stock, which is kinda fat to be scale-correct, but it looks OK to me (and I'll probably thin 'em just a tad prior to final assembly anyway). I had to make a little joggle in the front pipe to clear the steering box and bracket, and this is why I got the steering mocked up 100% first. The little brace strip at the lower end is .010" X .020", and will be trimmed close to the end pipes. The outlets will also be evened out (actually, they have been, as later build-up photos will show). After finishing, the assemblies were shot in Duplicolor sandable white primer, which mimics the look of the early VHF white nicely. One head finished and shot with real Chebby-orange engine paint, and some shallow holes drilled in the block in appropriate places to suggest freeze-plugs. A nice cast metal oil filter from Curbside Dioramics, though a little large for absolute scale-correct, adds a realistic touch. The oil pan I'm using is from a Revell smallblock Chebby parts-pack engine (the AMT kit pan had a hole for a metal axle and a molded-in oil filter; it also represented a cast, finned alloy job, and I wanted to stay with a modified steel pan). It's the right width for this 409, has a nice overall shape, but needed lengthening and a modification to the front sealing rail that could conceivably work with the engine mount-plate as I have it. Again, .020" stock to the rescue. The modified bellhousing and B&M HydroStick trans, shot in a red that's pretty close to what B&M actually used. A little more work on the oil pan. I decided to add material to represent a modded pan with more capacity, and deep enough in front to house a windage-tray. Edited September 10, 2019 by Ace-Garageguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 (edited) SEPT 9, 2019 PROGRESS REPORT cont'd. There was a fair bit of bodywork to get it looking like I envisioned, including filling most of the panel lines (as it represents a one-piece clone body shell). One of the more challenging aspects was getting the shapes right at the headlight locations, and correcting the flat-faced look common to the AMT 4-eyed Corvettes. This is an ongoing process. Getting there, but still a fair bit of work needed to get the body right. It's all about caring enough to do what it takes, as many times as it takes...to satisfy myself. Bondo "Professional" two-part polyester glazing putty for the heavy fills, Tamiya white putty for small corrections. Duplicolor "hot rod gray" and "red oxide" sandable rattlecan primers. EDIT: The reason for using different colors of primers on the removable body parts is primarily to help make fit issues jump out. It works quite well. Edited September 10, 2019 by Ace-Garageguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldnslow Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 Go , Bill , Go Go , Bill , Go Go , Bill , Go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randyc Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 Not my normal interests, but who doesn't love a great model? Have read the entire post now and hope to see more of it coming up as you continue to work through the issues. I simply do not have the patience for a project of this magnitude and greatly admire those who do. I do like your comment about doing it over until it is "right" - I know that isn't the exact quote, but a GREAT idea for all modelers of all levels. Thanks for sharing all the details fo the build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 12 hours ago, oldnslow said: Go , Bill , Go... Thanks for your interest and encouragement. 8 hours ago, randyc said: ...Thanks for sharing all the details for the build. And thank you for your interest and comments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobthehobbyguy Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 Bill great tip on using different colors of primer. One of those why didn't I think of that tips. Have you gotten the paint issue fixed on the chassis? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted September 13, 2019 Author Share Posted September 13, 2019 On 9/11/2019 at 7:28 PM, bobthehobbyguy said: ...Have you gotten the paint issue fixed on the chassis? Thanks for asking, Bob. I've sanded all the bad cracking and crazing off, as I just didn't want to dip-strip it and risk having all those little roll-cage joints come loose. It looks like it'll be OK, but I'm really hesitant to shoot it again until I'm 100% certain the next stuff will work right. I'm going for a gloss dark gray on the chassis, my choices aren't great, and all of them will require some experimentation before I risk screwing the thing up again. I've also decided to add a few things to it, like an instrument panel, a bracket for the brake pedal to swing on, and probably a frame for a windscreen, just on the driver's side. I'll most likely make up all the fuel and hydraulic lines before painting too, so I don't scratch it in the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYRENE-SURFER Posted September 13, 2019 Share Posted September 13, 2019 4 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said: I'm going for a gloss dark gray on the chassis, my choices aren't great, and all of them will require some experimentation before I risk screwing the thing up again. Glad to here you got that little disaster sussed out. How about spraying it with Acrylic? Just a thought? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted September 14, 2019 Author Share Posted September 14, 2019 22 hours ago, STYRENE-SURFER said: Glad to here you got that little disaster sussed out. How about spraying it with Acrylic? Just a thought? Thanks. That's probably a good idea. But never having worked with acrylics, water-based anyway, I don't know if I want to get into another learning curve just to get this one done. On the other hand, it might be the best way to avoid a real PITA if I get lifting and crazing again with "hot" paints. Hmmmm...definitely something to consider. I really appreciate your input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 I’ve always found acrylic to be WAY easier than most automotive products to get right with a minimum of fuss...I bet someone with your experience would find it pretty easy too. Love this build! I’ve really been enjoying this thread, as I do all of yours - thanks for the detailed and interesting posts you always publish on your projects! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobthehobbyguy Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 Bill, Would using a sealer prevent any interactions between paint and plastic. It's my understanding sealers are for creating a barrier so that new paint won't react with older paint on a car. Just curious with your experience on sealers. Do you have any recommendations or caveats using it? Thanks Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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