bill-e-boy

What a b1+ch Jim. Ghost lines in your paint job. It is the bane of us kit bashers. What Greg suggests is spot on. You are best to fill the gap with tight fitting plastic glued with thin cement. You do need to use primer/surfacer and a lot of sanding. I have found with lacquer paints to take sanding out to at least 2000 grit Also helps to shoot a barrier coat of silver on the primer surfacer before your colour coats. The metallic paint seems to seal the body works better. And I have not had trouble mixing and matching primer/surfacer and colour brands but do let the paints gas out between primer and colour coats. The lacquer paints are fairly hot at the best of times and will pull into any sanding scratches or other filling operations. A pain and it is a bit of gamble as to whether there will be issues or not. Also I think use 2 part epoxy fillers for things like these door lines works better than say 1 part fillers like Tamiya and others. The paint tends to suck into the filler and you cant see it till you put a topcoat on. And it can happen over time when you think you have dodged the bullet. I have heard that the Tamiya light curing filler is good for this too. Just a pain and a party killer when it happens - I feel your disappointment

Hi Sid - exactly what I was contemplating - late 50's when things were very experimental and people were using all sorts of power plants. The big hemi's were still new and bangers were old and cheap Hi Dennis - thanks for the inspirational pix - I know I have seen a banger thread here - I even contributed with the Cragar motor - but I have not gone looking for it as the seed was sown way back then. It just needed a couple of other planets to align to make it a reality. I have finished my 32 coupe build so I can now focus on this build - and it has a deadline

Indeed. Got those pesky little details done over the weekend. Headlights, tail lights, plate, radiator cap, door handles and gas cap all done. I could not get the radiator brace in as it clashed with the frog mouths - oh darn! It is now in the cabinet and I will get around to posting in Under Glass -sometime Thanks for bearing with me through this build but I must say I have enjoyed it and I did it in record time - for me anyway

Cut a bit of the bubble bit on the bottom of a 2 litre soda bottle. Not sure what quantity that is in USA but they are 2ltr here in NZ Or the foil skirt from a wine bottle screw cap is quite a soft ally and can be burnished to suit. Place it on a backing of say polystyrene and burnish the shape with your finger. You could use an ally tray but these are a little harder and may need something a but firmer than your pinky. Being ally all they need is a polish up to look the part

I have a number of early hot rod kits that have had extensive chassis work done to them and I want to show off my handy work. I had a good think of what I wanted. - A black base - LED spot lights - preferably hidden - Pedestals to lift car off the floor a bit - Mirrors to show off all the underside bling - Some sort of perimeter or barrier to keep the public back I did a quick sketch of what I wanted and armed with my fertile imagination went to the nearest $2 emporium. A few bucks lighter I can back with a pack of black card, a bag of 16mm chrome balls, a pack of small mirrors and some fancy string I also went to Jaycar and picked up some 3mm 15000cmd white LEDS - cheaper by the 10 - and an AAA cell battery box with a switch I dilled out the chrome balls to fit the LEDS into and double stacked these and connected with some styrene tube I have. I set it up on a bit of customwood with a bit of blue card to check the concept. I mocked up some mirrors and found I need to have these on an angle to get the best from them. The nuts are to mock up display height The chassis is a 32 Ford junker from the parts department I powered the LED up and found it was too close to the car for maximum effect so I made the card larger - sorry no pix of that step The height of the nuts was perfect so I am about to machine some pedestals from ally bar that I will polish. And continue with 3 more chrome ball stacks

Thaks for the feedback guys. I was concerned that the slicks I have chosen would be too much rubber on the road. The ones in the photo above were the skinniest I could find in my tire bin. I know there are narrower ones around but I could not think of what kits they were in. Then I thought, I have another slow moving project that has skinnies so it got robbed and they are cheater slick to boot. I will need to face finding replacements, but I will face that dilemma another day Meantime I have started clean up of the chassis. Battery box is gone and front bumper mounts have ben clipped off. I am looking at the shocks next. Not sure if I need shocks but if I decide I do need them I will make something a bit nicer looking that the kit blobular ones. I have found a quick change and a tubular front axle again stollen from the stalled kit - but these are in the overrun bin for that project. Thanks for looking

