Impalow

Thank you all for the comments and compliments!! Managed to make some good progress on the pinto this past week and weekend. Yes I did! Although I had already invested in a set of "herb deeks" photo-etched wire centers off of eBay. The plastic wires were just place holders, until I got up the courage/time to try and make some rims and hubs on the lathe. Which I did manage to do over the weekend. Centers assembled to the turned hub. one crimped down and glued, the other is still flat One side of the rim machined, just 3 more to make. and finally all wrapped up and assembled, just a slight improvement over those plastic wires. I also picked up some Holley carbs from FAB resinworks... also off ebay.. these things are phenominal.. this photo is straight out the bag. finally got some paint and alclad sprayed on all the engine components... I also got the basecoat of "diamond dust" on interior panels. Then masked for the application of the transparent blue that will simulate the metal flake vinyl upholstery.

Very cool and brings back lots of old memories for me... I produced several vehicle models like this in school.. Eventually we got into clay and CNC carving out of a bondo board type material. But all of my first models were foam carved. Bill your 3 wheeled example reminds me a lot of my old thesis model, sadly its become a shelf ornament... lots of work on that bad boy. This was sculpted in clay, then molds pulled off of it, then fiberglass halves made from the molds then joined together. All made from raw materials...

Thank you guys!! I have never shown my "technique" for making header collectors, so i sort of detailed it here... Mark and cut headers to length. Sand the ends flat and soften the four corners of the rod, Then cut small pieces of aluminum tubing one end nice, the other end rough sanded. CA glue the ends in place with pretty decent amount of glue. Then cut small pieces of heat shrink, being mindful of how long you want your collectors to be. Line up one end to the end of the tubing and get out the heat gun.. Use just enough heat so the heat shrink does its job, you don't want to melt/warp the header. While its still hot, I like grab a toothpick and make little indents at the top of the collector. And that's pretty much it.... a shot of primer usually gets of the texture of the heatshrink... these are getting some alclad hopefully soon.

That is actually an interesting story.. I'm not using heat, I am using a different type of styrene rod than just typical evergreen. I get this stuff off eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/STYRENE-ROUND-ROD-120-PIECE-ASSORTMENT-LOT-6-SIZES-PIPE/122094423448?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D37570%26meid%3D2be1c9a6a5a74c38acfdf6022ada2dc9%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D2%26sd%3D111889933610 I stumbled on this on accident, it bends and holds its shape without heat.. The only downfall is, it doesn't glue well with normal styrene glue (I only use CA on it), and sometimes the pieces are not uniform in diameter from end to end. I have purchased this 120 piece assortment, and recently purchased just 120 pieces of the .080 in a custom auction from him. The diameter thing is a bit of a bummer, but once you are aware of it, you can pick and choose pieces so its not much of an issue. I am a really big fan of this stuff, I have never had much luck using heat.

fun little update! scratchbuilt some shocks.. (brackets still need rounded/sanded to shape but you get the idea) and the rears.. Then its header time... one side done-ish.. and then another one... gonna make the collectors tonight.. getting pretty close to primer on the non-body related parts

Thank for all the comments and compliments guys!!! Hey Steve! I'm using this stuff... Picked it up at Family Hobby when they were closing up. Thanks Jimmy! I am using the Silhouette portrait cutter... I draw everything in adobe illustrator CS2, export as a .dxf file, then import it into the silhouette software. You can draw cut paths in pretty much any software that gives you a .dxf file export option. I use illustrator cause I am comfortable in it. I can cut up to .030, however its more of a score and snap operation for anything over .015. I do use the adhesive backer, and its never been an issue. I did a "ratrod" project last year that I really tried to showcase the cutter, and layering styrene.. check it out here:

Phenomenal work! I love it!

