R. Thorne

Picked the best set of headers, cleaned ‘em up the best I could, put some thick primer on as pin holes surfaced after a coat of primer. Then some Green stuff world chrome, shrink tubing slipped on, and installed along with driveshaft (no loop as the crossmember functions for that in this case).

Thanks for the encouraging words, guys. Trying to climb out of this slump I let myself fall into and finish this dad blasted model car. Did some header casting. Tried single envelope style and 2 piece molds with less than stellar results, but simply have to move on and try again at a later date. Anybody have any suggestions on how they have done headers?

Looked through some kit and aftermarket headers. Really liked the looks of NASCAR type, but Decided on the 68 Firebird headers, as the others would have required quite a bit of work to fit. Poured a mold today, will cast some tomorrow, as there are more Pontiac stockers in the future. Also, a mold for some racing seats was poured.

Thanks, I don’t know about “fast”, but somewhat steady progress. Got the front suspension on and fit the motor in temporarily to check the driveshaft length with the different trans. Looks okay on length, so no shortening or expanding the driveshaft. Trimmed the floorboard slightly. Next is deciding on which headers to use.

I was putting the front suspension stuff on, digging the springs out of the zip loc bag I keep small parts in after I have painted them. Guess what else is in the bag? The mysterious, missing, oil filter/adapter! Evidently, the bag was open when the adapter popped out of my tweezers. Strange.

Well, the oil filter/adapter ( a tiny little thing), went flying into the air I know not where. After some scrounging, I remembered a build Of a friend of mine’s 62 Pontiac i started and stalled on about 5 years ago. Lo and behold, in the box was the part I needed as I had used a different engine combination. This time I glued a piece of sprue onto it, painted it, then glued it on. Will remove the sprue after it is dry and paint the bottom of the oil filter then. Got the frame installed and the rear end. Gotta touch up the frame where a couple clamps had set. It is what I get for using clamps that have been used to hold small parts for painting. Lesson learned, hopefully.

Got this kit in to look at the headers. Also, have some aftermarket ones I am considering modifying to more closely resemble Pontiac ones. Undecided at this point. Assembling some chassis parts.

Thanks, Tony and Carl. Should be back on this one in a day or two.

Thanks, Jimmy. I just started casting back in January. Instead of keeping a written log of what I used, I post it on here. If (actually, when), I forget how I did or what color paint I used on a particular model, I can look it up here. So, there is a certain amount of selfishness involved.

Painted some small stuff.

Made some upper and lower control arm reinforcements.

Just for Peter. It has the hypo type applicator.

Not much done today. Just a bit of painting.

TS14 Tamiya black is what I painted the body with. I then applied TS13 Tamiya clear over that. I used the same procedure on both (1 light coat, then 1 medium coat). Nothing to do with the chassis. Hope that’s clear.

This is what I use for strong welded type bonds and, yes, it is ModelMaster. I have had this for quite a while. Bought an extra when I heard it was being replaced by the Testors version. When it is gone, I guess I will try the Testors.

Cut out the fuel tank with the help of my drill and vari-bit, then my old faithful Xuron nippers. Put some TS-13 Tamiya clear on. Humidity was down to 48% today (inside the house, that is). Same process as with black paint. 1 light tacky coat, then 1 medium heavy shiny coat, then stop and cover it up and leave it alone. This is 3 hours later.

Thanks, Tom. It makes my hood scoop look bad. I almost hate to put some TS13 clear on it tonight.

Thanks, Carl. The best to you.

Windshield base scribed with Dspiae tool. No primer on body, just ts14 black. One light coat, waited 5 minutes, then 1 medium coat, then had to force myself to stop, because it looked flawless. These pictures were taken 3 hours later.

Very nice build. One of the few models (other than mine), that has had side windows made and installed.

Did some more sanding and finish work on the trans, then sprayed with ts30. Primed the hood scoop as it is resin. Also, installed some afb’s and the hood scoop. Finally, glued the trans on with some thick ca glue, like I used on the carbs. Gives you a little more alignment time. Hopefully, get some paint on the body tonight.

Cut hole for hood scoop, removed wiper blades (made hole for “stub”). Still have to scribe the windshield base.

Love it! How often do you see an upside down Hooker (err, headers, that is, on the door). Great job.

Thanks for the heads up. Strange. I will probably put side windows in anyway, as I do with most of my drag cars, so it won’t be a big deal, as you said. Painted the block and trans. Digging for headers.

Tried to fix a hood scoop I had cast a while back. After spending way too much time adding thick super glue, then sanding and priming with Mr surfacer 500 , I just wasn’t happy with it or the th200 trans. I finally realized (duh!!), it was way easier to make more castings, which I did. Old habits die hard. I ended up casting a bunch of miscellaneous stuff, as I usually end up with lots left over in the mixing cup.