LennyB

Alan, welcome to the party?. Yes, I was watching your build. Yes, 40 Ford sedan delivery is correct. I have a bunch in the attic and swiped a couple of sets. As for the Woody when I stated the project I wasn't looking to do an accurate representation, it was more a proof of concept build, and I worked with the parts I had on hand. On my bucket list of 1:1 builds is a woody. As real ones are terribly expensive I was planning to take a four-door sedan and build the whole back half from scratch. Probably with a metal under-stucture and the wood on top as it would make for a better driver. The reason I kept the original fenders on the kit is so as not to change the outline of the wood panels. This way I can still use the kit decals for them. If I was to build an honest to God replica I would build the whole back half from scratch, possibly with wood, as there are too many differences between the Ford and the Plymouth. I even think the wheelbase may be longer as Woodies were commonly built on truck chassis, not sure if that's the case for the 41. Anyway, good luck with your build, I may steel some ideas as I do have a 41 builder missing half the front nose.?

The Woody Progress on the Woody has been even slower then the coupe. Spent most of the time trying to come up with a better wheel. As I don't care for what comes in the box. I decided to cast a hubcap from the kit wheel and simply pressed the wheel into some clay. Then I sanded down the edges to get it to size. I left some clay on it so you can see the detail. In my parts box I found this. Can anyone identify the kit it comes from? I dug up two more sets from the attic, the 40 Fords will never miss them. And this is what we have. I'm waiting on some fresh moulding material, which was supposed to be here by now. It's 10PM, do you know where your order is? So I can properly cast some hubcaps. Anyway, that's it for now.

The Coupe It's been a week of slow progress because everything wanted to put up a fight. Working on the engine and I wanted to highlight the writing on the valve covers. Easier said then done. Painted them gold and then tried to hand painting the lettering. That just wasn't working. Stripped the paint and then reverse engineered it. Painted the black first and the gold over it then carefully sanded off the gold to reveal the lettering. It worked but the letters don't stand out as well as I would like. And the gold has this weird look to it. But the factory say's it's got to be gold. Hope it's not as noticeable in the engine bay. Next objective was to get some interior work done. Modified the bucket seats I pulled out of the neighbors trash, nice vintage 60's vibe. Then did some work on the rears. Sanded off the detail on the seats and added some styrene strips to match the pleats on the front. Can't make up my mind as to how many pleats I should go with. Right now I did two sets and shot it with some paint to see how it looks. Three hours later the paint is still not dry. I ordered a dehydrator earlier in the week. Opened it up this morning and it was DOA. That's what you get for shopping Amazon warehouse. Made up some door hardware next. As I will need hardware for the Woody also I decided to make a mould. The silicone rubber I had is many years old and of course it isn't co-operating. After 24 hours it is still sticky. I still manged to make some handles. You'll notice the door handles curve downwards. The handles on these cars are different from side to side, window cranks are the same. I studied a lot of door handles restoring the real 1939 Plymouth. Took a lot of searching to get a proper set. Handles that came with the car when I bought it were an odd pewter tone. Turned out they were aftermarket handles. Cast handles that were just sprayed with clear. War was on at the time and corners needed to be cut. Factory handles were chromed. But it's really tough to find in nice, not pitted condition. Walked many miles thru Hershey searching. For small items like this I just use Bondic to cast the pieces. Don't know how any of you feel about this stuff but as far as being a great glue, it sucks. Works good for casting small parts as it sticks well to itself. That's all for now folks...

More painting, Greg stop rubbing it in.? I can't wait for the rain to stop. Actually it looks quite nice. I tried to build one a similar color years ago, never quite made it, I'll have to try again someday.

Sounds like a hot combination...especially since it's sitting on the stove. ?

Looking good Greg, I like the color combo. I've been trying to paint my interior today buy it's raining and nothing wants to dry.

You have to dig a little deeper in Scalemates. The first "Flashback" version came out in 1968. That version was recently reissued about five years ago where they brought back some of the parts that were "lost" over the years.

David, nice choice. This was the first kit I ever built when it came out in the "Flashback" version. I have built a few since and have more stashed away.

I have two of those bodies waiting in the wings for the same treatment. There is very little difference between the 66 and 68 chassis in the real world so it's a good fit. I see your body has the same warp on the drivers side as mine do. Must all be like that.?

For a different project yes. But for this one I'm just using the parts from the junkyard.

Looking good Greg. But just so you know the u-joints on these cars were enclosed in a housing, not exposed like common u-joints. Don't know if that's what AMT was trying to replicate with their little boxes?

