Ace-Garageguy

That really bites any time of year. Hope it's an easy fix with no data lost.

All the right parts and a sound plan. I've had something similar going off-and-on for years, so I'll be following. Doing a flip-nose isn't too difficult if you make up a tubular front crossmember to carry the hinges. Then it's just a matter of getting the up-and-over geometry of the hinge arms dialed in.

I have several, bought at times they were really cheap, mostly intending to hack them into something else, but one to build stock as a historical styling reference. The kit quality is actually quite good, and everything fits well...including the doors, which are molded separately from the body; though not hinged, the doors can be made functional with some effort. Lindberg quality is indeed all over the board, influenced primarily by what time in history the tooling was made, and what crew did the work. The Atlantic has a very low parts count, typical of a promotional item, and appears to have been done by the same tooling crew that did the Dodge Copperhead show-car released by AMT, and the PT Cruiser promos and kits. The impression of the model when built out-of-the-box is of a high quality promo, with good fit and highly polished exterior surfaces.

Great info. Thanks.

^^^ Again, excellent advice. This is where a plausible backstory for what-if models comes into play. If, for instance, your model represents the efforts of, as you say, some enterprising young idiots tinkering with a V1, you're probably going to want to think in terms of shaved Indy tires...or even production tires. "World's Fastest Indian" rider Burt Munro is supposed to have done 200MPH on shaved street tires. On the other hand, if it represents the effort of a known name in the going-fast biz, then thinking along the lines of custom-built tires is certainly realistic. Mickey Thompson was very well known when he was trying to get tires for his Challenger I back in the late 1950s. He approached Firestone, and they politely declined. That's when Goodyear stepped up and invested at least $30,000 in testing and development to build a set of tires good for 500MPH. 30 grand was a big chunk of change in 1958. Likewise, Capt. George Eyston, Donald Campbell, and John Cobb (driving the Railton car) were very well-known go-fast guys of their era. The investment tire builders made on their behalf would not have been extended to a bunch of no-names.

^^^ Excellent advice. Aerodynamics of surface vehicles was in its infancy at the time your build represents, but something like a simple air-dam shaped to follow the contour of the nose, to prevent a large high pressure area from forming immediately under it, would be the minimum advisable. If you have wire wheels, you might also consider modifying them to at least look like disc wheels. The centrifugal force acting on wire wheels at the speeds this thing is theoretically capable of would be better managed by solid wheels that would be far less prone to getting out of balance or loosening spokes to the point of disintegration. Tires that are up to the speed potential would also be a real-world issue. Again, at least sand the treads smooth. Tires for very high speed runs had the tread shaved off almost entirely before the time when tire companies began constructing special designs. During the immediate post-war era, tires built for Indy cars would have been the leading choice for Bonneville work.

^^^ Yup, definitely the way to go, especially if you're not used to doing this kind of work. DO NOT USE SANDPAPER TO REMOVE DETAILS LIKE SIDE TRIM, at least in the beginning. Why? Because unsupported sandpaper will not only remove the high bits you're trying to get rid of, but while it's cutting, it will seriously damage the surrounding areas (at least it will if you use sandpaper that's coarse enough to do anything to the side trim in reasonable time). Use files. Sanding sticks are OK, but you'll really get a cleaner job with files. Knowing how to use files is a very important modeling skill to have. Used correctly, files will take only the trim off, just down to the level of the surrounding area, without putting heavy sand-scratches in places where you'll end up either having to fill or sand away too much to correct, risking wavy panels. Another way to remove side trim without causing a lot of grief from additional sanding damage is to use chisel-tip X-Acto blades, held perpendicular to the surface. They come in two widths, about 1/4" and 1/2", so you can get into most areas with them. The technique is to "scrape" the trim down to the level of the rest of the panel, as mentioned above. NOTE: Trying to use them as chisels held at a shallow angle to "shave" off side trim is very risky unless you're VERY familiar with working with them. Deep gouges often result. Narrow: Wide: After you have your panels nice and flat, THEN use sandpaper ON A BLOCK, or fine sanding sticks, to do your finish "metal work".

X2

Even though they have no brains whatsoever, they invariably actually make me think...which is certainly a lot more than I can say for the majority of the empty-headed females it's been my enduring pleasure to know (well, other than thinking what the hell am I doing here involved with this stupid, insecure, shallow, vain, incessantly-yakking-about-nothing creature?).

