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29 Ford Highboy showcar


CabDriver

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23 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

Looking forward to seeing the paint finished!👍

Thanks buddy!  Me too!

Got the next couple of steps closer tonight...cut some masks, applied them over the blue/purple paint from yesterday and then reshot in Createx pure white:

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Then, that same Createx tangerine that i shot on the frame:

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I’ll need to let the orange set up overnight before I can do the next step - I want to do some fades and shadowing, and just ordered a new airbrush that will (hopefully) allow me to do some finer detail than my regular favorite can handle.  Excited for that to arrive tomorrow so I get to the next stage!  More soon!

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8 hours ago, CabDriver said:

just ordered a new airbrush that will (hopefully) allow me to do some finer detail than my regular favorite can handle.  Excited for that to arrive tomorrow so I get to the next stage!  More soon!

oooooooo... Did you get a Sotar 20/20?   I absolutely love mine...  if so, one word of caution,  when cleaning don't put your finger over the tip like you traditionally would, the needle sticks out and it becomes a tattoo gun.. hahaha..

This looks fantastic!  Loving all of your Model A builds!

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1 hour ago, Impalow said:

oooooooo... Did you get a Sotar 20/20?   I absolutely love mine...  if so, one word of caution,  when cleaning don't put your finger over the tip like you traditionally would, the needle sticks out and it becomes a tattoo gun.. hahaha..

This looks fantastic!  Loving all of your Model A builds!

I got the most twenty-dollar-ist copy of one of those I could find on all of the internet!   :D:D  I figure that's twice as much as my regular airbrush cost so it oughta be AMAZING by comparison :D:D:D

My local Hobby Lobby seems to ration their Revell 29 kits and put ONE solitary new kit on the shelf every week.  I've figured out by visiting every day (it's on my way home from work, helpfully) that they put one new kit on the rack every Friday - so every Friday night since the start of December I've been going and picking up another one :D  Making the most of them being $18 with coupon before something happens to the tooling again and they're $300 suddenly.  Got about 7 or 8 in the stash now I think, so I should be set for a little while.

9 hours ago, Modelbuilder Mark said:

Cool, are you going to just leave on the mask and mist around the edges?

I'm actually going to apply the opposite version of the mask that's on there already so I can shoot some darker spots to add a shadow effect, as well as some subtle little fades and so on...I'd like to get some hot candy pink in this color-scheme too I think.  Maybe add some highlights in a slighly lighter version of that orange color around some of the raised panel lines too?  Guess we'll see how it looks once I get painting!

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Well, I got the paintjob done and I was kinda “meh” about it.  Perfectly fine and looked nice - but it didn’t blow me away.  Needed a little more in terms of fades and details.  So, seeing as paint is cheap and my time is cheaper - mulligan! One quick shot I snapped of it in the stripper before it gets a second chance:

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It was all nice and crisp and came out well - I’ve just done this kind of look a couple of times already and I hadn’t really done anything that excited me.  

24 hours later...base coated in orange followed by some subtle fades of Testor’s pearl pink:

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I kinda imagined the orange color looking like a sunset - and the first try just looked like an orange.  Closer now, but needs more sun...

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Way closer to what I had in mind!  Looks nice with a little intercoat on there too, to gloss it up a little:

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Much more like what I’d imagined!  I need to shoot the flames next (in the more conventional way, not the backwards method I usually use) but I’m much happier with the main color this time so it’ll be worth this extra little bit of effort.

More soon!

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Flame day here in snowy Indiana!

Used a set of my New York Speed Shop flame masks:

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Followed by black, then the same flip flop purple I used the first time...

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Then, a coat of Future followed by some more masking and then Tamiya Acrylic silver:

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Then candy pink, with Pearl Ex-laden clear coat over top:

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Then, finally, peeled the masks back and did a little freehand airbrushing to blend it all together to look how I imagined:

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Starting to get somewhere with this paintjob now!  Still some more work to do, but I’m pleased with the weekend’s progress so far.  

More soon!

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Thanks fellas!  Had a few more orange parts to prep, so got those done - I wanted this build to have a kinda Coney Island glitter’n’candy’n’pearl freakshow kinda vibe, so I named it accordingly:

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Had to do some delicate touch ups on that hand painted bit, but it looks ok for a little detail I think...and with that done, onto some clearcoat!

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Had a sunny day today, so I really got to see how much those colors will flipflop in daylight!  Love it!  Now for those, and the frame, engine, firewall and a bunch of other parts, to bake in the dehydrator for a day or so and I can start building some stuff!  More soon!

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Hi Jim!!  Not sure how I missed this build til now. As always your WIP’s are thoroughly entertaining and your work is top notch. That paint job is stunning !! Very nicely done. Did you get the blower for the flathead yet? That thing looked like it would be perfect for this build. I’ll be following now.

Cheers, Steve

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Thanks fellas!  Appreciate the kind words!

3 minutes ago, Steve H said:

Did you get the blower for the flathead yet? That thing looked like it would be perfect for this build.

Hey Steve!  I did not...the Kind Mr Karson was going to send me one but I felt kinda bad when I found out what that one little part cost - and then I wondered if I could make that entire thing myself, as a challenge.  Guess we’ll see when I get that far - could likely turn MOST of it on my lathe, but getting those bolt details right would be hard.  Maybe a simpler version of the same thing, somewhat stylised and made into my own could work?  That should be tomorrow’s project!

