Daisy Duke's Plymouth (DOH)

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

Thank you! 

I originally thought this would be straightforward; just get the correct car, get the right paint job, and voila.  Nothing has turned out to have been further from the truth.  Almost everything has had to be modified or even rebuilt (engine, engine bay, suspension, exhaust, dashboard, steering wheel, tires, wheel hubs etc). 

[Bob Ellis]

I thought Daisy Dukes had a 1973 Roadrunner?

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

1 hour ago, Bob Ellis said:

I thought Daisy Dukes had a 1973 Roadrunner?

They started with a '73 or '4 RR for the first few episodes.  In the 11th episode of the first season they swapped for a modified '71 Satellite with the same paint.  The Satellite was used for the rest of that season and the majority of the second, and was used FAR more than the RR.  Some prefer the RR, but to me the 71 is just nicer and sleeker.  Gotta be true to oneself....

[dwc43]

19 hours ago, Andrew D the Jolly Roger said:

Well, unfortunately I'm totally ditching the engine....finally the evidence was overwhelming that I needed to go with the smaller-block engine, finished in blue.  So I purchased the engine parts from the AMT Duster.  Starting over. 

In the meantime, here's what happened with the interior.  

Two modifications to be made: the steering wheel and the air vents.  In one episode (Gold Fever S2E2) the instrument panel is visible, showing the dashboard to be the style with two air conditioning vents.  Thanks to y'all in here for pointing that out to me!  I discovered this after I'd started painting, so, strip the paint, add the parts and start over.

 

Steering wheel should be a more standard type instead of the stock racing item in the kit.  I started with the steering wheel from a Chevy pickup, carved down the central spokes, added a third spoke plus some other detailing.  The wood paneling color is done by painting it Military Brown, then going back over it with Tamiya Smoke.  This is basically a transparent black, and when applied unevenly over brown actually looks like wood paneling.

 

An all-black interior is a problem since if you just paint it black, then almost zero details will show.  Here's how I bring it to life:

     -Flooring/carpet flat black

     -All the rest in semi-flat black

     -With a wide brush, drybrush dark gray all over the semi-gloss black areas to highlight and bring out the details

     -Mask carpet and then spray semi-gloss areas in a satin/flat clear mix

     -Drybrush dirt onto some of the carpet, especially driver's area.

Again, wood paneling done by painting first in Military Brown and then going back over that with Tamiya Smoke transparent black.

 

Scratchbuild a CD radio for under the instrument panel, and voila!

Looks good. Can't wait to see it finished.

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

Thanks!

The new engine arrived Friday; smaller-block engine from AMT's 71 Duster, will be heavily detailed and wired.  Still needed modifications to the front area with making an attached alternator and other mounts for the pulleys.  Also drilled out holes for the spark plugs and wires (very time consuming on a tiny distributor).

 

Also modified the engine mounts so it could accomodate the smaller engine block.  Not a perfect fit, but it's better.

 

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

A much larger problem arose; actually two related problems.  

     1) The suspension and exhaust system is all molded as one piece, looking toylike

     2) The rear suspension needs to be boosted to accomodate larger rear tires.  This will necessitate the total rebuilding of the aft ends of the leaf springs.

First, separating the exhausts:

 

Then, adding to the chassis frame to accomodate the extended rear suspension.  The rear ends of the leaf springs were cut off, and the springs scratchbuilt to a longer length.

 

Also found the new engine was too short for the driveshaft; so the driveshaft had to be lengthened by 3mm.  Amazingly, the left exhaust also had to be shortened by the exact same length to fit the new engine.

 

[dwc43]

16 hours ago, Andrew D the Jolly Roger said:

A much larger problem arose; actually two related problems.  

     1) The suspension and exhaust system is all molded as one piece, looking toylike

     2) The rear suspension needs to be boosted to accomodate larger rear tires.  This will necessitate the total rebuilding of the aft ends of the leaf springs.

First, separating the exhausts:

 

Then, adding to the chassis frame to accomodate the extended rear suspension.  The rear ends of the leaf springs were cut off, and the springs scratchbuilt to a longer length.

 

Also found the new engine was too short for the driveshaft; so the driveshaft had to be lengthened by 3mm.  Amazingly, the left exhaust also had to be shortened by the exact same length to fit the new engine.

