Moebius '61 Pontiac Ventura

[rightrudder]

Fiddling around with various parts. It's subtle, but I thinned down the left side of the rim so the wheel wouldn't look quite so chunky and the "step" would be less obvious. I might take just a little more off (and do the right side, of course!).

[slusher]

I miss steering wheels like that my dads Pontiac had one. That car had nice interior..

[rightrudder]

1 hour ago, slusher said:

I miss steering wheels like that my dads Pontiac had one. That car had nice interior..

Yeah, it was such a space-age styling cue, straight out of an auto show.

[ChrisBcritter]

On 2/26/2022 at 6:04 AM, Zoom Zoom said:

 I had to learn the hard way at the very end how to get the front bumper/grille/hood to all fit properly.

If you think that was tough, try getting an AMT '61 Pontiac bumper/grille/hood to all fit properly - and for extra masochism, try separating the chrome from the top of the grille and attaching it to the hood where it belongs !

[Erik Smith]

3 hours ago, rightrudder said:

Fiddling around with various parts. It's subtle, but I thinned down the left side of the rim so the wheel wouldn't look quite so chunky and the "step" would be less obvious. I might take just a little more off (and do the right side, of course!).

Is it just me, or is Stalin’s face in the middle of that steering wheel?

[rightrudder]

12 hours ago, Erik Smith said:

Is it just me, or is Stalin’s face in the middle of that steering wheel?

Haha!  Maybe it's like the image of Jesus on a piece of toast...could be worth thousands on an eBay auction!! Maybe it's my reflection, but people tell me I look a little like Norm MacDonald. (RIP, Norm)

 

12 hours ago, ChrisBcritter said:

If you think that was tough, try getting an AMT '61 Pontiac bumper/grille/hood to all fit properly - and for extra masochism, try separating the chrome from the top of the grille and attaching it to the hood where it belongs !

Wow, that sounds tough!! We all have varying degrees of the masochism gene in our DNA strands.

Almost ready to start painting interior stuff. Here are the door panels, with the right side pretty flat and the left side a bit of a potato chip. I used my Harbor Freight heat gun to heat the backside and straighten it out pretty successfully, but as many of you know, the delta between enough heat to make a difference and total styrene meltdown is narrow! You can see in the "after" picture that little ripple where the panel meets the floorpan, but with the seat in place it shouldn't be visible.

Having a crappy coffee table pays off in model building, as I like nothing better than watching TV, drinking coffee and prepping parts!

You can see the dash in the background, and see that I elected to remove the parking brake pedal. It was about the same size as the regular brake pedal (!) and looked like a real monstrosity, so off it went. I love how Moebius went with a three-pedal, manual-trans version of the car. To date, I've owned 21 full-scale cars (only one bought new) and of those, only three have had automatics.

 

 

[rightrudder]

Must've cleaned out the airbrush 6-7 times this afternoon, but I got the seats and dash done. I shaved the raised border on the lower seat cushions because I wanted the center section here to be all one color.

Dash is tri-color too, the silver being airbrushed Testors enamel. For gauges, I left the backing on the decals, cut them out and glued them in place with canopy glue. I find it much easier to handle them with the backing still in place.

 

 

 

[bisc63]

Absolutely gorgeous interior; actually looks inviting!

[slusher]

Great looking dash detailing, such a perfect choice on interior colors…

[Metalmad]

Looking Good !

[espo]

Great job on the interior. Even with decals getting the speedometer to look right is a pain.  

[rightrudder]

Thanks, guys! Doing the dash is my favorite part of the build. Tweezers and a magnifier are your friends, for sure. I finished the door panels this morning, painted the handles, etc. and put it all together.

A couple of observations: Man, the pedal cluster is way out of scale!! It also extends too far toward the seat, something that's really apparent when you assemble everything. Some of you building the kit may want to scratch-build another cluster, or modify the existing one. I think just cutting 25 percent off the bottom of the throttle pedal, and maybe heating/bending the brake and clutch backward would help. Oh well, pedals are not all that obvious when the model is completed.

Also, if you anchor the steering column to the little circular recess on the firewall, the steering wheel angle is too shallow., VW Microbus-like. I moved the anchor point to just above the recess, and I think it looks better.

On to the chassis!

 

 

 

[MrObsessive]

Now that interior looks TERRIFIC! 🎯

I see what you mean about the pedals..........actually the lever part of the pedals could be smaller. A closed in car like you mentioned, it won't be seen. If the time comes when I'm going to build this, I'd either scratchbuild my own levers, or thin those out a bit.

I gotta tell ya........you work fast! It would take me at least a week (or more) to get the interior together like that! I'm working on the dash of my Shelby, and it's been several days so far. I did have to do some modifying though.

[rightrudder]

36 minutes ago, MrObsessive said:

Now that interior looks TERRIFIC! 🎯

I see what you mean about the pedals..........actually the lever part of the pedals could be smaller. A closed in car like you mentioned, it won't be seen. If the time comes when I'm going to build this, I'd either scratchbuild my own levers, or thin those out a bit.

I gotta tell ya........you work fast! It would take me at least a week (or more) to get the interior together like that! I'm working on the dash of my Shelby, and it's been several days so far. I did have to do some modifying though.

