CabDriver

Hey Dave, what's that cool looking bus-looking thing there behind the Batmobile-looking thing?

Never heard of the voltage thing before Curt - how does that work? Sounds perfect!. You're right on the angle, I'll tweak it a little accordingly!

OK, it's taken over a week to get the next tiny detail added - and I mean TINY... Tiny working dipstick! I used a syringe tube for the outer part and some 0.2mm craft wire (it took a few attempts to find something that would fit in the tiny pipe) for the stick itself...really pleased with this little piece. Took AGES! The only problem is, the wire's so thin I keep bending them when I either insert or remove them...I've had to make 4 already! This one's staying in for the moment until I've got the patience to make another

You did a gorgeous job of scratchbuilding that cage! Brilliant!

I love how this is coming together! What a fun build!

Well, there's so much show that they closed the subways and roads and I couldnt open my front door....not that I'm complaining at some forced model time! Laid some base brown then Alclad on some of the moving parts and then wethered them back down like so: Need to let the enamel dry lest I put a great big fingerprint in them but the axles and engine are ready to be glued in - I might even finish a model this weekend at this rate

As a 'New Yawker' I kinda like the idea of using local plates on my builds - I know I could print my own but I really like the quality of decals versus trying to print my own - so anyone know any kits that include them on the decal sheets? Any leads would be much appreciated guys!

Well, the weather outside is frightful so staying in for the weekend seemed pretty delightful - beats driving around in this! I'm kidna tired of the cold weather already, so what better than a box-stock build to pass a snowed-in weekend? I was daydreaming of the beach, and a little sunshine so i figured this Lindberg kid would make a cool surf-rod - New York style! I wanna try the salt rusted technique so I figured this'd be a cool one to try it out on - any T that's been subjected to our East Coast air for nearly 100 years would definitely be showing some pretty heavy rusting, even if it had been painted at least once since as I figured this one might have been. I started off with some rattlecan flat brown, then added some highlights and lowlights of different shades Then, a healthy sprinking of salt: Then, some bodycolour over the whole mess, allowed to dry for 15-20 minutes before brushing the extra salt off LOVE this technique!!! Onto the running gear!

OK, next order of business was the shifter - I liked the kit one but I figured I could remake it with some thinner bar and make it look a little more scale: Made some decent progress this afternoon!

The magneto was the next thing to get handled. The one in the pics on the box and in all the reference material I managed to find of the 1:1 show a different design to the part on the sprue, so a little scratchbuilding was required: The original part is on the right, new part on the left and one of the few decent reference pics I managed to find of this part on the real car:

Resally enjoying seeing this come together - beautiful craftsmanship!

I'd love to see more of this too! Beautiful build!

Dont be afraid of BMFing - just cut a piece to size, rub it down with a q-tip or similar and use a fresh new scalpel blade to lightly score around the edge, using the moulded in edges as a guide. Jump right in, it's easy!

Thanks Gene! Much as I'm ragging on it a little it's a beautifully designed and engineered kit - it seems more like the manufacturing end of actually making the thing lets down the beautiful detail they've tried to design into it. An actual cam molded into the block, valves in the head - all kindsa little details that are really cool when you find them. One they missed though, was the dipstick. No surprise really, it'd be too small to mold in 1:25, so I drilled it out and added one myself: That's ACTUAL hollow tube (although, the hole is so small I can barely see it unless I photograph it ) - I'm waiting for some thinner wire to come that will allow me to bend and make an actual working dipstick to put in it. That's the plan anyway....

I LOVE the work you did on the chrome strips on the site of the car - beautiful!

This is gonna be a GREAT build! I'll be watching!

It's real-life time again because it's a weekday, but I got some supplies today and made a wired starter motor with some Plastruct tube and some photoetch sprue to add some detail where required...

I cant believe I worked all weekend on this and all I got finished was the engine and gearbox - and they dont even have paint on! Joking aside, I'm really enjoying the challenge of trying to make each piece as perfect as it can be and add a little detail where I can - that gearlever assembly in particular is screaming at me to remake it with some thin aluminium bar...hmmmm.... I need to order some colour for this thing and a suitable primer so i can start attaching bits to the block to see where I'm at - the lack of any Orange paint here is holding me up but there's plenty of flash to be removed in the meantime

Great tips Bill! Thank you so much! That's roughly what I've been doing, reassuringly, so its good to know I'm on roughly the right track here Meanwhile, I popped some chrome parts in a little tub with a good serving of Dollar Store bleach and went to get a burger. Seemed a good way to pass the time whilst the bleach did it's work I figured I should strip and replate the chrome parts almost as I need them - there's a lot of small bits in this thing! I dont wanna get too confused!

OK, front of the block is sanded smooth (hopefully wont need any filler either) and I added those two tiny squares of styrene on the front of the head to match the pics I found of the 1:1's engine - I guess it's a late fifties Olds mill, but I'd love to hear from anyone who knows for sure: Next job was drilling for plug wires, which took some careful scraping away of the moulded in plugs with am Exacto blade and then redrilling: Whilst I was at it, I drilled a hole in the rear of the block and made a little simple stand to hold the engine for painting - the block is a different colour to the gearbox so I can't assemble it much further before painting it but when I get as far as paint and primer this little stand will be a big help Next job - getting the two gearbox halves together (this model works on the 'why use one part when fifteen will do' principal, which suits me just fine) and assembling the rest of the block parts so I can see what space and opportunity I have for additional detailing. I'd kinda like to get a scale dipstick in there at least!

That's the plan Bill! So, like all responsible modellers I've studied the instruction sheet carefully (because we all follow those exactly, right? Right?) and after a little research on the 1:1 jumped right in with step 1 - the engine. Shouldn't be too hard, right? Glue the block halves together and put the heads on and call it ready for paint. WRONG! First challenge to overcome is that the two upper block halves either line up nicely with each other but not the bottom of the block (leaving a noticable gap on one or either edge) or they line up with the edges of the block and leave a wedge shaped gap on top. I decided to line them up with the edge of the block itself to keep the correct silhouette and fill the gap with a tiny sliver of styrene cut into a wedge shape Note that to get everything line up as I have here, you'll need to remove these little locater nubs as indicated with my trusty knife here and eyeball it to get it straight: This is a beautifully designed kit with some well thought out ideas but next issue was that the valvetrain also has locater pins didn't allow them to line up properly . So, I removed one pin from one side to allow it to fit properly and both from the other et voila! A perfect fit! Next challenge to overcome is that the centre part here (top of the intake system) seems as though it should snuggle down flush without a gap....and doesn't. Another small wedge of styrene fills the gap... ...and just three short hours later we've got the block mostly assembled and ready for sanding the flat surfaces back flat in the morning

Thanks Rob!

Well, my trusty Mikky D's tray is empty - time to dust off a kit off the shelf and really test my skills (if the parts count and reviews of this kit are anything to go by this should be a patience-tester): Sure is a lot of chrome in this one! And, bizarrely, just one resin piece?! I figure I should strip the chrome for the most part and re-Alclad seeing as this thing is flash-city and I'm planning to detail it as best I can without blowing 500 bucks on parts - lets see how we go here!

Tom does GREAT design! I'm trying to get the spirit of one of his designs here a little, its definately more of a concept or showcar kinda thing than a super detailed build with all the plumbing and wiring. That said - I did the last bit of Alclading today and glued the last couple of bits in place - she's basically there! I'll take some better pics tomorrow but I love how it's come together - even cooler than I hoped for!

These old kits are cool! I love it! Cant wait to see it come together!