OldNYJim

It’s coming together Ian! Enjoying this build!

Thanks fellas! Got some more done on this over the past week or so… Figured out the headlamp situation…I really liked the idea of using the stock T headlamps, but cleaned up the installation somewhat by mounting to the grille shell… I didn’t like the chunky hairpin suspension linkages that came with the kit so I swapped in some from the Revell 29/30 kits…I REALLY wanted to find some AMT ones that would work but didn’t have anything suitable in my stash… Added some spacers to the frame to get the rear bed sitting where I wanted it, and added some mounting pegs to help locate it consistently: Got my holes in the right place! I wanted to use the upright-mounted steering wheel setup like the kit gives you, so I modified a Revell steering box and the kit pitman arm…replaced the plastic linkage with a more in-scale one and got that mostly wrapped up: As you can see, the kit steering wheel is pretty disfigured so I’ll have to mess with that a little still… Made a driveshaft out of some parts-box UJs and some thin-wall styrene tube: ‘Sketched in’ the start of the gas tank, and made a dash panel: I’d like to play off the idea of a dash that references the stock T dash, which has two gauges in a panel on the center - modified the custom kit dash (which has, like, 8 gauges) into something more modest: Found some early ‘Vette valve covers that I had printed a while back that would dress up this base-level Small Block Chevy nicely: And that’s about where she sits right now…plenty to do still - probably tomorrow I’ll handle the pedals and what I’d like to do with the taillights, but it’s coming along ok! Thanks for looking; more soon, soon as I’ve done more!

Those leaf springs are really nicely done - nice job!

I love that looks - how big of a tip did you have to use?

I don’t believe I’ve heard of these before…are they rubbery, like rubber o-rings, or stiffer where you can glue to them? Any particular size that you like? I’m always looking for decent hoops for steering wheels! Great looking build so far!

Same here - since I discovered that trick I’ve used it on all kinds of kits - works great on the kits it works on!

Hey, look at me following the rules and posting this in the right section (even if it is only just barely going to be a pickup). I’m such a rule-abider. Anyhoo, I don’t have the pickup flavor of T-bucket in my collection yet, and I’d like to change that, so here goes… I’m using the AMT 25 T double (triple?) kit for this one because I’ve collected a bunch of them from Hobby Lobby and they fall together pretty easily - plus it has most of the parts I’d want to use all ready to go in the box. I’ll make a few changes tho, just to improve it a little, but I’m TRYING to not remake every little part on this if I can help it… First up, tweaking that nice (ish) V8 60 front axle with some pins to help the fit a little… I’ll be adding some detail to this whole assembly, but I’m trying to get a roller together to start, and pinning helps with that… On the rear end, I’ve found that adding just a 1/32” or so of styrene to the ends of the leaf spring helps SO MUCH with mocking it up - just stops everything falling apart constantly whilst you’re messing with things, so I did that and added some tabs to change the wishbone mounting situation to my liking: I love how quick and easy it is to get some of these older kits to ‘roller’ status… The Lincoln Y-Block that comes in these kits doesn’t look much like a Y-block to me, so I’m swapping in a small block Chevy (*Tim Boyd sighs*): Note: I realize that the geometry on that rear end wouldn’t be that great now that I’ve got a longer trans and a different pivot point for the driveshaft (*Dennis Lacy sighs*) but A- I don’t want to modify every little part B- the suspension travel is pretty minimum and it might not be THAT bad and C- I’ve found more than a few 1:1s (particularly period cars) that have this same imperfect setup so I’m allowing myself some leeway… Still need to figure out how I want the linkages for the front end to look, but the kit ones are pretty lumpy and I’d like to improve the fidelity a little. After all that typing, time to test fit the body and interior to see how my new trans and engine fit… And next job is removing the ‘fabric’ cover from the pickup bed and making a floor for it so I can add some detail later: The kit has it sitting pretty low and I’d like it a little higher - just sitting on the frame it looks like this right now, but I’d like to bump it up some more still: Just doing the ‘sketching’ part of the build right now - broad strokes to get the basics down…more soon, soon as I’ve done more!

Slim pickin’s at my local store tonight… Had a 40% off coupon tho, so a Deuce kit followed me home even tho I don’t really need it…

Glad to see this one back in rotation! Fabbing exhausts is about a -1 on a scale of 1-10 of things I enjoy, but you always do a nice job of that

Next car kit from Atlantis, presumably…posted on their Instagram today:

Convert the ambulance kit back into a surf wagon ? This is looking great David - enjoying this build! Nice work on the little details

This is coming together nicely! Nice work!

I never knew those existed - but they’re cool! I need to pick up a set of those…thanks for alerting me to their existence! I assume there’s no detail on the flipside?

That looks like a great base for the color!

Oh man, now I GOTTA build that ?

