microwheel

Updates for this evening. First here is a pic of the Tie Rod ends being pinned for removal. This was the last step before everything could be disassembled for clean up and detail painting. Next I wanted to make a set of front coil springs, because I never have liked kit supplied coil springs. They just look too toyish to me. I started out by finding a coarse thread screw the same diameter as the coil sping mounting holes on the frame. I also dug out a piece of thing soft wire from my supply drawer to make the new springs out of. I started by wrapping the wire tightly around the screw threads. Once I was satisfied I had enough spring coil for both coil springs I removed the wire from the screw. Next I placed the original kit spring beside my new coil spring stock and cut the new springs to size. The new springs were test fitted in the frame for fit. Continued with next post.................................

Hi again John, as a follow up to my last reply to you. though this kit went a little different than my 70 cuda, you can check out this link http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=90241&page=3 , for the concept and process of doing the brake and fuel lines. It's pretty much the same, except for the fact that the cuda didn't have a electric fuel pump, and the E-brake cables were a little different, but thats because of the different ways the manufacturers make and route them. For the fuel pump on this build, I drilled a small hole just through the chassis, about centered above the edge of the fuel tank for the outgoing fuel line, and one on each side of the kit supplied fuel pump. I use scale fuel and brake line from the Model Car Garage and bent it to the shape I wanted it. I also used the Model car Garage vintage hose clamps and line brackets, the line brackets were bent over the fuel and brake lines, with a pair of needle nose pliers before CA gluing them into place.. For the rubber hose, with the hose clamps on them, I used scale 3/4 heater hose with the insert wire pulled out to make them hollow, from the Model car Garage. Then I wrapped the vintage hose clamps arount each end of them. I buy alot of my detailing stuff from the Model car Garage. The rubber hose was then slid over the metal fuel line with enough metal line sticking out the rubber hose ends so the metal lines could be inserted into the holes I drilled. The E-Brake cable was a combination of piano wire for the front pull brackets, evergreen plastic rod (drilled out with a pin vise) and flat evergreen strips cut to size and glued into L brackets, for the frame brackets. The heavier areas coming off the back wheels were scrap scale plug wire wrapped with leftover scale metal brake wire so they looked like spring wrapped cable. The front part of the e-brake cables are just scale plug wire stripped of its insulation and straightened and bent to shape, then glued to each of the back spring cables at the frame L brackets. The rear E-Brake pulls on each side of the axle where just cut and shaped out of a couple of small pieces of evergreen plastic strip and a hole drilled on the ends to mount the e-brake cables to, and then glued onto the axle ends where the wheel hub stops are. I know I don't have pics of the process in progress, but if you look at the finished pics and red my description here, you should be able to understand the process.

The Z28 kit is pretty much the same quality, but yes your right, most of them are molded in orange.. not really a problem though, just pick up a can of Tamiya white fine primer and it will make quick work of the orange plastic issue. It goes on pretty darn smooth and you cant paint almost any type of paint over it.

I would have done a pic how to.. on the brake lines and fuel pumps, but at the time I was working on them my SLR camera's batteries had died, I didn't know it at the time and when I went to shoot the parts during the process the camera wouldn't fire up. So the batteries had to go on the charger for a couple day. I will try to do a brief write up of the process and materials to use in the next few days and post it on here. I dont have a extra Baldwin Camaro kit to use for pics though. But I do detail my builds alot, so I will try to pay special attention to that process on the next build. I do plan to make front brake cables for it, and part of the process on the e-brake cabling is the same for the front brakes, so stay tuned.

The kit doesn't come with the stock hood. Only the Baldwin Motion hood. Seems that AMT included a few stock parts such as the stock steering wheel and even a extra rear end. But there wasn't any of the other stock parts.

Good choice Fred! cant wait to see what kind of monster you build this into lol.

And finally this is how the completed pitman arms look from the bottom. This image shows how the pitman arms will move with the tie rod. All the other joints on the tie rod will get this same process. I will post more pics as I get the tie rod completed.

Update for this morning. More work done on the front tie rod bar. The first thing I did was to create a "L" shaped mounting bracket on the frame for the passenger side pitman arm. Next I finished drilling, cutting, and cleaning up the tie rid bar to get it ready for pinning the pivot joints and separating it. Then I started working on pinning and separating the pitman arms. This will give you some Idea of how all the pivot joints will be done. I first drill out a section of evergreen round rod with a pin vise the same diamator of a strait pin. Then I cut that section off and slipped it over the strait pin. Then using the trip of a NEW exacto blade, (this makes sure it cuts easy. A used one would be a little dull and could cause the parts to split as they were cut), I cut a small ring off the piece I placed over the straight pin. This will be used as lock ring one the part is cut loose from the tie rod. Next I pushed a straight pin through the hole on the tie rod going through the pitman arm, and then using just the very tip of the exacto blade, carefully and slowly worked the blade around the area seperating the pitman arm from the tie rod. Slipping a pin through the hole gives the area strength so when it's cut, there is less chance of damaging the thin joint area. Next the lock ring I had made earlier was placed over the pitman arm straight pin. Everything was then slid tightly together and a small drop of CA glue was added to the lock ring side to hold it all together. Once both pitman arms were done, the pins were cut, with a pair of spru-cutters, flush to the locking rings Continued....................

