Andy Oldenburg

I´m finally happy with the primer finish of the body. I have added a lip to the roof and the holes all around with be filled by "press buttons" for the textile roof cover. Next step on this weekend will be the paint job in dark blue metallic. The interior is almost finished. Made some door handles for the panels but the Molotow paint is still drying. I had to lower the seat by about 5mm. These are racing seats from scale production. The kit does not contain any decals except from racing flames and engine equipment. I copied images of speedometers from the web and reduced the size until they fit. Covered them with metal rings. I will not paint them with clear enamel, because the print will smear. The skull shifter knob I molded out of FIMO, a plastic modelling clay. The wheels and disc brake parts are also from scale production. I´m still figuring out how to attach them to make it look real. Of course the kit dosn´t have a brake booster, so I crafted it out of styrene and wire. I feel like coming to the final round, but have a hunch that it will still take a while. Thanks for watching!

For headroom the driver has the open ceiling?. Yup, the engine is somewhat in the line of view. Everybody get out of the way!

Hi Ludwig, well executed build! A very good rebuild of the original classic Firebird. ?

My last builds were stock and mild customs. So I wanted to do something really radical again. I´ve never done a hot rod so this amt kit was the perfect victim. I wanted to test out how much I could chop off the body before it starts to look comical. I ended up cutting off 10 mm from the bottom and chopping the roof by 6 mm. Getting the chassis dropped adds up to a lowered rooftop of about 50 cm if this was a real rod. I guess that´s radical enough. The gaps in the roof were filled with 1mm styrene. Next to fill were the wheel housings and the area around the firewall. To be honest, I hate the putty work. Every time I think I´ve got all the cracks and dents filled I seem to find more after the next round of primer. To motivate my self I made a mock up and was electrified by the look. The roof will receive a button down tarpaulin, rolled up towards the back. Cutting the roof succeeded without messing up. The engine was already finished. I built it a few weeks ago from scratch and leftovers and showed the process in WIP in December. What I underestimated with this build was that chopping the body like this has consequences! Just about nothing else will fit anymore? Next on the list was the interior tub. Here too I had to cut out about 20 mm, because the chassis needs room to get lowered. Had to add a transmission tunnel for the shaft and cut down on the rear suspension. The chassis I had to adapt to the engine. The front suspension and steering out the kit were very crude. Fortunately I found some good images in a custom magazine and rebuilt a decent suspension step by step. Now I´m busy with sanding, filling, applying putty on the body and making various parts that needed a work over or had to be built completely new from scratch styrene. The cooling unit with grill I´ve cut open and inserted a metal mesh grill. The radiator needed a heavy duty fan. So much left to do! Stay tuned and thanks for watching.

Your rod is HOT! Cool paint job and nice details. Are you going to make that brass knuckles shifter too?

Hi everybody, thanks for your response! Well, those wheels are a bit crazy and for some controversial. I saw them and had to have, ? lol! A show car can be a bit over the top. In real life this ride would not make much mileage on the asphalt. Best model building wishes to all of you!?

The `62 "Bullet Bird" has a unique design that, even by today`s standards, makes it a beautiful car. I saw some things that Chip Foose built and it inspired me to give my model a twist. I chopped the roof and added more rooftop and B-pillar out of 1,5mm styrene to turn it into a fastback. The windshield with its frame did not fit anymore, so I had to improvise with clear sheet vinyl and styrene. After the putty-work and primer, the color coat is Schmincke Aero Color airbrush acrylic fluid. I added a 50% part of metallic fluid to the turquoise and with 4 coats of AK gloss it turned into that show car sparkle I was after. Chrome work is bare metal covered by the top clear coat. I really love those wheels, super low profile tires, but the rims were basically just spokes. I added the middle part with the hub and wheel nuts (these are tiny metal beads) and now it looks more real. The engine was a bit of work. The motor has 3 pulley satellites (alternator, AC and power steering). Each pulley has its own wheel and 3 thin rubber belts were necessary to hook them all up. Interior floor was velvet flocked. Seat belts added and the chrome is bare metal and Molotov. On the undercarriage I added disk brakes to ever axle. Plus brake and fuel lines. Thanks for watching!

Hello Anthony, a classic muscle car well built?. Color fits perfect and I like your work on the interior. Was the woodwork on the dash and console your job or a decal?

Hello Samuel, you have every reason to be proud. Nice work done on your build. We all started one day on a lower level than we are now, whatever the case: Model building, cooking, whatever. Take it the Zen way; learning, growing and above all having fun with your art.

Hello Sam, this is a hot looking Merc! ? Color fits perfect and the wheels are lovely.

Wow, looking evil! Very creative.

Wonderful stories on this build from everybody! The ´64 is a real classic that deserves as many models built as possible. You did a good job on your Impala and the patina. ?

