bobss396

I was the same way with Revell kits for many years. I struggled with the '56 Chevy and the Nomad. I never finished the Woodies or '56 pickup. I had a modeling buddy down the block. We were the same age, but he tackled the Mysterion and other like it. Somehow he did a great job with them.

Part of their Unbuildables collection... goes with the '56 Ford pickup and the OG issue Ford woodie wagon.

My brother did a 1/25 scale truck (flat bed wrecker) and ran into the same thing. I said wait... I ran out and brought in a small diameter pool noodle, which are foam. He sliced the noodle up, placed one for a fit check and it was perfect. Pipe insulation is another option. Be careful with CA glue around chrome, as it may fog it.

I have pinned some tiny parts using .010" wire and a #80 (.013") drill. These days I try to avoid this. Once you select the area, try this. Mask off the area with tape, so only a very small window exists. Put down a minute dab of whatever you use, put the part on. Remove the tape later. I do have to look for watch crystal cement. 5 minute epoxy does allow time to position a part, so does clear paint, like Tamiya X22.

I'm working on an older Gremlin... AND a '35 Chevy coach. I still have to decide if the Gremlin or the coach will go on the printed chassis. The first 3 pictures are a Ron Coon radiator in the printed chassis. It is perfect for these kits. The last 2 are the Gremlin chassis. I never put the rub rails on it. I had made up new "J" supports from 1/16" plastic rod, but 2 were not usable. I did have some made of copper tubing that almost went on the Mustang. They worked out and look decent. I scrapped the sprint car bar option. I do have to make rails for the printed chassis today.

Depending on the alloy of copper, it can be hard to work with. Electrolytic copper can be quite "grabby". One alloy I worked with was an alloy, tellurium copper. It wasn't wrought, it was sintered. Very free machining.

I saw someone do that where I worked, only with cutting steel tubing on a big DoAll band saw. Stuff like that had to be held in a small vise. It was a heck of a bloody mess. We had a nurse in the building, she took one look and sent him to an industrial care facility to be patched up. This was a holdover from the Fairchild Republic days.

I built ONE Revell '40 Ford, it did win some trophies at any show I took it to. Late in the build I found a poor fit between the body and chassis, that was totally on me. In the end, the front end appeared to be too high. The rear fenders slanted in at the bottom. They should be square with the ground. There was no real way to fix it up front, it had to be done on the car after the fenders on. I took the razor saw to them, sliced them open, spread the cuts and I spliced in styrene wedges. Much better! I have seen lots of them at contests, nobody did what I did. I agree on the running board swap. The newer AMT kits, some of that fine detail is not there any more.

I should try something like this. I like the AMT '40 body over the Revell one. The Revell chassis is far superior.

These were flat out amazing paints. My first experience with them was around 1966. I still have a couple of cars painted with them.. the texture leaves something to be desired. Like the south-bound end of a north-bound alligator. Of course we knew zilch about primer, let alone that the Kandy Kolors needed a silver or gold base coat. Looks mighty thin for some reason...

I have one of those choppers I bought from Evergreen, it makes decent repeatable cuts in thin plastic. I have a couple of miter boxes and razor saws. Lately, I'll rough cut plastic or anything else, hold it in a small vise and file it flush. The ends are very square. If I have to make repeated cuts, I make up a stop for the vise. Just taped in place does it. I can hold +/- .005" very easily. Anything real close, I have the Bridgeport mill in the garage.

We lost a couple members to another club after covid. This was a big loss to the club. I am a big-ish fish in a small pond. Not too many get deeply into scratch building, except for my brother Will, he rejoined the club a couple years ago. We have had losses like Rich Manson, Tony Slice 'n Dice, others moved to warmer climates.

I was in the right place at the right time. I worked on a lot of stuff that most machine shops never saw. We did a lot of real small machined parts, the techniques cross over into modeling, how the heck do you hold this? The smallest hole I ever drilled was .006" in copper. We had recurring parts known as substrates that were ceramic. Those required a .003" hole drilled on a precision drill press. I luckily never touched one. We did one huge project for JPL, around 1983. All made from cryogenics. copper plate. It was something for cryogenics.

