epi4561

Ok, It's been a while since my last update. I've been doing a lot of one step forward, two steps back,but I finally feel I'm on the right track. If you recall my last post....... Well, there was another slight change. I used a soda can and a dremel and alot of patience, and finally came up with this. It's not perfect, but I think it looks good when in the dash with all of the components in place. What do you guys think?

Absolutely Incredible!!! You have major skill.

Sorry Andy, that's my bad. Thanks Gabriel, I will have to check that out. you wouldn't happen to know his name, would you? thanks-garry

Hi all, I am looking for a speedo for the trumpeter '60 Bonnie Conv. The Model kit came with waterslide decals and the PE kit I bought came with transparencies. Now, keeping in form with the build so far, I have totally destroyed the waterslide decal, and lost the transparency. so I am looking for anyone who might have a spare they can part with. I've even tried creating the speedo graphic and printing it out, but making it that small leaves no, I mean NO, detail at all. It looks like a black stripe with a few white dots here and there. thanks-garry

I'm experimenting using wood putty. Ok, I've never done any flocking as of yet and I'm cheap. I'm not willing to buy flocking if I'm not good at applying it, so I've come up with an alternative solution... err maybe. I've taken some wood putty and mixed in some paint and got it to the color I want. then I spread it out on a flat sheet of plastic or anything smooth and let it dry. Once dry, I scrape it up and crumble/smash/etc... it in to fine powder. then I have a fine powder in the color I want. I haven't compared it to actual flocking but, I think it could have some use...

Well, I thoroughly destroyed the gauge bezel from the PE kit and the bezel from the model kit is not very accurate. So it looks like i'll have to combine the two.

I hadn't thought of that.. but after I read this I went on Ebay and found an interior from an old AMT '60 bonneville kit for $9/free shipping.. I'm gonna have to do some cutting and shaping on it but it shouldn't be anywhere where there's much detail. I'm soooo excited.

Thanks, I appreciate it.. I have filed and filled and filed and filled for some time.. It seemed like when one problem got fixed, another one popped up. I just got to the point where enough was enough; and said I'm not gonna get it any better. And, most importantly, my Dad will be thoroughly pleased with it and not really notice any of the imperfections anyway. Now, having said that, If I were to do this over again, I would have taken a completely different approach which I guarantee would look 100 times better. I just had too much time and effort invested in it to start over. thanks again.

I'm not totally satisfied with the result so far, so I think I'm going to sdd some piping around the different patterns. I already have the tiny holes drilled. Hopefully this adds the kind of detail I'm hoping for.

I'm not sure if this will help your situation or not, but I've noticed that krylon fusion does not like to be top-coated. I've tried putting krylon triple thick crystal clear over the fusion and it wound up cracking. I'm not sure if it is specific to that combination or if anything put on top of the fusion will crackle. Either way, it's definitely another avenue that can be explored. Good luck.

After quite some time away from this project, I managed to get a little work done on the seats. As you can see by the pics, I still need to do some clean up, but for my first "custom" work I'm happy with the progress so far. Sorry for the huge pics, I can't seem to figure out how to make a small image click to the full size image while staying on the forum,(rather than going to photobucket) Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pics.

Wow... I never even thought of the possibility of this happening. I just thought an exhaust fan was an exhaust fan. I have an extra range hood exhaust fan that I was gonna make a spray booth with, but I may reconsider now. Thanks, you guys may have just saved me and my family's lives. It's like those little adverts we used to see on NBC "The More You Know..."

I've done pretty much all of that and it has kinda worked. I haven't tried the heating/cooling technique yet. Will that help shrink the metal? It seems that the area I have been rolling out has stretched a bit. Is there a way to shrink it back down a bit.. I'm almost to the point where I am considering cutting out a tiny section and soldering it back together to remove the slack.. Thanks guys for the input and I will try these techniques out a bit further.

Does anybody have any tips, ideas, suggestions on how to fix PE pieces that somehow got creased or wrinkled in an area where it is supposed to be flat? I am working with PE for the first time and one of the pieces got wrinkled and I am having a "heck" of a time trying to straighten it back out. any help is greatly appreciated..

Dude.... This is some insane work you are doing. You have a talent here that is second to NONE!!!! I am not intelligent enough to properly word how incredible this really is. I am in complete awe.... Thank you for sharing.

OMG. You're killing me. I love the foil detail and the seats are AWESOME!!!

That's funny... As I was looking at the progress of this build (Absolutely amazing build, by the way...) I couldn't stop thinking Belmaro Z28. A 57 Chevy Belmaro Z28 has a nice little ring to it. IMO.. Once again, Absolutely amazing...

OMG!!!! getting very frustrated. I get the parts painted all nice. I get the proper adhesives for the proper applications. and ALWAYS..... when it comes to assembling the windows and details etc.... I get smudges on the windows, my fingers all of a sudden start sticking to the body and leave fingerprints, and small parts like the rear view mirror and side view mirrors always seem to find a way to come unattached. It just seems that no matter what precautions I take, something always happens to mess something up. Does anybody have any suggestions that may be helpful in eliminating such things from happening (and/or any other finishing tips that could be helpful)? thanks... just needed to vent.

Glad the site's back... have several pics that I've been wanting to post. Starting with some engine/drivetrain pics: And here are a few interior pics. Here you can see the gauge lenses haven't "fully" dried yet. I know it's not the quality of most of you guys on here, but it's a start. I hope you enjoy BTW, My son's pretty much dropped out of the project at this point...

I was referring to the sizes/types of plastic. strips,tubing,channel, etc.. Say for scratch building a frame, or a roll cage. What would you guys consider essential?

Thanks guys for the compliments... Ya, my boys 9 and is everything about cars and Selena Gomez. (He just loves that girl) Anyway, he has recently started "customizing" some of his hot wheels with Sharpies (coloring in the head/tail lights etc...) which offers him more immediate results. Unfortunately, he has inherited my ADD, and the whole model building process is a bit too much at times and he goes off to play Xbox. So I too will be doing most of this build it seems... thanks again.

just a box stock build. nothing special, except that it's my 9yr old's favorite car and his first "non snap kit" build (with a little help from dad... lol). Anyway, here are some pics to get things going. Thanks for looking, hope you enjoy. a couple body shots in primer: his favorite color is green, so off to the local hs to get some Testors One Coat Lacquer Mystic Emerald: sent from my android, hopefully it looks ok.

Ok, this is a question for all of you seasoned customizers out there. If you were to put together a plasti-struct/evergreen starter kit for an up and coming customizer, what would your kit have in it?

That is looking real sharp!!!!! I love that color. As far as the taillights go, I think you should build taillight assy's that fit flush into the rear fender points and leave the trunk area alone. Just my $.02 anyway.

How depressing.... I can't even figure out how to put a custom front clip on an old t-bird. Anyway, this is very impressive work. I'm watching with great interest.