Thank you, Bill! That means a lot coming from a true master like you. Your Green Hornet build is incredible in all aspects. Roll-up windows? Killer! I have your site on my Favorites list now.

I do have the benefit of being retired, so when I sit down at the hobby table, I lose all track of time and get more accomplished than I expected to. I know I have to stop and eat when the hypoglycemia kicks in, and my hands shake enough that I can't do detail painting! 

So I test-fit the bodyshell, and you're right about not seeing the pedals really well, so that is some comfort. I'm really impressed with the fit of the interior to the beltline of the greenhouse...a benefit of gluing the glass in from the outside. I really like this Moebius kit for the most part. You can see some very fine striations in the body panels from the mold, but these will disappear with some very light sanding and a coat of primer. Gotta love the Ventura's A-pillar.

 

 

 

 

 

[MrObsessive]

Douglas, I had to leave the roll-up windows on the cutting room floor on the Shelby. I'm at a point in life that I'll have to leave things like that to a larger scale. 20 years ago? Yeah I could do that all day long, but the eyes and hands ain't what they used to be as you know!

Thanks for following my page.......I'll have an update here on the Shelby in the not too distant future. 😁

[rightrudder]

Chassis is done! it went together pretty quick, as I prepped/painted most parts during breaks in putting the interior together. I like how it turned out overall, but gas tank is too heavy handed with the weathering. I think I need to paint it a darker shade initially and then I don't have to "dirty it up" as much to make it look right.

Exhaust was the most fiddly part, as usual. Instructions said to glue the frame to the pan, then glue in the engine, and then fit exhaust. I didn't realize that exhaust went underneath the transmission crossmember, and it was an extremely tight fit to cram it through there, given the bulky section that mates up with the exhaust manifold.

In the first shot, you can see the body tabs in the front wheel wells that help line everything up...very slick.

 

 

[Bronzekeg]

sweet build Douglas!

[rightrudder]

11 hours ago, Bronzekeg said:

sweet build Douglas!

Thank you, Ken. Gonna tackle the wheels and test fit the rear bumper tomorrow; front bumper fits quite well, as does the hood.

I've been working on the windshield and got a pretty decent fit by sanding to top edge down and giving it some curvature to flow into the roof better. It still sticks out above the roof, but far less than before. Looks like you have to foil the edge of the windscreen rather than the pillar.

I don't think I have the fortitude to re-work the wheels in any way...they look decent to my eye, so I'll just paint 'em up real nice.

[rightrudder]

David and Bob, you're so right about the radiator support/grille interference. When I said the front bumper fit well, that was before I had the body on the chassis!

Here's some pics detailing what's needed to remedy the situation. Dremel off those cylindrical bosses on the radiator support and carve/sand them flush. There are pins on the grille/bumper assembly that are supposed to fit in these, but it was impossible to get it to work as designed.

Then, slice off those pins and carve away on the back side of the grilles. Most material needs to come off the outboard ends, near the inner headlight buckets. You have to take quite a bit off!

Rear bumper fits very nice with pins into the body. Too bad the sprue attaches to the highly visible top side of the bumper... 😡

 

 

 

[1972coronet]

I'm unpleasantly surprised that Moebius would mount that rear bumper attachment-points-up on the runners!  

[NOBLNG]

The interior looks fabulous and the weathering job on the undercarriage is well done.👍

[rightrudder]

Thanks, Greg!

John, it surprised me too. At least the front bumper/grille is done the proper way. Since I took that pic, I cleaned up the attachment points and applied some Molotow chrome, and it looks somewhat better...

But...

I might apply a strip of BMF here. It would allow me to sand the bumper's leading edge perfectly smooth.

[rightrudder]

We have a roller! I love this point in the build.

Wheels were a little more work than I was expecting, but I think they turned out good. The chrome beauty rings are a perfect press fit into the rims; no glue required. Just get it lined up, put the wheel down on a hard surface and press it flush. I used flat aluminum for the rims, titanium silver for the finned drums and a little panel line wash for the hubcaps. Those caps didn't really sit down on the drums like they should...too much lacquer underneath that chrome on the pin?...so I shaved the pins, sanded them flush and glued them on. 

Rear bumper is much improved with a strip of BMF on top, especially since the Molotow pen is looking less like chrome these days and more like a cold solder joint!

Can't wait to get some black paint on the body, but goin' on a road trip tomorrow to visit friends.

 

 

[1972coronet]

On 3/5/2022 at 9:00 AM, rightrudder said:

I might apply a strip of BMF [ on the rear bumper's mounting points ] . It would allow me to sand the bumper's leading edge perfectly smooth.

I've used Molotow for touch-ups and blending on plated parts, and have recognised much success with that process. I've blended scuffs --mild abrasions-- on plated parts with a Molotow, and even I can't tell where the plating starts and the Molotow ends.

Judging by the quality of the rest of your work, I'm sure that whichever repair process you employ will be satisfactory.

Keep up the great work!

[rightrudder]

Thx, John! Maybe I just got a bad Molotow pen. Results were quite good when it was fresh but it has degraded. I'll get another one with my next batch of supplies.