A radical idea! Very curious about where this is going?

To all who have replied: THANK YOU! A bit of applause in the end feels good.

That low mock up looks nasty! ? My wheel choice would be # 1. Very cool interior job so far and looking forward to see the finished job. Especially all those PE parts you mentioned. Hard too get items like that here in Europe.

Thanks everybody for your kind response!

This one took much longer then I had expected. I showed the progress on WIP and can now show the finished build. But it´s my own fault. Again I built a model with opening doors and trunk. Lots of work but also really fun if you can bring up the nerves. This time I wanted to avoid the mistakes I made on my last build, mainly adapting my techniques so that the doors close COMPLETELY and get the gaps a tight as possible. This AMT kit wasn´t that obliging though. Some of the main parts were warped and had to be heat treated a bit to get into shape. The doors and trunk were cut out with a scalpel. To take into account that the paint coats would add up again, I put another strip of 0.5mm styrene under the lips of doors, trunk and bonnet. And it fits! The model is almost completely out of the box, but I did a few alterations. The steering wheel isn´t stock, cause I wanted to give it a classy look. Same with the wheels. The kit wheels and tires just didn´t fit my expectations, so I had to replace them with better tires and nice hub caps. The white paint is Tamiya, the mint green Molotow, topped with 2 coats of crystal clear. The windshield I replaced with thin foil because the window parts were just too thick and didn´t fit correctly either. The hinge work has become a bit of routine, but in the end I do have to go to micro-bending the wires until it fits. The spare wheel in the trunk and the sun visors were a fun extra. This kit comes without detail decals for the dash (lots of flames and brands though, if you are planning a hot rod). I had to do my best without, since I had nothing in my spare box. The spokes on the steering wheel got a drilling treatment and extra rings made of 0.6mm wire. All the knobs are custom. The middle part is bare metal matt alu with a mild wash. The engine received a grimy aging treatment. And many parts just didn´t exist in the kit (fuel pump, decent distributor, brake booster). Fortunately I found many images of this engine as an inspiration. I was informed that this strait 6 cylinder was sturdy, but a messy oil dripper. OK, its an old car, but driven by a passionate owner on sunny days to classic meetings. The undercarriage received a similar weathering with sponge and airbrush. I´m getting really fond of these early ´50s classics. I can recommend this kit for the old fashioned style instructions alone. Or maybe the booklet and kit are really from way back then.... That might explain the low level molding. Thanks for watching!

I´m moving on and slowly coming to see the finish line. After getting the undercarriage done I had to get all those loose lines, wires and hoses unraveled and into their final place. A shame that soon much of the engine will be hidden away forever... As I mentioned earlier, some of the bigger parts of this kit are not correctly in shape. I was able to heat treat the floor board flat again, but the inner fenders a crooked too. Oh well, it will turn out fine in the end. But as you can see, the radiator board dosn´t match to the fenders. fortunately this will be hidden when the body drops down. The trunk is flocked like a loose carpet and the spare wheel I cut down to fit and look real. I had a spontaneous fun idea to make sun visors. The visors are 1.5mm sheet and the wires are bent from 0.5mm brass wire. As I expected and experienced before, the rear panel parts would be too long for the doorway. Last time I noticed this AFTER I had glued all the interior parts together. Won´t happen again, so I attached these panels after cutting off the necessary length. The gaps on the rockers and to the back panels are filled and painted to match. Not much left to do now but to attach the doors and trunk. I already know that I will have to do a bit of bending to make them fit correctly. I will introduce the finished ´51 Bel Air on a new "under glass" topic. Hope you liked it so far and thanks for watching!

When I was researching for ideas for my Bel Air, I came upon a image of a drag version with a complete tipping front. Radical, and tempting. My plan was to strip everything unneeded for the quarter-mile and I decided to take that challenge. About a year go this was my first real attempt at building a model with a hinge. So this is the result: Paint is Tamiya gloss black, the red is Schmincke Aero Color airbrush acrylic. After the bare metal work I covered all with AK crystal gloss and polished to a shine. I especially love the wheels. They come from a custom model supplier www.scaleproduction.com. The rims are precision turned aluminum, the spokes come ready to paint in resin. Including the rubber tires they cost just 20€. In that room behind the spokes I could place disc brakes. I replaced the plastic grill with metal grid and tossed the fat bumper for a slim one from my parts box. Mind-tangling was finding the sweet-spot to hinge the hood. In the end, the alignment missed by only about a millimeter. The interior was stripped for weight and speed. The back bench gave way for a serious roll bar. For the engine I wanted to try out some radical ideas. Many kit parts I had to replace for that drag feeling and look. Some parts I had to build from scrap, like the brake booster. The ignition distributor is home made. The belts are thin rubber (1 mm). I would rather like thinner material, but am still searching. The undercarriage needed some adapting, since the molded on exhaust system was´t necessary. Meaning grinding and sanding off the pipe and muffler. I gave the suspension more detail and added the brake lines. In real life on a drag strip or cruising, this could be one of my favorites. Thanks for watching!