Pure '50s chow. Split, broiled knockwurst on a bed of mashed potatoes, covered with melted Velveeta. Tasty. Did I mention I'm not a food snob?

Just found this...8 hours of Star Trek TNG bridge background ambient sound.

Nice work, Casey.

Nice. I want I want I want. The doors look like they fit really well too.

Those AMT '49-'50 Ford frames are really pretty easy to modify to get a wider tire inside the stock quarter panel by removing the stock inner fenders and fabbing up some simple squared-off replacements, shaving the frame rails a tad if necessary. Clearance between the inner sidewall and the leaf spring is another possible problem, and the axle itself may need to be slightly narrowed. All in all though, it's entirely do-able with only moderate effort.

...or spend endless hours telling you why it should have been bought and built by some other guy, or fill every cubic inch of available space with cosmetics, clothes it hasn't worn in years, and countless shoes. Nor will it compare your modeling technique with the 347 previous modelers who left a hopeless gluebomb mess.

^^^ LOVE that photo.

^^^ That's an interesting point. I see more research in my future.

Takes a long time to set-up, so if you're in a hurry, it's not the hot setup. I often use it to jig things up where other things have to be made to fit assemblies very precisely. It works great for that, and because it contains no solvents, any residue will usually come off with a fingernail. It's also my preferred final assembly adhesive for things like "glass" headlight lenses, flush-fitting windows, and anything where using a solvent-type glue is too risky, and it's not wise to use epoxy. As a "glass" adhesive, it's fantastic. Easily re-positionable when wet, dries with plenty of holding power for lightly stressed parts, and the best part...it dries crystal clear with no fogging of parts.

Looks like a gorgeous model.

My memories of NYC are a little different. We lived in Joisey when I was a kid, and the old man commuted to work in the city. My mudder liked to shop there, so I saw a lot of the shiny side. Last time I was there was with the last ex at Christmas. Stayed in the Carlyle, heard Bobby Short. Helicopter ride over Manhattan (the World Trade Center was still standing), ice skating in Central Park, lunch at Tavern On The Green, shopping on Fifth Ave, afternoons at the Met and the Guggenheim, a show on Broadway, jazz at Birdland...she'd never been to NY and I wanted to give her something special. And it all was entirely wasted on the dumb broad.

Yup...that was the thread that got me going on this mashup idea. There's no out-of-car shot of the Johan engine, so meaningful assessment is impossible. First thing I did was to buy a T'rantula to get the cam covers and have a look myself. Though I haven't measured them (yet), the first visual impression they make is much closer to the real engine than any others I've yet seen...but I haven't seen them all. And...I'm not necessarily going after an exact dimensionally-correct-to-the-scale-eighth-inch rendition either; rather, I'm going for an engine that doesn't have the glaring (to me) errors most of the others do, and that makes an excellent first impression to someone who is familiar with the real ones, but who isn't carrying a micrometer. The T'rantula covers get the waffle shape at the lower edge pretty damm right, so I elected to use the simplified T'rantula heads because they match in this critical area. Everything else is still up for grabs. BUT...part of the idea here was to validate the possibility of coming up with something that looks better than most everything out there, using only readily available kit parts and a little fitting and scratching. I think I've already accomplished that.

Just closed a deal on one of these, cheap, identical except mine lacks the awful drilled-and-riveted side molding that was done by so many dealers. The car I just landed was previously owned by a Panoz exec, who had it stripped, resprayed in urethane, and the interior redone in OEM leather. Right around $20,000 worth of work. Shortly afterwards, he sold the car to a friend of mine who parked it in his garage, covered, after it developed engine problems (200k miles, so no real surprise there) and a climate-control-computer issue. That was maybe 15 years ago, but the car presents as almost brand new visually. The dash is out, and there's wiring everywhere, but hey...that's one of my specialties. I have another, rougher blue '86 with a great low-miles engine, and I've already done the GM 700R4 gearbox swap in it. That car also has a functioning climate control system. The engine, gearbox, prop shaft, and whatever she needs in the HVAC will go in the white one, leaving the engine bay in the blue one vacant, ready for the planned hot-rod swap. Now I'm thinking 4-cam modular Ford again.

That's one I don't have. Anybody gots some photos, post 'em up.