
Hawk312
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Hawk312 replied to arick's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
Thanks for the tip guys. Thanks for the offer, Grandpa. I would like to keep this a "stock" build up for the review for now, but I may changed my mind once this is completed. Here is a picture with the pulley on. Now that I look at it, the coil detail isn`t too bad. I think this is really going to look good on the motor. I ran into my first fitment problem that I am trying to work through. As you can see from the pic, the alternator pulley stick way out from the other pulleys, evem when butt up against the valve cover. I was trying to avoid mounting it way out in the open space to the right of the valve cover, but I would like to have it closer to the engine. Here you can see what I mean: -
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Hawk312 replied to arick's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
I spent some time with strands of copper from stranded circuit wire wrapping them around a center core I built up from scratch plastic. I twisted them in groups of three, and then twisted them together to try to simulate what the coils inside of an alternator look like. I was working from about 10 reference pics. As you can see, I`m not sure if it was worth all the time an effort, as it is really difficult to see the results through the front of the alternator. I also have the pulley on it now, which hides them just a little more. I think if I were to do it again, I would try to thin out the "spokes" in the alternator front from behind to try to bring the coils a little closer to the openings. Now with the pulley on and the bolts detailed a little, it is really convincing. Once the weather improves here, I`ll post more pics of it. I also still have to figure out the alternator bracket. It`s going to take some planning to get it perfectly aligned with the pulleys on the engine. -
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Hawk312 replied to arick's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
Here is the alternator, which I primed and sanded smooth as best I could. As you could imagine, it was a little tough getting in the tight spots. I used 400 grit sandpaper, knife and some files to clean everything up. Testors Aluminum Plate metalizer was applied. -
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Hawk312 replied to arick's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
Just another quick pic. Fixed the head fitment problem by sanding down the mounting "tabs" just a little. Everything seems to fit pretty well. Also painted and installed the oil filter. I sanded down the alternator and primed it. I am also trying to decide what type of bracket configuration I am going to fabricate. I will hopefully have more pictures soon. -
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Hawk312 replied to arick's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
I am using Insta-cure CA glue. And of course I had to pick the super thin kind which is runny and can get to be a mess pretty easily. Using a thicker CA glue would definitely easier to work with. -
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Hawk312 replied to arick's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
Ok, so here is the alternator cleaned up and drilled out. After looking at the pictures, I think the texture just a little on the heavy side for an alternator. I am debating trying to sand it down a little. What are everyone`s thoughts on that? The "slots' in the back were done with the back of a number 11 blade. I didn`t get it quite perfect, but the material seemed to respond well to this. Again, the material semms a little more "gritty" than styrene. -
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Hawk312 replied to arick's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
It is on the passenger side. Guys, I will be posting some pictures of the alternator shortly. I spent some time drilling it out and cleaning it up, which took a little while. But I will have pictures shortly. -
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Hawk312 replied to arick's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
Hi Harry, Yeah, that is my fault. I built up the paint on the block a little too much, and now the head fits really tight because the paint is so thick. It seems to be just on the passenger side though....the driver`s side seems fine. I pulled it apart and am sanding the mating surfaces. I`ll post more pics once I get everything fitting right. The last thing I have to do, besides the head bolts, is the alternator. It is molded open, so I am going to try building this from the inside out with visible coils and everything. I`ll be posting more pics soon. -
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Hawk312 replied to arick's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
Thanks for the tip! Ill give that a try. -
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Hawk312 replied to arick's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
A little more progress. Added the crank and water pump pulleys. -
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Hawk312 replied to arick's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
Thanks! I need ideas for the cylinder head bolts. As many of you know, they are typically a bolt with a large round beveled area at the bottom of the hex area, and it is a little difficult to fabricate 20 of them in 1/8 scale. Any ideas? -
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Hawk312 replied to arick's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
As I mentioned before, I am taking more time taking pictures and posting them then I am actually building this. Everything is going together perfectly without any fitment problems. The heads, water pump, and balancer are now installed. The heads had nice locating tabs which made them a snap to install. The balancer fit perfectly into the timing chain cover and was "secure" (fit tightly), which was nice as it took out the guesswork of whether or not the balance was mounted level. I fabricated a dipstick and bracket with some wire, tubing, and sheet styrene. The oil drain bolt on the oil pan is just aluminum tubing flattened on 6 sides with needle nose pliers, and then filled with putty and painted. If I had it to do over again, I would either paint the oil pan orange, or wait and install the oil pan last. s you can see, the sensitive chrome paint is getting marked up pretty easily. Let me know what you think. -
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Hawk312 replied to arick's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
Guys, I apologize for the lack of clarification on my part. I am using a pin vice and several different size drill bits for the drilling...no power tools. Also, lately, I am spending more time on taking and editing photos than I am on actually building. Everything is going together very smoothly. More pictures coming soon. -
+1. Would go nice with the 1/8 TDR hemi engine!
