R. Thorne

Thanks, Mike. I am going to leave that smudge on the top of the left front fender to remind me not to use too much ca glue the next time. I had the car upside down gluing the frame on and I found out later it had drained on to the fender.

Saturday was a full day with timeouts in between painting. Primed with 1 light coat, then 1 medium, base gold the same way, then clear red (1 light, then 2 medium), clear (1 light then 1 medium). This was all done in 1 day. I usually waited 5-10 minutes between coats, then, an hour or so between different colors. Finished about 2 o’clock this morning. It looks good, so, moving on.

Thanks, Tony. Got the 3 hoods cleaned up in Purple stuff, then primed with Tamiya white primer. Noticed some runs where I had painted the body with clear red. Sanded it down, noticed a couple of other spots, so, decided to start again and dunked it in 91% alcohol. This took place on Friday.

Thanks, guys. Comments good or bad and questions are always welcomed.

Also, worked pretty good and reminded me of a 1:1 type drop light when laid on the top of the car.

Stopped and started a lot on this one. It is representative of a 265 cu. In. Chevy with a single four barrel (4gc) carb and a 3 speed stick shift Stock Eliminator car. Scattershield came from a 57 Nomad kit, aftermarket fenderwell headers, Lakewood traction bars from I don’t know where land, cast my own tires (7” cheater slicks) from the AMT Surf Woody that comes with 4 slicks. Most of the parts came from the Revell Del Ray kit. Paint is Tamiya spray cans. Chrome trim is Hasegawa. Don’t remember where the wheels came from. More information about how I got started on this build is on the WIP thread. Critiques, comments, questions, are always welcomed.

Calling it done. Installed top hose and battery with the help of my “drop light “. One spot of ca glue leaked off frame rails onto left front fender. I had put too much on. Will post a couple pics in the finished section.

Finally got these hoods from Greg Wann, so, I’m back on the Firebird after finishing the 56 Stocker.

Front and rear bumpers installed. Photos sure show up errors (broken decal on trunk, for example) that you wouldn’t normally notice.

Tried a new ca glue from Deluxe materials. I like the texture and applicator bottle. Seems to work a little quicker and stronger (as my fingers will attest) than the bsi gold I normally use. Ground some off the bottom of the interior tub for a better fit and glued it in. Glued the grille/splash pan/front bumper together.

Put some “shoe polish” class designation and numbers on with my new acrylic markers. One side with the brush end and one with the marker end. Don’t know which I like the best. Who ever heard of “permanent “ numbers back then? Then, you gotta have a few decals on the windows. Tried some from the 63 Corvette kit that disintegrated in water. So, had some considerably newer Slixx ones that worked fine. Where would we be without the aftermarket guys?

Made some side windows using an adhesive back scratch pad and some .005” clear plastic. Used the gs hypo to install ‘em along with toothpick/fun tack and the handy flashlight that came with the tweezers. Worst part about the gs hypo cement is getting that tiny needle in the cap back in the tube female hole. The small light helps illuminate that chore, but it is tedious. Put door handles, windshield wipers, and some other trim pieces on. Letting her dry overnight and should be able to put her together tomorrow.

Well, there’s also the ultra high tech toothpick with fun tack for handling small parts. May be too expensive and complicated, though.

Just got these today and tried them out. Proper bench lighting is always important, but sometimes I do work away from the bench in another room. While I have a lighted head band, the glare (especially on gloss black finishes) is often a hindrance. Saw these on Amazon for $5.99 (they are now$4.73!) and decided to take a chance. The quality looks good and I believe the light can be used on other tweezers. Anyway, they helped me to see better installing some chrome trim on my ‘56.

Headlights and hood ornaments installed with the help of my high tech toothpick and some gs Hypo and a lighted tweezer. Not perfect job, but ok, I guess. Almost left them off as “mild customizing” was permitted back then.

Oh, to be young and dumb again. Got the tailights and license plate bracket(after sanding the back tabs off), on. Noticed the rear windshield (which has very little surface to glue to) had “drooped” down on the top. So, put some more gs hypo on and weighted it down with a pill bottle I had filled with lead balls. Gonna let it sit overnight to dry. The top of the bottle (installed inverted) has masking tape on it which helped it sit at an angle. I use this pill bottle bottom to hold super glue normally. I may have to go back to Bsi gold ca in the future for installing windshields. Wouldn’t have had this problem if I had used ca glue. Live and learn.

After a couple weeks off, I am back at it. Decided (for old times sake) , to adorn the back window with a common addition back in those days. A similar one on my 53 Olds stocker around 1969 (wow!, what memories). Anyway, put the rather delicate placement windows and windshields on with the precision tipped gs hydro and my high dollar toothpick/funtack device to hold them while installing. Hard to get the cap/wire plug back on, but the precision is worth it, I guess. Worked pretty good.

I use ca glue (Bsi gold) for painted surfaces, otherwise Tamiya extra thin cement.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. Truly an outstanding ambassador for the modeling community.

Thank you for showing some of your awesome early work. Unfortunately, my ocd kicked in. AA/G cars would have blowers, take 1 A off to make it unblown (A/G). Slick, no tread front tires?

Finished up the Hasegawa chrome and used an aluminum pen on the vent window only.

Your comments are always appreciated, Mike. It can be trimmed with a hobby knife or scalpel like bmf, but I just find it much easier, quicker, and less nerve racking to cut it on the package and install. Especially on shiny black paint, the Hasegawa stuff has a tendency to glare when being installed and then cut on the car. I even thought about wearing sunglasses (lol).

Excellent work! An obvious labor of love.

Thanks, Mike. I’d say Revell missed it a little on the battery placement as the full size cars were not that close. The driveshaft length was ok, so I trimmed one end off, reamed out the other end, and glued it on. Then started on the Hasegawa chrome trim. I cut it out on the package with a steel ruler, then install it, as this stuff is thicker and, consequently, harder to cut after installed. Sometimes it requires a do over. I like it better than bmf, however, because it is shinier, has less wrinkles, is fairly easy to handle after cutting a piece off, is stretchy without easily breaking, and leaves no glue residue (the main reason). The rear quarter panel section goes from .060” to .110” and, so, has to be cut on a taper.

Another way of doing it for about $20.00. UMM has some great tools.