Thank you for all the comments and compliments! I truly appreciate them, and they keep me motivated! I just drew an arc on a piece of paper, then bent the leafs to shape before gluing them together, once the glue had dried I was able to tweak the final shape to be somewhat similar. It wasn't the most scientific process, but the final product turned out okay. I have managed to get little spurts of bench time.. and made some progress. Mocked up rear frame rails, added detail and all the suspension mounts. Extended the front frame rails and smoothed the firewall, a few shock mounts away from spraying primer. Made a lakewood style rollbar, that will be alcad chrome. and finished up all the interior panels... i did clean up that raggedy dash panel after these photos.

Here is some progress from the weekend and last night: Springs, plates and U-Bolts installed! Still going to add some .080 rod to simulate the spring eyelets on each end. Grabbed the Malco Gasser seats and made some diamond tuffed-ish inserts with some N-scale tile roof sheet. (Thank you Mr. John Teresi for showing this on here) and finally a quick mock up...

Thanks guys!! Your comments and motivation means a lot. I really like mine... the cutter will cut .030 as well... but its more of a score and snap operation... and the cuts aren't quite as clean because the blade doesn't get as deep. As far as blade usage, I bought mine used off ebay and it came with 2 blades, a used one and a new one... I flopped the new one in right away, and i have done a ton of cutting with it.. no real signs of dulling... I read up on some stuff, and the blades seem to last quite a while. Check out the Cricut machine as well, its a physically larger machine and seems to cut the thicker stuff better, holds small details and circles better. The downfall seems to be the software is a bit more cumbersome to use, and its a big machine. I personally like the software and compact size of my silhouette portrait. The main thing is just playing around with it, I would encourage anyone to get one and try it. In the silhouette software you can draw basic shapes easily and to size, so even for simple rectangles I now just use the cutter. I really need to set up a camera and do a YouTube video on this, but i think that will be a winter project.

Thank you all for the comments and taking a look at this thing!... I feel like its progressing nicely. Rob that is a really good idea... I will have to play with it once I get into the body, that can also help with the rear bumper/roll pan situation going on back there. Thanks brian! Yes, I have a Silhouette Portrait scrap book cutter, so cutting repeat shapes out of .020 or thinner styrene has gotten much easier. Here are a couple things I managed to get done this week: Axle assembled and front springs and plates made. I did this earlier, but forgot to post....The 429 SOHC engine is mocked up... I used the engine from the Tommy Grove mustang funny car, which seems similar to the 33 Willys one, but with a front plate mount. Now i need to mess around with these valve covers to make them look a little closer to the 1:1 and less like a cartoon dinosaur.

then it was on to the front.. Using the spindle mount wire fronts from the Jawbreaker setting up the stance .(future plan is to upgrade these to photoetched wires from Herb Deeks, and lathe turned hubs and rims) Brass Tube axle and lathe turned ends: pull back saw and some rectangular tubing I was able whittle out some knuckles (yes,my fingers still hurt) the i lathe turned the spindles with a nail type head to be inserted from the back side: KingPins out of tiny brass tubing and 2 cut off straight pins: Now I just need to assemble these and make the front springs and shackles...tonight's project.

So I wasn't really going to do a build log on this, but I'm excited to share the progress. I have been kicking this idea around since I heard about the release of this kit, and when it came out it was sort of a "clear the bench" type of project. I like the simplistic nature of this kind of project in the summer, since my bench time is limited and sporadic. I'm still very excited about my Formula style model A, but when you don't get bench time for weeks on end, its hard to keep my head into something that complex. This is simple, relaxing and most of all quite fun. The basic idea was to build a pinto wagon that would have toured the indoor show circuit in the early 80's. Lots of chrome, shiny paint, and over the top everything. If you have seen my gremlin build, something like that... but a bit more complex and a bit more aggressive stance. Here are a couple inspiration images: Stance like this= Color scheme something like this= So getting started I grabbed the rear slicks from the JawBreaker Dragster, and started cutting up the rear fenders till the stance was pretty close Then I fully sanded the toy-like detail off the chassis plate... Using the Ford 9" from the new 29 roadster and some brass tubing, I realized rear-end clearance will be an issue. Some sheet styrene and wendys spoons to the rescue. Using my scrapbook cutter I drew up and cut out the springs, plates and ladderbars. Then started building the rear suspension: added some beading wire u-bolts:

Yeah.. im currently fighting this battle... I have the 33 willys, the malco gasser, and the polar lights (round2) tommy grove mustang funny car... All seem to be similar and decent, but the cam covers on all 3 lack the fat smoothness of the real thing. I'm trying to decide how much I care about the realistic look, although now that I've noticed how far they are off it really bothers me. Ill probably play around with trying to make them more like the 1:1.. It stinks I havent found anything aftermarket/kit that is better.

