GasPunkAlley

I have been restoring some old models I had in storage. This was the last car I built and finished back in 1997. It was the first model car I experimented with using acrylic paints. The chassis is Kylon safety orange but the rest I used Createx airbrush acrylics and Tamiya acrylics. The body is painted in Createx Pearl Yellow and Tamiya Gloss clear. The interior and engine are primarily Tamiya paint. I wasn't happy with the way the engine came out, the acrylic metallic in the late '90's weren't as good as the Vallejo Air range is now. When I first built the car I was not happy how the body sat on the frame and the node was in the sky. After I dug it out I had to clean and glue some parts back on and I was able to fix the nose - yeah! I also ruined the nose decal so that is not on the car and my panel lining was rather weak. I am still trying to find the painted Big Daddy figure. The best part is that Ed Big Daddy Roth himself signed the base for me at the Autorama a few years before he passed away.

Digging the red lines!

Love the speedster!

Do you have any pics of the chassis and suspension that you used / modified?

Well, I have been going through the parts I am stealing from the Outlaw kit and I am de-chroming a lot of the engine and chassis, so farbig am stripping off the plating from the oil pan, rear end and axle housings, bell housing and transmission. From the Aurora kit I am stripping the chrome off of the gas tank. The Revell modern chrome is coming off easier than the old Aurora chrome. The water pump I want to keep come but the kit part has a deep sink mark in the casting. I have an original sprue from the parts pack kit and that one is fine, but I do not want to raid that unless I use the whole engine. I guess I will tryou my luck with some Al Clad paint to refinish it.

Google is my friend! Found a pic of the Danbury Mint Kookie Car chassis, a of a Caddy engine, and of a t bucket that got me going on this project. I figure why make the Kookie car since it is in diecast. I will make my own design.

Didn't get a lot done last night. I started the engine block clean up, sanded seams and added filler to the gaps and let it dry over night. The Revell Caddy engine is a bit fiddly to make the block fit together. I aligned the upper block to the bottom but that left a gap out back around the bell housing. The chrome piece of the lower housing if placed correctly leaves a .25 mm overhang and the tray droops down. I am going to cut the back part off and the cut will remove enough to get it to be fit. I am also removing a lot of the plating from the engine. I am going to use more Testo Metalized and try my luck with the new to me Al Clad paints. I found a bunch of sink marks on the water pump, so that will be fixed and re painted. For some reason, I don't care for that much chrome and in scale it looks too garish. I am chomping at the bit to start slapping some paint down but I do not want to get ahead of myself. I still need to get the chassis ready and see what kind of engine mounts I need to fabricate. I also took a picture of the Tord gas tank, shown below lol. I am going to look up the wiring diagram for the engine. Also, I found some great close up shots of the restored Outlaw. There is some great engine details as well as ideas for metal finishes since a lot of parts where just polished and not plated. Has anyone ever put a blower onto this vintage engine in a Model and if so what parts are available? A S.C.O.T. blower with two carbs would be cool, but the Cragar with four 2 barrels is still way cool.

So, wide white cheater slicks from Aurora or wide wHite big and Littles from the Modelhaus?

Ok, I got a bit further with the chassis. I have it dry fitted together. The white splotches are from the new Perfect Putty. I used Mr. Surface 500 and then tonight I tried for the first tome Perfect Putty. It isn't smelly, it is fine consistency and does dry quickly. I have been able to wet sand it as well. I sanded it on the cowl, door and window frame base. The ancient Aurora body is cool and obviously different from the Revell '23 T and AMT '25 T roadster bodies. The cowl is smaller and the rear body kick up around the seat is much higher. I love the period custom interior and I am Making good use of that tub. The kits gas tank sorta looks like it says "Ford", but actually is engraved "Tord". I found that amusing. I may consider using the switchers T bucket bed which is really short or the AMT '25 T Pickup bed which is somewhat longer. The Caddy engine block is glued together but the seams still need sanding and filling. The Aurora kit has a unique set of tires. Old school wide whites up front and WIDE WHITE CHEATER SLICKS out back! The other set of tires are from the Model has which I am leaning towards using now. The tires from Aurora have shrunk and the plastic whitewall insert kept one side bigger and the slicks unfortunately have a slope in them... the grill shell I think is from Accu Pro. I have some photo etch that fits the shell but I am not sure if the shell is from that company. Bought too long ago to remember for sure. I am thinking of a red body with gold engine block, rear end and details on the yet to be determined front suspension. Gold or red steelies with wide whites.

Well I started my T bucket project after I rummaged through all of my kits in storage. I dug out the old Aurora built up glue bomb I got 20 years ago and started fixing some minor glue damage on the body. As for the chassis, my Dad gave me a started Roth Outlaw kit and it has a lot of fine parts that are usable. I really like Norm Grabowski's Kookie Kar and he used a Model A frame radically chopped down to an 88" to 90" wheelbase. The Outlaw is about the same. I have attached a pic of the instructions from the Outlaw and a picture of a 3d model someone made of the Kookie Kar Chassis. It appears the frame rails have been flipped around on the Kookie Kar compared to the Outlaw. I started the frame rail mods this weekend. I am using the frame rails and model A rear crossmember, Caddy engine and rear end for my build. I am definitely using wide whites all around, but not sure if I will use slicks or big and Littles street tires. The first construction photo shows the original rail on the bottom that is unless boxed just like the Kookie Kar. The top one I started to fill in the now incorrectly placed mounting wholes, removed the suspension brackets and radiator side mounts and removed the mounting points for the center crossmember. The second pic shows the outside of the frame rails and what was filled in. The third and fourth construction pic shows the engine block and adding the rounded front tip to the frame rail that I added. The last pic shows the rails and the front and rear crossmember. The front was made from Plastic tube and K&S brass rod. The 3d sketch shows the rear crossmember weld behind the frame, I am keeping like the Outlaw and setting it between the rails. The Outlaw used spring coils seen more frequently on later '60's show rods. I am probably going to steal the front suspension out of a Revell '29 Model A truck.

