dmk

Sweet Scooby! Really nice weathering too.

Thanks David! I'll have to keep your tip in mind for next time. I was just using what I had on hand this time. I always love when I can find some use for all that sprue that normally gets thrown out (though I always save the long straight pieces for scratch building and stirring sticks)

Moving on to the interior... I started with the dark gray panels and components. These got a shot of Tamiya Nato Black. It was a little tricky to mask these areas, but I used some Tamiya Tape for the large panels and some poster tack for the trickier areas. A toothpick carved into a chisel shape was used to shape the poster tack. After everything was masked, I painted all the interior components flat FS30219 Dark Tan. (Actually the tan that is used in USAF SEA camo) One trick a lot of 4X4 owners do is remove the carpets and coat the floor with bed liner paint. It makes it easy to clean up the mud and slush, plus it protects the floor panels from rusting out. I simulated bed liner by sanding some sprue with 60 grit coarse sandpaper until a had a good pile of plastic dust (real bed liner paint has bits of rubber in it). Then I mixed that in with some flat black Model Master Acryl paint. I dabbed it on with a stiff, course brush. I did the interior pan and of course the bed. The masks were removed and all the components except the floor pan were given a quick shot of Future for a nice semi-gloss sheen. The gauges were a decal provided by Revell. This was put in place and I layed the panel flat and generously dripped some Future over it to simulate the clear plastic cover over the gauges. The other controls on the dash and doors were given a dry brushing of Neutral Gray.

Thanks! You are exactly right. I'm planning to use the left over parts to make a regular cab, V6 powered "Plain Jane" Silverado if I can find a basic vinyl bench seat and Vortec V6 with a 5-speed standard trans.

I just looked it up, it seems that the Nova is about 200-300 lbs lighter. I always thought the Camaro was lighter. You learn something new every day.

I have to wonder, why was the 427 too much for the Nova but fine for the Camaro? They are basically the same car with different body and interior.

Sorry I hadn't posted an update in a while. You guys following this probably thought this one went on the shelf. So since our last episode, I have made some progress on the body work. Here's a mock up showing the body painted. After waffling on the color, I finally decided on OD green and I'm going with a black hood (representing an unpainted fiberglass hood, since the kit hood is obviously aftermarket). The wheels are painted with Light Aluminum Alclad and the resin spare tire is painted with Tamiya Nato Black. It's hard to see in the previous two pictures, but I dented up the body a bit to simulate a purpose built trail rig that regularly sees hard use off road and is no stranger to body damage. I dented the lower part of the doors on both sides, some slight scrapes on the front fender and the rear corner of the cab. The rails and tailgate of the bed were also dented up a bit. (Of course I did this before painting BTW) The dents were done with a craft heat gun (hotter but more precise than a hair dryer) and I found some stones in the back yard to give me some random organic corners to use. I just put the heat gun right up close to the spot, held it there for about ten seconds, then pushed the rock in, sometimes at an angle rather than just straight in from the side.

I like the 60's 'Stang wagon. Kind of along the lines of the Vega & Pinto wagons... but classy. Ford made those or was it a 3rd party conversion?

Yea, absolutely. Some videos are great and very enjoyable from beginning to end. But like you said, if the producer gets verbose, I can quickly scroll past the boring parts on a web page. I have to suffer through them in a video. As far as live interaction. I guess it depends on what you want to get out of it. Socialization or sharing a how-to? Both have their place. Youtube (and a blog type post) are like Tivo. I can watch it whenever I can find the time. A live stream would have to be scheduled and the participants have to make time for it (if they want to interact). You could post a non-interactive video later for those who missed it though. A sort of example of this is the Plastic Scale Modeling Hour by Hawkeye's Hobbies on Warbird Radio. Some folks are able to make time, listen live and call in. Some others (like me) download the MP3 later and listen to it on the way to work or while building a model. Whatever you do, please do us all a favor and make sure you use a script to keep it running smoothly and get to the point quickly so we don't have to waste a lot of time determining whether we are or aren't interested in the topic. I guess I'm showing my bias (I don't even like news videos online, but I love Jay Leno's Garage on Youtube). You do have a great idea. It just may not be for everyone.

I want one of these! http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/08/makerbot-digitize/ Forget about bubbles in your resin, pressure pots, rainy days ruining your castings. Just scan and print.

Maybe it's just me, but I like an old fashioned web page with text and pictures better than a video. Web pages (blogs or whatever) are random access. You can move through it at your own pace and go back to a previous point for further review and contemplation Videos are sequential and always seem to seem to take too long to get into the core of the subject then not spend enough time on it. So I have to spend 2 minutes listening to cheesy music and a title screen, then 10 minutes watching a guy talk about what he's going to do before he spends 5 minutes actually doing it. It seems to me the fascination with videos these days is because they are easier to make than a good web page. But they aren't better.

I can't even find anyone into cars anymore, much less model cars.

I don't know about anyone else, but my collection sure is growing. As long as I can buy paint and glue, I'm set for life.

The 60's Grand Sports were tube framed hand-built race cars that had very little in common with production 'Vettes except for general external appearance. I believe the Z06's were RPOs based on production cars. (kind of like the ZL1s and ZR1s of the 60's and 70's)

Sent you a PM...