Hi Mark, wicked low rider, nice build!? I like your color choice and the wheels look great! Yes, this model deserves a cabinet.

Good job!? Trying to rebuild an original is always a challenge and you hit it. A shame that the hood has a little twist. I guess we have all had that problem before. I wouldn´t try to fix that now that your finished. But one can carefully(!!!) treat that with a heat pistol and bend it to fit on a fresh next model.

I´m finished with the frame and undercarriage now. I like to add brake and fuel lines and, if possible, also the cables for the parking brakes. Trouble was that there are quite a lot of images of the ´51 Bel Air in the net, but getting reasonably good pics of the bottom side was almost impossible. I did realise that the brake and fuel lines are connected to the frame. For this I was able to use a connecting technique I "developed" a while ago (probably might be others out there with the same idea, but I haven´t seen it yet...). I drill pairs of 0.4mm holes along the frame and thread an loop of 0.3mm wire through them. Pull them tight and bend the ends inside the frame. Works well on the flat undercarriage too, but check out that the wires end up under the seats. After attaching the interior board I could move on with a first step of weathering. My favorite tool for rough weathering is a ripped piece of pillow foam. I can use a flat or a more pointed side, squish it to match my needs, whatever. Just take a small amount of matt paint off the lid and tip it on the surfaces. Have to work fast, because the enamel paint drys quickly with this method. I got the parking brake lines as close to original as I was able. Mostly the setup on cars of this age seem to be the same. I this case I found out where the lever is connected to the frame. Next I finally attached the engine and gave the pan an extra amount of grime. Thanks for the advise guys! I wasn´t finished yet with the weathering though. The undercarriage still looked too clean, so I covered the wheels and gave it a careful work over with my airbrush. One last thing to do was to attach the return spring for the parking brake. Now comes the engine bay. Thanks for watching!

Got the interior finished. The dashboard out of the box was a bit too simple. I had to deepen the slots in the middle part. I´m not sure, but I guess that behind it the loudspeaker is hidden. This I covered with bare metal in matt aluminum and treated the slots with a wash and added the lever buttons. There were no decals in the kit so I did my best drawing the gauges with a fine gel pen, covered it with clear enamel. Same with the clock. The round knobs I cut off from 1mm styrene rod and the glove box button is the head of a sewing pin. The rings around the clock and gauges are photo etched parts. Still have to get some keys for the ring. The steering wheel is not quite stock. I took the sport wheel and pimped it. Drilled holes in the spokes, added a wire ring and enhanced the center with a ring. It looks fine and fits well with the dash. I tried to stay close to the original scheme of the bench upholstery. They were mostly dark with a white or light seat surface. I switched that though to make the interior less dark. Same with the door panels. The fine lines are bare metal aluminum. I don´t cut them on the parts, but cut 1mm strips on the sheet and apply them carefully with fingers, tweezers, toothpick. The cranks and levers are painted with Molotow chrome. I´v gotten tired of accidentally messing the bare metal while handling the parts so I covered the panels with a semi gloss coat. The messy parts at the back and bottom of the rear panels will be hidden after assembly. The panels and the benches received a mild treatment of smudge with a grey/brown wash. After all, it is an old car. The floor is flocked and the drivers floor has a rubber dirt mat. Last I added some rails for the back passengers. So the interior is done. Next comes the undercarriage. Thanks for watching!

A really cool project Bob, well done!? I know how one can get into a sweat while making a cut-up like this, hoping that everything will fit in the end. Looks good and I´m looking forward to the finished build.

I´m getting on with the doors. Trying to avoid the mistakes I made with my last build. One of them was not cutting the indoor panels small enough so the doors close neatly. Second to make sure that the rear seat panels are mounted far back enough. The bottom of the panels are a bit too long and would hit the rocker, so I shortened them. The empty spaces are filled/covered with 1mm sheet. Then I sanded the edges round and filled the few gaps with putty. Sanding the edges is almost done, now I´ve started the first steps of painting the interior. The panel details are quite good and crisp, so I won´t need to enhance them. Started with the dash and steering wheel and column. I did choose the sport wheel, although I going stock, because the stock wheel in the kit is junk. I will add a few details to the wheel next. I have added proper knobs to the dash. The kit has not dash decals at all? It might be a micro "paint job" for the gauges in the end. This is what the floorboard looks like? I carefully treated it with a heat gun and was able to bend it into shape, hope it will fit later when connecting the big parts.