Foxer

Done. I cut a handle out of another body and patched it in.

I've also been back on the hinges. I chucked some 3/32" (.0938") round plastic tubing into the Dremel and turned it down to about .074" with a sanding stick. This was as small as I dared as the wall was getting thin. The aluminum tube I have been trying is .0625". I thought the tube still looked large but in the photo below it doesn't seem that much larger. These hinges ARE out of scale no matter what, but there's not much choice. The aluminum scales to 1.56" and the plastic to 1.85" ... not that much difference. I was going to ask if anyone thought they would look too gross with the plastic tubes, but looking at the numbers as I type this makes me say .. screw it.. the plastic tubes win! These will "weld" to the attachment tabs with no problem and will solve my glue problem! Thanks for all the input along the way to solve the glue problem I was having. It's SO good to have you all here to bounce things off of!!

The door handle for the side door is in and just got the first primer coat to check for finish bodywork needed. Small spots and finishing up the door edges needed. I decided to just cut out the handle from a spare body rather than cast it. It was much easier than constructing the mold. The hinges I need did work well by squish casting some and pouring molten plastic into the molds ... just plastic sprue and Ambroid. It took about 8 tries to get 4 good hinges but it was simple and can just glue them to body now with regular cement. Cut handle out of spare body: cut out hole for handle and glued a backing plate on: After first primer coat: (ignore that run!)

I don't want to comment on this since what everyone says is true .. shine it up how YOU want it. I just thought I'd add a story that goes with this thread ... When I was 16, in 1962, I built a custom '40 Ford sedan specifically for a contest at the LHS. It was a local show with maybe 200 entries. I had places 2nd in my first contest so I thought I'd try to do the best I could. It had similarities to Bill Cushenbery's El Matador with scooped rear fenders. It was chopped, channeled and sectioned until it stood a scale 48" high. I even used 13" wheels to lower it more. It was upholstered in green and white corduroy to look like tuck and roll. The doors were opened and hinged with working door handles and it was fully wired.. with thread. This WAS 1962. This my most extensive body work and it all came together looking good. As it got near the wire for the show, I had barley time to paint. Now, paint has always been my enemy and still is. I user a Candy Green spray can and tried to do it all in one coat. Needless to sat, it looked really bad. There were dark gobs at the bottom edges from runs. There wasn't time to try again so it went into the contest like that. I cringed when I saw the nice paint jobs on other entries. Oh well, I figured I had no chance because of the paint. The following week I was away and my Dad had to pick up my car at the hobby shop after the show. It won First place in the Custom class! I was shocked ... the owner said it was in contention for best in show but it was deemed unroadable. I never found what that meant but assume it meant it was TOO low .. if that is possible with a custom. Maybe it was the upholstered undercarriage. The point of this is, despite the terrible paint job my car placed because of the extensive custom work and my typically anal attention to details. Was probably the last time ever a poorly painted car won a contest! End of story.

Those metal floor plates now look like they belong .. poured into the floor when it was fresh. It all looks great!

I know a company that could sand blast that floor and get all that dirty gunk up for you.

I want to know what book Harry is talking about too!

I have to go with Virgil this time. My business for 35 years was visiting industrial buildings for various engineering jobs. Half the time our electrical engineer was with me. There were many buildings constructed of steel (structure and siding) before fluorescent lighting. Steel siding has commonly been used in commercial/industrial buildings since the teens, and actually before that in somewhat limited quantities. And, an industry would not replace working lights with fluorescent for years afterward .. if at all. The best argument though, is that this is a CRANKY building and if it LOOKS right, it IS! I guess I told Harry!

Note to Cranky: please buy shiny black paint This is a new Jairus one to me.. and I have a 300 AND an Allison in the basement ... but the Allison is promised to a Peterbuilt hot rod, the '57 300 to a new 300 dual build and I want to see Cranky lay down that smooth black paint!

I love that engine with the big, honking cans on top of it!

I love the audacity of doing this!

Nice work on this! I love builds of "ordinary cars"!

Thanks Jim. I did try the molding putty and it seemed to work fine. I just did a squish cast against a body to get a door handle impression.

Thanks for all the responses. You all have given me many ways to skin this cat and I've decided Danno's idea of cutting out a hole and patching in a casting of the handle is the easiest and will be the best looking in the end. And, now that I've made the molds to cast a door handle, I think, why didn't I just cut out a door handle from the spare body??!! Oh well, we'll see how the castings look and that's always a back up plan!

A wonderful looking build here! I'm partial to 928's as my first Porsche was an aftermarket turboed 924 that seemed to have the SAME 928 next to it in the shop every time I got some minor work done. It was Porsche's FIRST car done from a clean sheet and it was a spectacular driver, but you'd best have a Porsche mechanic brother-in-law if you wanted to eat at night!

Casting of the door handle and hinges on some spare bodies took some time as I searched for some working material to make the molds. The Tamiya Epoxy Putty I had was too dried up to use so I went to Michael's to see if something there was usable. All they had was some Mighty Putty ... an epoxy putty in a cylinder you just slice and mix. It had Billy Mays photo on the package, so I was leery about this product. It worked as advertised, but was much too grainy for mold making and was very sticky and messy. The squish molds I tried were very undefined. My LHS was open today so I went up to see what he had for epoxy putty. He had Milliput so I added that to my arsenal. Then, I remembered the RTV Silicone Putty I still had from a Micro-Mark resin kit I had from over 10 years ago. I really liked that material and figured I had nothing to lose mixing the 2 part putty and giving it a try despite it's age. Low and behold, IT WORKED! The molds came out with well defined impressions that will be fully useable. I'm going to cut out a square at the door handles and insert the casting as recommended by Danno in another post I had asked about this ... Thanks Danno! Yeah, while I was at it I figured a cast of the VW emblem off my OTHER van project would be a good use of the leftover silicone.

I went through my photos and unfortunately I didn't have copies of the ones I had in mind. Being retired, I don't have access to any in the vast resources at work anymore. I came on a few that are just general rust and rot and maybe will give some aid. They are here on my photobucket site I can say that metal siding rust starts at the screw attachment points and the cut edges (usually only top and bottom) of the panels. Screws would be 12" oc along the edges and panels about 30 or 36" wide. I know you are not going to measure out screws, but just a guide for you eyeballing.

Most metal siding was aluminum or galvanized to prevent "going Cranky", but that never stopped all of it. I'm going to have to look back in my old photos taken during industrial inspection jobs and maybe I can come on some for your reference.

I think the Doctor could easily take this after turning over in his grave with the 917 Pink Pig! This is really different and I like it.

I have some really old resin and molding putty kit from Micro Mark that I know is too old from all I've heard. I must have gotten it 10 years ago, but I never throw anything out! I know the resin is way past it's shelf life, but I am wondering what actually happens when it is "too old"? Does it just not set up? The RTV silicone putty may be a different story and I'm going to try to pull a simple mold using it. Got nothing to lose and I'll know for sure to throw it out!

A great looking Z!

eheh .. that's Toby. I'm going to have to learn a little figure painting to get him in shape. Here he is by the van ... He's going to be sitting inside, so I HAVE the get the hinges working!

The magnetic plates are a neat trick. As for their origin, I've seen things at industrial sites that for the life of me I could not explain. I think I've visited your site before ..

Here's a bookmark place for this build ... I'm sure I'll have to answer to someone when Dec '11 comes around and it's not finished! This year I'm not putting cookies and milk out for Santa .. it's gonna be sandpaper and glue so he'll give a helping hand. and maybe a brush to get the shavings out of his beard ..

That's defiantly going to be a looker ... I love the proportions on it.