GrandpaMcGurk

When I'm satisfied that everything is where it belongs I "stitch weld" the entire length of the seam welding a short length, skip a short area then welding another short area, by moving around as I've described no one area gets hot enough to warp the plastic. Just make sure your welds are deep enough to fuse the two sections of plastic together.

The first step is to "spot weld" the two sections together, once this is done on both insides of the body I recheck measurements to make sure nothing has shifted or warped. It's important to tack and then move away from the hot spot for the next tack to prevent warping or burn through. You can come back and add more tacks in between as they cool.

Thanks a million guys, you're coming up with some great ideas on the fast back. Andrew, I like the idea of the '50s Chevy fastback roof line but I'm concerned that all those voluptuous Mae West compound curves would clash too much with the sharp edged '57 Chevy fins. If I carried the roof line all the way back in a more angular fashion it would look too much like a '65 Charger. Some folks aren't going to like the fastback concept no matter what I do but one way or another it's getting one. How about you Harry.......got any Photo-shop fast back magic for a '57 bow tie? I'm open for suggestions. Well, on to the plastic welding....here's how I do it. Keep in mind that melting plastic stinks and I'm sure it can't be good for you. I'd also like to suggest that if you try it yourself PRACTICE ON JUNK FIRST!!!!! It's really easy to warp and screw up plastic if too much heat is applied in one area. Not to mention burning the heck out of your digits. I have probably a half dozen of these heating irons varying in wattage, for what I'm doing here these cheapo low watt "wood burning" deals work just fine. I also have a bunch of tips, some I buy other I make out of brass rod. Anyway on to the how to stuff...... As you can see in the photos I'm using Red Green clamps (you can never have too much duct tape) to hold the body seams together.

Great build Virgil, ya know, I was just thinking (scary as that is) if you took some of that stretchy, stick to it-self bandage ( the stretchy gauze stuff they use to wrap a gauze patch on your arm after they draw blood) cut it in thin strips and wrapped up a couple of plastic figures, you could make your own mummy chauffeur and body guards.

Have to do some fancy footsteps to keep up with the rest of you F.A.S.T. guys.

Well Felix, the plot thickens........here's some more paper mock-ups. I haven't cut the sprue from the kit back window yet as it helps to stabilize the whole thing with all this cutting. The rear window will be pretty much vertical inside the fast back side wings. I am still going to chop the top in the front only. I'll also be putting in a false floor (interior) so that when the door is opened the bucket seat will swivel out....how's that for cool?

SUPRISE, SURPISE....bet you've never seen a '57 Chevy fastback!!!!!!! More paper mock-ups.

I'll be plastic welding all this stuff together, I won't be using any adhesives or filler. Simply gluing everything together and throwing some mud at it just won't hold up. I'll explain how I do it as we go along. It's just like welding on a real car....BTW, save those scraps and cut offs as that's what I use for welding rods and filler. Being the scraps are the same type of plastic there are no compatibility issues or shrinkage. As another benefit, other than being much stronger than a glued butt joint, it all sands like plastic because it is! Filler is softer than the surrounding plastic and it tends to sand a quicker rate leaving low spots that can really screw up a nice paint job.

Well, today I'm squinting and making paper dolls. (Mock-ups for eyeballin'). Going to peak the hood and add quad head lights, at this point I'm just taping on paper that I can hold it in my hands, look at from different angles and get a "feel" for what it'll look like.

Thanks guys, glad you like it so far.......here's a little something that you need to keep in mind when you're doing radical mods to an existing kit. Even though when finished and painted the sectioning job will be overlooked by the casual observer, the interior pieces, inner fender wells etc. will all have to be modified to allow the body to drop down where it belongs. I'm sure a lot of modelers will say "if it isn't noticed why bother"? Well, at least to me, that's the sign of good custom work. In other words, regardless of how much work it takes.....if overall it pleases the orbs it was worth it. Here's a pic of what I mean......the kit stuff no longer fits.

Virgil.......It's alive, it's alive...well sorta. I cut about an 1/8th of an inch out of the front fender tapering back to zip at the tail light fin...... taped it together to eyeball and the sectioning job just wasn't talking to me. The black line on the body is the next big bite I'm going to take out of it. Here's a mock-up with the lower section overlapped before final cutting. That's more like it......in total I'm taking 3/8th of an inch out of the front fender and nothing out of the rear fin. I'm going to have to curve that front chrome trim piece down a bit to follow the fender profile....thats what happens when you start modifiying things...one change leads to another.

