Straightliner59

They find the nooks and crannies, but, they are plenty out in the open, too. I'll give that a shot!

I have designed the decals and printed them. This is a test print, pasted to the car with a couple of dabs of tacky glue. I revised the hood decal, for the final print. It will fit better than this test version. I still have more to design, but, the main graphics are done! Questions, comments, suggestions and critiques are always welcomed. Thanks for looking!

If I thought that was weird, I wouldn't have so many chassis, lying around!?

Thanks, Ray. Much appreciated!

Here's the test piece, with clear (Krylon Clear Glaze).

It might be kind of a big deal: paint! I took the Vega and the can of automotive touch-up spray Mulsanne Blue outside with me, so I had more room than the paint booth, and better, more natural light to shoot under. Now, it can gas out a few days, while I decide what I want to do, graphically, beyond teal and purple--I need to figure how I want to lay out the stripes. It's getting closer. I have to admit, I am concerned, a bit, about getting the interior in--man, it's a tight squeeze, the way the body undercuts! Anybody got a shoehorn??

This is truly an incredible work in progress! I especially love the hose connections. Very, very nice, all around!

Here are a few of mine. The first five are a nostalgia fuel dragster chassis, built from brass rod and tube. The next three are for a replica of The Surfers dragster. Obviously, it's brass. Next is a chassis for a speedster I was messing around with. I wanted to try my hand at making "c"-channel frame rails.

Be still, my heart! Simple. Beautiful.

I shot some primer on my Vega. I used Zinsser Bullseye 1-2-3. Hides the red plastic, very nicely. I also finally tried out the fly-cutter for my mill (after almost 20 years), on a small block of aluminum. It creates a beautiful finish! It also makes a huge mess!

I will look forward to renewing our acquaintance!

I remember going to one, downtown--in 1975!? I bought some Kemtron glad hands, there. Probably a couple of other things, too. I'm sure it's long gone, now!

Same here, but not with monofilament fishing line, or thread, like back when I started!?

K&S .020" brass rod/wire will get you there, perfectly. Math gets a lot easier when you consider how much of our stock is sized in thousandths of inches. .040"=1" in scale. .005"=.125 or 1/8", in scale, and so on. It's the easiest thing for me to remember, and conversions are easy. I still do larger dimensions in the standard "divide by 25" method, but, for detailing and chassis rail dimensions, etc., this works best, for me.

Even though I liked the blue, I think this does look better! Looking great, my friend.

Here's the way I did the scoop "bed". The sheet is .010", strip is .020X.080". Not really much, but a clarification.

Thanks, Ron. Yeah, I posted the link to that site. Cool stuff, for sure!

On today's exciting episode: Dan gets the hood opening cut, for the scoop! In order to make the hood and scoop appear correct, I needed to cut an opening that's shaped like the scoop's bottom. I then installed a thin sheet of plastic to "bottom" the opening, and a couple of strips of .030" stock to support the scoop. This gives the appearance of the hood sitting over the base of the scoop, as it should. Simple enough, and gets the job done! Questions, critiques and comments are always welcomed. Thanks for looking!

Thank you, John Michael. I always hope that other modelers can find something useful in my projects! I'm glad you are. Thanks, again! Thank you, Stephen. Appreciate that! I agree, and always did, but wasn't really finding the right pieces to put together. Then, I opened a box of partial kits, and, there were three or four of the old Monogram Pro Stockers! I just cut the scoop so it wasn't as tall, then pieced it together with some .020" strip and sheet. I am in the process of cutting a hole in the hood for the scoop. It will mount to a section of sheet, so that it will look like the hood fits around the bas of the scoop--just like it ought to! Thanks much for your input with this thing!

Thank you, Ian. I think I finally have a hood scoop! I used a base from one of the Monogram Pro Stock kits. I cut 5/32" from its height. I then built the top section from .020" strip and sheet. It's been smoothed, and the "boxing in" has been done at the rear of the scoop. I think it looks pretty decent! Here's the blue, over the Zinsser, too.

I got some parting line removal taken care of, and an initial coat of primer on the body. The area along the hatch, on both sides was really sunken, and/or the molds were worn enough that I had to go looking for pictures to make sure GM hadn't changed the shape of that body line/contour. They hadn't, so I started sanding away, until I got it to this point. I removed the wipers. I still need to scribe in the vent lines, where the wipers were.. I also have a couple of other spots in panel lines that need to be addressed. Of course, there's the typical stuff you never notice until the first coat of primer's on the car. I tested the Mulsanne Blue over the Zinsser, on a set of red-molded window louvers I had in the parts box. No ill-effects, there! Anyway, here are a few shots of the car, in white primer.

Oh, yeah! The early ones, especially!

Thank you, Randy. I appreciate that, a ton! I really love working with sheet metal, and am inspired by your Birdcage--the bodywork you've done for that is incredible! The dragster bodies I do, have nothing on that. ? I wanted that new toy, so I can turn tapered exhaust pipes without rotating the headstock. It's much easier, this way! It's bound to come in handy for a few other things, too.? Thanks for stopping by.

Because I want nothing to do with a repeat of the paint on the '53 'Vette, I'm not about to just start shooting paint on this promo-body plastic, only to have the primer attack the plastic surface of the body...again! Also, I need to prevent the red plastic from leaching into the Mulsanne Blue paint. I have seen Bill Geary mention using Zinsser B-I-N to protect against bleed-through, and to protect plastic from too-hot paint. Since I was grocery shopping yesterday afternoon at Walmart, I decided to check the paint aisle, to see what was available. I found a spray can of another Zinsser product, and decided to try it out. In order to avoid any snafus, I taped off a square in the middle of the roof, where any damage that might be done would be easy to fix. It turned out that I didn't need to worry. It went on thinly enough and sands easily. It also blocks the red. Success! Next, I'll just shoot it on a scrap body, and shoot a bit of the blue over it, to make sure that's safe. I sanded the wipers off the cowl. I need to scribe in the vent lines, where the wipers were. I have a few more mold lines to clean up, too, before it's ready for a guide coat. It's coming along! Questions, comments and critiques are welcomed and appreciated. Thanks for looking!

I got this assortment of 50 .125" shank end mills. They work great for the aluminum I have on hand! There are four or five different sizes and shapes in the assortment. I couldn't pass it up, for $20, shipped. It got here in two days, too! I know it might be boring for many, but, it's exciting to find such a great deal!