Dennis Lacy

ARDUN 4-banger you say? Get it done and in something so we can line ‘em up! ?

UPDATE! Had another great afternoon at the workbench today. The blown small block is completely assembled. Only extra detail is plug wires as this is supposed to be a relaxed “in between” model. Earlier in the week I was able to paint and clear the body, radiator shell, tailgate and dashboard all in Tamiya TS92 Metallic Orange and their clear. Everything turned out great and I can’t wait to see it all polished and waxed! Here’s a group shot and a couple of the body outside in the sun. After completing the engine I went ahead and polished the frame then went about completely assembling the chassis. Happy to say it went together without any problems and sits evenly on all four tires. Naturally, I couldn’t resist a mock-up with the painted body on the finished chassis! I REALLY like this Metallic Orange. I’ll let it sit for a couple of weeks then I can polish and wax followed by final assembly.

Looks awesome, especially in red! The addition of the flared injector tubes are a night/day difference.

This has to be the coolest take on this kit that I’ve ever seen. Absolutely killer!!!

I’m not a T Bird fan in the least but this is bitchin! Love the faded paint, Radirs (from the ‘64 Thunderbolt I presume) and chassis set up.

Perfect fit!

Jet Exhaust truly is the perfect carburetor color. Hope I can find a suitable replacement. And, correct you are about the source of the shotgun headers. I’ve been wanting to use them on something for years.

UPDATE! Despite living in Sunny SoCal the better part of the last couple of months has been anything but. Lots of cold, rainy days. Which is good because we need the water (even though most of it ends up in storm drains and out to the ocean ?) but it’s not conducive to spray painting. This past week we finally had some nice weather so I was able to resume painting after everything had been sitting in its first coat of primer for 2 months. As of now most everything is finished and the body and related exterior pieces are in final primer ready for color and clear. Here’s the engine parts group. Only thing missing are the carburetors which I normally brush paint with Model Master “Jet Exhaust” but I opened it to find it hardened so I’ll need a Plan B. The color of the engine is Tamiya TS92 Metallic Orange. A couple of engine parts set together to get an idea of how it’s gonna look. The interior and bed cover is finished in Tamiya TS7 Racing White with their flat clear. More TS92 on the steering wheel rim and column. The orange plastic sidewall inserts for the slicks are now black. The frame is finished in Tamiya TS14 Black with their gloss clear and still needs to be polished. I also flowed black paint into the axle beam recesses to break up the chrome. The rear axle is also TS14 while the quick change center is Model Master Aluminum Metalizer. With that I’ll leave off with a quick mock up partly in paint and partly in primer. The body will be getting the same TS92 Metallic Orange as the engine and steering wheel. More soon…

Some great kit-bashing and fab work going on here. Your solution for the floor pan is awesome. Filing that for future use! Are the ARDUN heads going to fit without clearance work on the inner edges of the fenders?

Most definitely! I’m thinking a rail job to run against @Rocking Rodney Rat

Much better! ?? Carry on…

Parts of it are! Should have one this weekend!

Stance and Lil Coffin rolling stock look good! Any chance you can center the rear wheels in the wheel wells?

Nice work! All of the colors you chose should look really good together.

Turned out absolutely killer!!!

I think you absolutely nailed the essence of the full scale car. Killer work on the weathering! You should send pictures to the cars caretaker, Eli English. I bet he’d love it!

This is absolutely BEAUTIFUL, Dan! It’s everything a late 1940’s mild custom should be. Killer color choice. I have one of these kits in complete, mint condition that I intend to build. It’s the “how I’m gonna build it” that I’m stuck on.

UPDATE! Sadly, it looks like it’s been since March of last year since I’ve updated this project. I was on a good roll with it but it’s one of several that had to be put on the back burners when MCM asked me to contribute a model for issue 216. Then, as it often happens when I have a long hiatus from a project, I started second guessing the direction getting in my head that it wasn’t going well. ? One issue I discovered last Spring that got me frustrated was that the engine sat too high not allowing the hood to close. After all of the mock ups I had done somehow this got by so I started going down the path of changing the engine to the 5.0 / T5 from the kit with modifications. I’d gone so far as to pull all of those parts and put them in the box a few months back. Fast forward today and I decided to open the box and take another look at the engine height problem. This time I was able to visualize a (pretty) simple solution to the problem and make the DOHC SVT Cobra engine fit properly. It’s funny how time away can bring fresh perspective. So, I’m happy to say the the project can move forward without two steps back! I was given a heads up when I bought the body that the back end of the floor pan would need to be trimmed because the rear bumper cover was tightened up by 1/16” on the master body to make the width of the ledge more accurate. With that I figured I’d start with trimming 1/16” as I could always do more. As it turns out, that was the perfect amount. After trimming the floor pan assembly is a perfect fit in the body but I found it much more difficult to get it manipulated into place and I think that is largely because the rear wheel openings on the resin body are smaller (corrected) which makes it hard to get the wheel wells past them. It’s also an extremely tight fit getting the front end up behind the bumper and into place as there’s details on the core support that protrude. It’s one thing to force things into place in bare plastic and resin but I don’t want a fight on my hands in the future during final assembly so my solution is that I’m going to cut the front bumper cover off the body so it can be installed separately after. It’s my understanding that the latest versions of this body are made with it separate. One of the details still needing to be figured out is a coolant overflow tank. I’m using the kit radiator with the electric frame from Revell’s 1948 Ford convertible. After some thought I realized I could carefully cut the factory tank away from the fan shroud and it’s a perfect fit up against the fan. That’s pretty much it for today. I did take the opportunity while the floor pan was fit into the body to mock up the engine, exhaust, front k-member, rear axle assembly and subframe connectors to make sure everything is still fitting correctly. Thankfully I didn’t find any issues. More to come!

Nope, I was only asking what was next for this project. Sounds good!

Just read through this whole thread (this place is much better for WIP’s than IG) and I have to commend you on what you’re doing with this awful kit. I have one that someone gave me a few years ago and even for free I’m not convinced it was a good deal! ? But, seriously, this is turning out really nice. I’m really looking forward to seeing the finished result. One small critique: You might think about mounting the front ends of the rear radius rods to the frame because it wouldn’t work out too good with them attached to a live driveshaft! ?

Firstly, I absolutely love the nose you created. Brilliant use of those custom ‘38 style hood pieces from the ‘37 Pickup kit. Secondly, I love the upholstered engine bay. That screams 1960’s Show & Go. Thirdly, I love that after studying the engineering and layout this model would be totally plausible as a full scale functional vehicle. Someone really needs to build it!

I like it! Stance is right-on and the Boyds wheels were a great choice. The full scale ‘50 that I mentioned my dad having in your build thread was a very similar shade of blue.

Wait, what are we talking about again? ?

How about trying an AMT ‘36 Roadster windshield frame?

@Speedpro Wow, the exhaust turned out bitchin! What’s next?