Yessir, there was definitely some flash to deal with. And I’m with you on the ‘cambered look’ - a little on a racecar is cool, but the ‘flattened’ look isn’t my favorite. That said, I’m going with it on this one, because that’s kinda what happens with these things I guess if you really dump them down - the rear in particular, due to the suspension geometry. I did a heavily-lowered Beetle a couple of years back and did it in such a way that the extreme-camber thing DIDN’T happen, then every show I took it too, someone told me I forgot the camber ?. Oh well ?‍♂️ Thank you sir! A little more progress today… Got the body mostly polished out and waxed: I was determined to use a photoetch center section for the steering wheel, but couldn’t find a spare hoop that would work…decided to fire up the lathe: And just made one… I was planning on painting it, but the color of the copper DOES kinda work well with the theme…need to decide on what to do with the center cap too…right now it’s just a little threaded bar that the wheel spins onto… Speaking of wheels, I wanted a gunmetal center for the wheels with a billet-looking outer, so I shot some Tamiya acrylic… …then a coat of intercoat, then masked with some Silly Putty: Note: if you leave Silly Putty for a few minutes it’ll start to flatten itself out and seals the edges really nicely… Next some Hyperchrome over the satin silver: And some careful de-masking…(and a silver pen for the lugs…) Still some work to do on these, but I shot the 3d-printed tires today too so that I’m ready with those… The pile of ‘finished’ bits is starting to build up now… Pile of unfinished bits is still pretty big tho ?. More soon, soon as I’ve done more, thanks for looking!

Atlantis had a 20% off sale last weekend, so I took the opportunity to grab some kits I was missing from my collection… And this one only barely fit in the photo booth… I’ve got all their 1:24 / 1:25 kits that they’ve issued to date now…just need to actually build them ?. NOTE: I got the Boss Fink kit because as best I can tell it’s basically the Roth Tweedy Pie minus the wheels and tires but with a big Ed Roth, and I want to build a ‘conventional’ Tweedy Pie replica…

Thanks fellas! Thanks Bob! I didn’t actually paint it yet - need to make sure it fits the body ok… It’s paint week here - working thru tonnes of little parts and prepping them for base colors…did some slightly more fun stuff too tho… Painted the interior panels…they started off peach: Masked them for the second color of the three I had in mind…couldn’t find the exact color I wanted in ‘regular’ paints, but this Crayola paint worked well ? Then, shot a coat of intercoat and then remasked for the third color: Then de-masked: Carpet color will be brown, so that’ll tie together the orange tones and the brown on the interior (hopefully)…masked the chassis for embossing powder: Applied some custom mixed powder over Testors brown enamel: I’m excited to see the interior all together… Meanwhile, have been clearcoating the body - this is coat five of seven: Painted the license plates, first with white, then clear lacquer, then Createx black - you can remove the Createx with an alcohol wipe, leaving the white copy and border visible: Found a gauge face that would work for the dash - it’s not super high resolution, but it’s better than the ‘no gauge face’ the kit comes with… Then went thru the dash and started adding switches, a ring for the speedo and some photoetch…not quite done with this yet, but the little metal switches really catch the eye and add some nice detail when you see it in real life: Still PLENTY to do, and the way this kit assembles doesn’t really encourage building sub-assemblies so it’s touch to get any ‘big stuff’ together, but hopefully that means it’ll come together quickly at the end…thanks for looking - more soon, soon as I’ve done more!

I was in Hobby Lobby, trying not to buy any kits but I never built this kit and I always wanted to, so… Plus some copper and aluminum rod, to feed my lathe

I was constantly looking for something just like this, but really cheap, for mixing up paint, glue, epoxy…any kind of liquid I’d use at my bench. Picked up some tattoo artist’s mixing cups - they’re REALLY cheap, come in a few different sizes and you can pick up handy dandy little stands or racks to hold them if you need such a thing: https://a.co/d/6TBLJdD

I just got some from Amazon… https://a.co/d/elFey2d An alternate listing: https://a.co/d/fHD2Cvd

This is absolutely outstanding work - and the weathering you did on the underside is first class. THANK YOU for sharing!

That’s a GREAT looking build Bob, and you’re so close!!! I’d love to see this one completed - this kit is on my to-do list too…git ‘er done!

I was thinking today about how, in literature, they have the ‘canon’ - a list of books that are considered must-reads and important works that have stood the test of time. That got me to thinking…what are the must-build classic kits that a builder attempting to know kit history and consider themselves ‘well read’ should build in their lifetime? Not necessarily just easy to build kits that fall together, or kits that we personally could build often, but ones that are important somehow to the landscape of scale modeling? I’m thinking, say, the Red Baron (probably one of the best selling kits of all time), or maybe the Revell 32 Fords, or the AMT 40 Ford or the old Revell double kits or…. ?‍♂️ I’d be interested to know which kits people here consider to be not just GOOD kits, but CLASSICS?

Thanks Bob! And thank you David! I’m only getting a lot done because it’s the weekend ? A little more today…felt brave enough to mask on the body so I laid down the next few little bits of detail painting…I’m not going WILD on this one, but had a couple of little touches I wanted to add… All masked and ready: All I’m doing here is adding a couple of little highlights…a couple of small scallops coming off the top of the headlamps, painting a stripe on the hood and adding a little strip of gradient along the sides… Paint shot! And some careful de-masking later… Nothing too crazy, just a couple of little touches… Whilst I was painting, I 3D printed a tiny Ratfink and shot him in Wicked Color silver then candy orange, and whilst that was drying shot the fabric roof cover with some craft acrylic that matched the color I wanted: That Rat Fink was tough to paint…still not quite done… And after I didn’t feel like painting any more today, I did some more work on engine parts…the kit distributor looks undersized to me (and was going to be about impossible to wire) so I printed one and spun up a mount for it: Even the larger one I printed is still TINY, so excuse the poor photo… Got it painted, made some plug boots and got it wired ready for installation: And that’s about it for this weekend…thanks for looking - more soon, soon as I’ve done more!