It's been a slow week of progress waiting for the glue to dry. The molding has a red stripe running thru the center of it and I wanted to lay two half round .025" strips side by side to leave a center groove for the red. Well, doesn't seem like anyone makes that size in styrene. So I took two round pieces of .025" and laid them down on some masking tape and ran a bead of glue down the center. After letting them set, I flattened out the backside and glued them on to the body. And we have side moldings. Now I'm waiting for the tail panel to dry, Oh well, off to another project.?

Tim, thanks for sharing. Particularly like the convertible, correct windshield or not. ?

Nice work Alan, I like where you're going. I get the feeling I'm gonna bump my head getting in and out of this one.?

I'm really loving this build. In fact you've inspired me to dig up whatever bits I could find from the one I destroyed years ago and see what I could do with it. So far this is what I have found and I bought a built-up MPC 1971 Stocker to add to the mix. Hoping I can come up with enough parts to make a runner.?

Is that what that thing is. Couldn't figure out where to put it, thought it was a surfboard?

Are we having fun yet Greg? That front end is a real disaster in a way. I fought with the same issues and wound up with a ride high that was too high. Going back and making new kingpins myself. I think I would find it easier to work on a real car.?

I'm sure I'm breaking some rules here but I just can't live with the boxed engine. Chrysler had some small Hemi's, the smallest being the Dodge 221 Red Ram, so why not build one, or a semblance of one at least. Went to remove the heads from this engine and discovered they were molded on so I hacked them off. Leaving a big gaping hole. Transplanted the Hemi heads and between them the original intake and already it looks a whole lot better. Had some nice valve covers in the parts bin. And lo and behold it might pass for a Hemi. This is what were going for, at least according to the valve covers. ? .

Thanks Ace, I just can't help myself.

Thanks for confirming that Greg. I don't want to use those kit headers but I might also see about doing a head swap as these look ridiculous with the exhaust ports above the spark plugs.

True, but they still exists as a company. https://www.jcwhitney.com/ How many times has AMT been bought out over the years. I lost count.

I know what you mean. I thought about trying to get rid of that ribbed trim ring but not sure how to go about it. JC Whitney lives again. (actually they are still in business)

Jim, I like the look of the wheels. Did you paint right over the chrome?

Coupe After having the issue with the inner fenders on the Woody I wanted to see what the story was with the Coupe. I also needed to figure out their placement as I wanted to start on the engine. I has pulled four engines out of the parts bin, two hemis, and needed to see if if one of them fit. I took a different approach to fitting the inner fenders then I did with the Woody as I glued the radiator in place first this time and just held the inner fenders in place with some tape so I could make any needed modification and still remove them to paint. My results this time were different then with the Woody. Both inners sat at the same height but they were both too tall. Just as you had with yours Jim, the nose of the body sat too high. I had eliminated the front bumper brackets on the coupe and filled the cutouts but you can clearly see the stubs sitting below the front of the body. Did some trimming of the top of the inner fenders. Then they will go off to paint. And now the bumper brackets are tucked away where they belong. I can't say if the inconsistencies differ with the age of the kit. I have some older and some newer bits and have problems with both. So like a lot of other aspects of this kit you have to adjust and check everything. And if you were wondering about that engine. Three of the four engines I picked didn't fit and the fourth one the dog got a hold of, so that's not going to run ever again. And it was a Johan, and I don't mean Bach. So it looks like I have to go with the original kit engine. They made it small because it's all we have room for. I am going to try and salvage this glue bomb and see if it turns over. Gave it a bath in Easy-Off and it's looking better already. Are you trying to tell me that thing on the bottom is an oil filter? Gotta love where they put the exhaust ports. Or did the last builder put the heads on upside down. Think I need to start a different project??

Starting to look more like a 68 then a 69. Working on the hash marks on the C pillars. AMT was close when they did the 68 but it went down hill from there. In 1968 the Torino had five thin hash marks on the C pillar. In 69 they went with three wider hash marks. When AMT did the 69 they simply removed two of the original hash marks so we just had three thins ones. When they released the Cobra they made them wider but they were still not correct and angled wrong. So we have to remove all the hash marks as well as the mold line right above them. Starting with some half round .030" I laid out the first hash mark. It took a period of several days to get them all done as I allowed each one to set before laying down the next one, so I wouldn't disturb the previous one. I spaced them with the edge of a file as I went along. I didn't try to cut them to size, just get them laid out first and went back to trim them later. Still need a bit of cleaning up but that will have to wait until the cement fully cures. Next moved on the the missing wheel moldings. A piece of .025" round styrene will do the trick. That's as far as I've gotten for now. May not seem like much but it's been a week of gluing and waiting, gluing and waiting. On to the side molding next time around. Cheers.