"64 Chevy Not too Low Rider

[NOBLNG]

Well I am starting on this one slowly. As folks on here say, it is a fairly nice kit. It will be mostly stock appearance with some detailing. at least that is the plan at the outset. The first issue I come across is the tail lights. They are quite large and very thick. Out of scale parts bother me unless it is a fantasy type build. The problem with these is: I can only reduce the thickness a certain amount before I cut into the recess... so I may have to drill out the recess in the body so that I can inset them somewhat. If anybody has corrected these somehow, please post up or PM me.

Thanks Greg.

[Cien1986]

I think the easiest way is to drill the body for the tailight to fit....

But if youn want to do it the hard way then you can sand it down to reduce the size then spray it with clear red coat to hide the scratch mark....

[espo]

Those Tail Lights sure stand out more than they should. Your idea of removing the back side of the body sockets may be the best, that way you can set them at the depth you want them at. As for removing any scratches on the Red Lenses I have used Future floor polish and it even adds a little for shine to the lens. Lately I have been using Google Images to look at pictures of 1:1 cars like what I'm working on. Some will show modified cars as well as stock. What I find is that little details in the trim can be seen as it should be and often not what the model appears to be. 

[NOBLNG]

10 hours ago, espo said:

Lately I have been using Google Images to look at pictures of 1:1 cars like what I'm working on. Some will show modified cars as well as stock. What I find is that little details in the trim can be seen as it should be and often not what the model appears to be. 

That's exactly what I do. Type in what I want to look at and click on images. It's amazing what comes up sometimes that is totally unrelated??

[NOBLNG]

Well I have these all turned down to .205" which in 1/1 is 5-1/8". Still too large but I don't dare go any smaller or I will completely lose the outer ring-edge which should be chromed. If I can sand the thickness down enough, I may not have to drill out the body and trunk lid.

Edited May 18, 2018 by NOBLNG
add pic

[NOBLNG]

I drilled four 0.162" relief holes in a piece of bar stock, then countersunk them to various depths with a 0.205" drill bit. I then put the tail light lens in the deepest hole first and filed down the backside outer edge flush to the steel, and the two different height protrusions by eye. I repeated this until I was in the second shallowest hole. I will do them all like this and then decide whether to take any more off? I don't think I will have to drill out the mounting holes in the body after all.

Since the center part of the light is canted upwards,I may have file the half round protrusion completely off so that I can rotate them exactly where I want them. It would look odd if they are all pointing in slightly different directions.

Edited May 18, 2018 by NOBLNG
add pics

[avidinha]

That looks really good. Those tail lights are terrible in an otherwise great kit.

[BigTallDad]

Great approach to make sure all the lights are the same thickness.

I'm sure you're aware that the center light on each side is a back-up light with a clear center.

[NOBLNG]

3 hours ago, avidinha said:

That looks really good. Those tail lights are terrible in an otherwise great kit.

Yeah, to top it off, three of them have a fairly sharp cone in the center and three of them are more of a rounded dome!

 

2 hours ago, BigTallDad said:

Great approach to make sure all the lights are the same thickness.

I'm sure you're aware that the center light on each side is a back-up light with a clear center.

Thanks. Yes, I intend to drill two of them out and glue in a piece of clear sprue.

Edited May 19, 2018 by NOBLNG

[NOBLNG]

I’m finally getting back to this one. Drivetrain and undercarriage is done. Interior is done in Tamiya pure white and TS-58 light pearl blue covered with my favourite XF-86 flat clear. Chrome trim on the doors and seats is molotow brushed on. Dash is LP-47 pearl blue and XF-86.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 14, 2020 by NOBLNG

[doorsovdoon]

The interior is looking amazing. Great work on the rear lights, I never noticed to be honest when I built one of these.

[NOBLNG]

25 minutes ago, doorsovdoon said:

The interior is looking amazing. Great work on the rear lights, I never noticed to be honest when I built one of these.

Thanks. If I had applied embossing powder to simulate carpeting before spraying the pearl blue, I think it would look fantastic. But since it is a hardtop it’s barely visible after assembly. I will definitely do it on all convertibles from now on though.

