Scale-Master Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Those front springs and shocks are a huge improvement over the stock lumps I used in mine. Nice work on the grille too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted June 25, 2015 Author Share Posted June 25, 2015 (edited) Hey thanks alot guys. I have been working on the 66 SS the past couple of days. Got a few updates with losts of pics I'll be posting this morning. It may take a few posts to get it all in so bare with me as I get it all typed up and everything posted. It will probably take 2 or 3 posts to get everything up this morning. If there is one thing that irks me about some model kits, it's when they offer them with poseable front wheels but mold the tie rod solid. If they are gonna offer poseable front wheels, then I'd like the entire front steering assembly poseable. But since they don't on some kits, and I want it, It's time to do a little cutting,modifying and scratch-building. Soooooo.... I just happened to pick up a 66 nova pro-street kit cheap, that I have no interest in building, for extra parts for these two builds. I dug through it and snatched up the main front suspension. It will donate a few of it's sections to the SS front suspension, and it will also be used for mock up as I go along. The pro-street version was all molded in blue for some reason, but oh-well, it helps during this stage, to show you what ends up being used from it. One of the first things I did, was seperate the tie rod from the ss kit suspension and drill straight pin sized holes in the needed areas of it. I then drilled out the same sized holes for the needed areas of the pro-street suspension parts. I cut the sections of the pro-street tie-rod off that I wanted to use and then pinned them to the ss tie-rod and then pinned this back onto the spindle arms of the pro-street suspension. I'll be making some changes to the spindle arms later and they will eventually get cut off and added to the ss spindles. But for now using the pro-street suspension, allows me to do some mocking up and keep everything straight. After cutting off the pins, I mocked up everything on the chassis with the spindles in place and tacked a couple of small pieces of evergreen plastic that I had cut and shaped, to the spindle arms and then to the spindles. This was to keep everything straight and aligned. Talk about a pain, especially with my bad eyes. Once the glue had time to cure, I took the assembly back off the chassis and then added some more shaped evergreen plastic to the spindles and arms to give them structual support once they get cut loose. Then the reworked spindle arms were given a light coating of 5 minute two part epoxy for even more strength. More to come in the following post.... Edited June 26, 2015 by microwheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted June 25, 2015 Author Share Posted June 25, 2015 (edited) While the epoxy was curing, I took the time to clean up the originall 66 ss suspension piece since it will be the one used in final assembly. Once the epoxy had cured, I heated the tip of a old exacto blade and used it to carefully cut the tie rod and spindles free from the pro-street suspension. Doing it this way helps to prevent applying too much pressure and stress on the parts being cut away. Using a hot knife blade allows it to cut with no force. and all it takes for clean up of the cuts is a little light sanding with a emry board. And here is the resault of the time and work. A fulling functioning front tie rod and spindles that are aligned to the kit mounting points. Just a little light sanding and it will be finished These will be the parts used. Should look and work fine once they are assembled and detail painted. The parts mocked up together. More to come in the following post........... Edited June 26, 2015 by microwheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted June 25, 2015 Author Share Posted June 25, 2015 After playing around with the front suspension. I took some time to get the glass in the SS and get the interior and chassis installed. I installed the chassis at this point so I could get the suspenion lined up the way I wanted it, it makes it alot easier to tie all the detail work together. Another thing this kit doesnt come with is a lower radiator hose, so not having the front suspension in the way, will make it easier to make one and get it installed. I also mocked the engine into place to test fit everything. Well that's pretty much where things are at the moment guys. I'll post more as I get it done.. Thanks for looking and remember...... Comments and suggestions are always wecome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stray Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 Absolutely spiffy work as per usual Jim. These babies are gonna look awesome when you're done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freakshow12 Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 Beautiful jim. I wish I had bench time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmaracing Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 Awesome work Jim!! Looks great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxer Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 suspension wows!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kucaba Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 Great work all around! Nice job of cutting out the grille and everything about this is coming together quite well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedfreak Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 This SS is gonna be beauteous Jim! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrm Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 Stunning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peekay Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 Incredible work on the suspension! Even on a really good day I could never do anything that delicate and fiddly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang1989 Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 Great work Jim!! I really enjoy your step by step methods here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 Outstanding work Jim... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