Do you have any in progress pictures of the body work? Did you have to scratch build the inner front fenders?

Years ago I had trouble with AMT and Pactra a enamels ghosting, but that was the 1980's and early '90's. Ma be the paint manufacturers used hotter thinners back then. I painted one kit with Createx acrylic but I can't sand the primer. Yes, I have several airbrushed and I just got the latest in the mail from Iwata - the Eclipse model. I helped out at a collector show demoing Iwata and Vallejo products and my spiff was this brush. I have my old basic single action external mix Badger that I use for primering.

Thanks for posting these pics Randy. On the back of the package it mentioned the display parts. Wonder what ever happened to the molds...

I am liking how this build is coming along. I have collected a lot of the same type of parts as well and I have been itching to build some sort of T bucket.

Hello boys and girls, I continue to dog out stuff from about 17 years of storage and I found this unique blast from the past, a custom clear and chrome room from the early '60's. It is Originals by Monte' and design to fit a Ford or Mercedes from that same era. I did a Google search and can only find that Monte made monster decals in the fifties and early sixties before he left the scene. Has anyone else heard of or seen these parts before? I am interested to see if he made a thing else! I have attached a front and back view of the blister card. I found the piece at an old hobby shop found in the basement of a building in downtown Masillon, Ohio. Larry was the owner and the shop is now long gone. I think I got the piece some 20 to 22 years ago.

Thanks Mike, is the primer a lacquer based material? This project I will probably try the CA method since I don't remember all of the paint that was used on it when I started it back in '96 or '97. Tamiya is great stuff but not good to sand down IMO.

I keep on finding more things to engineer with this project. To get the axle to fit I needed to make a "C" cut in the rear frame rails. I also did not like the angle on the as tank so I cut out the rear floorboard and trunk. I applied a new rear crossmember, applied plastic to beef up the now weakened frame rails, and added lowering blocks to the rear axle. After some more dry test fitting the rear wheel wells kept the chassis from mating to the interior tub properly. So I trimmed of the top of the wells and I will add a flat piece of stock to fill the top in. Then I noticed that the back seat will interfere with the drive shaft... so it looks like form will follow function and I will be making a custom rear seat with a console to clear everything.

Love the look of the car with the selected engine parts and rims! I have been working on lowering the ride on my custom '49 coupe. I sectioned my body and I made a pie cut thru the wheel well to lift through rear frame up so it wouldn't hang below the rear fenders. What parts did you use for the front suspension? I want to loose the axle thru the engine block BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH and put in maybe AMT '49 Mercedes suspension and steal the lower red rear end as well. Here is the pic in my post of my chassis so far: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/uploads/post-14012-0-16354200-1409543576.jpg http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/uploads/post-14012-0-36213300-1409532504.jpg Also, I think I need to level out the gas tank as well.

I agree with the talc. The talc is used to releave surface tension and cut done on static. The rubber can pick up static electricity and cause the resin to repel from the rubber causing a very rough texture. Using some sort of metal pick or in a pinch a tooth pick you can poke out air bubbles. Vibration is a second step to remove air bubbles. Best bet is a presume pot if you can afford it. Heating a mold just burns it out quicker. It also causes the resin to kick quicker. If you are just using a pokey stick to get the bubbles out you want the longest pot life resin you can get. Then you can take your time to poke out the bubbles.

I can't wait until the S&H Torino comes out. My cousin bought new the last production serial numbered S&H Torino in '76. He owned it and hardlky drove it until he passed in 2006. After he passed I don't know what his wife did with the car. I want to build one to remember him by. Also I grew up around the Montegos. My Grandfather had a '72 Montego MX Brougham 4 Dr, Black Cherry with a black interior and a 351 Cleveland under the hood. It stayed in the family until 2004 and I drove it. It was a beast. My grandfather did not have power assist brakes and it was scary trying to stop that thing. My Dad hadd a '73 MX Brouham, copper 2 Dr with white vynil and brown inserts and he put on magnum 500 rims. Sharp car but rust prone and it had a list of problems mechanically after it got rear ended. I would love to recreate my dad's car as well.

Tim, incredable work on the engine and the rest of the build. I was wondering if you are a bench jeweler or watchmaker by trade?

Did this kit have a lot of extras, such as the ability to make the roadster? Its heritage is the old Switchers kit and the American Grafitti coupe. I know it has the new Donk rims and tires but I was hoping that there are some old extras in this release. I have been trying to get my hands on the old Switcher kits and the roadster is the last piece I need. I have a built up of the coupe aleady. Thanks!

Well, the chassis has been the big thorny problem for me and most likely the reason why I shelved it 17 to 18 years ago. I broke out the razor saw and cut a pie section out of the wheel well and raised up the rear frame rails. I think I am going to leave the gas tank alone, even though it should probably be level. At least it is not hanging out anymore. I also trimmed off the rear cross member for clearance in the back. I will file the back down flush to the tank and apply a new back cross member out of Evergreen plastic. Now to make the rear suspension fit (it doesn't fit right now that I changed the frame rails). I am thinking of making air bag suspension out back.

I like the lilac custom car. The artwork was a clean design.