Had some issues getting the grill and radiator assembly to fit properly. Had to monkey around with the lower hoses and radiator stubs where it meets the chassis. An adjustment here, a tweak there and a little time with the lower hoses and it now fits Nextup wheel fitment. Rears sat nicely but had to chock up the fronts to get camber and a little toe in. The Tamiya square bottles are perfect for this. I have a little side project on the go - a display base that nicely shows off the kit - although not quite finished yet Thanks for looking

Cool - I will be watching

An outstanding build. Very clean and with just the right amount of added detail and terrific colour. And period perfect too. This is the type of build that gets the juices flowing and providing inspiration for future builds - love it. The buildup is such that what is presented looks like it was in the kit all along (oob) and that is the clincher when those that don't know see a model like this and are stunned at the extra work put in to get such a result. The above plaudits are well deserved

Thanks Jim. The pix quality from my phone is a bit suss when using heavy zoom. May take one with the big camera. I think you have right end of the stick. There is a blingy aftermarket hex cover that fits over the hose clamp and is a hex style mimicking the fittings used on braided lines. Just adding bling to the rather bland looking radiator hoses and clamps. The other way is to use chrome pipes in the centre with short hoses but that would have needed even more clamps. Thanks Steve

Not sure I do either. Logic tells me if you can put OHV heads on a flatty V8 you should be able to put a single head on a banger. In the real world not sure how things like water galleries and lifters would line up but with a flat head motor the valves take up quite a bit of real estate in the block so should be able to do it. The biggie of course is the cylinder spacing and how that mates up with the head But we are working with 1/25th scale models and have wild imaginations so we can do anything😁 Sounds a bit like Bob the Builder - we can do it

I made up some radiator hoses from 1.7mm solder painted Tamiya rubber and I needed something to bling up the ends - well the top hoses anyway. I have made hose clamps before with foil and that is a real pain of a job. So methinks I can make up some hex clamp covers. I have some ally tube the right i.d. size of 1.7mm so over to the mill we go. Here I have the tube set up on an indexing head that has 12 index points so I can machine 6 sides easily. The chuck was remoted back into the lathe and I polished the newly machined hex and cut off some pieces about 1mm long The result with tube at the front and the hexes fitted to the radiator hoses. Most probably small detail that will go unnoticed by most but I know it is there. Thanks for looking

Thanks guys Well the windshield, rear and quarter windows are - just hard to see in the pix

Much as I would like to use the Cragar engine I was thinking of something with a bit more power. I looked in the resin flatty stuff that was bequeathed me from my late mate Mike and I discovered I have three of these heads - perfect. Fits the esoteric theme I mentioned above perfectly. The discovery - an Ardun head on its lonesome just crying out to be fitted to a banger. Alo in the box was a S.C.O.T blower (or two) I mocked this up on the Monogram motor for the pix but I will not be using it as it is a bit blobby I have a donor Revel A kit with a motor I can use. This is an oldish kit that someone has chopped in the past and it has a few bits missing. I have made a start on gluing it together Oh - the mph is a reference is the FB group I am on - mph = miniature petrol heads Thanks for looking

Can't remember the seal detail as it was a long time ago - I think it would have been Street Rodder as that was the mag I was getting back then But the door stretch made a difference. I think the sideways jump seats were normal - I don't know lots on old Chebbies - I am a Mopar man