I was certified for shielded arc welding at one place I worked at. I was a tattoo apprentice around 1980 and one thing I did was silver soldering needle bars. I worked in one R & D machine shop. We did all sorts of silver soldering, brazing, soldering on hot plates. The shop was big into waveguide construction for RF electronics. I Also prepped aluminum wave guides for dip brazing, which we sent out. I set up and ran the EDM machines yo make custom choke flanges. Made electrodes from graphite, brass and tungsten copper. So I think a decent iron and a hot plate would help me out with the models.

That is what I was talking about. Him and Del were very talented.

This is the printed modified chassis I mentioned. Really not that many pieces and they cleaned up well with a Flexi File and sanding sticks, also abrasive pads. I still have to go over it again before primer. The front push bar is spindly compared to the rear bumper. Otherwise I like it. No side rails, I have to make those up. I also have some sprint car bars to consider. Headers... I have a BBC set from VCG Resins that are a good fit. Tons better than the kit ones. I picked up an OG '35 Chevy coach kit and cut the body up. It looks good on the kit and printed chassis. I'll continue the Mustang with the kit chassis, may use the printed headers, I have more on order. The printed chassisbill use with the coach or Gremlin I started (BACK IN THE BOX!!) a while back.

That is a good idea. I'll use pencil marks to do the same thing. Or tape something of a known size in place, to see how much room you have to work with. The last thing you want is late-build surprises. We had an older gent in the club, no longer with us .. he was good at painting himself into a corner. He had some futuristic build with a big plastic canopy. He realized late in the build that there was no way to mount it. Things like that should be the FIRST thing to square away. If it is botched, the whole build is garbage. One thing in my past were T-Bird and Corvette windshield frames and glass. Do that right away and put it in an envelope and seal it up.

Great stuff... the making parts is where the fun is. I have a couple 3D printed QC rears I'm dying to try. I realize that I'm at the point where I need a mini lathe and need to get into soldering up brass and copper...

I used to swear up and down that NOBODY can do a decent paint job with the OG Testors enamel cabs. Until I met Barry Fadden (RIP) and he had a couple of street rods that were shot with Testors... show winners 🏆. So with some patience, a bit of a learning curve and a dehydrator... it may work out. I should try it on a scrap body. I know I have a can of Rustoleum here somewhere...

I usually make my own dash-to-tub mounting feature if the fit is on the wonky side... heck, I'll pin those in place too at times.

I like the guys who ask for tips on saving a gummed up jar of Testors enamel paint, with the 15 cent price on the lid.

Nothing worse that scraping a new paint job in final assembly. I break all edges or put a good radius on any corners.

I decided that the Detail Master filter element paper looked like a-double-s. So I soaked it off, glued on with white glue. I got out the razor saw, cut it all apart. I replaced the smaller tubing with 3/32" aluminum, sleeved inside with 1/16" tubing. Everything will be pinned with 1/32" brass rod. I gave to figure out a rudimentary throttle block. It will be pretty much hidden since the injectors are close to the firewall.

I like the guys who paint the body as the first thing. This is the last thing I do. Almost any kit, I will take .040" to .060" off each chassis side. Any sharp corners get a nice radius. About 99% of model car bodies curve too far in at the rockers. On the inside of the body at the rockers, I thin them out. My plan is to get the body off and on without a fight. At the rear quarter panels, I bond in styrene blocks and drill through the chassis and pin that. I use either something not plastic, 1/32" or 3/64". The through-hole can be opened to facilitate it going together nicely. I will also pin the front chassis to the body where it will be hidden. Interior tubs, I sometimes make up hidden tabs and possibly pin that in place. Always test fit with the dash and glass. I used to cut out those connecting straps on the glass, not so much any more. If I do, I fab locating strips (attached to the roof) so the glass fits easily. Sometimes I get lucky and the glass will snap into place. I use as little epoxy or canopy glue as possible.

He was around forever and was not shy about passing down knowledge to others. We were lucky to have him for as long as we did.