66belair Posted June 28, 2015 Share Posted June 28, 2015 The attention to detail is just amazing! I love the springs and the explanation of how to install the grille as I have several of those photo-etch kits and haven't figured them out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superbike-shaun Posted June 28, 2015 Share Posted June 28, 2015 Jim, fantastic work on mommas interior, great foreplanning,patience and execution, do you write any ideas down b4 you start yours builds,I can't remember if you touched on that or not,anyhow,awesome work! Superbike-shaun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted June 29, 2015 Author Share Posted June 29, 2015 Absolutely spiffy work as per usual Jim. These babies are gonna look awesome when you're done. Thanks alot Stray, I sure hope so with the amount of time it's taking to finish them. And I still gots a loooong way to go lol Beautiful jim. I wish I had bench time. I can totally understand that Fred, I aint getting any where near the amount of bench time I would like right now.. why do you think these two are taking so long buddy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted June 29, 2015 Author Share Posted June 29, 2015 Awesome work Jim!! Looks great. Thanks suspension wows!! Thanks alot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted June 29, 2015 Author Share Posted June 29, 2015 Great work all around! Nice job of cutting out the grille and everything about this is coming together quite well. Thanks Mike, I was pleased with how well the grill turned out as well This SS is gonna be beauteous Jim! Thanks my friend, I hope the wagon goes was nicely as the SS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted June 29, 2015 Author Share Posted June 29, 2015 Stunning. Thanks Incredible work on the suspension! Even on a really good day I could never do anything that delicate and fiddly. I'm sure you could do just as well.. It's just a matter of putting the time into it. For me it was just learning to be patient and not rushing to get it done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted June 29, 2015 Author Share Posted June 29, 2015 Great work Jim!! I really enjoy your step by step methods here! Thanks Joe buddy. I don't always have the time to do a step by step write up, but I will try to whenever I get the extra time durning the build. Outstanding work Jim... Thanks alot Carl, I have been tinkering with the SS some the past few days and hope to have a few more updated in the next few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted June 29, 2015 Author Share Posted June 29, 2015 The attention to detail is just amazing! I love the springs and the explanation of how to install the grille as I have several of those photo-etch kits and haven't figured them out. Thanks Mike, The trick to The Model Car Garage photo-etched detail kits, is to just take your time and study how the photo-etched grills want to be shaped to the kit grills. I spend alot of time just studying the photo-etched parts and the kit parts before I ever seperate the photo-etched parts from the trees. I also keep a large box lid around to work on the parts with. I learned my lesson about that by loosing some of them to the dreaded floor monster years ago. I also stick the entire photo-etched parts tree to a piece of masking tape so when I cut parts off it they stick to the tape until I am ready to apply them to the model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted June 29, 2015 Author Share Posted June 29, 2015 Jim, fantastic work on mommas interior, great foreplanning,patience and execution, do you write any ideas down b4 you start yours builds,I can't remember if you touched on that or not,anyhow,awesome work! Superbike-shaun Thanks shaun. Sometimes I write down a few basic ideas, but mostly I just see a image in my head of what I want the finished model to look like, and as I work on it, I let the project tell me what changes it wants me to make to get to my final finished idea. If that makes any sense to ya. I wish I could explain it better than that, but I really can't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microwheel Posted June 29, 2015 Author Share Posted June 29, 2015 Anyways, thanks alot for all the great comments guys. I hope to have some more updates with pics maybe tomorrow afternoon. I have gotten a little more work done on Pop's Toy, (The Nova SS) and I hope to have something posted tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superbike-shaun Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 Oh,,,,er,,um,,okay,Thanks Jim,superbike-shaun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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