Straightliner59

Nice job with this classic kit, Pete! I still have spare parts in my original box, from 50+ years ago!

There are a mess of them on Ebay. All are what I'd call reasonably priced. Scratch that itch!😃

They don't call 'em "Rump, Rump" for nothing!

Francis, you do amazing machine work! I was silly enough, the other day, to ponder the idea of attempting a Donovan for one of my dragsters. I quickly came to my senses! I doubt I could ever keep my cuts and sequence in order. You, Tim and Charlie are in a whole different league! My hat is off to all of you!

You are most welcome, sir!😄

Thank you, my friend! My approach to curbside projects is that, there's not a lot to look at, so, the stuff there is, had better be interesting!

I knew I could come up with a better way to mount the pedals! Duh!🙄 I fixed those, then make a dimmer switch, and installed that. Next, I cut the plate for the four-speed shifter (basically, this car will "have" a '57 Corvette drivetrain). I then sanded the back side of some bookbinding leather, to thin it even farther. I pushed that up through the opening in the plate, and ran a round-headed pin through the crown of the new boot. The leather was then infused with superglue. My hope is that I can trim everything below the plate with a sharp scalpel blade, and the plate will mount flatly to the surface of the trans tunnel. There's enough of the pin left to cement into a hole that will be drilled, for it. I should be moving on to the dash, before too awful long. Thanks for looking!

We'll have to see how this works out: I'm going to attempt to make bumpers from K&S .064" aluminum sheet. I was thinking about just removing the vertical "bars" and "bullets" from the kit's bumpers, and going with those. Instead, I have decided to cut and form them from raw stock. I've started cutting out the front bumpers--they're the glued-together layers with the black Sharpie, on them. It's a decent start, but a long way to go! I think it'll be worth the effort. Also, I got the pedals installed. I'll need to bend the arm clutch arm in, some, to make room for the dimmer switch. I probably could have simplified that assembly, a tad!😁 Thanks for looking!

Thanks, Bill. I had to figure something out, those molded, chromed headlights just weren't going to cut it!😃

I have a lathe and a mill, but, by no means would I call myself a machinist!😅 There are a few very skilled machinists, right on this forum.

Thanks, Ace. I figure there's not a lot going on, so I want to add as much interest to it, as possible. I enjoy building curbsides! I appreciate your feedback, Bil. I do think either of those would be a good choice. I have been leaning toward either white(ish) or black, which was my original choice. That probably led me to consider grey. Thankfully, I still have enough body work to do, that I'll have time to think about it!

I have a Gunze 1941 Indian Scout that I was waiting until I felt confident enough that I wouldn't screw it up, but now that I've scratchbuilt the NTF, I don't really see anything being a problem.

Since I opened up the grille area, I needed to cover the tires (inner fenderwells). I also needed a radiator, which I found in a spare parts box. I was eating some yogurt, and noticed that the bottom "corner" of the cup might just work for the wells. I trimmed it to shape, and aligned it with the radiator, glued it with G-S Hypo Cement and painted it with Tamiya X-18. The radiator had been sprayed prior to installation with Krylon Satin Black. The fins were highlighted with a 4B drawing pencil, and a silver Prismacolor pencil. I wanted to add a floor mat to the driver's side. I'd planned to use the method Steve Guthmiller shared, but I couldn't find anything suitable to use as a master, as far as I was willing to dig!😄 I have some scraps of N-Scale car siding(?), lying around--I hadn't used any in 40 years, but, here we are! One thing about modeling--you can pretty much literally justify keeping every little scrap of material! I digress. I cut a small rectangle of the car siding, rounded the corners, and laid a bead of .010" Plastruct rod, around the perimeter. I sprayed it with Tamiya Tire Black. I can live with that! Andy Sapiro made some pedals, recently, using solder-infused screen to provide the textured surface. I have some very-finely perforated metal screen--I think from an old automatic transmission that was being rebuilt. Andy's brilliant solution inspired me to try the transmission screen for my pedals. I simply folded the bits to fit over their respective mounting points. I have the brake and clutch pedals done, but no photos, as of this writing. Comments, questions and critiques are always welcomed. Thanks for looking!

Here's one Guy Beaudette built. I thought I had more photos of it. The panels operate, and are removeable, as they should, if they did!😃

This is great! A fine replica, sir!

Thanks, Pete! That's very kind of you, to say. I try to make my race cars look "lived-in"--I've never seen a pristine race car!

Thank you, Tony! I appreciate that!

Great idea with the pedals!

I think I'll finish this thing, next. It shouldn't take too long. 😂 I have the seats mostly done. I need to do some highlighting and shading, and some touchups. I didn't have any production-type belt hardware, so I cobbled some up, from aluminum strips and Evergreen. I made the release buttons from brass wire. I printed the argyle inset pattern--I wanted something, but, didn't want to use the tartan--it's been done! I used some .015" lead-free wire for fly-tying for the piping. That stuff is handy, and is available in .015"-.035" diameters. I have a lot of body work, left to do, and I want to try something new for the grille. I'm trying to decide on a color for it. I'm leaning toward something grey, but not 100% sold. As always is the case, your comments and questions are appreciated. Thanks for looking!

I have to reiterate--I love the Lenco! As beautiful as all your work is, for me, the trans just raises the bar, even higher. A real Lenco doesn't look any more like a Lenco, than this.

I've been playing around with this, the last few days. I made some argyle inserts for the seats--I have no idea why--but, I kind of like it! I'm working on the lap belts, and beginning work on the dash. I'm not 100% this is what I'll finish, next, but, it's looking favorably, in that direction. I'll get some photos, after work, later.

Now that the Badman's done, I've been looking at stuff around the shop, and this thing has me a little interested. I've also been playing with my '53 Corvette curbside project, and the photo backdrop, although mostly the Corvette. I could go either way. It might be fun to make a working rack and pinion steering setup, for this!

Thanks, Ken! I built it to sort of replace my replica of "The Bug" rail dragster. Obviously, it's a '32, instead of just Model T frame rails, but the seat and tank and engine (except the blower) mimic that car, pretty decently.

It does, and you provided it, in spades, sir!

That's cool! I love old Monogram kits. This one took a little work...