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Alyn

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Everything posted by Alyn

  1. "1 second in 1:1 = 1 second in 1:25 scale (time remains the same)" 1 minute = 1 minute 1 hour = 1 hour 1 day = 1 day 1 year = 1 year
  2. My turn 1 second in 1:1 = 1 second in 1:25 scale (time remains the same) 3300 lbs in 1:1 = .2122lbs or 3.38oz in 1:25 scale (weight is 3 dimensional, therefore *25 cubed) 60 MPH in 1:1 = 1,500 MPH in 1:25 scale (distance is 1 dimensional, therefore *25)
  3. You're whipping up some mighty fine detail work, John. Very enjoyable to watch your progress.
  4. Thanks to all you guys for checking this out. This was a very easy detail to create. Judging from all the engine photos I've seen over the past couple of years, I think most of us are guilty of letting the alternators/generators float. We're lucking they're not all scraping up against the ceiling like lost party balloons. John, I am going to try and save some time over the weekend to scratch build a fuel pump. I'll let you know how it goes. UPDATE - Stewart Warner fuel pump can be found here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=51033
  5. I really like your use of wire to create the metalic edges on your shocks and brake drums. Count on me to steal that one. Off topic, but I laughed when I saw that last pictures. It reminded me of a teenage mutant ninja turtle in a jousting costume! All kidding aside, great work. The gas tank is a 1000% improvement over what you started with.
  6. This topic is just for Harry. He's right about all the floating alternators and generators. We've all been guilty of this for years.So, just to appease him, I scratch built a generator bracket for my 62 Catalina 421. Many kits mount the alternators and generators by nothing more than the fan belt. This kit and a few others at least add the upper adjustment bracket. To go a step further, I added the lower pivot bracket. It's not based on any particular design. I couldn't find a good image of the real bracket on a 421, so I just made up my version of a typical design cast in aluminum. This is a very simple project consisting of a scrap piece of .030" styrene card stock and two small strips of .010" square styrene rod. The long tail will eventually be cut off, but makes a great handle while I fit, drill, file and prime the part. After creating the basic shape and drilling the bolt holes, the styrene rod was laid into position and fixed with liquid styrene cement (Ambroid ProWeld). Several steps were needed to get it to fit, so the handle really came in handy. The cut-out between the bolt holes is a relief cut for the freeze plug at the end of the cylinder head. The curved indentation at the opposite end of the ribs fits nicely under the generator. Here's the finished part with the handle cut off and a coat of Model Masters Aluminum Plate. I added a couple of Grandt Line bolts to dress it up. Here's the bracket mounted in place. A big thanks to Harry for pointing this out. Not much of a tutorial needed for such a simple part, but I think it's a nice addition to a detailed engine.
  7. great attention to detail. The wood cladding on the fuel cap latch is way above and beyond FYI, the "axle braces" are friction shocks, common before the use of hydraulics came into being.
  8. No body yet, but the chassis is progressing. Out of the box, the frame rails are open on the top, and this opening can be seen looking down at the engine. I scrounged some square styrene rod and filled in the opening at the front of the frame where it shows. This was followed by a skim coat of spot putty and primer. Here's a shot of the front showing new coil springs wound with black coated 26 gauge copper wire. Inspired by some of John Teresi's prolific use of Alclad and since this car is intended to be a show car, I shot the frame in chrome. I was curious how the hobby store chrome spray compared to Alclad so I shot the oil pan in Krylon chrome. In this photo, you can't tell much difference, but in person the Krylon looked a bit dull compared to the Alclad. The Krylon looked reasonably good by itself, but when placed next to the Alclad, the difference was obvious. Here's the rear axle in place. The brake backing plates(not in the picture) will get drilled for brake lines and then painted. then I'll add the brake line across the rear axle. Otherwise, it's pretty much done. Here's the top side of the chassis with the motor in place. Since the rear is covered by the body, I only plated the front section of the frame. You can see the ball joint extension that helps lower the front end to where it needs to be. Rather than finding a decal for the generator, I cut an oval out of .005 aluminum sheet and painted it flat black. Once the paint was dry, I used a new #11 blade to scrape the paint off from around the edge of the oval as well as across the middle. It won't stand up to magnifying glass inspection, but to the unaided eye it looks pretty good.with the light catching the bare metal.
  9. Great looking Stude, Rob. One of the nicest looking that I can remember seeing. All your efforts compliment the design quite well and make a an iconic car even nicer.
