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Bringing the Eliminator into 21st century


mrm

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So I was at the local hobby Lobby and they ad a bunch of kits on crazy sale. One of those was the ZZ Top Eliminator. Honestly, it's very puzzling to me why Revell has not milked this mold like their '32 fords. I mean they could have done the same - sedans, engine options, wheels, roadsters, 5 windows, phaetons.....So I grabbed one and decided to bring it up to current standards. What I mean by that is bring it up to being what the Eliminitor was in its own time - a very modern Street Rod. 

I started from the frame as does every good street rod.

First I cut out everything between the rails except the front crossmember and the fuel tank at the other end. This way everything still stayed square. next I did the exact opposite with most of the chassis from the Foose Cadillac. 

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One of the "requirements" of a modern street rod is to pack a good size shoes in the back. And to achieve that the frame definitely needs to be narrowed in the back. So I cut the the original frame off where the two frames met at the rear. This way not only I can lower the ride as much as I want, but I can also use the Corvette Independent rear from the caddy. 

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At this point everything is still staying perfectly square. Using this, I first made a new rear crossmember from styrene and then cut off the Caddy's tank. 

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Next I had to address the body, so I could test fit the frame and ride hight in the future. For the purpose I Glued the roof to the body and then glued the body to the fenders. Let me tell you, lining everything up perfect, without using the running board (but still leaving it easy to add them later) was easier said than done. The old red plastic does not help any. It is completely different than what the '32s are made from for example. 

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I also find the kit's headlight attachment rather crude and unrealistic. So I filled them with styrene rod. 

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Forgot to mention that I also removed the gas filler on the rear skirt. 

Edited by mrm
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I did not mention this earlier, but using the Caddy's frame center section has two great advantages.

a) it allows the use of the motor in the Caddy kit, which is basically a modern big block chevy and the transmission that comes with it.

b)it is already precut to allow the exhaust to go through and mate perfect to the nice headers that come with engine. 

This reminds me that I also had to shorten the Caddy's center section in order to fit. 

Looks like everything fits perfect.

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11 minutes ago, Spex84 said:

Looking forward to seeing where you go with this!

 

Thank you.

The idea is the Caddy's big block with some scratchbuilt air cleaner cover. 

Independent suspension on all four corners. 

Big and little wheels/tires.

Hot metallic paint. Thinking orangy or reddish.

In the interior staying simple, but updated. 

Pretty much that's the plan.

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Bob, Dennis, thank you both.

Next i turned my attention to the front end. Without measuring or anything I just cut the ends of the AMT Phantom Vicky front crossmember and glued them on each side of the Eliminator's crossmember. 

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This allows me to use the IFS from the Vicky

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Now, it occurred to me, that by doing all this I have widened the front track, compared to what originally came in the AMT kit. The solution? Find the proper wheels.

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I hope everything can get tucked the right way under the front fenders. 

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On 7/9/2018 at 7:13 AM, Spitfire said:

Looking good...I love the direction you're going. I always liked the looks of 33-35's...never understood why 32's get all the love.

Well, I am a '32 guy, but I can't really answer the question. The "32 I guess is more iconic, because is more exotic in a way. Nothing else has that grille and it was only made one year. Also it is the only one to use its exposed frame as a design element. Maybe the Millner car has a lot to do with it. I don't know. 

  If I hit the Jackpot tomorrow, I will have several of each in my garage. And some '29s and '30s and '36s, '37s.....They are all great timeless designs.

But if someone came and told me "I'll give a street rod of your choice, but you can only have one", I'll take a Deuce without hesitating.

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On 7/9/2018 at 11:01 AM, iamsuperdan said:

I have got to find this kit somewhere.

 

Love what you're doing to it. You have the stance nailed.

 

Thank you Dan.

My hobby shop has a few of them and last time I got an extra one from Hobby Lobby. Check there first. If you get their app on your phone you can get it with 40% off. A model for under $20 our days is not bad at all. 

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So, you may be wondering why no updates. What is this guy doing? That frame should have been done......

Yup. It should have, but.........

