Cool Hand

Looks awesome Guy. Going to look even better with all the chrome components and trim work.

Decided to have a go and get the wheel tubs done, then build all the panels around them. Learnt from Francis Laflamme aka AmericanMuscleFan's build topic that a socket is a good way of forming the tubs, Found one thats a couple mm bigger than the wheels. Set the compass to the width of the socket. And transferred to some .5mm styrene sheet. Wrapped some tape around the socket to work out a length, which is how much of the tub that wraps around the wheel. Transfer that to the styrene. After cutting, wrap the piece around the socket. Place some cable ties or rubber bands around to secure it. Dont over tighten needs to be removable. Using some form of heat, warm up the socket and styrene. After heating, place under cold water and cool it down. Remove the ties and repeat. First attempt at this technique, over heated the styrene. So they deformed and turned out rough. But thats fine, half will be cut of and the rest can be sanded smooth To make the blanks and enclose one end, measure the diameter of the socket. (27mm) These will be made from 1.5mm styrene. Set the compass to 13.5mm. Rule a line on the sheet. Mark two blanks. Cut out and shape. Used a temporary set up to glue pieces together. Clamped the tub and positioned the blank. Super glue the join where the pieces meet. Allow to dry or use accelerator. Use another clamp to help hold the piece. Push the tub in to meet the blank and glue where they join. Repeat on the other side. Flip over and fully glue the join. Cleaned up glue joins with file and sanding stick, also sanded the deformed areas tidying it up a bit. Find the compass centre and drill a pilot hole. Drill out pilot hole 2mm bigger than rear axle diameter. Thats the basic wheel tub, next will be shaping them to fit in the body. Also whilst sussing out a few things, marked in the position of the trans tunnel. .

Thanks Vince,. Not as highly skilled as others who inspire. So one must make do with the skills they have.

Very clean build, nice work on the detailing. Slick paint job, well done.

Excellent job on all the paint work and very clean assembly. I have built an Aoshima pre-painted LP700-4, and that fell together by itself, great quality kits even with the opening features.

Started working on the back half, planning and making some templates. Yellow masking tape over the layout, easy to see through and make templates. Measured from the floor to the suspension plate. Roughed out a design for a panel. And transferred to card. Cut out and test fitting. Another card template, for centre panel Just wanted to show where things are at the moment.

More work on the fire wall. Measured from the cowl down to the top of what was the foot well. Transferred the measurement onto the previously made template. Will be using this brake booster, from a Revell 70 Buick GSX kit. And double checked the fit to the template. Cut that section of, as it will be the top half of the fire wall. Got another measurement from the lower part of the frame to top of the floor. This needed to be removed from the bottom of the lower half of the template, but went for 5mm instead of 7mm just incase. Because this piece is at an angle. Placed the two halves in the body for a rough test. Lower piece just incase still wasnt enough. Ended up with a 2mm gap, so had to adjust the template. Taped all 3 pieces back together. Added the 2mm a re cut the bottom. Made a slight fold and test fit Found the centre of the lower edge. Measured a rough distance across the bell housing and gear box,went for 23mm. Set the circle cutter and cut. Test fit again. Transfer to fire wall. Make a back up template of the whole fire wall, incase things go wrong Cut down the centre line, added another 2mm to the bottom half piece to allow for the thickness of the 2mm styrene and the edge will need to be chamfered/angled. Lower half before chamfering the edge. Chamfered edge. Check the angle of the chamfer. Spot glue in position. And chamfer top edge. Spot glue top half in postion. Test fit. Fully glued the join. Trans tunnel opening on template was a guide, so using sand drum removed a bit at a time and test until satisfied with the opening. Cleaned up and test fit. A bit more work on the fire wall to be done later but thats it for now, moving on the the back half of the interior and wheel tubs etc

No worries Bruce, glad you can find some of it useful.

Clean looking interior there Martin, good selection with the colour combo.

Seen this build in the other mags contest cars 2019 , and thought it looked very well built and super detailed from that one photo. Then you posted it on the forum, was totally blown away by how much work you did put into all the detail work. Impressive skill and craftsmanship. As mentioned, its one the best 1/25 builds ive ever seen on a forum, scale accurate and very realistic.

Tidy looking build Ray, like the silver, gold and chrome combo. Goes to show that with a little bit of effort a Snap kit can build up and look just as good as full glue kit

Still working away on the interior piece by piece. Removed more of rear side panels. And removed the foot wells. Used a small photo etch saw. After they were removed, was able to make a start on the fire wall. Removed the molded in engine bay and the fire wall was part of that. So had to make a new on from scratch. Dont have a contour gauge, so had to make a cardboard template. Taped some cardboard against the edge of the work board. Placed the body against the edge over the cardboard and trace the lower section of the inner body. This is the bottom part of the template. Cut and fit up to the body. Measure distance from template to under the cowl vent. Trace the bottom half of the template and add measurement on top of that. Use some solder to form the shape of the inner sides of the body. And mark the lower edge of the rocker on the solder. Transfer to the template. That is the rough shape for the template. Further adjustments are needed by trimming each side until it fits neatly. Transferred to 2mm styrene sheet, cut out and shape until fit up is neat. More work to follow on the fire wall.