Glad to Mike, hope you can benefit...and please feel free to jump in this thread anywhere with your thoughts, suggestions etc.......I'm older than dirt but I never stop learning. These pics will probably start the purists squawking but here's where I'm going to make my initial cuts, as you can see, the material I'm removing tapers from front to back. I deliberately avoided cutting through the routed out areas where the stock trim goes as I may want to retain some of it for that classic '57 Chevy look. As usual...there are a few areas that need work along the way. I'm cutting the headlight buckets from the body as they can be moved down to line up with the new fender profile without destroying their original shape. Now comes the scary part...taking a saw to a perfectly good body....I'll go ahead, make the cuts and post more pics.

Turn the Caddy around Jim and fire up the turbine........that should make a believer out of your armadillo. BTW the way....did you know that armadillo is a great campfire meal? Turn it over, split it from chin to discharge chute, clean out the entrails, toss in some taters and veggies, hold it by the tail upside down over the campfire and it cooks in it's own pot. Yeah, I've been living in the forest way too long!

Absolutely gorgeous!!!!!

Tony, the model has more done on it since the previous photos, but it's out of town right now. When I get it back, I'll do the landscaping, some more rats, detailing and touch up and then put it "under glass" for your amusement.

Oh Nooooooooooooo MR. Bill! Photos of the body with Mr. Hand to give the gang a good idea of it's size. I have a pretty good visual in mind. Haven't done any sketches yet but I'll post them as I go along. I plan on sectioning it, slightly more in the front than the rear to give it a bit of a nose down attitude. Chopping the top, again with a slight down ward rake. Overall all, the body should take on a wedge shape. There are a lot of compound curves involved with these types of mods and I'll approach them the same way I would if I was taking a torch to a full size body. I want to retain some of the features that make it stand out as a '57 Chevy so the sectioning is going to be a little touchy. I've built a few cars in another life so I won't be doing a hack job, in other words...if it wouldn't work on the real deal or parts not been available in the 60' - 70s....I won't be doing it on the model. As far as how to....if you guys would like, I'll post step by step how I do it. Keep in mind....you guys might have a better way or a different approach but I'd be happy to share my way.

When I was a young fella living in Boston Mass. I'd go the the yearly Autorama car shows....WOW, those cars melted my mind. Rods, customs, bikes and the like. Things like the Bat mobile, Munster Coach & Coffin, Boot Hill express, Roth, Barris and the list goes on and on. Man, those cars really blew my skirt up, drooled for days after the huge indoor events. Anyhow, being SMC is having an online show/contest I've decided to build a radical custom from that chunk of time.....remember angel hair displays, wishniks, chain link steering wheels, slinging lead instead of bondo, frenched everything, drawer pull knobs for grille inserts, sunken antennas......babble, babble, okay I'll stop there. I'm going to build a 1/12th scale '57 Chevy (my own design) radical full custom from that period as if I'd the the coin or skills to do it, yeah right! Here's the kit I'm starting with, it's a really nice kit...couple of engine choices (although I won't be using the kit supplied small block in any form), 2 hoods, seat swaps, modern street tires, stock and slicks. Lot's of goodies including dice to hang from the rear view mirror. I have a couple of beefs with the kit ( toy like brake backing plates & front suspension) but nothing major and I won't be using those parts anyway. Here's a couple pics of the kit contents.

Here's the last of them....

And some more....

I grabbed a few photos of the F.A.S.T. models that were on display at the Pumpkin' run today..........even tossed in a few of some of the members for your amusement. Jim those big black "F.A.S.T." letters on your T-shirt need to be bigger if you're trying to hide that pot belly. LOL.

Glad to see I'm not the only one doing "strange builds". Great fun, huh Doc?

It don't think it would be too difficult to do something like this.

Actually Virgil I'm really not blaming you as much as I am thanking you for the inspiration. If it hadn't been for your area 51 diddy I'd have never built this thing...thanks big guy. I know I said I wasn't going to post any more pics this thread but I just had to slip in these photos of the early diorama stages before I take what I have done to the Pumkin' Run. (tomorrow). Our local model club (F.A.S.T.) will be there there with a display. Anyway hope you enjoy them....... .

What ya think? Am I as pretty as Harry?

Flake paint jobs look great on 1/8th & up stuff but I've never seen one regardless of paint brand that looks scale (to me) on 1/25. I don't mean to upset anyone but if you blew the car up to full size it would look like spatter paint. Just my opinion.