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Hawk312 replied to arick's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
Ok guys.....assembly finally beginning. For the chrome pieces, I used duplicolor black base coat, which I rubbed out to a glossy finish. I then used Duplicolor chrome. I think it came out decent, with a polished aluminum look to it. I drilled out some of the mounting holes in the block and painted the insides silver for a machined look. I had to make all of the bolts, because I am too lazy to use bill w`s great tip here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=27930. To make mine, I just used some left over plastic sprue flattened on six sides with a pair of needle nose pliers, and then cut with a hobby knife. It`s hard to tell in the pictures, but it actually is pretty convincing in person. Here is just a test fit of the heads. I drilled out the manifold mounting holes around the exhaust ports and the front of the heads. I think this makes for a much more convincing appearance. Ive found that the drill bits "bite" into this material more quickly and sharply than typical kit styrene. I am not sure exactly why this is, but I am assuming it is because of the more brittle nature of the material. Back to building.....please let me know if you have any questions. -
I came across some pretty rare Corvette models that I couldnt pass up because they were so cheap. However, they were built, and the builders were sloppy with what appears to be tube cement. Also, one of them looks like it could have been built 20 years ago or so. I am trying to disassemble and restore them, but am having a tough time disassembling them and removing the cement. I have tried nail polish remover with acetone, but it doesn`t seem to have had any affect on it. Any suggestion?
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Hawk312 replied to arick's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
Thanks guys. I am also going to be giving a more descriptive step-by-step run-down of everything I am doing once I have everything figured out. This is a new experience for me. I was able to get color on the block and water pump. As you can see, the texture looks convincing straight out of the box. Besides sanding the mating endges, nothing has been sanded, filled, or modified from the way it was when I unpacked it. My favorite part has to be these heads. Again, the rough texture is straight out of the box. I sanding the areas around the exhaust port and the front and backs of the head with 220 grit, then primered and sanded smooth with 1000 grit. I then applied Testors Aluminum metalizer and buffed out the sanded areas. I think this gives a realistic appearance, compared to 1:1 heads. The idea is to have them look like a set of aftermarket AFR or Edelbrock headers. Here are the soon-to-be-chrome parts with a base coat of black. Almost all the imperfections and texture are gone after some sanding and 2 applications of regular primer (not high-build primer). Again, next time I think I can get away with just one application if I use some high-build primer. Thanks for looking. More to come soon! -
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Hawk312 replied to arick's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
I was actually pleasantly surprised with the strength of the parts. I was worried they would be too brittle to really work with. But I find myself having no concern at all about breaking the parts when I am handling them, even when I am going to town sanding them down. Anyway, finished sanding some of the parts again. The block and other soon to be orange parts are now in white primer. I was thinking about going just a little custom, with chrome oil pan, valve covers, an timing cover. I was thinking maybe aluminum heads too. What does everyone think? -
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Hawk312 replied to arick's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
Guys, Again, I apologize for the delay. Everything is now in primer, most of it ready for color: Here you can see the contrast between the sanded surfaces and the bare "textured" surfaces which have had no sanding. In the foreground, the oil pan and timing chain cover were sanded with 180 grit sandpaper followed by 220 and on up. I used a cheap Krylon primer, which is very thin. Next time, I am going to go with a high build primer, as TDR suggests. It would have made my work alot easier. There was a little more effort needed to sand away the textured surface than I initially thought, but still it wasn`t too bad. I have mocked up the block a couple times, and it is a very convincing replica, much better then what you might see in the typical model kit. Here, the heads were just sanded smooth on the bottom and then primered. The textured surface looks close to scale, IMO. The oil pan was a little tricky, trying to be aggressive with the sanding, and yet trying not to create any new curves or lines. The pulleys and oil filter were the tricky parts, just because they are smaller and more awkward to work with. I may sand these a second time, and use a file to clean up some of the recessed and hollow areas. That`s it for now. I should shortly have this in color for you. I think I am going to go with Orange, just so everyone can see the details a little more clearly. I will be posting pics as assembly begins. -
Thanks bill. What do you use to cut the brass rod so cleanly?
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This is incredible work! Yes, you MUST make a kit for the rest of us! I have a question though. What are you using for fan belts? And what size are the nuts and bolts you are using? I am going to try to use some on my TDR SBC kit, which is also 1/8.