  So I am sitting on my throne (that's the toilet in my bathroom :lol: ) going through a stash of old Street Rodder Magazines. And I see this great '34 Chevy, that Boyd Coddington built to be the PPG sponsored Road Tour car for 2006 (if I remember correctly). And it is painted in this awesome orange-goldish-metal flake-shifting color. First thing through my mind was that this is the color I want to paint my '33 that I am building. They are very similar shape with the Chevy and the paint will shift just the same way on the Ford. And there is the name of the paint. Of course it's in the article - it's PPG sponsored project. Lion's Mane. What a cool name for a color. And since I can shoot golfballs in the local PPG dealer's front yard from my balcony, I paid them a visit.  Normally their policy is minimum of 8oz (without reducer) on custom colors. However, I know them and they have done smaller amounts for me before. So this is a tri-coat and I could have 2oz mixed. Of course that is 2oz base coat plus 2oz mid coat. For the lovely price of $80!!! :o Let me put it this way. It is like paying $60 for a Tamiya spray can. 

    Well, I did not buy it! But I figured I walked over anyway, why not drool over the color swatches in the Vibrance collection from PPG where the Lions Mane color came from. And i am noticing these unbelievable candies that are over "sterling silver", "pure gold", "fine gold", "charcoal grey" etc. And I am thinking - I have these at home. Maybe not the PPG Vibrance ones, but I have spray cans of Tamiya silvers and gunmetals. And One coat lacquers of golds and reds and greens......So I asked how much was a book with the swatches. $ 250. Seriously?!?! So an idea was born. A challenge. 

    I end up ordering 7 candies. 2oz of paint plus 2oz of reducer per can at $16 a pop. I picked them up the next day and on my way home stopped by Wallmart for three packs of plastic spoons. Together with the ones I had at home I would be at close to two hundred pieces to play with.

   First I gathered all the metallic spray cans I had at home that I thought may be used as bases. And then sprayed seven spoons with each one. every spoon was labeled with the manufacturer and the color. Some even with the number of the color.

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This took about a day

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The next day I divided them into groups for each Candy color

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And then put them on trays and labeled each spoon on its back with the candy's name 

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What followed was a trip to the garage, set up the airbrush and start building color on each spoon. One thin coat, next spoon, one thin coat, next spoon........When done with all the spoons, start the second coat and repeat and then the third coat. 

Then clean the airbrush, arrange the spoons back in the trey and go back upstairs to leave them dry under the sun on my balcony.

Grab the next trey with the next can and go downstairs to repeat. 

So at the end of that day I did three of the candies. 

FWSSsI.jpg

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Meanwhile, I took a trip to the local hobby shop (if 92 miles from home can be called local) with my kid and guess what? We picked up some more colors for bases. :D

So, I have not made any progress on that frame. But because of a color I liked for the build, five days later I end up with about 200 color swatches in my kitchen. This not only pissed my wife off, but now I am definitely not sure what color I want for the build, because I like maybe a dozen different ones. :lol:

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But hey, at least I am done with this now and getting back to the Eliminator.

So stay tuned. 

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36 minutes ago, gman said:

Definitely some incredible colors in that bunch that would look good on a variety of bodies. Looking forward to seeing what you pick after spraying on the model.

Well, I am still partial to the orange pearls. My kids are all about the bright reds. And my wife is all about the dark shades "root beers". I think I have it figured out tho. I'll build three different '33s and make everyone happy :rolleyes: . Always wanted to build a fenderless '33 with a '37 truck grille. 

Edited by mrm
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You're build is looking great. Nice stance, great wheel/tire combo. Looking forward to seeing what upgrades you throw at this one.

I still hold out hope that they will see fit to do a series like they did with the 32 (and were starting with the Model A). I'm an absolute 32 fan myself, but the 33-34 is a beautiful design and deserves a modern tool hot rod kit itself. (the AMT 5W and this 3W both have good and bad points)

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Of course I marked the spoons. The whole exercise would have been pointless otherwise. 

I think I have also picked a color for the Eliminator II.

It is PPG Sunshine Yellow Candy over Tamiya TS14 Copper. 

Here it is outside 

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And under the flash

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