Work started on the front suspension this evening. I plan to separate and make the Tie Rod bar move with the front spindles. I'm not sure why AMT didnt do this with this kit, especially since they made the front spindles as separate parts and made them so they could turn individually. To separate the Tie Rod bar, I will first drill out the pivot points of all the areas of the tie rod that need to move. Then I will cut and clean up all the areas of the Tie Rod that need to be separated from the other parts of the front suspension. I plan to leave the spindle arms attached to the tie rod ends and to the front A-arms untill I have everything else done and pinned. Then I will set the spindles in place and then cut the Spindle A-arms loose and attache them to the Spindles. For pivot point pins, I will use straight pins cut off to size. The pins will be inserted into the holes and then the joints where any 2 areas meet the need to pivot, will be carefully seperated. Doing this will allow the pins to give the joints strength as I separate them with a xacto knife. I will add more pics of the process as I go along. For now, here is a pic of the start of things.

Welcome back to the Hobby Tim. I recently got back into it myself, so I know the feeling of catching up with all the latest modeling stuff. Your doing a good job on your first project back.

Just a few small updates for today guys. I didnt like the way the emergency pull cable tied into the emergency cable, so I corrected it with a small triange shaped peice of evergreen sheet plastic. I also scratch made the front body mount braces where the front frame mounts rest on the chassis, as it seems AMT for some season didnt think to mold them into the chassis. I'll be adding a little semi-gloss black and body color over spray to them before the front frame gets mounted to them. I also started work on the front frame cleaning up mold lines, filling in sink marks and the top of the frame rails with green squadron puddy. Once the puddy sets up good, I will coat it with a little Medium grade CA glue coated with baking soda to take care of the puddy shrinking problem. Then it will get sanded smooth. I also will work on the front suspension and see if I can cut the tie rod apart and make it workable. I've done this before with other AMT kits, and it works out fine. Just takes alot of time and careful cutting and sand shaping. The pivet joints will get drilled out with a pin vice and then the joints will get pinned. I'll post pics, if I get time, of the progress so you can see how I plan to do it. To be continued.

Nice customizing work.

Nice looking build. Black is always a hard color for me to paint, it shows so many flaws if it's not done right, but you nailed it with your paint job.

Thanks Chris, This one is a little bit of a challenge because there is very little web info (especially detail shot pics) out there on the internet. There is lots of body and engine shots, but very little chassis detail pics. Lucky for me I grew up in the 60's and 70's and had a older brother who had a 70 Baldwin Motion Camaro that he was lucky enough to buy in 1974 from a New Jersey Dealer who took it in on a trade in. Not only did I get to cruz around with him in it, but turned my share of wrenches on it also. One good thing about growing up in that era, I saw first hand, and owned, as daily drivers, alot of the cars that are considered classics from that period. Here is a little tid-bit of info from that era for ya, that washing cars as a teen, for a dealer on the east coast helped me learn. The early 70's was right around the time that undercoating became popular, and while GM didnt paint alot of their chassis before the cars left the assembly lines, dealers were begining to offer rust proofing to their customers. So building a early to mid 70's model with a semi- or flat- black under carriage to simulate undercoating would not really be incorrect if you were building a model based on how you could order it off the dealer lot. Not all dealers offered rubberized undercoating but lot of them did. And it wasnt unusual for the buyer to sometimes go to a independent undercoating dealer right after buying a new car and having it undercoated. However my dad had his brand new 70 impala undercoated right at Willis Chevrolet before he drove it home. Undercoating back in those days wasnt as good as it is today and it usually began peeling off with in a few years. So why am I not doing this one that way? Because I just like the looks of a raw, non-undercoated, detailed chassis. LOL Thanks Gilbert

This is looking pretty good. Did you hinge the doors? And are you building out the door jams before you paint it?

This is really looking good Geoff. I havent got this kit yet, but your build makes me want to go out and get it.

Nice work. Nice scratch building detail.

Really looking good Dan

Great conversion. Like what your doing with it.

Looking good Richard. I have seen this kit on the hobby shop shelf, but haven't bought one yet. I might just have to go get one. LOL

The 66 nova is one of my all times fravorites from AMT. Your custom convertible version of it is really looking good.

This ought to be pretty cool. I remember these early revell kits of the bug. Built a couple of the VW Cabriolets when they came out.

Thanks alot for the kind comments guys. Here is a little update for today. Got a little more done on the chassis this morning. The rear suspension is now permanently installed, chrome foiled the rear end housing cover. Painted the shocks flat white and installed air lines to represent air shocks. finished up making and installing the emergency brake cable. Next, it's on to the front frame and suspension.

Looks great Fred, glad to see you got this one done. Sorry to hear your feeling under the weather again.

Thanks and I Agree, however the decals are more of a semi gloss black, and the black areas of the car were done in gloss black, And to have painted the black areas of the body in Semi-gloss black over the clear would have left a mask line, so to take care of that, it was better to apply the decals before the clear and then blend them into the black paint with the clear over them. Had AMT (round 2) produced truely gloss black decals, it would have worked over the clear. Besides this build is more along the lines of what a modern day, better than factory stock, show car restoration would be. Hence the color. If it were a factory stock build, I would have went with a more traditional factor color. And besides that, Clear coats weren't used back in the early 70's.