Lunajammer

So kind James, thank you. Selling the bodies is certainly a consideration. But the master model is not perfect and I would feel better if the buyers had a chance to look at it up close and make their choice. I wouldn't want to be called out by a disappointed buyer. But I would consider visiting with those interested.

Seems to me it wouldn't such a stretch to trace your template onto sheet plastic and basically make the same thing as a plastic model. Well done, I've enjoyed a couple paper models too.

The second part of the mold is set us as much as it's going to be, kind of soft, but tough. So after some work pulled it apart and everything looked good. You can see how much lighter the male part is due to lesser amount of blue activator. I got lucky. So I went ahead and tried a casting. OOOOO BABY did that come out nice. Very happy. Only three small bubbles in the top and they are just under the surface so I can fill them with super glue from behind and it won't effect the texture of the roof.

Thanks Rob. So far so good. Just a slight update... The "part 1" mold came out okay. The fresh Play-Doh was so fresh it was like goop and didn't come out of the cavity very cleanly. Since it's water soluble I ran it under warm water and scrubbed with a toothbrush, toothpick and fingers the get the cling-ons out. With the mold trimmed up, some keys cut into it and the body left in, I added some air vents before pouring the "part 2" silicone. Later: I had just barely enough silicone activator to make the second part mold. I poured it a couple days ago and I think there wasn't quite enough activator. It sat overnight and the next day was still very soft and sticky. Not good, if it doesn't set up, it's almost impossible to clean out. Nothing dissolves silicone that won't also dissolve plastic. I put it in the food dehydrator where it's remained for two days. Low heat can help speed up the activator if there's enough reaction going on at all. Stay tuned.

Okay, that's about the funkiest thing I've seen all year. If different counts for anything, you're in.

Yeah, that's a great color combo and you're really nailing the hues. I have very similar colors going on a boxed up '67 Impala. Makes me want to pull it back out.

I like it already.

I entered this project expecting to make mistakes and do a lot of learning so I'm not investing in much chassis or engine detail. I expect I'll do another, better, hot rod later. For that reason I decided I don't want to go through the body work again, so I'm going to try casting the body. Here's what I've done.... Windows taped... Body was filled with fresh Play-Doh with a little extra as a base. I first tried this with old Play-Doh but it was too dry with too much air in it and the result was a mold that really got into things. I can post pics of the failure if you're interested, but this photo shows the second attempt. The fill is a lot smoother. I built a mold box out of sheet styrene I reused from old castings and used plumbers putty to seal the joints that I knew would leak. Joints that don't have the putty had already been sealed with white glue. RTV rubber is very viscous and since it takes 18-hours to set up, there's a lot of time for it to leak if you're not buttoned up. To measure volume of RTV needed I highly recommend the decimal system. One square centimeter equals one square centiliter. It's a direct conversion, so Length x Width x Height = 443 centimeters for the box. Minus (LxWxH) of the car body, about 113cm. So, 443-113 = 330 centimeters, which is the same as 330 centiliters. That's how much RTV rubber I used. The RTV silicone is very thick so a lot of air gets stirred in when you mix it up. It goes into a home made vacuum chamber made out of a piece of 15-inch PVC sewer pipe that the local pipe company gave me for free. Gaskets made from rings of closed foam with half inch plexi for a lid. Thinner than half inch you might get a sudden surprise once you turn on the vacuum pump. Here the RTV is degassing. Box is exactly full and there's very little left over silicone.

Thanks for the feedback guys. Good informed stuff. I de-chromed the windshield frame, chopped it and installed on the body and gave the body another coat of primer.

What strikes me about this shot is how much you start to see influences for the '59 Chev. I'd always though 57' '58 and '59 were the most diverse and stylistically unrelated 3-consecutive-year stretch in Chevrolet's history.

Thanks for the reassurement guys. Having the Z in front of the engine limited the room to make the kind of cut I'd like to make. I guess I'd never noticed people do Z's in that spot before.

Oh, I also finished the interior last night. I'd like to try to throw a blanket over the drivers seat using the paper towel and white glue method. Maybe later.

So now it's fun with brushes. I dry brushed silver paint to highlight edges then blended selected chalk pastel colors over selected areas. I think next time I'll do some light sanding first to soften the blotchiness of the rust spots.

I'm so green to vintage vehicles I don't even know the particulars of the kits. So you're really gonna love how I Z'd the frame. It was an impulsive cut to solve an immediate problem but this is what it looked like when I was done, so there it is. If you want to do it right, see Bill's explanation here. Cut, glue, done. It's a lot easier than how I did it. This is the first time I've tried the salt method for weathering but this is the process I took. I used both large and small grain salt on a rust primed chassis. I spritzed it with water from a spray bottle and sprinkled on the salt. Lightly sprayed with flat black. Salt was cleaned off with a toothbrush, water and fingernail on tough spots. Chicken pox. I'm not crazy about the result, but I also could have prepped better. I didn't sand the primer first so the water beaded up. Live and learn, I'm forging ahead.

Yes, fenderless. To my own surprise, I haven't decided on wheels yet. That's usually part of the big vision before I start. Tonight was very productive, just haven't downloaded the pics from my camera yet. Thanks for the interest everyone.

Interesting. Unusual. Nice work.

Just a reminder that Gregg is a big email guy and he doesn't hang out here a lot. As he says, be sure to email him your "working knowledge... facts... what actually works... similar projects... ideas"

This is the intake set up I'd like to use. Like many of my parts, it came from a bin of garbage I've collected from other folks over the years and this thing was packed with blue paint. The manifold and carbs have soaked in stripper and it looks salvageable. I love the air cleaners, I'm not going to touch them. They were not painted to look this way, the patina is from abuse in someone's parts box and they're perfect. The interior bucket was cut at the base to fit the sectioned body then painted black primer. I brush painted the seats Testors rubber. A stripe of Vallejo Black wash was brushed down the grooves then I used a flat brush to dry brush with Testors rust. The result was better than I expected. I dirtied up bucket with chalk pastels but didn't use a lot on the seats because it dulled the dry brushing too much, but I did use it on the seat edges. I'm definitely going to try this on a fat bodied convertible next time so it can be seen.

Whoever it was seemed to be pretty active. Anyone we know?

So far so good. I'm satisfied. I can work with this. I did bend back the lower A pillars slightly to match up the top easier. There's a bit of a ridge on parts of the sectioning so I leveled with Bondo, primed and sanded to see where I'm at.

Baby! I think I just had an out of body experience.

Great to hear Fred. Your story is my story. I'd stepped away for ten years and after lurking the 2010 Cannonball over on the other site, I bought fresh paint, glue, some extra tools and threw my hat in for 2011. I've been back under the modeling spell since.

That decal really made a difference. Lots of blue, that's for sure but you're working through it well.

Your construction is very thorough. Trunk lid for the roof, brilliant. I love this.