customline

I only use Molotow as is, from the pen,, on chrome touch-up(bumpers, etc) and for small details, I pump a little out on something non-porous and use an appropriate size brush. I have arthritic hands and my eyes have floaters that drive me crazy; you can do it, Bob ?.

Yup, Roger that. The detail is insane and the paint work is breathtaking. The off- beat sedan/family car idea is not seen very often in scale. It's quite refreshing ?

For that really small stuff like handles and those little stars I stopped trying to foil and just use my extreme fine brush and Molotow chrome ink. And magnification. And decaf.?

I've done all that Greg, but a day or two later it will look wrong. It could be my eyes ?. I pin everything with brass wire that can fall off or get knocked off. I have used wire to align mirrors, headlights, etc...if I can drill it, it gets pinned. I've broken all my good #80s, #79s,78s, etc...so now I use #75 and thick CA. I need a good set of bits ? .Gotta spend the money.

I was relying too much on the emoji to do the job, a little too subtle...but your response was in line. No worries.

Amen.

I was trying to be funny, Mike. That's the part I hate. I can never get them looking in the same direction. I'd love to get a lesson on that. ?

What they said, Bob, ditto to all of it. Can't wait to see it in foil. ?

A little progress.....loosely mocked up. Fabbed up K-member, finished "tubbing" job. Moving right along ? I still have a lot of body work ahead and need to work out some steering . Time to paint the frame and move the engine along, detail and such. Oh, and make ladder bar anchors. I don't get why my pix get out of order. Just know that they are not ?

No sweat....I'd never heard of it before this. I searched it. There's a good picture of one back in this thread on page 1- its a 1:1 drag car of some description.

Hey, Mike, I see you haven't mounted the headlights yet.?

Oooo.....great idea! I did that to make seat belts but never thought beyond that. ?. Nice Pontiac, Tommy.. Can't understand why they stopped making them.

Brief update: made room for slicks that were a little too wide. More later tonight. Maybe ?oops too much....measure twice, cut once ?after its painted, it'll be fine?I used .015 sheet but .010 would've been better. There will be a little adjustment on the body or the modification due to the quick and sloppy work. None of it will show (I hope)? It all gets sewed up with thick CA and speed-up juice. The fender component will sit a bit lower on the chassis but after I radius the wheel openings, it should look pretty good. I could add some material to get back to original height but I sorta wanna have it lower. Thanks for your Interest!....and your good humor. ?

Good question, Dave, but it's the head and cover from the same kit. The head was cut off the '37 block and the Fisher conversion from the '51 was "installed". There is a bit of overhang but it's the head/block where it can be seen. The actual 1:1 cover is a 2 piece affair so the lifter adjustment could be done without getting oil all over the engine. Pretty cool, huh?

Yeah, Bob, they engineered this thing right. Frankly, I was surprised ? and delighted ? when I reached that point. It's a pretty good kit. Very good, in fact. I'll grab 'em when I can get 'em cheap. I love the body style. Always have. I had a sister that was 5 years older and she was seeing a guy who's father ran a body shop. This kid drove a '53 or '54 hardtop that had been modified by cutting the roof off and providing a means of bolting it on. So if you wanted a convertible, you were committed. If it rained.....you had to get it home in a hurry. Your paint job looks great, I'm eager to see the finished car. ?

Just to belabor the point about the trim channels, I've sprayed so much primer on this thing, I'm sanding those channels and cleaning out the panel lines after every coat now.

I didn't like the look of the phony continental kit. If they'd provided an aftermarket full Connie kit with the extended splash pan and bumper brackets, I would have used it. The "stuck-on-the-back" look just looks bogus. Skirts are nice but the factory skirts are pretty minimal. I have a '54 in my garage (albeit in pieces) and all the skirts do is promote rust around the wheel openings. If it ever sees the road again it will be sans skirts. ? But, of course, we don't need to worry about that with styrene ?

I built one and sprayed it from a rattle can and it all fit good. Just go easy on the CA

As long as you kept the coats of paint to a reasonable thickness you should be good but if you have used many coats of primer like I have done on a custom job, you would need to sand those channels down to reduce the thickness of the paint. You probably already know this, Bob, but there may be others reading this who may not. I believe this is a popular kit and, well, I feel compelled to point it out. ?

Yeah, I kinda agree about the exhaust but the styling of that thing is breathtaking. It has an obvious roof swap and the overall look is just totally new. It's a brave move and the hot rod style exhaust married to a smooth kustom look is mind bending and I would really love to build a replica of it. The '39 Chevy isn't like my fave body style but this guy found a way to make it beautiful.

Naaahhhhhh, no good.? made a new axle from some more junk around here and this one is the one ?. OK, got the stance good, I'm happy with it and, ultimately, that's what counts ☺️. The axle is more in line with scale though it would be about 2.5 inches diameter in 1:1 for 1:24. A bit heavy but not beyond my ability to imagine welding it up with available material in the garage ....well, use your imagination ? Thanks for looking.

That's not dirty. Look below. This is dirty. ?

I'm glad I started this thread. The comments and photos are both helpful and inspirational. There is really great work being displayed here. I have thought that my hand painting is pretty fair but a sprayed finish looks much better if the masking is done well. I will take every bit of advice seriously and try the different methods expressed by all of you. Many thanks! If you wish, this is a good thread to further display interior work, I am enjoying it.

OK, new front axle closer to scale, from the AMT 37 chevy using the 39 springs. Need to cut a little clearence for the slicks inside the fender wells. More body work tomorrow to smooth out the rough stuff. thanks for looking.

Bob, I looked at the whitewall inserts in my kit and determined that the relief is too low, at least on the ones i have, to be of any use. i tried to bring out the lettering with craft paint and couldnt do ____ with it. i have built 2 of these and had not even noticed the lettering. how about sanding off the lettering and hit them with some flat white and call it a day? i cant say i have ever seen white walls with raised lettering.