  10. Another beautiful build, Mr T. I've been bagged
  11. Your gracious comments and interest are very much appreciated. Rob, I found some 1/2 round faux stick-on "Diamonds" at Michael s Craft store; a plastic card with rows of these clear gemstones with adhesive backs. I guessed that the glue was of the non-drying variety, so I cleaned it off with lacquer thinner and then glued two halves together with CA to form a spherical crystal. Then the small section of tube was glued on, again with CA. It took a few tries to get the two halves lined up before the glue set. The end result was the right size for a shift knob and somewhat unique. I've received about as many comments on the gearshift as rest of the interior. Bernard, the accuracy of the cutouts were not that much of a concern. If I remember right, the cut was made with the back of an Xacto blade, same as cutting out a door or trunk panel. While the cut wasn't a big deal, the edge around the openings had to follow the bead at the edge and be very straight and precise. Files and sandpaper around small wooden blocks took care of that. To accommodate the thickness of the upholstery, the gap had to be generous at about 1/32 of an inch. Any less than this and the insert wouldn't fit back into the seat. Any more than 1/32" and the insert would be too loose. There was a lot more work involved in fitting and refitting the upholstered panel than in getting a straight cut. As for the square holes, just build one of these: http://web.mat.bham.ac.uk/C.J.Sangwin/howroundcom/roundness/applications.html ... or do what I do; drill a small hole and file to shape with a square jewelers file. One thing about inner panels, square and other odd shaped holes are common place.
  12. "Custom Car Shop"? This is a custom car? All this time I thought it was gonna be a Chaparral 2J. Couldn't figure out where you were going to fit the snowmobile motor and fans. Trabant custom ??? Aren't there laws against this kind of thing? Common sense? Minimum levels of decency?
  13. Very cool. Brings back memories of racing my Pittman powered 63 Stingray against all the Cox powered Cheetahs and Chaparrals on the slot tracks..
  14. Hey, that's my Mom's old Galaxie 500! Looks like a really nice piece of resin. Is it going to be a stock build?
  15. randomly ordered or in this case; run together & randomly ordered. In any case, this is one cool truck. Nice work on the rear chassis and suspension detail. Good execution of a neat idea.
  16. Here's the drivers side door panel. The blob inside the door is epoxy holding the brass hinge. Once the inner panel is painted and weathered, this will provide some character. Window mechanism in place, but before the glass was added. Finally, a shot of the seat and side panel in place. The lower frame of the seat will eventually get some bright foil applied. On these older cars, I like to create the look of the top loader transmission. Instead of using the ball of the pin as a shift knob, I reverse it and create the shift lever socket. I haven't been able to find pins with silver balls in the smaller diameter. I paint the ball with Floquil bright silver. The crystal knob is two halves super glued together with a small section of brass at the base.
  17. Jeff, if you didn't catch the beginning post, this car is already complete. I didn't do a WIP during the build, so I'm do a brief retro-WIP now. Good thought though. Bernard, to get the edges of the fabric tucked away and achieve a clean edge, I cut the center panels out of the seat, upholstered and then re-inserted them. Here's the passenger side inner panel. I researched the inner structure on the internet and tried to create a reasonably accurate panel. Since I only opened the drivers side door, the passenger side is one piece, front and rear. Here's the panel mounted in position. I love these inner structure shots when the parts are in gray primer. Reminds me of working in a body shop.
  18. Perfect period look for the 70's, plus you get the "Best Thread Title of the Month" award.
  19. So, the other day I open this AMT Ford C-600 Cab-over stake side kit. What a neat diversion from cars and light trucks. I just wanted to see what was in the box, but soon after the engine halves were glued together (the official start) and then I started fiddling with the frame ... Before you know it, the ideas are flowing and I'm working on another project. Sorry for neglecting this WIP. On with the '40 couple; To bump up the cool factor, I cut out a strip of .015" brass sheet for a visor. The middle was over bent, and then partially straightened to provide the center crease. Then the ends were bent over in a gentle curve. This was the toughest part of building the visor. It took about 10 or 15 tries before the fit was decent. I still think it's marginal, but life goes on. Here's a couple of shots of the coupe with the body work pretty much finished. The ruddy red primer will be the base color for the wear and tear stage. On to some other aspects of the build. Here's one of my favorite parts of this car. I ran across a Ken Hamilton tutorial on making Mexican blankets. Essentially, you lay individual strands of sewing thread side by side to build up a pattern. This one is made up of about 280 strands in 4 colors; one being green to tie in with the exterior paint. I took this concept a step further and used the Mexican blanket material as upholstery for my seat.
  20. The diorama guys use foam board all the time. It's great stuff for creating stone and masonary surfaces. You can pile it high with water based acrylics with no problem. I coat mine with artists gesso to seal the pores, then use both acrylics and artists oils in various ways. Never had a problem. The board I get at Hobby Lobby has a layer of paper on both sides which I usually remove. If you do remove it, do both sides or the foam board will warp.
  21. I thought your Pontiac interior was drop dead gorgeous, but you have just outdone yourself with this one. I'd love to be sitting in it at the drive-in with my sweetie. Awesome sense of style.
