Custom Mike

I got the fuel tank for the boat finished. I made a gas cap for it (Like the one I used on the '50 Chevy Pickup), drilled the tank, glued the cap on, and painted it with some Metalizer Aluminum Plate. It's all buffed out and ready to be installed! I got my exhaust pipe drilled out, painted with some Metalizer Stainless Steel, buffed and installed on the frame. I also got the exhaust manifolds painted (Stainless Steel & Burnt Iron), and installed on the engine!

I also got the tubes attached to the headers for the water lines coming from the top of the engine...those funky flat spots on the headers look like they were made for these things!

Some Metalizer Aluminum Plate was sprayed, then polished, and the new water pump was mocked up, this actually looks just like I pictured it in my crazy head!

A bit of superglue was laid into the groove, and the wire was placed into the groove... The "legs" were bent and cut to length, and the water pump was mocked up...I like it! A bit of putty was applied, then sanded down, she's ready for some paint!

Next, I got started on the water pump for the boat's motor. I figured on something simple, an intake tube for the water, and probably a piece of 16 or 18 gauge wire for the "legs" that will go into the block on either side of it. I'll also have to drill a hole in the timing cover for the shaft coming out of the back side of the water pump, but that will be the last part of it. I may just put the pump directly on top of the timing cover so I don't need a shaft, we'll see when I get to that point. I started with a piece of a parts tree, I used one of the huge rods at the ends of some of the trees. I drilled a series of progressively larger holes in one side until it was large enough to accept the tubing I'll use for the intake... The intake tube glued into the new water pump, and a piece of braided line shoved into it for good measure. Not a bad start, I'm getting pretty good at this scratch-building stuff for sure! And the water pump held up to the engine to see how it's gonna look once it's all done. This is about the angle I hope to have it at when it's finished...now to make the "legs" and get it painted! I got the boat's water pump completed, I started by cutting a groove in the back side to run a piece of wire through. I also drilled some holes in the block for the "legs" to go into, I'll try to add a small flange to each one to make it look bolted on.

Time for some more updates. let's start with the truck's engine. The pulleys, fan and alternator are all in place, not much left for this part, just the carb and exhaust and it'll be done! Next up was getting the spare tire done. I finally gave up and went with the kit whitewall, since nothing else would fit properly. I still needed to flatten one side of the tire and rim to get it to fit the way I wanted it to though, so I put the whitewall side on top, sanded it flat, painted it flat black, and glued the assembly in place on the frame!

Great colors TJ, I can't wait to see the rims you've picked out on it, that should be sweet!

Beautiful work Al, now I really want one! I wish some company would make a new-tool version of this one, but I'm not holding my breath!

Simply sick man, you'd have to have a huge set of nads to press the go pedal on this beast!

Please take your time with this Andy, it's just too cool to rush! For someone with no experience with a lathe, you're making it look too easy man, that's some awesome work! This one's just my opinion, I'd polish up the rings you made for the rims and dull-cote the centers, they've got a good color already, remove the shine and add some polished-up rings and they should look great!

I got a bit of interior stuff done for both the truck and boat. I started by adding a back to the truck's seat, since a small piece of it sticks up above the interior bucket.... And the seat sitting in place in the interior bucket, much better! Next up was a bit of flocking.... All the parts for the boat were also flocked, and the seat was painted with some Dupli-Color Fabric And Interior Paint Vinyl Silver. The last bit of work for tonight was some detail painting on the dash. Nothing fancy, just some semi-gloss black and silver dry-brushed to make it look good. I've got a bit of touch-up in a few spots, but not too bad for a few minutes of work!

I got the boat masked off and painted, now to let everything cure, hopefully I'll be able to throw some Clear on all this stuff in the next few days! And some better shots of the cab and hood, they're back at the bench, no issues in the paint at all!

The roof and dashboard are also wearing some beautiful Candy Apple Green! The boat is up next!

And the cab. Everything took a ride in the dehydrator for about last two hours, so I'm ready to mask off the cab, hood and boat so I can lay down some Candy Apple Green! I almost forgot, the dash will be Candy Apple Green too, so it got some Candy Silver!

The Boat....

Thanks guys, it's taking some work, but it's worth it! WE HAVE PAINT!!!! The first coats of Dupli-Color Candy Silver have been laid down, and so far, we're looking pretty good! I've got a bit of debris to clean out of the slots out front, but that's the biggest issue I've got so far!

I'd love to get my hands on one of these kits...way too pricey for my tastes though! If you had the urge, you could get another engine from any Jo-Han AMC kit, all of their V-8's were the same physical size, regardless of cubic inches!