Thanks for keeping up with the build and commenting Anton, appreciate it. Always good to take lots of pics with this type of build as they can be used for future reference on similar types of heavily modified projects. And sharing the process is a way of giving back, from all the techniques learned from others. And hope some can find it helpful. Thank you Martin, interior is going to be a challenge to get it all done, piece by piece. No hair dryers for this build mate LOL! Inspiration car provided an idea for the induction. Its aluminium wire close to 1mm purchased from a craft store, beading wire. But you can get same thing at hardware store, tie wire or picture hanging wire. And used some 1.2mm styrene rod for the pins through the shocks Cut with side cutters and filed the ends.

Good to see you back at the work bench. Always enjoy seeing your build threads.

Some precise work re-scribing the seat detail. Agree with Martin you producing some clean work. The inspiration car sure does look bad ass.

Progressing well mate, had a bit of trouble at first seeing the new skirts being in black. Keep at it.

Interior looks really good in the two tone, going to complement the body very well. The tuck and roll on the dash is a perfect match for the seats.

More progress with the interior. Set the drawing compass to 4mm and marked the bottom of the tub to be cut further. Also cut out the trans tunnel. And the small side panel that was behind the rear seat. Kit trans tunnel saved and will be used as a top for the new yet to be made tunnel. Need a new floor pan for the interior to be built up on. Using some yellow tape covered the chassis frame where the floor will be. Traced the perimeter of the frame and then transferred to 2mm styrene sheet. A piece to add some detail to the top back of the chassis frame. Cut of the side windows of the box stock glass. Used the metal saw blade. And cleaned up the edges with a sanding stick. Taped the glass and whats left of the interior tub inside the body. Positioned over the floor and using a mechanical pencil with lead extended so that it could be used to trace the inside edge of the front corner. Lift the body. Reposition the interior tub and trace the remaining distance on the sides. Spot glued to the floor on the outside side edge in a few places. Time to start planning some ideas and trying them out in cardboard.

LOL! Have a look in the All The Rest section of the forum. Yes, hoping to find something more suitable. But has been challenging as low profile is the preferred look. Need to find something more human like. Thanks

Inquiring minds asked about about a pointer in a build thread The pointer. Seen alot of videos on Youtbe showing techniques and paint materials that builders use on the Gunpla. And was intrigued and wanted to see what the kits where like to assemble. The pointer is from this Bandai kit. The kit has optional parts to hold weapons etc. So borrowed one for a pointer. This pic was taken during build process. The level of detail and the engineering that goes into the injection molding is unlike anything ive ever experienced. Every part fits perfectly no glue and after built fully movable into many poses.. Detail is insane. All parts had Tamiya black panel line accent applied and cleaned up. After assembly and sticker application, an over coat of Alclad Klear kote Flat was applied. It would be impossible for me to detail paint the figure, way too small. Not what we do around here but thought id share after being asked about the pointer.

Not sure about Wilwood, but if you have look around the interwebs for some Hobby Design disc brakes they make some nice aftermarket sets

Time well spent on all the prep work, got a good foundation for the paint now.

And if all that didnt work, there was a Plan B. Glad that was not needed and thankful wont be having to cover the velocity stacks.

Needed to sort out the engine situation, as it will have to be in the right place to make a fire wall and other parts of the interior. Made some adjustments to the engine mounts. This is where it started Worked out the area that needed a notch cut into it. Used this carbide burr to grind the notch. Also needed to remove some material from the gear box mount. And to make sure the engine would be lowered enough, removed some material from the mount on the engine. Cut away with the chisel blade. Test fitted the engine, and the oil pan/sump was sitting on the cross member. Which left a gap between the two mounts. LOL! Using a sanding drum in the Dremel removed some material from the sump. Refined the surface finish in preparation for a re paint. Masked. Primed. Re painted Attached some 0.020 3mm x 2mm squares to make up some of the gap and lift the engine to clearance the cross member and touched up the paint with some decanted TS-29 applied with a brush. Moment of truth and the engine fits under the bonnet now.

Thank you Jim, will keep trying to update daily after each session at the bench. Cheers Ben, check in daily should be something new to see. Appreciate it Anton, constantly mocking up helps with motivation and to think of a plan how to achieve the next task. Yes, the inspiration car provided the idea for the rear suspension set up. Not as scale accurate or as good as the inspiration car, but yeah it turned out to be a cool visual feature.