Foxer

That sunroof looks better than any I've seen anywhere!

Wanted to finish these taillights off today so you see how good that can look, but with electrician down in the model shop I can't work on them . So a few more thoughts. I polished the outside surface with sanding sticks made to polish clear plastic windows and they worked on the Bondic just as if it was clear plastic. They need some Novus polishing now. I want to also polish the inside to see if I can being some clearness back, but it isn't really necessary since with the red tint and a silver backing It should look good. The "cloudiness" of the taillights in the photos above is the back surface showing through. I had first thought of using some old airplane canopys I had to file some taillights, but these would be some real work to get to the shape of the body surface that I wasn't looking forward to. They would have polished out really well so we'll see how clear I can bring the Bondic back to. Handling the Bondic does cloud up the surface unless you spray a clear on it .. I've used an Acrylic Clear spray successfully and then could handle without clouding it up.

That's just an eyepopper! .. looks the part to a tee

This forum has a problem with Internet Explorer ... all my friends do also, matter of fact. I suspect your an IE user ... if so, get Firefox or Chrome and you life will improve ... and the security of your computer will also. .. and we all will be able to see your builds!

I finally decided what kind of custom taillights I wanted and decided casting them with Bondic would be the quickest and simplest way. They were to fit flush to the rear corner of the wagon as can be seen in the first photo with a test casting in place ... the casting has some missing areas and has been polished on the outside. This established the method I would cast these pieces. I used tape to block the light holes for the casting and had also used tape to mark the area I removed from the body with drills, files and sandpaper. This photo shows the final taping. I used Frog tape since it had a smoother surface and one piece over the hole had the non-sticky side facing the opening and would be the surface the Bondic was put against. I also put some Vaseline against the body edges to prevent the Bondic from sticking. The next photo shows the inside before removing the tape and tail light. The taillights came out of the "mold" with the tape. Here are the final taillights placed in the body after being sanded in the edges and polished. I plan to polish further but I needed to clean up for a 1:1 electrician working around my bench tomorrow. I"m going to try polishing the inside with my Dremel, but these are pretty much ready to be painted in clear red.

More casting tests with Bondic. I needed some lenses for some custom tail lights for a '49 Mercury Woodie I building and decided casting them with Bondic would be the quickest and simplest way. They were to fit flush to the rear corner of the wagon as can be seen in the first photo with a test casting in place ... the casting has some missing areas and has been polished on the outside. This established the method I would cast these pieces. I used tape to block the light holes for the casting and had also used tape to mark the area I removed from the body with drills, files and sandpaper. This photo shows the final taping. I used Frog tape since it had a smoother surface and one piece over the hole had the non-sticky side facing the opening and would be the surface the Bondic was put against. I also put some Vaseline against the body edges to prevent the Bondic from sticking. The next photo shows the inside before removing the tape and tail light. The taillights came out of the "mold" with the tape. Here are the final taillights placed in the body after being sanded in the edges and polished. I plan to polish further but I needed to clean up for an electrician working around my bench tomorrow. I'm going to try polishing the inside with my Dremel, but these are pretty much ready to be painted in clear red.

good lord ... I'm a diabetic and the first needles I first used in 1968 were 25ga ...I thought THEY were huge! ... sticking a 23ga in would be like using a water pipe! Nowadays we use 29ga .. so nice! but, they gotta be great for antennas ..

I can see all your graphics talents in the photo of the Ex-Calibur and your daughter's hot rod. I've often wanted to get realistic shots of my models like these and I know all the problems it involves .. from lighting to lens focal length. The '57 has such potential .. you know you can get it right! Was wondering it you take the model shots after you have a photo you want to put it in?

Somehow I lost the end of this ... I fully support the idea of hacking large scale to pieces! If 1/25 can do it , so can you guys with miles of shelf space! It really turned out well and I went thru all I missed on this build... entertaining. Nice job!

I've been working on a '49 Merc Woodie and the tail lights made me wonder why would anyone put such weird lights on it .. they are round pods near the top of the tail gate .. and have a slender rod going down to the bumper ... why this rod, for the wires? .. but why? The tail lights are pretty clear in this photo .. So, while searching for custom tail light ideas I came on this photo with the tailgate down .. WoW .. in 1949 someone was concerned about keeping the tail light visible from the rear with the lid down! I never would have guessed this. You can see the rod is just a hinged connector to the body and makes the tail light pivot.

whew .. beautiful. And a car you owned .. you're after my own model building heart.

To answer the question you asked ... You are correct, Steve. The .02 wire will slip inside the .02 ID tubing. That's all it really is ... matching the inside diameter of the tube to what you want to slip inside. Being the same dimension I may be a tight fit, depending on the manufacturing tolerances of the two suppliers involves. It's possible it will take some force to get it to slip in .. maybe some WD-40. And this looks like the place Ray mentioned. ... Albion Alloys

Exquisite, Harry!

Definitely a beauty ... all around! beautiful job on that

getting unhinged at the quality of your hinge installation .. !

Yup .. I agree .. commendable job .. and well done. The woman was most likely in a fright from what SHE did .. opening door into traffic as if she was the only one there. Don't let her bother you.. you did what should have been done.

A bright spot in your youth, Tom? As my old ships got old from switching to cars I had a Christ Craft that my cousin and I set afire and pushed it out into a small pond .. was pretty awesome with all the black smoke. .eheh it sailed pretty well and balanced .. until the burned out hole in the hull sunk it.

Posts like this are the reason I stop by here all through the day .. beautiful build!

Like your head and tail light treatment .. classic!

All good advise here from some real experts, but most period hot rods were all made up in people's garages from parts found in the local junk yards. So pretty much anything you do works. It's all the "hot rod experts" that are difficult to handle.

It still seems to flatten a bit against the bolt, but I like this method for something that has plagued me for a long time. Using different sized bolts opens up many possibilities and the drill bit ... have most tube sizes I use permanently loaded in pin vises .. Thanks for this one!

I'm enjoying this topic seeing what snaps are/were available .. two grandsons getting ready for some building .. I hope. Might need a Mario Racing snap kit to pry then from their racing seats though.

Sorry but the mods have said the watch is now a plastic Timex with no batteries .. it has a winding knob.

I have a photo from my youth, but the black smoke from the burning plastic obscured the flames. Some really cool flame jobs here!

This "car modeler" loves the look of cabovers and these all look spectacular!