The only modeling club I know of in Raleigh is an IPMS chapter, and they don't seem to be too into car guys. Fayetteville has a great club, but again, it's way more military than car guys, buy they begrudgingly accept me...sometimes! There's going to be a contest on June 6th in Fayetteville, it's an IPMS Regional, tell him to come on down, we do have a good showing as far as us 4-wheel types! https://lafayettescalemodelers.wordpress.com/

I grabbed some goodies for the braided lines I'm using for the boat's cooling system, this should clean it up nicely! That's all for tonight, we'll see ya again soon!

I finally got around to doing a bit of engine work for the truck. I painted the 4 barrel intake with some Metalizer Aluminum Plate, buffed it up and glued it down, then drilled it out for the Fatkidd distributor... And got the plug wires glued in place on the passenger side of the engine. I'll touch-up the area under the boots once the glue has dried, and hopefully be able to finish this engine off pretty quickly I got the engine wiring completed, and discovered that the distributor was missing it's coil wire! So I'll find a piece of wire around here to use in it's place, because this kit actually comes with a coil! I did a quick mock-up of the engine in the truck, and popped the hood open...like I said earlier, the kit hinges actually work beautifully on this one, a first for me!

Changing gears again, we're back on the hood now. I got the filler sanded down on the passenger side and shot it with some primer, and it looks good. I still have a slight problem though, the hood is either down fully on the passenger side, or sticking up on the driver's side front corner. It's the hood for sure, it's just slightly warped, but I'm gonna live with it, since I can display it with the hood up...the kit hinges actually hold the hood up beautifully! See the separation line molded in to the front end...the one that separates the upper front panel from the fender? Yeah, it stops dead right there, I couldn't have that, so I continued it up and over the top like it's supposed to be! I've been looking at that partial line for a while now, and I just had to fix it! Now I've got to cut the separation line in the lower panel too, even though it'll get hidden almost completely by the bumper! Much better looking, but who's gonna notice it other than psychos like me?

The roof panel wearing some primer/sealer...I've got one tiny bit of filler to sand down at the back edge of the filler piece, but otherwise it's perfect! Next up is getting started on the bed. I glued some angle strip on the side of the bed, two pieces were used. I'll have slats on the top and bottom of this bed, unlike the '50 Chevy which had one solid piece of basswood on the bottom and slats on the top. I'm also going to have a piece of .030 sheet styrene between the pieces of basswood this time around, mainly to have something to glue the retaining straps between the pieces of wood to. If you look closely at the angle styrene glued to the bed, you'll see that it has a ripple in it...the bed wall is still not flat, even after all that sanding! I'll sand the angle piece to straighten it out once the glue has fully set, maybe it'll satisfy my OCD over things like that! A quick mock-up with two pieces of basswood and some .030 strip, it fits between the angle retainers perfectly! I added the top angle strip to the other side of the bed, but not the bottom yet, I was waiting for the two pieces of .030 strip to dry on the bottom edge. Since it was recessed there, the lower strip would end up too far away from the basswood slat to hold it, so I brought the bottom edge out to the level of the rest of the bed sides. And a shot from above, that's all for the bed tonight, gotta make sure the glue is good and dry before I do the rest of the work on it!

Finally, I got some chassis work done. I started by painting the frame rails semi-gloss black..... A bit of semi-gloss black on the front and rear suspension.... And the suspension parts glued in place on the chassis. The shocks are painted (But still drying), so they'll be installed once they're dry... I painted the disc brake rotors with some Metalizer Steel, the calipers with Tamiya Clear Green, and pronounced them good! Once the shocks are dried and installed, we'll have a nearly completed chassis! I got the roof panel repair cleaned up, and so far, it's looking great! A shot of the underside, it's not really gonna be seen once it's in place, but I still wanted it to look good! From above, nice and even with the drip rail! A bit of careful sanding will be needed here, but it's not too bad! Once it was sanded, a tiny bit of filler was needed for some pinholes.... All sanded down, we'll see how it looks with a bit of primer thrown at it!

I got some more primer thrown at the boat (It's now as close to perfect as I'll ever get!), the cab and the hood. The hood needs some filler for the pinholes on the passenger side, but otherwise is in great shape, and fits great! I've got a bit more work to do on the bottom of the grille opening, but the passenger side is good to go! A couple of shots of the hood, the driver's side is fine.... But the passenger side needs some filler at the back side. I did get the character line straight at the front corner at least, so it's getting there!

Chris, this Hemi Hydro is an original release, or very close to it, I believe it was a 1972 issue of it, Sam I Am provided it so I could duplicate what Toney built...the new release of the Hemi Hydro wasn't around yet! I already replaced the trailer rims and tires, they're the same as the beautiful 5-spokes on the truck, and it looks 1000 times better that way! I've got one of the Phantom Vicky kits in the stash, thanks for the tip on the battery box, now I've gotta dig it out and steal some parts! Here's a picture of the kit Sam sent me, it's definitely not the new release!