[StevenGuthmiller]

45 minutes ago, NOBLNG said:

Thanks. If I had applied embossing powder to simulate carpeting before spraying the pearl blue, I think it would look fantastic. But since it is a hardtop it’s barely visible after assembly. I will definitely do it on all convertibles from now on though.

Actually it usually looks better in my opinion to apply a colored embossing powder that is close to the interior color over the painted floor rather than paint it the exact same color as everything else.

Carpet is rarely exactly the same color as the rest of the interior, so it looks great to have a little contrast.

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[Quiet Eric]

Masterful work on those tail lights and interior detail.

[espo]

Very clean looking interior details. I like how you used the different shades of color to detail the chassis. 

[NOBLNG]

The door handles on this kit have a lot of flash and a sink mark on both of them. They also sit at the wrong angle on the door. I stripped the chrome and glued them to some .030” styrene So I could reshape the angle. I want to pin them, but they are so tiny!? I decided to try to make some from scratch and use some .040” round for the button and pin at the same time. (I know I can buy resin ones)This is the beginning of my first attempt.

[cobraman]

looking real good. Nice job with tail lights.

[NOBLNG]

I have the door handles With integrated mounting pin pretty much finished, maybe a touch more sanding.? Why don’t they cast them with a pin on the back that you could use or snip off if desired??

[slusher]

Looking really great Greg, looking forward to more....

[NOBLNG]

Thanks Guys. I am still not pleased with the tail lights. They are just huge looking to me. Unfortunately, all the clear red sprue I have is too small in diameter to make new ones out of. I may have to make a trip to the local auto wrecker tomorrow and find me a busted tail light lens?

[NOBLNG]

I’ve been fiddling for the last week with these taillights. I’ve been making bezels from 0.015” wire, and I think I will only wind up doing the smaller inside ones from wire, the outers will be molotowed. These attempts are (right to left) a first trial to see what a scratch made one could look like, a second attempt to get a procedure sort of nailed down, and finally a semi-finished unit. The kit supplied piece is on the far left. Now the trick is to make six identically appearing pieces.? The only reason I am putting so much effort into these, is that, the original kit pieces were horribly oversized and the rear end of the ‘64 is it’s most iconic trait I believe, and the best looking of any of the early ‘60’s chevys.

Thanks for lookin’.

Edited October 21, 2020 by NOBLNG

[NOBLNG]

Well I finally got these tail lights done to my satisfaction. ? They’re not perfect, but they are better than the kit pieces. I wound up drilling out the body with a 3/16” drill bit. I then added a sleeve of styrene tube slightly recessed in the hole to act as a depth stop for the tail lights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 30, 2020 by NOBLNG

[NOBLNG]

The lights themselves I made from .080” styrene rod, 3/16” od tube, .025”x.025” square wire, and some .015 styrene sheet. I made a wooden jig to keep all the .080” center rods canted at the correct angle.  With the square wire mounted in them and all aligned horizontally, I glued the center rods into the styrene sheet first. Once that was dry I added the outer rings and just eye-balled them into position since they are not really “centered” on the centers. ? The red lens is just Tamiya X-27 clear red. The center bezels I made from .016” wire wrapped around a .046” drill bit and slightly squashed. Outer bezels are painted with Model Master chrome silver.

Edited October 30, 2020 by NOBLNG
Add pic

[Jantrix]

Normally, out scale isn't a deal breaker for me, happily, but those original parts would bother even me. I think you did a terrific job engineering new ones and it's a real shame you had to. Ataboy.

[NOBLNG]

15 minutes ago, Jantrix said:

Normally, out scale isn't a deal breaker for me, happily, but those original parts would bother even me. I think you did a terrific job engineering new ones and it's a real shame you had to. Ataboy.

Thanks Rob. A bit out of scale doesn’t bother me much either usually. The new ones would scale out to 4-11/16” diameter and the smallest I could make the originals was 5-1/8” so that is quite a difference. If anyone knows of some good quality resin ones that are available...please don’t tell me now!

Edited October 30, 2020 by NOBLNG