 

Looking good. Get the Alt. from the Revell 68 Charger kit. IT has a bracket on it already. Just dechrome it and paint the bracket black with an aluminum alt. And here's what you want for a dist.     8 Cylinder Tan Cap - Morgan Automotive Detail (madmodeling.com)

Tan cap orange wires are factory for that year. After you start using these, you will never drill a dist. again. Only thing you need to add to these are the vacuum advance to it. Model Car Garage has them, but you can cut them off kit dist. if you find a good one like in the Charger kit I mentioned above. 

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

2 hours ago, dwc43 said:

Looking good. Get the Alt. from the Revell 68 Charger kit. IT has a bracket on it already. Just dechrome it and paint the bracket black with an aluminum alt. And here's what you want for a dist.     8 Cylinder Tan Cap - Morgan Automotive Detail (madmodeling.com)

Tan cap orange wires are factory for that year. After you start using these, you will never drill a dist. again. Only thing you need to add to these are the vacuum advance to it. Model Car Garage has them, but you can cut them off kit dist. if you find a good one like in the Charger kit I mentioned above. 

Thanks! Yep, amazingly, if you look at the original kit engine I originally did early in the post you'll see the Charger alternator.   Mounted the kit one but admittedly cut corners on a proper bracket. 

Thanks for the tip about the orange wires, was going in another direction due to my lack of automotive knowledge.  Thanks also for the distributor tip! I did use a good aftermarket dist for the General....

[dwc43]

22 hours ago, Andrew D the Jolly Roger said:

Thanks! Yep, amazingly, if you look at the original kit engine I originally did early in the post you'll see the Charger alternator.   Mounted the kit one but admittedly cut corners on a proper bracket. 

Thanks for the tip about the orange wires, was going in another direction due to my lack of automotive knowledge.  Thanks also for the distributor tip! I did use a good aftermarket dist for the General....

More than welcome. Just tryin to help out. Early Mopars used black caps and wires. Then they phased in the tan caps with black wires then they phased in the orange wires later on. Then in the 80's went back to black and black and stayed that way till the end. 

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

K folks, it's been a tough end of the school year unlike any other, so I'm finally able to return to the project.  

Rear tires are slightly larger than the front ones, and going into my spare tires resulted in only mismatching tires of differing sizes.  Fortunately I was able to source tires of the same type/appearance and apparently correct sizes from Fireball Modelworks.  Fortunately they also fit the wheel rims that a fellow member here was kind enough to send me (Thanks Lee!).

 

Then the inner wheel hubs had to be reduced in size to fit the tires; had to do this now so as to know exactly how far to raise the rear suspnsion.

 

To make the extensions, I needed something thin yet strong....so just making them out of plastic strip wouldn't do it.  They might look the part but they wouldn't support the car past one sneeze.  Fortunately I keep unused Photoetched fret, and the slightly thicker part of the metal sprue just might be strong enough, especially if doubled up.  

 

The main load will be supported by an inverted, angled "U" shape.  The height was kept accurate with plastic plugs.  Then the more visible parts of the brackets will be attached to the outside with more metal fret.

 

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

The toylike one-piece rear suspension/exhaust system was separated, and both sides of the exhaust cleaned up until presentable on their own.  The exhaust tips were clipped off, as per reference views, and re-shaped and drilled.  Everything was painted and finally installed.  Eventually all of this will be thickly coated in Hazzard County dust.

 

[dwc43]

Looking good.

[espo]

The look of the suspension is much improved over the basic kits.  

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

Thank you!

Late in Season 1 when they switched to the '71 Satellite, they painted it in a yellow to match the original '73/4 Roadrunner.  For the RR it had been a factory standard for that particular year, but apparently for continuity (and hoping the fans would not notice the change) they painted the new Satellite in the same shade of yellow as the Roadrunner.  Thus it was a non-standard color for a '71 Plymouth of any sort.

After much research, and following an online discussion, the color seems to have been "Yellow Blaze."  Fortunately Scalefinishes.com does carry this color...and when mine arrived I knew from the first glance that I had it right!  Once sprayed I left it for over a week simply because I wanted it 100% cured before I began to handle it over and over and over.  

[Ceaser_Salad]

1 hour ago, Andrew D the Jolly Roger said:

Thank you!

