customline

Just a thought ?...I was remembering when I got back into this stuff I watched the Don Yost video and it advocated micro-polishing the plastic before painting. I had the Tasca Thunderbolt kit that was molded in a dark red. After removing the parting lines and sprue gate nubs I tried micro-polishing the body and it polished up beautifully ?. I painted it anyway but all that was really needed was the gold on the roof. Styrene will polish up as well as paint will, maybe better. The next time I get a kit molded in color.....maybe......?

Engine looks great, Jeff. Have you decided to build it as a coupe or a roadster?

Thanks, Greg and Bob. I'll see if I can find some.

I'm certain this has been discussed many times before but searching for anything seems a waste of what little time I may have left so...I have tried to use wire that can be obtained in bulk and the thinnest material I have been able to find was sold by Radio Shack, which as you may know, disappeared some time ago. It was the only wire that would fit through the Detail Master looms but I have only two colors; a light blue and a light red and neither of them look legit. I absolutely refuse to pay the price for the stuff sold by the hobby vendors. So, if you don't do that...what do you use that will work with the PE looms and where do you get it? I have bought wire off Fleabay and gotten stuff from the People's Republic but I've run out of the good colors and I don't want to go there again for obvious reasons. AWG 30 with Tynar insulation (pictured)is about the best I've been able to find so far but I'm not really happy with it. I prefer to buy bulk because it's waaaaaaaay cheaper. Is this asking too much? ?

It's drilling ahead of time with a #76, either before or after paint, and pinning with .020 brass and CA for anything I can hold between my time-ravaged fingers. If I've got to hold it with tweezers, then it's too small to drill so the clear lacquer/enamel method or just a pin-point drop of CA works. I cannot keep a #80 drill bit for more than the time it takes to mount it in a pin vise so....anyway, all good methods above; it's just a matter of the situation that determines which one to use. The matter of proper paint prep is the foundation for non-pinned attachments though, total agreement there. CA is good for this but if you fumble with the part and slide it around, you will melt the paint. I have made more than a few messes while "free gluing" with CA on painted surfaces so it must be done (in my case anyway) with extreme focus. CA is very strong and will make an excellent bond but the tiny part should be prepped by removing plating from the mating surface because that bond is pretty weak. That's my $00.02 ?

Purple power! I love it. Testor's metallics are always a good choice, IMHO. Always had good results with their paints and I lament the death of Model Master.

Nice save on the finish, Greg. The Paint Monster is always hiding just around the corner waiting to pounce ?. He visits here now and then. Aside from the paint issue, you've turned a sow's ear of a kit into a beautiful silk purse. ?

Update Got some odds and ends out of the way. Sanding, filling small defects, etc. Need a good day for some paint work. Here's a mock-up...headlight lenses held with clear gloss lacquer, my preferred method these days. The taillight choice for this build is '39s from the '29 roadster kit ( I ? think). Not a fan of the '40 lights.

Sounds like a good plan, Jeff. I remember those multi-color kits from Monogram with super slick styrene. Ya didn't need to paint 'em. When I was 9, that was a really good thing ?. I wish I could score one at a decent price ?.

Gee, James, you can probably skip the paint and just polish that beautiful baby blue body! If you are careful when removing the parting lines and reduce grits all the way through, you can just foil it. ? it's a really nice color already.

This MoPup is looking real nice, BJ, you work fast!

There are other brands that are as good or better but the Bondo stuff has worked fine for me. I learned about it on this forum several years ago. Never went back. The hobby stuff is OK for very minor filling but not chopping tops. I will also use the thick CA with a kicker for bodywork where strength is needed and cover with the Bondo. I use Mr. Surfacer for the really small stuff. I Didn't mean to turn your thread into a tutorial but some of that odd-colored filler you are using got me stirred up. Sorry. ? S

All right then...the weather permitted me to give the big FE some color. Please don't judge ?. I figured it's a custom/hot rod so the correct color (gold?) be damned. I figured a monochrome style for this one anyway, so turquoise it is ! It's Testors Extreme Lacquer which usually dries pretty fast, but not so much yesterday. Temp was around 60 and the RH was 65%. Less than ideal but not bad. I keep a hair dryer handy but even with that it was a bit slow. I know, it looks like a Pontiac. Arrows point to changes I made to (hopefully) improve this urine-impoverished rendition of a Ford 390. I'm not sure what to do about the oil filter. ? I suppose I could use the bee hive that came with the kit ? Got some primer on it to see where the bad stuff is and, as predicted, there was some. I wet-sanded with 600 and a bit of Dawn and revealed a number of areas needing attention. I've gotta say this is the best chop that I have done so far. In this case of a mild chop (maybe 3"), restoring the drip rails was a very good idea. It gives the chop the look of having been professionally done and not a back-yard hack job. I thank those of you who encouraged me to do so. It was not difficult and well worth the effort. It took me about a half hour. Time well spent. ? Chopping a pre-war coupe like this isn't as difficult as I once thought. The glass is flat and easy to fabricate. Glass is a big problem with cars of the '50s. Those deeply curved backlites and wrap-around windshields can be very frustrating. Trying to chop the kit windshield on, let's say, a '55 Chevy may prove to be an exercise in futility. It can be done but the result won't be pretty. But I digress. ? nthe arrows point to the added water neck, replacement oil filler tube, and replacement distributor. OK, it still needs work.? question: what do you use for ignition wires? these arrows point to my next tasks. I will probably paint the low spots with Mr. Surfacer and the parting lines on the front fenders should be just a sanding job. Those were invisible to me before priming, a sign of advanced age. There are also some minor fixes on the B pillars to be done. Maybe later. ?

