customline

Oh lord, that's amazing. 😮..................😂

Clean as a bottom? What? Is that some weird Canadian saying? 🤣....oh boy....😂

No, Lenny, I'm okay on the top, but I'd love to hear the story about what that's all about 🥴.

Exactly! What do you think about a total shave? Zero chrome? A worthy experiment? Lets put it to a vote! And while we're at it, chop or no chop? 😀

There will be no Dumbo on this trunk lid, Bil. I promise. The solenoids are on order from J. C. Whitney. 🤣😂😄. I removed the bumpers, Bil, so it's already a custom! 🥴

Today I thought I would try my hand at carb linkage but it's not finished so....you'll have to wait on that. Anyway, I decided to go bumperless. I filled the bracket slots with styrene and shaped. I also figured I should install door solenoids. 😉 And I trimmed the front wheels a bit more to get the tires a little more clearance. And then I couldn't resist another mock-up. Shown is the modified "big fat AMT axle" in place. You can see the added cross member necessary to mount the "custom" radiator in its new location. This swap necessitated quite a lot of mods to make it work... but it does work. I'm glad I didn't just box it all up. I'm having fun with it. 🙂 This is as much clearance as I dare. If I cut the axle sockets any shorter, the wheels will fall off during subsequent mock-ups and we don't want that 🤨. The '39 Deluxe and '40 Standard Fords look much better, I'm my humble opinion, without a bumper in the front, especially with a nice nose dive. I drilled small holes to mark locations of tail lights and the gas cap. The door hinges are a hindrance to sanding and polishing and I am considering their removal. Some customizers convert to hidden hinges so I can point to that to justify my elimination of those awful things. WDYT?

Yeah, me too. 🤔

I was just adjusting that track and I remembered that I had not answered that question. The answer is I don't know. I did not compare them but I find almost all kits seem to have that issue to some degree. For this bash, I have cut the sockets down on the front wheels to get them in more and I'm still not happy with it so I'll try to bring them in a bit more. More on this later, Len.

Hey. Who knows? Looks like a good thing. I can't do it, it's just too small.

Yeah, I should apply for a patent 😉 Oh, no, they are Amazon delivery drivers carrying boxes in front of them and balancing packages on their heads. Nope again, Len. I just shoot from the hip on stuff like this but I might add some cooling fins like the Eddie Meyer unit I suppose I could have bought some 3D resin thing but in the end who really cares? It will probably end up in a land-fill in New Jersey in a few years.

Be patient, Bil. You're still young. Maybe you could find some way to kill brain cells like I have. 🤪 In other news.... The modified floor My method of assuring a true-ish axle alignment. Then I remove the middle and apply reinforcing CA. Those ugly slots were filled with scrap styrene. The knee shock actuators were removed and tube shocks will be adapted These flatheads were glue-bomb acquisitions. Spent the better part of a day struggling with getting one acceptable. Still have a way to go on that. I think of these two as "the girls". Found 'em hiding in my "small chrome engine stuff cache" The new Offy heads, resin pre-drilled distributor, and custom aluminum radiator. The stock radiator is too wide to fit in a farther forward location. Here's the girls "in situ." The hood closes, I checked. 😌 That's a custom cast aluminum high rise manifold from "Jimbo's Hot Rod Engineering Works". Whomever glued that generator in place used so much glue that it melted the bottom of it. Less is more, children. Today I should work on a hood hinge. Maybe. But those holes have got to be closed up. 😖

It's nice to know I'm not alone in my memory loss. This is why they don't let me drink. 🥴

Yeah... it's like "gee, I don't remember doing this" 🤔.....😅

Lenny's pink elephant 👇 🤣😉😅🤪😂😊😄😁

Yeah I'm guilty of that too. I miss important stuff when I'm focused on some particular thing. I'm sure we all do that to some degree. In fact, 😩 I did it today!

The Revell has pins that fit in holes at the frame/floor interface. It's easy to not engage them upon final assembly. Is that what happened? The Revell boards have support bracket detail where the AMT boards do not. That bothers me. The current issue of the AMT coupe shows its age everywhere although the chrome trees are somewhat respectable. I got the one I'm using at Ollie's for 13 bucks - that's gotta tell you something. Cool greenish glass and nice decal sheet, though.....if you like Coca Cola. 😉 My Revell coupe. A squirrel took the right side handle and has yet to return it. I should have shaved that ugly-a$$ trunk handle.

Don't go crazy looking, Len. I don't want to take you off your game.....on the other hand, you may find that solenoid 😅

Yeah, Bil, I guess the fun is really in the work. The actual activity of making the thing in your hands. I think it becomes more important after retirement. Especially if you worked with your hands all your life. Okay, enough of this. I've got an engine to build 🤓

I imagine you already know why I need this, right?

Yeah....I often wonder if it's a waste of time; just ego tripping. 🧐 I can't help but think that all you really need is a great paint job and the rest goes unnoticed by most observers. This is probably why I don't bother with "under glass". All the work is in these WIP threads. Paint is a matter of chance most of the time. I bought a $180 Iwata a year and a half ago and it's never touched paint. I'm scared to use it.

If I ever do this swap again, Bob, I would save the Columbia axle for a lakes roadster/coupe and possibly use the AMT banjo in the Revell chassis - it's good enough for that. If you like the AMT body better, keep in mind how the bottom looks. The detail on the bottom of the Revell is superior to the recent AMT kit. Maybe an older issue is better, I don't know. You would end up with a nice frame/suspension/drive train but bland floor pan/ running boards. I don't know if the proportions and contours compare on the bodies but there is a slight difference in length. It's all here 🥴....well, most of it.

Tonight's task was eliminating the molded-in exhaust on the AMT chassis and replacing the removed material with styrene sheet. Below is two hours with P E saws, Tamiya scribing tool, and a 1/2" chisel blade. After making the front cross member permanent, I drilled small holes to establish the layout of the cuts which was done from the top side of the chassis starting with scribing. I finished the cuts with a P E saw and finally the knives and files to clean up the cuts. The tail pipe was removed with a 1/2" chisel blade. There was a notch in the right rail that had to be filled and also at the intersection of the rear cross member, a small piece of Evergreen was blended into the frame where the tailpipe was removed. The space I created between the frame rails was filled with .030 sheet and secured with CA. The beading in the floor pan is extremely small and the entire floor will need new beads. That's it for now, thanks for your interest. 😴 Incidently, I checked the instruction sheet to learn what the notch on the right rail was for and there was no trace of it. I did notice, though, a detail showing how to install the exhaust system- the separate exhaust system. Huh? 😲

Hey, Bil, what's the current price of a catalog from R & M and how do I get it? Does he have a store front? I could probably drive there in 4 hours or less.

Not yet. 🙃 BTW....you wouldn't happen to have a glue-bomb '37 Chevy coupe in your junkyard, would you? It just needs to be sound from the belt line up. 😏 I only need the roof, nothing else.

Thanks, Greg. I'm liking it enough to spend some extra time on it. It was just a way to not have all that good material languishing in a box but I'm enthused now. I did a mild chop on a '40 coupe so maybe I'll go with a bit more for this one but I kinda like it the way it is. The AMT kit comes with nice Keystones ( a favorite of mine 🙂) so I'll do a mock-up with those too. Then there's the question of the motor. 🤔 maybe the kit nailhead but I have a 352 all finished, waiting for a car. I saw a beeeeyouteeful black '40 standard coupe cross my path last week at a red light. It was "Oh look! A '40 coupe!" And wifey was like "Whah? So?" It's difficult sometimes. 🙁