customline

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. 🙁

That's a first rate '40, Jeremy. That's a really good thing you've done for your dad. I wish I had done that for mine.

My missing '40 standard grille caused a bit of chaos for me, Bil. Since it did reappear, I'm thinking it was just my advanced age manifesting.

I'm thinking maybe I should make it a regular thing. Thanks, Brian.

Yup. Oh and....uh...sorry I blamed your squirrels, Bil. I panicked. 🥴

Oh yeah....it was in the box that I looked in at least three times. 💩

Another midnight session. I moved the front cross member forward to get the wheels where they belong. I also raised it a bit to get the nose lower. It's not permanent yet but I like it. The red arrows show locating "helpers" to tack up the cross member. They'll be removed after I weld it up. That it. Nighty night 😴 Oh yeah....I found it in the box that I searched 3 or 4 times. 💩

Could you use this? 👇

This experiment necessitated bashing an Ebay prize plus two new kits. It wasn't supposed to be that way but you can't always see exactly what you are getting with an Ebay purchase. So now I have some "leftovers" that I feel should be used to build at least one more '40 Ford. Rather than start a new thread, I'm just posting the results of today's efforts here. I'm using the Revell body and interior and the AMT chassis along with it's corresponding suspension and running gear. There is a small discrepancy in length and it affects the front suspension and bumper brackets. I plan to use the dropped axle which I have pinned in place for now. The front cross member needs to be moved forward a bit to center the wheels. There will be some issues concerning the engine positioning too. I removed the molded u-bolt detail on the top of the rear spring. This allowed it to snuggle up a bit more into the cross member. I drilled the spring and added a styrene dowel, utilizing the already present hole in the center of the cross member to center it while the work goes on. The Revell interior floor includes a drive shaft tunnel and the AMT chassis has the tunnel also and it interferes with the interior floor. I removed the chassis tunnel and that solved the problem. The only mod to the body is opening the slots for the rear bumper brackets. The body will need to be patched there. The front brackets will need to be extended or replaced with longer ones. Maybe I will eliminate bumpers altogether. I have not decided where to take this one but chopping is always on the table and I want to try a different approach to the hood hinge. My biggest challenge at this point is finding the grille. I had it in my hand a day or two ago and now it has gone missing. I fear one of Bil's squirrels may have taken it or it has passed through a space-time portal and is now several light-years away. These things happen. This blew me away. Everything looks like it belongs. The running board detail is superior to the AMT so that's a win. I plan to scratch the steering detail with more-in-scale material and remove the molded-in exhaust. The front metal axle will be replaced with short aluminum tubing pieces. Thanks for checking in! 🤓

I'm liking this a lot! Big improvement! 👍

That's an easy one to make. It's the wiring that's tough. 😂

Hey! That's not fair ☹

I read somewhere that you must not add the thinner to the paint bottle. I hope you didn't do that, Bil. If you are trying to thin the thickened paint for detail brushing, thin a small amount on an appropriate surface ( I use my Trelegy tins 😵). The Testor's airbrush "thinner" ( I believe it is enamel reducer) will do quite well but don't thin the whole bottle or it will harden up on you after a time, according to the unknown author. For airbrushing, when you get around to it, what others have said is valid but I have noticed lately the ubiquitous Kleen Strip brand (they brag about being #1) seems to have been reformulated and does weird things with certain color paints so I quit using it. I now use the Mr. Hobby thinners for airbrush and clean everything with acetone (yup - Kleen Strip brand. That's all I can get around here)

It's a nice detail, Len. Darn Fords. 👿

It's stuck to the lid of the paint jar. When you find it, I'm sure we would all love to see it, Len. Not an easy scratch in 1:25.

I say paint the frame satin black (or rust)with a brush and leave the body as is. Skeletonize the interior add a '40 steering wheel and Navajo blanket. Paint a number on the door with a brush in white and find a rusty old flathead. And lose the vent wings, slant the windshield back 10 degrees and scratch some long side pipes.😀........or not 🙁 Oh, and a set of stock wires off of a '34. 😉

It's not the time I don't have.

They wont let me shoot them here, Len.

Thank you, sir. I try not to photograph the bad stuff. 😉

It was a smooth finish, Carl, but only on the driver side. I had to wet-sand the whole thing and I need to give it more coats with some decanted paint through my ancient Wren. Hopefully it will be smooth on both sides. 😎