Sorry for the long break between updates. Got back into it a bit this weekend, working on the front three link suspension using the theory explained here. To make coil springs, I wrapped some craft store beading wire around an appropriate sized wood screw. No special tools were required, the wire is fairly pliable. Once you have the spring formed, just twist the screw to back it out. To make coil-overs, I used the technique I showed earlier to make shocks. I trimmed the "springs" to an appropriate length and then added plastic disks made with a hole punch. I drilled them in the center to slide over the shocks and hold the springs in place. Shock hoops were formed with plastic rod bent around a dowel. I don't have a picture of it, but I glued a cross brace in place and taped the assembly to dry overnight so the hoop would hold its shape. Here are the coil-overs glued to the front axle, the hoops with the cross brace and the lower axle links with the ends. The next step was to glue the tops of the coil-overs to the hoops, let that dry for a bit, so I had a strong, but still flexible bond, then glue the shock hoops to the chassis in the appropriate position. This involved a bit of trial & errors and testing with the body on to verify that the wheels were centered in the wheel openings and that the ride height was correct. Once that was done, I attached the upper and lower axle links. the lower links attached to the axle tubes, the upper link attached to the top of the diff 'pumpkin'. With the axle attached, I fabricated a Pitman Arm for the steering box out of plastic strip bent and filed to shape. The Tie Rod was already in place from when I assembled the axle earlier, so I needed to add the Drag Link diagonally from the Pitman Arm to the Tie Rod. I also added a Track Bar (AKA: Panhard Rod) running parallel to the Drag link, but attached from the frame to the axle tube. The theory behind the Track Bar is explained here, but basically its job is to prevent bump steer when the axle compresses (on a real truck of course). I liked the coil spring setup on the front so much that I cut off the cheesy molded kit springs in the rear and replaced them with my scratch built coil-overs as well. (the wheels were temporarily on there to verify that all four wheels say square on the ground.)

That's nice! Kind of like Nissan's variation of the Chevy SSR. It looks real good too.

For the rear suspension, I'm going with a triangulated four-link. This article explains the basic Technical theory. For starters I used the kit's front coils to support the rear axle. I used a paper punch to cut mounting plates and glued them to the springs. I used plastic strip to make a crossmember on the frame and spring mounts. The springs and the axle were then glued to the frame. The four axle links were made with plastic rod. The joints were small sections of rod glued perpendicular to the end. I used plastic strip to make a mount and rounded off one end of small sections to make brackets. The brackets were glued to the links and the assembly glued to the mount. I carefully measured the space between the frame rails and cut a toothpick to use as a spacer to align the rods. While waiting to the link assembly to dry, I assembled four shocks from plastic rod. Plastic tubing was used for the shock mounting points. Here's the assembly with all the links attached and the shocks mounted. The crossmember for the lower links was from the rear section of the frame I removed.

Way cool! This thing looks mean. Could you post some pics of the chassis and suspension?

Got some work done on the axles. I used Dana 60 differentials from B-N-L resins. These have no axle tubes, so I drilled straight through the diff, working a little at a time from each side with small bits and working up in size to keep it straight. With that done, i could slide in some plastic tubing. The rear one is centered, so that's easy to find the middle and super glue it in place. The front one needs to be offset to clear the engine, so I left that one loose for now so I can find the right spot later when I mount it to the chassis. The original light duty 1/2 ton "Corporate 10 bolt" diff from the kit is the one to the right. You can clearly see that the 1-ton Dana 60's are much beefier. I don't have a pic of it, but I chopped the ends off the kit axle and glued them to my Dana's axle tubes to make it easy to mount the brakes and wheels. The front diff gets some simulated u-joints at the ends where a real axle must articulate with the steering. This won't turn though, it's a straight through rod with some small nubs glued in a cross pattern to simulate the U-joint. (you can see the little u-joint nubs I cut near the point of the xacto knife). I slid another section of tube outboard of the u-joints, built up some kingpin mounts and attached the steering linkage. The brakes are from the kit. I don't like them, but now that everything is together they are staying and we are moving on. After finishing the axles, I chopped the 2WD tailshaft off the 4l60E transmission and drilled a hole in the trans and Atlas transfer case to insert a plastic rod to align the two components. The TC fits snug on the rod, so I only glued it to the trans and can orient the "clocking" of the TC later to get it to fit in the chassis and align with both driveshafts.

That is pretty cool. A little pricey, but I guess in line with what other resin guys are charging for full engines.

I believe this is the picture you were trying to post? Looks interesting.

That video has one of the best explanations of a differential that I've ever seen.

Wow, that's some glossy primer.

I'm glad you guys are enjoying it! Randy, the resin casting has been a great skill to learn for me, even though it doesn't always go as well as I'd like. The kit I have wasn't cheap, but I do use it all the time. Like using an airbrush, it can be frustrating at first, but I notice that I learn something every time and feel like I'm slowly improving. Sorry I haven't had any updates on progress, Just hadn't had time to work on it this week. I'm looking forward to the weekend to get back on it.