  22. Mike's getting kind of old, so his eye sight ain't what it use to be. He keeps dropping distributors and can't find them in the green shag carpet in his work room. For Mike and guys like him. I put together a tutorial on building a distributor from scratch. You can find it here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=49781
  23. Let the extrusion dry overnight before continuing with the next steps. Before cutting off a piece for your distributor, trim down the end to form the base of the distributor. This is easily done by scoring the 1/2 round slightly more than 1/32" from the end; then use your Ex-acto knife to trim off the small bits of 1/2 round. Clean this area up with a small jewelers file or 400 grit sandpaper (or both). Now you can cut the end section off the extrusion. Around 1/8" or slightly longer (plus the trimmed area) is about right for the height of the cap. Clean up your saw marks with some 400 grit paper, and then follow up with something finer like 600 grit. Try to keep the top as flat and square as possible. For the shaft, drill a 1/16" hole in the base of the distributor and glue in a short section of aluminum rod or tube. I like to use tubing as it provides the excess glue a place to go which actually provides added glue surface. While the shaft doesn't need to be very long, I allow for enough to use it as a handle, or to chuck it in my Dremel (if I need to square the top). Clean off any glue that oozes out around the shaft while it's still wet. Your new distributor is almost done now and is actually starting to look like one. In the next view you can see that I've drilled eight equally spaced holes around the top and another directly in the center. Of course you want to align the holds with each 1/2 round segment. I position the drill bit very close to where the seam between the 1/8" rod and the 1/2 round. If you haven't let the glue dry for a sufficient amount of time, it is easy to accidentally split off the half round. Not cool. Make sure to allow plenty of drying time. The holes in this picture are drilled with a .0175" bit. The size should be determined by the diameter of the plug wire used. It this case, my .015" wire slides right in and allows for a thin film of CA to hold it in place. Finally, a bit of silver on the base and your favorite color on the cap. Over spray can be easily scraped off the aluminum shaft with an Ex-acto blade. Here's one ready for wiring. I don't worry about creating the small nibs on the top of the cap as the wiring and boots will cover it up. For color, black, red, light blue and light brown are common colors for the cap plastic. Just make sure the color looks nice with your choice of wire. You may want to go further and add a vacuum advance diaphragm, but that's optional. And don't forget, you've got plenty of extrusion to make more parts for your next build
  24. The first step in scratch building is usually to break down a complex shape into simple geometric shapes. Take for example a distributor. This is a fairly simple shape consisting of three progressively larger cylinders. The top and largest cylinder is surrounded with equally spaced 1/2 round cylinders. Step two is to reduce the dimensions to something reasonably close in scale. In most of my modeling, this is 1:25 or 1:24 scale. The difference between these two scales is merely 1/2" in a foot, so I don't worry too much and generally will use the same scale conversion for either. After doing this exercise numerous times, you get to know some of the common measurements. For example, 1/8" rod is about 3" in scale, 1/16" is about half that, or 1 1/2". Another common measurement is 1" which is about .040" in scale. Therefore, .030" should equate to 3/4" These measurements should be about all we need to build the distributor. Start with some 1/8" styrene rod for the cap and .030" half round styrene to surround it. The most difficult task in building a distributor is to keep the 1/2 round equally spaced around the cap. I start by drawing vertical and horizontal lines on the end of the rod as accurately as possible. Find a stable platform to hold the rod and glue some 1/2 round along the length of the rod in-line with one of the marks.Once this dries, roll the rod 180º and glue another strip on the opposite side. After the second strip dries, the rod can be rotated 90º. At this point, my first two strips help the rod sit nicely in my impromptu fixture with the guide line perfectly vertical. Glue another 1/2 round strip in this position and once dry, rotate another 180º and add the fourth strip. At this point, you should have four 1/2 round strips glued on the rod at 90º increments. Hopefully, they look equally spaced and run straight down the length of the 1/8" rod. Four additional 1/2 round strips are now glued between the first four. We no longer need the marks on the end as it is easier at this point to position each 1/2 round strip evenly spaced between two of the existing strips. Glue on all four and you should end up with something like this. I make a point of being generous with the liquid qlue. Correctly applied, the plastic will fuse together and eliminate any sign of a gap. A coat of primer should reveal the quality of you work so far. The folded edge of some 400 grit sand paper can be run up and down through the grooves to clean things up if necessary. At this stage, I liken the part to an extrusion. It's far longer than needed for one distributor. When you need to build one, just cut off a slice and continue with the final steps.
  25. Who can take a model Sprinkle it with paint Use super imagination to make it what it aint Eye Candy Man can Eye Candy Man can Eye Candy Man can cause he knows just what to do Add the right colors and an extra part or two Eye Candy Man can You've turned out some nice ones, but the creativity is over the top on this little jewel.
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