Shardik

As promised, here's a look at my hinge blanks. They're actually over-scale for 1:24, as I originally made them for a 1:12 scale Bentley, but I figured as long as I had extras I might as well open the hood on the '37. Boy, was my arm sore after I finished these. Each notch required eight passes to keep the depth of cut to .015" in order to preserve my only 1/16 end mill.

Nice work, Rob. Ira would approve. I thought I would cheat a little and picked up a Ross Gibson 427 Pro stock engine. Bad move; as bad as the headers are in the Monogram kit, the RG units are worse ! They used an open mold...for headers. After 2 hours of meticulous clean up they still look like garbage. Add to this the harmonic balancer that looks like melted silly putty and the intake runners that won't fit with the valley cover in place unless you offset the heads one scale inch too low on the block. I am seriously unimpressed with Ross Gibson. For this price their product should be far better. So much for cheating. It looks like I'll be scratch building some headers and an intake. On the bright side, I picked up a "scratch & dent" discounted Mongoose so the coupe will have some serious grip in the rear. I also cut away the floor pan in the rear to make room for the fresh meat and the heavily 'z'ed frame yet to come.

Alyn, The hinge is made from scratch. I started with .oo5" sheet brass, cut into 3/4" wide strips, which I then took to work with me and spent 2 hours on a Bridgeport milling equally spaced 1/16" slots in a stack of 10 blanks sandwiched between two pieces of aluminum. I'll post a picture of the blanks later. Thanks for your interest.

My muse (my daughter): P.S.: That's not a ray gun, it's a Utopian curling iron... really... .

Rob, I run into this allot at work (I'm a machinist): just because you can draw it, doesn't mean you can build it .

Holy cow, Rob, You're not just going for the silk purse but the whole Gucci ensemble! I can't wait to see your interpretation of this!

I absolutely love the premise of this build. No zombies, no nuclear winter, no vulcan cannons*. The kind of future a rational species should expect and demand. I AM IN !!! *No offense meant to the post apocalyptic crowd - I've mounted M-134's on a Mustang fastback myself, but right now I crave a more optimistic vision. P.S.: Nice graphics, Luna. You certainly know your trade.

Since there's no time limit, I'll check back in later...as soon as I can figure out how to shoehorn a 427 SOHC into a '40 ford pickup ! By the way, what's a good source for the monster meats out back?

Rob, Yes, and thank you. However, I now have a pretty clear vision of where I want to go with this one: an '80's style street racer with tubbed four link rear end and IFS up front. Mainly for the challenge of doing something new. Keep the suggestions coming though; I admire your skill and value your input. By the way, are you planning on using the '37 chassis and interior on yours? If so, I'd be interested to see how it works out for you.

Not much to report. As previously stated, the doors are off and now the trunk has followed suit. And as you can see, I've decided to french the license plate. I also filled in the mounting points for the tail lights, as these will be frenched into the fenders. I dealt with one of the kit issues which is a particular pet peeve of mine; molded in windshield wipers. Still some work to do here . Next up will be the chassis. Since it was going to have to be modified anyway, I've decided to attempt to build one from scratch. Wish me luck; this will be a first for me.

Check out "3 inches under" on e-bay. Hearse and ambulance details galore!

Doggone it! I just got started and the darned doors fell off

Thanks, Richard. More coming soon.

Here's an addendum to my entry, to show you what I'll be starting with. The funny thing is that, other than the body style, the wheels are the only thing in this kit that I like and I'm already planning on replacing them . Well, at least they'll make a nice addition to the parts box. The slicks are from a 1:24 '70 Chevelle kit that I just picked up for cheap at the winter sidewalk sale at my LHS. I plan on using the 454 from this kit as well. (I hope that commencing the "gathering phase" doesn't violate the 1 Jan. start date rule ) OOPS, I didn't read the post above: I guess I'm safe then .

Your "Saga of the Sight Glass" is a familiar tale to most of us; just as hours of meticulous labor are coming to fruition, the last step goes south and you have to start all over again . (it took me four tries to fabricate and install a piano hinge on my '37 Ford) Looks like your perseverance paid off nicely. I second Charlies recommendation, and would add Micro Kristal Klear (sp?) to the list.

The flyswatter and the clip board came from The Model Car Garage. They have various sets of photo etched "interior junk" which include things like cassette tapes, sun glasses, tools and handcuffs. (look in the interior details section) The shovel is from Scale Equipment Ltd.; A great source for resin diorama details. The book was cut down from one I found in the doll house section at Hobby Lobby. The rope is waxed chord used for sewing leather. The hay bale is Woodland Scenics dry meadow grass wrapped around a scratch built form. The hay hooks were scratch built from music wire and styrene rod. The sack of McGreuder's Llama-Vite became an obsession in itself . I examined hundreds of fabric samples, searching for the right weave in the right scale and the right color . I finally found this pocket lining material, and set to work with a fine needle and thread and stuffed it with coarse sea salt after applying the logo with a very fine tipped marker. @Josh: Thanks.

I almost took the second option due to Dr. Crankys wonderfully informative videos, but these are all accessible through the link in his signature line. In the end I voted "No" for all the reasons stated above.

Congratulations! We'll miss you

I've been following this build (quietly), and I must say your attention to detail is inspiring. Also, I like the way you work; treating each sub assembly as a model in itself. The results of this approach are clearly a superior whole. Thanks for the eye candy and inspiration.

This one's back on the bench. First, this is what's been holding me up: A scratch built piano hinge for the hood! And a couple shots of the interior before it got buttoned up Here's the load out for the bed.

Awesome truck! Worth the effort and the wait.

You're sharp; very few people get the Richard Adams connection (it's a little less cliched than Bear or Grizzly). Do you have a build thread for yours? Maybe I can get some ideas... on second thought, I've probably got too many ideas already . As for raiding other kits for parts, the problem is the scale. Everything I would want to scavenge is 1:25 and the Chevy claims to be 1:24. I'll post some pic's of the lumps and bits tomorrow.

Name? I think you already had it; "BeastHeart"

O.K., I'm in with a Monogram '39 Chevy coupe. Exhaust and gas tank molded to frame; Body and floor pan refuse to get along; No detail on interior door panels - and I don't mean poor detail, I mean zero-zip-zilch-nadda smooth black plastic; Engine kinda looks like an early ZL-1 if you tilt your head and rub Vaseline on your glasses; Headers look like a pile of melted P.V.C. under a wet tarp. The tires and centerlines are nice, though. I can't wait to get started!

Perfect sleeper. I can just imagine some poor sucker at the local drags scratching his head and saying, "What just happened, here?"