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Hawk312 replied to arick's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
Guys, I apologize for the delay. I am working on this kit, and will hopefully have some pictures up soon. I am trying to decide where to go with a few things. Overall, I am very impressed with this engine. It seems almost every detail is there from the real 1:1! And the texture on the block is perfect. -
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Hawk312 replied to arick's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
Ok guys, here is the SBC engine kit. The kit contains everything you see here, most of which you would see in a Chevy long block in 1:1, plus an oil filter and alternator. As what appears to be a slight hint of custom, it appears the crank pulley is an under drive pulley. Nice touch! Packaging For this one, I completely unwrapped everything, but most parts were grouped together this time when they arrived. The cylinder heads were grouped together in a single package, as were the valve covers. From memory, most of the smaller items (pulleys, alternator, etc.) were also in a package together. The engine block and oil pan were individually wrapped. The complete set of parts, about 5 or so packages, were then wrapped together in bubble wrap and then surrounded by peanuts. All parts arrived without issue and in perfect condition. Again, it seems like it would take a lot to damage these parts in shipping the way it was packaged. I am impressed with the packaging in both this kit and the Mustang kit above. Impression The texture on this kit is not as noticeable, likely because of it`s size, especially compared to the Mustang body. I think I am actually going to leave some parts like the heads, block, water pump, and alternator alone and not sand these smooth, as the texture looks perfect compared to a real 1:1 block! Everything appears to be accurate and proportional compared to the real deal. I actually have handled a few real small block GM engines, and this very much reminds me of the real thing. One aspect that surprised me a little is that all these parts have holes where bolts should be. But this is accurate to the 1:1 parts, and I will probably make my own bolts or find some very small hex nuts which would look more convincing than molded in detail anyway. The lack of bolts would also make the parts themselves good candidates for dioramas. I already have visions of a 1:8 scale garage scene! :o There are so many possibilities I can think of with this kit. It would work in the `32 duece kit as a straight basic "plain Jane" block, maybe with a monochrome theme. Or maybe in the `82 Z28 or `85 Iroc kits, to represent a Z or Iroc that had the aging, tired stock block replaced with a new Chevy crate motor. Lord knows, there are plenty of them around in 1:1 scale. Or maybe paint it Pontiac blue and drop it in the `81 Trans Am kit. As I mentioned, it would work in a diorama; maybe a garage scene where one of the above are getting a heart transplant. I am pretty excited about this one, so I think I am going to start building it first. Now only if I could decide on wether to go with a 60`s/early 70`s Chevy Orange, a late 70`s/early 80`s blue, or a basic crate motor black.....hmmmm..... -
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Hawk312 replied to arick's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
I am going to start off with my impressions of the Mustang body. The kit contains the body, a seperate hood, trunk lid, doors, and bumper. The body is similar to "Eleanor" from Gone in 60 Seconds. Here is what the bare body and hood will look like before any prep: Packaging I deliberately left the doors, trunk lid, and bumper in the original packaging so you get an idea of how it will be packed when it arrives at your door. Each piece, including the body and doors, are individually wrapped, tightly wrapped in fact, in bubble wrap. Then the entire lot of parts are wrapped in bubble wrap and surrounded by peanuts before placed in the box. My pieces arrived in absolutely perfect condition. Judging from the amount of packing material surrounding the parts, I don`t see much chance of the parts being damaged in shipping, aside from a forklift driving over it. I was very delicate with the parts while removing the bubble wrap to be careful not to damage the parts. I`m not sure how much care needs to be taken with these, but they seem more resilient than I initially thought. Impression The body appears to be accurate, more so than the AMT body, but they are close, IMO. The texture is, well, unusual. As you can see from the photo, there are lines in the mold indicating the resolution of the "printer." The best way I can describe it is if you could imagine what dropping your display properties in Windows down to 256 colors would look like in tangible, able to handle material. I took some 400 grit sandpaper to it, and it seems to "level off" pretty quickly and easily, sort of like a high build primer. I will be posting more about that as I post in progress pictures. The windshield and rear window are molded into the body. I am going to attempt to remove these and replace with clear stock styrene, which should be interesting. Overall, it looks like this should be a pretty nice `67 body once it is sanded smooth. I kinda wish I would`ve had something like this when I built my "Eleanor" a few years back. Next, I will be taking a quick look at the SBC kit. I will be posting more pictures shortly. -
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Hawk312 replied to arick's topic in Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed
Hello everyone! First, I`ll give a quick introduction. I have been posting on the MCM message board for a while now, and most of my subjects are large scale, which you may have seen posted in this sub-forum. I mostly build 1/12 Corvettes and Camaros, but I have hundreds of other models of all scales from 1/32 to 1/4 (Revell`s visible V8 engine), and from all years from the 20`s to current production cars. But since I am partial to the large scale models, I was excited when I was asked to provide independent reviews of TDR Innovation`s products. I`ll try to do my best to give a builder`s perspective on their products to give everyone a clear impression of what to expect, and along the way maybe even incorporate some of their items into some of my projects. I will be taking a look at the following products: 1/25 Scale Miss "E" Car Body (`67 Mustang "Eleanor") http://www.tdrcatalog.com/servlet/the-85/mustang-eleanor-1968-Ford/Detail 1/8 Scale GM 350 Basic Crate Engine http://www.tdrcatalog.com/servlet/the-110/1-fdsh-8-scale-350-SBC/Detail I will be prepping and building both of these, and taking pictures and giving my honest impressions along the way. Please look for my posts and follow the progress in the coming days. I have already unpacked both these kits, and will be giving my impressions on both shortly. Please feel free to ask questions.