Ace-Garageguy

Great looking project. I like the wedge-sectioned hood idea. Foose did something similar on a '56 a few years back.

Great concept, great progress, vast improvement over Chrysler Corp's original gesign.

Great historical points Art. Have you ever seen the film of ol' Henry hitting the soy-based '41 body with a sledgehammer? Pretty tough stuff, but a little too bio-degradable at the time. Celluloid (dash nobs, film stock, flexible side curtains on phaetons and roadsters) was another somewhat plant-based early plastic, the first I think, made with nitro-cellulose (cellulose being plant fibers) and camphor. Also a little too bio-degradable. For what it's worth, Hexel, one of today's makers of carbon-fiber for Formula 1, made an all plastic (phenolic with linen/flax fiber reinforcement) Spitfire fighter airframe in WWII. Never flew, but it was a proof-of-concept project to deal with Britain's lack of aluminum resources.

Very original and interesting idea. Looking forward to seeing how it comes together.

Really like what you're doing, and I think the Fiery Orange will be knockout on it.

We have a lot of new members on the site who are frequently asking questions, which is good. As I frequently answer questions, and as I prefer to get my advice from somebody with a visible track record, I decided to bump some of my old build threads...particularly those that have useful and sometimes unusual techniques illustrated. Newer users won't have to dig so deep in my content to see whether or not “this guy actually knows what he's talking about”. EDIT: Well, that wasn't such a good idea. ALL THE PHOTOS IN THE FIRST POST GOT DUMPED when I copied this text from Open Office. Let's see if I can fix it. EDIT 2: One done. More later. Just for the record, I started this build in December of 2010 on another forum. It's still there. I started it up over here because it's back in the rotation, with a deadline. This is probably my favorite pickup of all time. The 1:1 was built by Dan Collins a few years back, and I think it's almost perfect. I'm not gonna copy it exactly, but I want the same stance and feel. Though one of the Revell '37 kits has a '38 optional nose, the cabs on the '37 and '38 are entirely different. Similar, but different. When I started this build, I was lucky enough to have access to a 1:1 to take measurements from. This is the beginning of the cab mods to make it right. Top chop inprogress.....I actually re-chopped it 3 times to get the right height. The '38 fenders are also entirely different from the '37, and looked to me a lot like the '36 car, so I started trying to use old AMT fenders to get the look. It took a lot of cutting and hacking and temporary structure to get it to work..... Pretty good, but no cigar. That's when I got to measure a real one....Seems the fenders are indeed a lot like '36 car fenders, but they're larger. Hmmmmm says I, how about using 1/24 fenders from the Monogram '36 kit. Bingo....right proportions, finally. They DO take a little modification, but we're definitely on the right track now.

Wanted to open the deck before I got into the restyle of the tail too far. This old body is as thick as resin, and extremely brittle. I thinned the deck cut-lines on the inside with a dremel to ease the process. The tube between the rockers is a temporary reinforcement to keep the body from cracking again through the front and rear cowl sections. The decklid sides were straight cuts with the razor saw, and the front cut-line only required scribing repeatedly to deepen it to almost the depth I'd thinned it to inside. Then it snapped out, fairly cleanly. Open hood and deck, body still intact thanks to the tubular reinforcement. Starting to repair the sinks in the panels, to get them in primer and see how well they fit back in the openings.

Got enough of the bodywork squared away to start with the primer...... Still have some issues with the resin firewall that need to be addressed.... Had to make the roll at the bottom of the hood side where I'd cut the exhaust opening in the wrong place. Styrene half-round rod. Will primer today. Also finishing up the extensions to the grille shell, to kick the bottom forward a bit. I'd originally put the extensions on the hood sides, but the resultant angle made it impossible to easily remove the hood. Duh.