It's good to dig into those stalled projects and see them in a new light. ?. Have you considered using Bondo professional glazing putty (the two part type) ? It really speeds up the filling process and it doesn't shrink. Seems like just the thing for this job.

I get confused, now and then, and need to go back and re-read this stuff. I find things that I missed. The thing I missed was that the headlight donor was the AMT kit, which I have not experienced since I built it as a child back around 1963. All I remember about it was that it was molded in black. I was thinking the Merc kit you've been raiding was the Revell kit. ☺️. I'm relieved ?. I still deeply regret having passes up buying the chopped merc kit, which was on clearance at the local Michael's some years ago. I had built that kit once and knew what a great kit it was but then Wifey said "why would you want another one? " ?. My response was weak and seemingly illogical, as I recall. For anyone reading this, some advise: Don't pass on any kit that's on clearance. Period. (I did come away, that day, with the AMT 70 impala in the big, flat box that was also on clearance, and which I still have not built because I stole the Rat motor out of it ?. )

Yeah, looks great with those bezels. Maybe the when you build the Merc you can just tunnel the headlights, since you used the Frenched bezels on this one. I tunneled the lights on my Plymouth. Don't recall exactly what I used but I may have modified the stock buckets and dropped them in from behind.

I like what you did with the headlights because the stock units are kinda ugly. I really like this kit, it's a nice departure from the usual and a lot can be done with it. I built one of these as a custom and one as a gasser. I am eager to see where this one goes!

Yup. You got it. Exactly. The trans tunnel is still not a thing yet but it's on the docket. The interior floor has been cut to accommodate the 390s tyranny. Just need to find an old wheel barrow to cover it. I went ahead and bisected the kit floor, added "beads" to the tub bottom to approximate the floor that was eliminated. I added a heavy member (yellow arrow) to the rear of the tub to catch the trunk floor/wheel wells part. It would be very difficult (maybe impossible) to install the tub and rear floor section as an assembly so I have set it up to be installed into the body tub first, then trunk floor. A device will be created to clean up the joint (red arrow). I really like this kit for the full width floor (the tub bottom). I built the stock version as a "mild" hot rod with stock rear suspension and the kit flathead ( the dark red car.) I will very likely build it at least one more time; maybe as an early west coast tail-dragger.

I tend to under-think this stuff. I'm gonna hack this puppy and then see how it fits. Real back-yard. The interior floor will rest neatly on the frame with no " extra styrene" in the way. I can hide the separation with a "blinder". I only use math when I'm on the Hobbylinc site. Seriously though, the rear wheel wells will be glued into the body behind the interior tub and some sort of method will be used to conjoin them. Then that assembly will sit on the frame an eency-bit lower. I'll roll some beads on the tub and call it a day. Anything else rears it's ugly head, I can fix with Evergreen, CA and a Dremel Micro. ?

Slight update....and a question It took all of about 3 minutes to make the plating disappear from my 390. Yay. ? Why do I need the bottom floorboard of the passenger compartment except for the bead roll detail? It just raises the body a mm or two more than is needed... I know how to roll beads ?. Nurse! RAZOR SAW! (LAUGH)

You can call it anything you want, Dennis! Let's call it a 406! I can't.... I'm stuck with a 390 ? That's some super detailing on that 427, Dennis! (Ya gotta think of re-sale) ?

Yeah, Roger, I get it. Trying to deal with the self-imposed issues of the firewall/trans tunnel/ floorboard has been labor intensive because of the way the whole thing is configured. A lot of temporary "tack-ups" with CA because tape won't work, etc. It's easier to do a little body work for the wheel thing but not until the other issues are sorted and the body/chassis relationship is finalized. It may not be necessary at all. ?

Thanks for your interest, Dennis, the wheel thing sneaked up on me and the "right way" to fix it is a little impractical at this time so yeah, doing a little body work will be much easier. Roger did it right (the white chassis) and I hope he shows us more of that build.. That rusty 1:1 is evidently a composite picture, probably created to visualize imagined or planned mods to the car. It's quite an inspiration. The chrome 390 from the AMT '34 pickup is a real dog and I am spending a lot of time on it to, hopefully, make it look legit. Needless to say, it was not the best choice for this project but I wanted to be "original" (and I'm probably not.) Using the 390 forced a firewall re-do and getting all that's involved sorted out is critical for the stance I'm trying to achieve. It's impossible to get a good photo of it but I'll be de-chroming it soon so I can complete it and post the pix.

I love the nailhead. It makes perfect sense with that body and those wheels/tires. Yes, I suppose I could move the axle/crossmember but also the middle one as well. And make a new drive shaft. I don't know if it would be worth the time and effort. I'll need to mull it over. After a few do-overs that inevitably are necessary with most of my projects, I lose my enthusiasm and it could end badly ? . This one has been a problem on a few fronts. Your suggestions are nevertheless valued and, if I leave things as they are, the next time this issue finds me I will be ready. I appreciate your input, Roger......What do you think about tweeking the rear fenders a bit? I think I can do that without it being obvious and only we will know ?.

I guess if you consider the original purpose of fenders, the whole point was to keep road debris from flying in your ( or someone else's ) face, especially during the rainy season. It would seem the esthetics weren't terribly important since the fenders accomplished their task. Once the designers started skirting the fenders, they probably should have been a bit more focused. Anyway, it's a detail that I will henceforth be aware of when in the early mock-up stages, especially if modifying stance and ride height.