A local FB group is having a motor sport build off. Whilst most have opted for a more roundy-pounder themed builds I am having a go at a straight line build as it fits into my way of thinking. Looking for an early 60's style, nose high and banger powered I had a subject in mind but first I went looking and found these in the junk yard. I would have preferred slightly narrower slicks but this is all I could find Then I got this out of the stash. It is a recent arrival but I have at least one more Toying with motor choice - I have either this Banger Cragar OHV conversion or I may go a different route with something more exotic but it will definitely be an OHV conversion. I did the Cragar conversion a while back where I milled the valve cover from solid ally and the head is hand shaped and milled plastic Thanks for looking

The article Greg linked shows a very radical cop and an even more radical (body) section. The method of inserting spacers between the A&B and B&C pillars is the (correct) method I would use. The 37 Chev usually does not chop well IMO - but take it just as that - my opinion The rest of the kit is a bear to build where the biggest issue id to get the fenders, body and chassis to mate together nicely. Hence I have only built a couple of these over the years There was an article in one of the rod mags yonks ago and to help with some of the proportions of the top cut the doors were extended. The doors are fairly short even by coupe standards Good luck

Not welcome down here in NZ either. We don't have them amongst all of the other imported animals - some of which cause a lot of grief to our endangered birdlife. Although it seems they have more of an adverse effect on your model population😬

Better pix of interior

I did this a few years ago for a rat rod. Chassis from an AMT 23T. It is not difficult to do with some plastic stock

The body has finally met the chassis. Glued up with 5min Araldite epoxy

Got some shine on. I have used Tamiya paint so the old story of first cut with 3600g sanding cloth then let sit for a few days in the hot box. Then sand it out with all the other grits to 12000. Leave for a day then polish with Meguiars Brazilian Carnuba wax a couple of times. Patience is the key here😬 with Tamiya paints. Even the LP lacquers take time to cure fully While the paint was curing I worked on the interior - ready to mate up with the body when I have completed that Pix is a bit fuzzy - I took some with my big camera so will download a better pix later Meanwhile its FOIL time.

Hi Don, Me - I am a Kiwi - and although spring has arrived the temps are still a bit wintery a bit like Tassie. Oh, for some nice weather like you have this time of year A polishing kit has either sanding cloths or sponges with grit grades from 2000 to 12000g. Or there abouts anyway - mine is 2400 to 1200g. The kit usually will also have some polishing compound and a polishing rag to finish with. Mine is from Micro-Mark and is called "Micro-mesh Polishing Kit". I think Temu may have something similar. And like I said earlier leave Tamiya for at least a week before touching it - even after a spell in the dehydrator. And leave at least an overnight spell between sanding and polish. Tamiya paints take an age to harden but when they finally do you can get a jolly good shine with them And Stu, that 442 is stunning

The Tamiya gun metal is a nice colour. It is metallic so you can't colour sand/polish as it will come out patchy where you cut into the metal particles. Get some clear gloss on it - TS is good. Let it sit for at least a week preferably in a warm place - or use a food dehydrator if you have one - see posts in the tips section. When the clear has cured start with the polishing routine. If you have a polishing kit go through the grit grades up to the finest. Take care around sharp edges to prevent burn through. Then polish it - I use Megiurs Brazillian Carnuba wax then do the foil - whew The thing with Tamiya paints - they take time to harden and wont polish nicely until they are hard. A trick is to polish with the coarsest grade then let it cure at least overnight before using the next grit up If you do not have a polishing kit - mine is 2400-12000 grit - use some 2000g wet and dry sand paper cut into smal squares. Use it wet. To get a finer grit rub two pieces of 2000g together to dull it down some for the second cut. Then use some polish with some cut in it and finish off with the Carnuba. It is what we did before the advent of polishing kits Good luck

Been working on the chassis. I made up a front and rear spreader bars as I was not happy with the kit chrome ones. I used 1.6mm (1/16") stainless steel welding filler rod that I polished up in the lathe. I made slightly longer and filed back to size to fit snugly between the frame rails The motor is looking like a porcupine at the moment. These will find a place when I mount the body to the chassis - soon