Looks like you're well on your way to having some parts. What's the gooey blue stuff in your mold boxes, on your plugs? Some kind of mold release? Just a helpful FYI: I've posted this several times in the past, but here is a link to over 3 hours of FREE instructional videos on making molds and parts the right way. It is presented by a company that makes tools and supplies for industry. The information is correct, not opinion, and will potentially save anyone wanting to make parts from molds MUCH wasted time doing trial-and-error, and alow you to turn out first-rate parts consistently. I have NO afilliation with this company, other than as an ocassional customer, but their products and videos are 100%, and they know what they're talikng about. I really recommend anyone wanting to make parts from resin to look at the offerings here. http://www.freemansupply.com/video.htm

With all that rake, it should kinda coast downhill all the time, huh? Pretty cool.

Not so odd really, if you think about it. Plastic as we currently know it is a mix of hydrocarbon compounds derived from petroleum, which is of course ancient vegatable matter and a few dinosaurs processed by nature under elevated temperature and pressure over a LONG time. Making plastic from growing things simply eliminates the eons it takes for nature to make petroleum from the same stuff. A hydrocarbon molecule is a hydrocarbon molecule.

The BMW is indeed special, and practical too. One just never knows when it might be necessary to deal with corn-on-the-cob while on the road. I remember when I was a mere lad that STP stickers were also widely thought to add horsepower. As much as things change, they seem to stay the same.

Charlie, thanks for posting this. I let my Design News paper subscription expire a couple of years back. Thanks to you, I'm back in this particular loop again. Glad to see modelers looking at the future of the materials we rely on and take for granted.

I would suggest you stick a drill bit or a piece of something similar in the hole and mark it , so you know how deep your hole actually is. Then transfer this mark to the outside of the center post, and you'll know exactly how far you can go without losing the hole. This always works for me. As Wayne says, then you can open the hole up as far as you need to. Of course, be careful you don't cut through to the face of the wheel. I've ruined a few by not measuring carefully enough and getting in a hurry.

Beautiful job on this little Bug. My first car was a '62 about the same color, in about the same condition when I got it. Your fine model really brought back some good memories.

That is really a beauty. I've wanted to hack a 1/25 version of this car from a stock kit for a long time. Yours looks so good I'm inspired to move that one up on the list. Gorgeous model.

My personal favorites at the moment are Duplicolor's "High Build Formula" sandable Gray primer for checking and finishing bodywork, sanding the last coat with 600 grit wet, and then a final primer coat of Duplicolor's White Sandable primer, sanded with 1000 grit before the color coats. The lighter Testors "one coat" lacquers take up to five coats of some colors to get even hiding. They are transparent (one reason they look so good is that they have depth, where you're actually seeing down through the paint) and the finished color is influenced by the primer color too. That's why I use the white primer under them. It makes the final color brighter. As far as the Duplicolor Gray high-build primer goes, I just shot some bodies and parts this morning and was again amazed at how well the stuff slicks out, and how well it fills minor imperfections. It sands exceptionally easily too. Duplicolor's White sandable primer is NOT high build, and will slick out fine enough to color-coat without sanding if you spray it right. It almost always takes me just a little touchup with 1000 grit wet paper to get the last dust nib or small orange peel out, where my spraying technique wasn't perfect. I also strongly recommend scrubbing your bare plastic model with Comet and an old soft toothbrush to get any mold-lubricant residue off, and to get into all the crevices. It scuffs the surface down in areas there's just no other way to get to. It seems like overkill, maybe, but it's worked very well for me. This car was painted with the two Duplicolor primers I mentioned above, and Testors one coat Flaming Orange lacquer. It took 4 coats of the orange to get complete hiding, and one for good measure, followed by 3 coats of Testors lacquer clear, sanded and polished. I had a problem on the decklid and had to strip it, was in a hurry to make a contest deadline, and skipped the final white primer coat. Everything else was rthe same, and you can definitely see that the decklid isn't as bright as the rest of the car if you really look at it in the right light. Kenny is right that most primers SHOULD work fine under Testors lacquer, and he's also right that you should definitely test what you want to do on scrap pieces or plastic spoons BEFORE you paint your model.