Ill play along..pro-touring with a bit of a twist... Build log here: Seats are from Clearly Scale, everything I've seen from them looks amazing.. He's also based out of Canada, so that can help you out a little shipping and exchange rate wise.

Bronco!!!! woot woot!

odd... i almost wonder if its a conversion issue... $159 decal sheet?

Heres my .02 on this... What I have been doing, and it seems to work really well is using duplicolor enamel gloss black, followed by duplicolor clear straight from the can...(something i read on here somewhere) The clear occasionally fogs/frosts but i keep a heat gun next to me when i paint, a quick gentle hit with that and the frosting goes away. As soon as i set down the can of clear i get the airbrush ready to shoot the alclad.... I try to shoot the alclad within 10-15minutes of the clear being shot, this way it is still somewhat soft and the solvents in the alclad can do their job effectively. Super light almost non existent coats... building up very slowly until you see the chrome effect appear. Once it looks like chrome, stop.... less is more. On a microscopic level, that shiny gloss black needs to shine through. Over apply the Alclad and it fills in all those little gaps and you have silver paint. Since you put it on so dry and light, there is dusty overspray on the part when you are done, I have been lightly dusting parts with a Q-tip after 24hours and it really brings them to life. This is surprisingly quick and pretty durable for handling... All of this chrome was done with this technique... in one evening.... no top coat.

I received mine last night for my birthday! I'm super stoked on this kit! Its going to me a bench clearing summer project for me. Going with an 80's streetfreak/gasser show car.. Similar to the Gremlin i built, but a bit more crazy... I think I am going to build one of these "lemon" streetfreak show cars every year, its a fun relaxing build theme compared to my usual more technical stuff. Build log will be going up soon... hopefully making some progress tonight.

thanks guys! Im trying to stay motivated... its rough in the summer with 1:1 car stuff going on. I have made a little progress on the engine assembly and cleanup. Still working through the suspension design and trying to think as far ahead as possible. Last weekend i was able to attend the SCCA major race at mid-ohio, snapped a couple formula car inspiration images.. this will help me get the steering rack and suspension in the front as realistic as possible. and radiator ducting and placement and some engine assembly photos... doing a lot of cleanup and adding detail where I can. so not really much in the way of progress... i blame this.

hubba hubba... that's one fine looking rear end you got there... Seriously, amazing work!

Awesome!!! That chassis picture reminds me of my nightmares on this kit... The IRS is worth it though! Nice clean work!

Thank you guys! I haven't gotten much bench time... lately... Basketball and Hockey playoffs, as well as 1:1 car and house maintenance... blah... Thank you and that's great to hear Tim! I'm excited to see what someone with your talents can do with one of these things. I do use Adobe Illustrator for work, but I have never taken a class on it. Mostly I have used it to operate our vinyl graphics cutter, which is just a larger version of the scrapbook cutter. The good news for me/you/everyone, you only need to scratch the surface of what the program can do to accomplish this stuff. You can draw about anything with 3 or 4 of the basic tools, then get more complex as you get more comfortable in the software. I can honestly say I rarely take a normal xacto to a sheet of styrene anymore... even for simple basic shapes. Its faster, more accurate and repeatable. That all being said... I should probably do a quick YouTube video of my process so everyone can see how easy this really is... I will put that on my to-do list. Buddy, you do not want your brain to work like mine... hahaha...two words..... pinto wagon.

great idea.. and awesome execution they look spot on.... thanks for sharing..

love it... so cool