charlie8575

Good to see you back to it, Mike. That's going to be a nice car when you're done with it. See you next week in Lawrence. Charlie Larkin

The freezer is working, slowly, but it is working. The chassis/engine fusion has been in the freezer for a couple of days, so I need to check progress when I get back home. Dad suggested, thinking back to developing and printing pictures that a wetting agent might also help with getting the water into any cracks and crevices that might develop, so I'll try some soapy water to see if that might help a little. Dad also has a bottle of wetting agent for developing film, so I'll be trying one of those to see if any progress can be made. For the remainder of the day, however, I intend to be outside trying to fix my 1:1 once I return home, so whether I get to anything this weekend or not I don't know. I do know I'll be placing a Modelhaus order for some parts (the U.S. Royal Master tires, a hood, steering wheel, and some wheels). Charlie Larkin

I understand that, Mike. Dad went to BU College of Engineering (B.Sc., Aerospace Engineering), and had to use slide-rules, too, I'm just thinking about some of the spectacular faux pas we've seen with recent-vintage tooling...not naming names, but we all know the culprits, and those were designed with things supposed to make the product better and the design of better easier. Dad's said he'd show me how to use a slide-rule, just so I'll know how to do it (yes, I'm weird, but we all know that). I'll try the Testors thinner- I have a little around, and I'll give a shot with the lacquer thinner, too, and simply keep an eye on it, ready to rinse immediately if I need to. If I don't use the frame, I suspect I'll be using the engine and a few other parts out of the Electra and I'll be re-using a lot of the parts to build a curbside, possibly with a Modelhaus '62 Electra convertible on the chassis and a chassis plate. Charlie Larkin

Brief update: apparently, AMT did its job right in 1962 and '64 respectively. The chassis from the Electra (126" wheelbase) and the Wildcat (123" wheelbase) are in fact different and do not line up. I could say something about doing the job right with slide rules in 1962 and we can't do it right with computers in 2013, but I am NOT opening that can of worms right now! Barring successful dis-assembly of the old chassis, anyone have any tips for successfully shortening a chassis-plate with an X-frame so it still looks right?

Nice to see I'm not the only local up late, Mike. I got addicted to Mission: Impossible on MeTV. I might try the thinner trick- I assume you're referring to standard hardware store-type thinner? I can see where that would be effective- and potentially disastrous if used too liberally. Barring that, the scrbing tool, some soapy water to act as a wetting agent and the freezer will be tried, too. Coming east to Classic Plastic next weekend? Charlie Larkin

Now that's a pretty car! I can see it in a nice navy blue with tan hides. Narrow-stripe whitewalls (think about the Modelhaus U.S. Royal Masters- I think they'd look great on that). Charlie Larkin

The good news is that the front and rear bumpers were pretty much held in place by the chassis plate. They came off with only the slightest coaxing. I need to work the firewall out before I can remove the glass. Once again, the word "melty" comes to mind when looking at this window unit. Yikes! I intend to try a panel scriber to start gently removing the glue/plastic glop. Seriously, if anyone else has other ideas for getting that out, talk to me. The interior also presents some unique challenges, starting with the race helmet glued in there. I intend to try the water/freezer on this. The dash will probably require a few passes with my razor saw blade in my #1 X-Acto handle to free up what was actually a pretty decent job of gluing in the dash. Updates will be as they occur. Charlie Larkin

A couple of nights ago, I decided to start taking things apart to see what I was getting myself into. We have a severe case of tire melt. And pretty well goobered-up tires. They, along with the axle rods and wheel-backs will be going bye-bye. I intend to replace the wheelback with the finned aluminum style brake drum/wheel backs found in the 1966 Wildcat, which more accurately represent what you would see behind the chrome road wheels. One more look prior to tear-down. The chassis is now sitting in the freezer, coated with water, in an attempt to free fifty-year-old glue and gunk from it. The engine was well-neigh fused, nevermind just glued in. I'm hoping I can get things back apart. These small screwdrivers are very useful for disassembly, and not just removing chassis screws, but when a very gentle amount of leverage is needed for stubborn parts. Gooey, melty mess! (I really despise the word "melty", but it seems to fit well in this instance). Chassis removed. Nice clean white 1964 styrene. These two pictures serve to illustrate exactly what I mean by "fused" re: the engine, and the big globs of congealed cement where those two exhaust-pipe type things were adhered to the chassis. More to come next post. Charlie Larkin

Every year, my parents give me a little money on my birthday, usually to go and get something enjoyable. This year, while I was poking around for a 1963-64 Buick Riviera, I ran across this 1964 Buick Wildcat on fee-bait. I paid a bit more than I wanted to, but I still got a pretty cool, not too-common car out of the deal. Having a penchant for Buicks generally and the ones from the 1960s in particular, I'm looking forward to making this one look good. Let's see what we're dealing with. This definitely has the makings of a classic glue bomb. I can almost hear the dash clock ticking away.... Next, we'll get into the dis-assembly. Charlie Larkin

I picked up a few things today. An AMT '62 Buick for my planned restoration of a 1964 Wildcat. I may be raiding this very heavily for parts, especially engine and undercarriage parts. A 3-oz. Badger airbrush bottle. A can of Testors Model Master Silver Blue lacquer, which is the same color as Marlin Blue on the '64 Buick. The Bare-Metal scriber, which might prove useful to assist in disassembling several parts of the Wildcat, along with other uses, of course. Charlie Larkin

I was rather surprised to hear they were still being made, myself. I heard this on the radio Wednesday, I think, and was quite surprised to hear the old Microbus was in production still. In a way, it's sad that they won't be making them anymore. Charlie Larkin

