R. Thorne

Speaking of bit by bit, some small progress on the body. Sanded off the hood ornaments. Tedious sanding, but necessary. A look at the great instructions in the box. Next major body work is to turn it into a 4 door sedan.

If you are considering Dspiae tools, by the way I have had good results (and better prices) dealing with the Dspiaestore.

Thanks, I’ll need it. Almost all of my models serve as “memory joggers “ and have a connection to the past. Yes, i plan on purchasing a 57 Chevy resin truck in the near future. I also have plans for a 1963 Dodge lcf that I used later on.

I have ordered from them for a couple of years with good results. Back in November of ‘23, one order had not been shipped in a couple of weeks. I contacted them, they responded quickly, and the order was shipped in 2 days. I do understand your reluctance. Tools are mainly what I have ordered. Most of the time I prefer to deal with Scalehobbyist or Hobbylinc.

Actually, mild customizing was legal then. You’ll note my car (and Jack’s, too) don’t have the hood ornaments on them. Some more work on the flashing. What works pretty good is scribing with a hobby knife, then breaking off with some small needlenose pliars.

Couldn’t resist a pic of Jack Mullins’s 53 Olds (stick shift, 165 hp) at Indy. Another friend of mine. Now, on to the model. This is what I started with. I am planning to convert it to a 4 dr model. A lot of thick flash to remove, but I am getting there. Whoops, missed Jack’s pic.

First, some pics of the car taken around 1965-1971, then a Car Craft article from 1969 detailing what it would take to build an Nhra legal Oldsmobile Stock Eliminator car. In the second pic, I am racing against a 1953 Hudson owned by Gary Ellard, a friend of mine. This was at an airport in Sturgis, Ky. (Note the hay bales used as guard rails). Next post will begin the actual build.

Another thoughtful, accurate, respectful build. Thanks for posting. As I build a lot of NHRA class cars, realistic looking headers are usually the toughest thing to find.

Thanks, Larry.

Thanks, guys. I try to point out the good and bad parts of my builds.

Thanks, guys. It was an unusual kit.

Nothing extraordinary here, just an interim build for fun. Tamiya spray can, no primer, Hasegawa chrome trim. Biggest gripe was the chassis/interior fit. Also, discovered too late a body warpage on the front windshield that complicated things. Some fiddly bits, but a fantastic engine, trans, and rear end that made up for it. More details are in my WIP section. As always, critiques good and bad, suggestions, questions, are appreciated.

Ca glued some small stuff on today to complete this learning experience. Finished pics in the Under Glass section.

Slow going on this build, for some reason. Cut out a hunk of styrofoam after spilling my little kicker bottle. Tried to ca glue the front of the frame on, but came back 5 minutes later and it had come loose. Decided to remove the paint with some paint remover and q-tips. Then put regular cement on with a nice clamp I “borrowed “ from the kitchen. Will let it dry overnight. So, decided to install the rear tailights and bumper. After installing, I noticed the clamping of the front end had dropped the rear frame down away from the bumper. Grrr. Took them off and put ca glue on with a nice big clamp. Yes, I realize the poor fit of the chassis is due to the windshields being too thick. Hopefully, that issue can be circumvented with the clamps and glue. Time to quit for the day.

Decided to use some thickened Future floor polish that I had made 5 or 6 years ago. I had forgotten about it. It was almost too thick because it was old, but it worked quite well. Mounted trunk emblem, headlight and tailight lenses with it and a toothpick. This is the high tech tool I used to install the headlight lenses (broken toothpick with funtac installed on end).

Some small stuff today. Chrome pen for the sides, semi gloss black for the grill, red testors enamel for the headlight surrounds, and the miscellaneous stuff to apply it.

Thought there might be decals for the side trim. Nope. So, used some acrylic markers and cobbled them up. Not pretty, but moving on. Used a chrome pen to finish up the wipers and the vents. Installed some firewall parts and glued it on along with frame to the interior.

Thanks, gentlemen. Not much done today. Had left the Tamiya stuff on the top and decided I didn’t like it today. So took it off. Sorta hard to get off being so thin, but finally, my fingernail finished the job. Then I applied the Hasegawa.

Trying to finish up the foil work. Nothing beats Hasegawa for the shine, but more difficult to cut and shape into crevices.

Rear axle and tires installed. Tried some thin Tamiya sheets. Too thin and delicate for me. Went back to the Hasegawa. It’s coming along. That’s enough for today.

Another pic of the installed exhaust. Was planning on using some thick ca for longer assembly time as the rear end installation is also somewhat fiddly , but the Hobbylobby and BSI stuff had both hardened up, so went into the trash. Decided to remove the painted mounting areas (tedious work), of which there are many, and use regular thick type plastic cement (Perfect Plastic products in this case). Oh, yeah, the driveshaft walked away, so robbed one out of the new kit, and put some gun metal on with one of my new markers (how did I do without these acrylic markers?).

This is what I topped it off with, but most of it was about 5 year old Castrol branded superclean, which is no longer available.

This drill bit set is convenient for reaming out tight fitting holes. It doesn’t fit all holes, obviously, but quite a few common ones.

I am always experimenting, Jim. Sometimes, it doesn’t pay off. Got the “old” body looking good as new after soaking in purple stuff for about a week with some tooth brush scrubbing a couple times. Put some thin ca glue in an old Tamiya bottle with their small brush. Put the parts together, then applied the ca using capillary action. Used it on the somewhat fiddly exhaust system installation along with some kicker in a small bottle with eye dropper. So far, so good.