Bathtub Buggy Build

[Farmboy]

Figured I would share this wip here for anyone interested.  I acquired this (glue bomb) kit from a friend of mine, swapped a kit for it.  In my haste to begin disassembly  I neglected to take any photos of it, however, here's the box o' parts after the fact, and before the Purple bath

...and a loose mockup of the model after bathing

Additional 'chrome' pieces are in the bag behind the model.  The orange  pieces are from ye olde parts box, disc brakes front and rear.  Anyway, a few ideas are on the back burner.  

Comments and observations welcome.

[iBorg]

I'll be watching. I'm curious as to what you'll do for decals.

[Farmboy]

Mike, decals were non existent with this model, but you know, I saw one build where the tub was flamed and I thought I actually liked it better.   I'll be making a few changes to the model as it progresses and have no firm plans for the tub finish, may even just leave it white.  We'll see what happens.  

Edited September 7 by Farmboy

[Farmboy]

Continuing on, I've  decided not to try to imitate the actual car but rather do my own interpretation of it, while at the same time trying a new technique or two.  

The first thing I've done is removed the transmission tunnel.  Then, I drilled all the mounting holes thru the chassis.  The plan is to lay painters (or other) tape on the top side and drilling thru the tape.  This will leave me an accurate map of where holes should be placed on the surface by simply dotting the tape hole with a Sharpie.

This was the original idea.  Go gold.   I got the tiles, both chrome and gold, from the Dollar Store.  They're glass, and, no matter how may techniques I tried to trim a square, they're so small, and the glass so.....fragile....it was all but impossible to cut an angle.

Then, I got an idea.  In the photo below there's a piece of adhesive chrome vinyl, a couple of glass squares, and a strip of styrene.  As it turns out, the vinyl matches the chome mirror tiles.  So, I stuck a glass square on the styrene, cut the styrene to match using a single edge razor blade for a close cut, removed the glass square, and stuck a piece of chrome vinyl to the styrene.  Now it was a simple matter of cementing the styrene piece to the chassis, and trimming to fit

 

...and this is what I ended up with.  Notice the angle cuts on the left

here's a mock up view of the chrome and gold layout 

That's it for now.

Comments and observations welcome.

 

[Farmboy]

 

As the axle ends are pretty well out in the open, I thought a bit of detail would be appropriate.  Nothing contest grade or over the top for the rest of the kit, just a bit of texture.  I began with slicing off the 'spindle' ends from the one piece all included axle part.  

Found a piece of brass rectangle the right size for the job.  I sliced off a section, and, following that, sliced that piece in to two equal "c" sections which I then slid over the two vertical pivots.  At the same time, I removed the tie rod.

...and here's the completed mod, everything touched up with gold paint.  I added 4 slices of small diameter rod to simulate bolt/nut assemblies top and bottom, backing plates, and small beads for both the tie rod and still-to-come steering link to attach to.  There's enough texture and shadow in there to please most people.

this is a mockup of how the disc brake will sit in the wheel that will be attached to the backing plate

....and a mockup of the mockup

 

Comments and observations welcome.

[stavanzer]

NIce Work, on a seldom seen Showrod.

I like the upgrades!

[Farmboy]

Thanks much for the shout out stavanzer! 

[Farmboy]

A sad side note. The man I swapped kits with for this build died suddenly Sept 3 from cancer. Gordie T. was 66. I last saw him a couple of weeks previous

[Farmboy]

The more I looked at the first attempt at the mirror floor tiles, the more they didn't look right.  I tried to convince myself the tiles were as good as they were going get, but I had to try again.  I was caught up in the process so I don't have a shot of the completed redo, but I do have a pic at the beginning of the floor replacement.  I removed one side of the floor tiles, skimmed on a thin coat of scratch filler and sanded to a level surface.  I was surprised just how out of level the tiles were without.  I'll post a shot of the completed chassis when I reach that point but for now here's the first side getting leveled, the other three sectors of tiles have yet to be removed.  Also, I had applied a few coats of clear to the first attempt to help with the leveling process.  I won't be doing that again.

The biggest standout of the kit imho, and the one I like the least, is the radiator shroud.  It's a good idea, but why is it flared?  The original isn't, it's squared  Even in the late 60's, I can't believe this was an injection molding hangup.  So, onward and upward.  I began by scoring the inside and removing the solid face of the unit.  It will be replaced with screening (my favorite is from a grease splatter screen, it's cheap and has much more integrity than windows screen) for a bit of detail.  I'll find a rad in the parts box.

|Here's what bugs me and looks so.....contrived.  I'll be cutting and squaring up the 4 angled sides.

Comments and observations welcome.

[peteski]

The flaring is a draft angle needed to be able to eject the part from the mold. It does seem a bit steep, but who knows what the designer was thinking.  Yes, it coudl have been made without the angle but the mold would have been more complex.

I wasn't a fan if the mirror tiles either. They were too thick (and because they were transparent, you could see the out-of-scale thickness).  I'm sure you'll come up with something more appropriate.  Maybe just flocking (although wall-to-wall carpeting in a bathroom seems impractical)? Or just make some opaque tiles from  thin styrene, paint them gloss white and black (or any other contrasting colors), then arrange them in a checkerboard pattern?

[Farmboy]

3 hours ago, peteski said:

... but who knows what the designer was thinking.  Yes, it coudl have been made without the angle but the mold would have been more complex.

Peteski, it is what it is. I'm probably the only person on the planet that sees it as minor annoyance. Maybe 'cause  played with too much Lego when I was a kid. 

 

I'm pleased with the second attempt at using the tiles. I credit my sloppy work the first time around for my unease with it.  I'll post after I get it up on wheels.  I believe there's enough going on topside to eliminate the stark aircraft carrier flight deck appearance. 

Thanks for your comments and observations, much appreciated. 

[Farmboy]

The front and rear spring assemblies are not necessary to have a rolling base as the axles get cemented to the chassis.  I'm doing this before adding wheels because I know myself and, well, I wouldn't want to let this slide as there are a couple of things needing correction.  Firstly, the springs only show leaf detail on the outside. The inside surfaces on all 4 spring assembles are blank on the inside faces.  Springs are easy enough to build.  I scored my spring material from a sheet of styrene.  I used dividers to get the length of each one, cleaned up each leaf and used liquid cement for assembly.  I'll finish with the spring straps and plate details later on.  But this is not the only reason I chose to rebuild the springs.

 

The kit parts for the front lights are simple one piece affairs, but not accurate.  It has the shock absorber being a part of the light stand, connected to the spring.  Yowza.  I've only seen one or two photos that have hinted at how they are really done.  Here's my imagineering take on it.  Looking at the spring assembly in the photo above, I'll be moving the 'eye' on the spring about 1/8" forward.  The frame eye on the bottom stays, but a new one is added, again, about 1/8" forward.  The spring and new eye on the frame section will be the new mounts for a new more detailed shock absorber.    The real machine looks to have a separate shock mount mounted to the frame, dropping down to support the shock's bottom.  I'm content with my version. The existing frame eye will anchor the light.  But that's not the end of it.  The shots I've seen seem to suggest that a horizontal support piece goes from the light stand and bolts to the side of the radiator shroud.  There may even be two per light, but I'll stick with one. Neat. 

Comments and observations welcome.