Late in Season 1 when they switched to the '71 Satellite, they painted it in a yellow to match the original '73/4 Roadrunner.  For the RR it had been a factory standard for that particular year, but apparently for continuity (and hoping the fans would not notice the change) they painted the new Satellite in the same shade of yellow as the Roadrunner.  Thus it was a non-standard color for a '71 Plymouth of any sort.

After much research, and following an online discussion, the color seems to have been "Yellow Blaze."  Fortunately Scalefinishes.com does carry this color...and when mine arrived I knew from the first glance that I had it right!  Once sprayed I left it for over a week simply because I wanted it 100% cured before I began to handle it over and over and over.  

Looks good!

[1972coronet]

That looks GREAT !  I would've guessed that the colour was FY1 Lemon Twist / Top Banana -- which I believe was reformulated as KY1 for 1974  .

**CORRECTION** It is KY5 Blaze Yellow ( a Dodge Division name ) , which "replaced" FY1 after the 1973 model year .

The 1970 Hamtramck Registry - 1974 Paint Chip Charts Slideshow (hamtramck-historical.com)

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

Thank you!

Okay, once the paint cures, it's time to fully detail the engine bay.  I use as many photos of the real thing as possible and try to copy what I see in them.  Since every one of them seems to be different, I end up just using the best possible features to scratchbuild and copy.  I keep a supply of 4-5 different sizes of plastic-coated wire in varying colors, plus fine metal wire.  Several details on the firewall as well as the water reservoir and horn were scratchbuilt.  Master cylinder & servo housing were painted with Alclad lacquers (Stainless Steel & Titanium)

 

[Mattilacken]

Beautifully done!

[NOBLNG]

Nice detailing in that engine bay!👍

[Ceaser_Salad]

Please teach me your ways...

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

Thanks for all the kind comments!

Most folks know that auto glass has a slight tint to it, a sort of bluish-green.  I prepare a solution of clear acrylic floor polish (formerly Future), tinted with a few drops of blue and green food coloring.  Clean and polish the windscreen and rear window, and dip them into the solution.  Position them upside-down so the color settles slightly to the top of the glass as it dries and cures.  

 

I never leave the tires looking unused/showroom-new, especially for a car that spends its days speeding up and down country roads.  I sand all over each tire with fine grade sandpaper, then with heavier grit on the tread.  Once done I take them outside and grind the tread surfaces through the dirt/dust in my front yard.  Wipe off the excess and voila, country-used tires.  

 

Bigger problem is removing the GTX emblem from the grill.  All logos/emblems were removed for the vehicles in the show, apparently making Hazzard County Detroit-brand-free.  It was easy enough to remove most of the emblems from the body, but the grill was tougher.  First the emblem was ground down to grill level with a moto-drill.  Then, each rectangle in the grill was carefully cut out of the emblem....actually ended up easier than I thought.   

The result isn't quite 100% perfect, but not bad.  

 

Finally, take both cleaned-up bumpers along with the rear-view mirrors and the donated wheel hubs and prepare for Alclad chrome.  First, primer.  Second, gloss black.  Third, allow 24 hours for the black to cure.  Finally spray the Alclad chrome.

 

[TransAmMike]

A lot of impressive work on this one Andrew. Question about the tinted windows, have you done a smoke tint with the food coloring method.

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

59 minutes ago, TransAmMike said:

A lot of impressive work on this one Andrew. Question about the tinted windows, have you done a smoke tint with the food coloring method.

 

Thanks Mike!  No, haven't done that yet, plus no black food coloring that I've seen (must be licorice or something out there...).  Just off the top of my head, I would probably try mixing Tamiya Smoke with the floor polish and then dipping.  

[TransAmMike]

Just now, Andrew D the Jolly Roger said:

 

Thanks Mike!  No, haven't done that yet, plus no black food coloring that I've seen (must be licorice or something out there...).  Just off the top of my head, I would probably try mixing Tamiya Smoke with the floor polish and then dipping.  

Thanks, should work.  I have seen black frosting on cakes so yeah, probably licorice.

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

1 hour ago, TransAmMike said:

Thanks, should work.  I have seen black frosting on cakes so yeah, probably licorice.

 

You're right....must be out there.  I haven't seen it, but then I wasn't looking for it.  Might be very useful....

I can just see it now, suddenly dozens of stereotypical-looking modelmaking men descending upon the bakeries inquiring about licorice food coloring! 😁

Edited June 12, 2021 by Andrew D the Jolly Roger