Gluhead

Gotta love the girth of an Olds engine. Looks great!

Yeah, that timber looks very sweet. The rest is coming together nicely, too.

Thanks, guys. Glad ya like it.

Thanks...they look good.

Thanks, I appreciate it. Making the cab didn't take very long at all but I sure spent a lot of time staring at the thing trying to sort the dimensions out in my head. lol. I had to get past the urge to relieve the cramped interior space before I could let myself see it. My avatar is an IMP cyclecar. That's the only image I have ever seen of one with a delivery body, and I fell in love with it immediately. When I finally get around to building that, it'll be my modeling thesis...since it will have to be pretty much entirely scratchbuilt. Not sure if I'll do it in 1/16 or 1/8 scale, but it'll be one or the other. Fortunately, the delivery is just a rebody from what I can tell, and there's plenty of reference material available for the regular body style version. Here's the full pic and a decent summary page link. If you ever find yourself needing to get totally and completely engrossed in a thread for several hours, go to the hamb and do a search for cyclecar. Some of them are so freaking cool they kill me. Off the charts on the hot rod juju scale. http://www.american-automobiles.com/Cycle-Cars/Imp-Cyclecar.html

I think I see what you're talking about with the hood. Would a compromise like this work? Slice the hood side apart so that you can adjust each vent upward a touch (working back to front, of course). You'd still have parallel vertical lines but the horizontal would give off a little bit of a sawtooth vibe...which might be kind of cool. Cardstock copy would tell ya real quick if it would. I could go either way on the rolling stock...they're both cool. The only thing contemporary about the Hali's is the size, and that can still fly just fine for traditionally inspired.

That's really cool. What are the Astro's from?

Riv looks good too, but that is one yummy looking space purple.

I've always wondered about this one and the 1/16 Ghia. I'll be watching to see how it is. Oh, and with the fins, just depends on how much tin the kit gives you, I'd think. Mock it up and let us know.

Yep, I need one of these.

Thanks guys. I haven't felt too well this week but I have been picking away at this. Chassis parts are all cleaned up and the base black is on. I did a "farmer stretch" on the frame by removing the rear cross members and "welding" in the back half of a second frame, moved back to give the extra length I was looking for. The cab is all roughed in. Just needs a floor and final cleanup now and it's ready for the details. Time to get on the engine so I can get the chassis all glued up for good. This won't be a field find but it won't be showroom fresh, either...so making it dirty should be fun.

I needed some distraction, and these parts kept trying to gravitate toward each other anyway. So, I started to oblige them a little. Obviously, this is just a mock-up. It wants to be a little longer than stock wheelbase, so I'm sorting out just how much longer. So far, everything is from a Lil' John '27 T and '31 Model A kits. The Model A wires were a bear to clean up...I should have just ordered the Replica's and Miniatures ones and been done with it. lol. Ah well. I'm through that part and it was probably the worst of it on this one.

Looks great so far. Personally, I think the rear of the car will appear more balanced with the bumper halves being shorter (also happening to give you room for a plate). I'd definitely try to keep the trunk clear of clutter, so I'd avoid recessing the plate there. You're going to have a lot going on, visually, with those flames, so I think the less is more approach will pay off large on this one.

That'll work.

That's the stuff, right there. Looks great.

It does look a bit on the thick side, Rob. I was toying around with rusting again a bit ago, and trying to improvise because my 15 year old rustall (lol) wasn't getting it done. On this, the front clip actually started out off-white, sprayed over salted gray primer. I threw some steel wool in a container and let it sit for, I don't know, about 5 days. Long enough to get some rust flakes and the water to evaporate. I mixed that in with what was left of my rustall, which was mostly the clear carrier, but it was still really fine in texture. So I screwed around with a few things around the house...and ended up using ground cinnamon. The color is just right. The texture was on the coarse side but by blowing it into the wet rust coat I was able to get a lot of the fine stuff...and then rub the coarse stuff off as it dried up a bit. Several coats of blackwash and it wasn't quite dark enough for my liking, so I ran a pencil lead over sandpaper and rubbed some in. Gotta be careful with this as a little goes a LONG way. I doubt it shows in the pic, but it also gave it a touch of that metallic-ish sheen. Hope this helps. Dr. Cranky and Chuck Most seem to be a couple who are light years ahead of me on this, so hopefully they'll spot it and give you real advise.

1/8 scale hose is pretty sizable. Check out the bulk wire section at the hardware store. And yep, Radio Shack is kind of a joke anymore. lol.

Nice start.

You reminded me of an important aspect of how I trim foil, Skip. I use just the #11 blade...no handle. As far as this kind of work goes, I have a lot better control of the blade without the handle. Brian - heheh.

Sharp. The steels definitely bring that one home.

^^Yep. One thing to watch out for that I found when I cut up my '33 body is that the thickness is not the same from one side of the body to the other. It won't have a huge impact on the overall results, but it'll go more smoothly if you check for that and bear it in mind as you go, so you can anticipate minor compensations.

Interior specific paints should have a flex additive to prevent cracking and chipping on materials softer than typically found on the outside of a car. I'd still prime, but it'd probably stick anyway. I haven't heard much about this since I've been back into building, but another great way to get a variety of sheen is to use a flat paint then get some of the oil from your skin (nose and forehead are great spots) and rub the painted surface to the desired level of semi-gloss. A q-tip will help you work it into the corners and such.

Same here, when there is one to follow. He doesn't have one to follow. Speaking of blades, it really should be new. Most of the time the very very tip of a blade will get knocked off after a short time...and that's exactly the part that gets used in foiling. Also, I can't stand xacto brand blades. Excell blades are honed on both sides where most are only honed on one. It does help.

You can take a look at my '41 Chevy thread to see how I did mine. I used Plastruct 1.6 mm H beam for my rails, and took slices off some walnut on the table saw. An easy way to get real thin, real wood is to go to the home improvement store and buy a roll of cabinet refacing edge veneer. Also, I rounded the tops of my rails over for a smoothed, custom look. But with a little effort you could file the middle to a slight indent, drill holes for the carriage bolts, and make the bolts out of stretched sprue (heat swage the end to get the bolt head).

Nice! If you peel the top layer off a thick glossy card stock, you get much the same effect.