 

A tiny update (literally) before bed - I had the idea of having one of those little hula girl figures on the dash.  Coney Island is famous for it’s annual Mermaid Parade though, so I kept the theme going somewhat and made a tiny mermaid:

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Need to keep messing with the paint, but laid down some silver first, then some candy green for the tail and then brush painted a kinda skin tone, followed by some opaque yellow for her hair.  I don’t think you often see stuff this small painted to where it looks good in photos, but I’ll keep messing with it tomorrow and see if I can get where I’m somewhat satisfied anyway...

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More soon!

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20 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

The poor mermaid looks like she's been harpooned!

Great to see the the amazing work on this continuing.

Haha!  She had a convenient crook in her arm that was perfect for airbrushing purposes! 😂

 

A little more progress today - made a start on a centrifugal blower system...not quite as cool as a Frenzel but I wanted to try some more machining.  Kinda my take on the same idea:

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All just tacked together here so it’s not lined up right, but an idea of how it’ll look.  Need to make the connecting shaft to link the pulley to the rest of it, but it’ll look pretty wild on the engine I think:

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Might need to trim those trumpets down a little (or might not 😂🤪)

I wanted to have this thing on a little display base of one of Coney Island’s little side-streets, and I picked out this one, which sits in the shadow of the famous Wonder Wheel:

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I’m not going to make anything too huge, just a little scene of the car sitting on the sidewalk outside those brightly colored shutter doors.  I picked up some foamboard from Hobby Lobby and made a simple base (with an older 29 build here for demonstration purposes):

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And started roughing in the doors and that little half-hex shaped whatever-that-is:

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Excited to make a cool little display stand for this one - I’ll need to take a little artistic license (I’m not building a 1:25 Ferris wheel behind it, for example) but it’ll be fun to do some new stuff!

More soon!

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Mini update (and mini angled-plug-boot-making tutorial seeing as a couple of people asked for it...)

I wanted to take a little more time and effort on the wiring of this engine - the detail isn’t incredible on the old AMT block I’m using so I’m making up for it with some other little bits and pieces.

So, here goes making angled plug boots the best way I've figured out so far.  You’ll need some wire that’s a larger diameter than your plug wires - I have a stash of old charger leads and headphones and junk that I’ve saved for exactly that.  Just pull the actual wire out of the sleeve and you’ll be left with this:

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Then, slice a couple of angled cuts into, but not all the way through, the sleeve to remove a little diamond shape:

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Next, dip your plug wire into your superglue of choice, and slide it into the longer end (it’s easier to do the next step if you do that first, seeing as we’re working with some tiny fiddly little parts here).  Then, you need a little dab’l-do-ya of superglue in the cut out, and fold the sleeve in on itself to make an angled boot:

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Then repeat as many times as necessary until you’ve got a set you’re happy with:

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Tada!  I still want to perfect this process some more, but it’s a start!

With those made (plus a few redos, until I ran out of the grey wire I was using) I could do a little assembly and wiring on the engine:

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Driver’s going to have a pretty wild view...bet it would sound pretty good too!

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Pretty pleased with how the clear laid down on this one too - might be my best result yet.  A little gloss REALLY brought out the sparkles and flake!!

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More soon, thanks for looking!

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On 2/25/2021 at 12:03 AM, slusher said:

Impressive engine and paint friend!

Thanks buddy!  
 

A little more progress this past week - not as much as I’d like, as usual but I got a bunch of clean-up and little jobs done at least.

Got the carbs painted and fuel lines in place:

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Machined a set of pulleys:

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That belt is too big, but I wanted to try it anyway - I’ll make another out of something more in-scale...

Cleaned up and prepped a bunch of chassis parts for chrome:

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Then chromed them! 🤪

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And got some more of that Createx orange and Testors Hot Pink on the interior tub and dash so I can start assembling and detailing them:

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Got plenty to paint still - if it’s not chrome or real metal...it’ll be candy or flake or both!  

More soon!

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Chassis assembly day!  Some of it anyway - got the axles and linkages in place, along with the machined bits I made for the steering, and dropped the engine in there just to see how it’ll all look together:

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Need to do some plumbing and wiring before the engine can go in for good, but it’s a fun looking frame I think!

And, borrowing a trick from John Teresi, painted the tires with some craft paint to give them a more realistic look - got some more detailing to do, but I like the effect of the craft paint compared to plain old vinyl tires!

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Just a mini update - more soon!

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Thanks fellas!  Appreciate the nice words! 

On 3/3/2021 at 1:51 AM, alan barton said:

That chassis is looking very special, what with the unusual components and the really clean fabrication.  Tell me more about the craft paint - did you airbrush that or it straight on to the vinyl?

Cheers

Alan

I airbrushed it right on there!  A little drop of thinners and blasted it on - I was worried it would be fragile or chip off easily but it seems fine!

A little update on this one - got the body on the frame, and the wheels and tires on:

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And got the tank mounted to the grill, along with the little mini radiator I found in my spares box and got that mounted too:

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Made a little catch-can for the radiator, seeing as this thing would almost certainly overheat easily with that Flathead and a covered-over grill shell and a tiny radiator, and mixed up some translucent neon paint to represent a little anti-freeze overflow:

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Looks like it got hot enough to leak some out of the hoses too:

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Stupid impractical hot rods, always overheating...

More soon!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Wrapped up a few little bits on this one, this weekend - made a couple of bomber seats (changed my mind on what I had made before), fitted the windshield and a couple of little bits and it’s about done!  Thanks for following along everybody!

 

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