I apologize if anyone took what I said to be anything other than helpful. I was simply pointing out that in WHATEVER scale, using WHATEVER UNITS, you just have to divide the full-size measurement by the denominator in the scale ( as long as the scale is written 1/X ). It is universal. There seems to be a lot of confusion around as to what "scale" is and what it means and how it's derived. I constantly see posts here and on other forums asking "how do I get this measurement or what does that work out to in -blank-scale?". Just trying to clarify and actually simplify the concept. Things always seemed easier to me when I understood WHY you do something, rather than just HOW. Again, my apologies if anyone took offence at the way I phrased anything. 91blaze, you obviously told him correctly. I was giving more information, to further explain the CONCEPT.

So sorry. I didn't realize I was getting "all crazy with the math" or that "decimals...can get annoying". They've never annoyed me, for some screwy reason, and I kinda like math. Just trying to help someone actually UNDERSTAND something. My sincere apologies. Just as a further FYI..... I keep a cheap calculator (less than $1) and a cheap digital-readout caliper (less than $15) that reads 0-6 inches, and switches from inches to millimeters at the touch of a button, always on my bench. Simply measure with the caliper, divide by whatever scale you're working in with the calculator, and presto-chango, no crazy math or annoying decimals to ruin your composure. You don't even have to make change.....the machines do it all. Just like at MacDonalds.

Very nice. Very very nice.

I just kinda like everything that's really well done. I've seen billet cars and rat rods that made me gag, and I have no love for hoppers or some of the other fad styles, but when a bliiet car or a rat, or any of the others is really right, displaying talented design, skilled craftsmanship and good, effective engineering, I just have to stop and say "wow" no matter what genre it is. Tastes change, but talent, skill and good engineering are forever.

1) In general, a polished surface is not the same as a waxed surface. POLISH, in the CORRECT usage of the term, is a very mild abrasive that brings up the shine and should leave no residue. WAX, on the other hand, is an additive coating that makes a "fake" shine on the surface, and interferes with anything sticking to it. Some POLISHES contain additives, like silicones or wax, that will interfere with clear coats or decals adhering. TEST FIRST on a scrap body, plastic spoon, etc, BEFORE you try anything new on a model, no matter how much "expert" advice you get. 2) If you have to sand trash or orange peel out of a basecoat, if it's METALLIC paint (it has little sparklies in it) you HAVE to respray any area you sand before clearing it. Sanding metallic paints WILL make a visible dieturbance in the way the flakes reflect light, and the clear won't fix it, it will just seal it in. 3) If you're using a SOLID color (no little sparklies) then yes, clearing will, in MOST cases, make the dull surface from sanding shiny again. NOTE: You REALLY NEED TO TEST YOUR PAINT, CLEAR and DECALS on a spare body or at least the backs of plastic spoons. There can be MANY MANY different combinations of paints, and some decals will wrinkle up when paint hits them, some won't. TEST before you do anytning on your nice model!!!

Geez Louise.....to determine ANY scale you divide the actual measurement, in inches, millimeters, or miles, by the DENOMINATOR in the fraction. Was everybody sleeping in math class? 25 inches in 1/25 scale is 1 inch. (you divide the 25 inches by the denominator in 1/25....25. 25 divided by 25=1, right?) 25 inches in 1/8 scale is 3.125 inches. (you divide the 25 inches by 8, the denominator in the fraction. That equals 3.125 inches, right?) 100 millimeters in 1/24 scale is 4.1666 millimeters. 15 millimeters in 1/18 scale is .8333 millimeters. Note: if you MULTIPLY by .25, you get 1/4 (one quarter, same as one fourth) of the actual measurement, BECAUSE: .25 means "twenty five, one-hundredths". That means you would be multiplying your measurement by 25/100, which if you divide it out is 1/4.

I've been working on a chop and channel job rebuilt from a gluebomb off and on for a few months........

I use an electric Dremel grinder almost constantly, if that's what you mean. Many different grinder and cutting tips, good for rough, quick shaping. I use an air-powered 1/8" chuck pencil-grinder (just like a dentist's drill) with various shaped diamond tips for delicate carving of things like window surrounds during top-chops. It's VERY light and maneuverable and has infinite speed control. It doesn't get hot in your hand, either. I also use a rechargeable drill motor to paint whitewalls sometimes, and to use as a quick-and-dirty lathe. For resin and fiberglass molds, I often use air-powered angle grinders for quick trimming.