Different. Different is good. Charlie Larkin

Whatever you buy, try not to buy the "clean air" stuff. From my experience, it doesn't work for beans. If you have no choice at your local hardware store or box store, it might be worth the money to get the auto lacquer thinner. Charlie Larkin

Hi, Mitch. Welcome back. I've never had any problems with the Testors lacquers. They do, however require you to actively practice a phrase I learned in Latin I when I was a freshman in high school- two words that have stayed with me all these years since- cum diligentia. The direct translation is "with great care." The One Coat lacquers (I'm assuming you're using the more custom colors as opposed to the factory-match product?) require very thin coats on a well-primed surface. Primer- I swear by Plati-Kote's primers and it's almost all I use. I find the solvents less problematic than Dupli-Color's solvents, especially with the newer, softer plastics we're seeing more of. I use the gray, white and oxide red, depending on the final color. I always sand the parts with 600-grit wet-dry sanding film under either running water or in a tub of water (I like the 5-qt. Ziploc rectangular containers for all sorts of things), and then wash the part(s) in soapy water, rinse and allow to air-dry. The One-Coat name is a little misleading. The product is a decent paint, but I've found two light coats gets better results with it. Allow the paint to dry completely (2-3 days) before top-coating. A light wet-sanding, followed by another soap-and-water bath/rinse and air-dry will help you out a lot. Clear can follow after that. For other paints, I've used Plasti-Kote, Testors enamels and lacquers and both old and new Dupli-Color paints for sprays. For airbrush, I've used Testors enamels cut with lacquer thinner, MCW and have a bottle of Scale Finishes enamel I'll be trying soon. I also have a project that will have me cutting a vile of Dupli-Color touch up paint with lacquer thinner, and will see how that works. I'm not too crazy about the new formula Dupli-Color paints. They don't seem to work as well as they should, and on one car, I've had a devil of a time getting a good paint job, and this is with repeated cleaning, sanding, etc. I'm going to try decanting the paint and airbrushing it to see if that works as an experiment to see if it's more the paint or more the nozzle (their nozzles are AWFUL). I've also used Krylon products for certain things. You must prime very thoroughly, but the results are good if you're careful and use light coats, as the solvents are strong, which is why it dries so fast. As to airbrushing I highly recommend giving it a shot. I have a Paasche H, which is a nice, all-metal, American-made airbrush that works well. Make sure to get at least two bottles (1 and 3 oz) for big jobs. Harbor Freight usually has a decent deal on small "pancake" compressors with regulators that will provide plenty of air. Seriously, if you can use a rattle-can, you can airbrush. Use some of the extra bodies and other stuff you have to practice on. Good luck! Charlie Larkin

Have one MIB I bought a few years ago when I had a little money. Question for you, Ron: what did you do to get a "well-glued" kit apart? I have a Buick with a bordering-on-fused glass unit into the roof and I'm trying to figure out how to remove the glass without destroying the body. Also, where did you get the Goodyear Power Cushions? That's a very nice build. I like the orange...looks very copper, and looks good with the black vinyl top. Charlie Larkin

Very nice replication of the box-art car, Peter. I have that kit and do want to build it sometime. I'm leaning towards some kind of blue/blue combination, but yours is very nicely done. Charlie Larkin

One of the prettier cars to come out of Japan. Nice work on that one. Charlie Larkin

After attempting to change the throttle position sensor on my car today, I have made a firm decision that my next car will NOT be computer-controlled. The half-wits that designed the bracket for the alternator didn't leave enough space to put a 1/4" socket and handle in there to get the Torx socket on the head of the screw. The problem could've been solved with a hex-head screw, but noooooo......, they didn't do that. Worst case, I'll have to pull the alternator off if the super-skinny offset-handle direct-bit-drive socket I picked up doesn't work. Y'know, that '65 Chevy is starting to look pretty good. Charlie Larkin

Excellent work on this so far. I wonder if the Renault 16 is the first car that we would call a hatchback by today's standards? I'll enjoy watching this come along. Charlie Larkin

Sounds like a nice vehicle, too bad it's not so nice-looking. The author also did sloppy research with historical dates and kicked sand in the faces of XJ Cherokee fans and those who love Jeeps with a couple of comments. A poorly-written review of what sounds like a better-than-average-engineered vehicle with spectacularly bad styling. Charlie Larkin

NAPA is expensive for a lot of things, and competitive on others. For a lot of cars, especially the ones I prefer, they're the only choice in town- no biggie. I have AAA. AAA members get 20% off their purchases except chemicals. I'm friends with the family that owns the NAPA a couple towns over. If I can spare the time to get over there, I'll get the parts there, and get my discount, too. Unlike a lot of the big chain stores, NAPA, CarQuest, Bumper-to-Bumper and similar are staffed by people who know which end is up. Occasionally, I'll find someone at Auto Palace or Advance that knows which end is up, but they're scarce. I'll go to people who know what they're doing. For the record- 0 interest in NASCAR. Charlie Larkin

Some very nice color choices. Try sanding off the copyright notices on the chassis, or remove them with an X-Acto or Excel chisel balde in your hobby knife. It makes for a nicer looking finished product. Charlie Larkin

That independent station is very pretty. Definitely some nice information to use. Charlie Larkin

Nice little garage. The build date at the bottom of the page is given as 1940, which is believable given the asbestos shingle specification, which really didn't exist before the mid-1930s. Charlie Larkin

Very nice indeed. Charlie Larkin