Harry P. Posted November 28, 2015 Author Posted November 28, 2015 The floorboard has a big cutout where the electric motor's on-off slide switch is supposed to go. Obviously, the real car didn't have a giant on-off switch there! Also, the cutout for the shifter puts the shifter in between the driver's legs! Again, not very probable. I want to add real wood floorboards anyway, so step one is to use a razor saw to cut the floorboard area away from the body... I added some reinforcement strips of scrap styrene, both to strengthen the body and to give me a surface area to glue the firewall to later on. I also added some styrene strip to the outside of the body for a little visual interest...
Harry P. Posted November 28, 2015 Author Posted November 28, 2015 I also scrapped the kit firewall and made a new one of real wood. The brass trim is square brass rod bent to shape...
Harry P. Posted November 28, 2015 Author Posted November 28, 2015 Getting some of the details done... I went with a pale yellow for the body, fenders will be black, not sure about the coach part yet. This kit is actually pretty simplified, so a lot of the details are a result of "paint detailing" to make it look like there's more going on than there actually is, or adding scratchbuilt details that aren't included in the kit.
Greg Pugh Posted November 28, 2015 Posted November 28, 2015 Nice work here Harry. Interesting subject too.
sjordan2 Posted November 28, 2015 Posted November 28, 2015 (edited) Nobody knows better than Harry about how to build these brass-era models, and this is proof. Edited November 28, 2015 by sjordan2
Harry P. Posted November 30, 2015 Author Posted November 30, 2015 The hood has a bunch of tabs and pins that aren't needed. I decided to trim them all off... The center hinge detail isn't very realistic, and for some reason doesn't extend to the ends of the hood! So again, I whipped out the trusty old razor saw and removed it...
Harry P. Posted November 30, 2015 Author Posted November 30, 2015 I replaced the molded-in hinge detail with a length of brass rod that I cut individual hinge leave detail into. Still working on adding the various details to the body and interior, but it's getting there. I did the steering wheel rim the same way I did the wheels... tan craft paint, then a dip into wood stain, Oops... I see I still have to paint the center nut on the steering wheel...
sjordan2 Posted November 30, 2015 Posted November 30, 2015 (edited) I see that the top front corners of the seat frame are different on the two sides. Is it supposed to be that way? Edited November 30, 2015 by sjordan2
Harry P. Posted November 30, 2015 Author Posted November 30, 2015 I see that the top front corners of the seat frame are different on the two sides. Is it supposed to be that way?Yes, a brass grab handle goes on the left side.
cobraman Posted November 30, 2015 Posted November 30, 2015 You sure have a way with these old cars. Coming along very nicely.
Harry P. Posted December 1, 2015 Author Posted December 1, 2015 You sure have a way with these old cars. Sometimes I wish I was born 100 years earlier than I actually was...
Harry P. Posted December 3, 2015 Author Posted December 3, 2015 Getting pretty close to finished on the main part of the car. Just a few things to still add. After I removed the molded-in hood hinge, I replaced it with a length of brass rod that I rolled under my X-acto blade to create the detail of the individual leaves of the hinge. The hinge isn't real, though, it's just for show. Remember, this one is getting the hood glued shut.
Harry P. Posted December 3, 2015 Author Posted December 3, 2015 Time to get started on the coach part. The doors are supposed to open, but I'm gluing them shut for several reasons. One, the hinges are not correct and very toy-like and unrealistic (they are "dog leg" type hinges that would protrude into the inside of the coach). Two, either the doors or the coach body or both are pretty warped, and neither door fits well into its opening, and three, the windows on the coach body are so big that any detail that you want to see inside the coach will be easily seen... no need for the doors to open. First up is to snip off the molded-in door hinges... The right side door's molding doesn't align with the rest of the molding on the body... The fix was to remove about 1/16 inch from the bottom of the door, and add that same amount to the top of the door using styrene strip. That lowers the door in the opening, and now the raised molding aligns...
Harry P. Posted December 3, 2015 Author Posted December 3, 2015 Every door needs a surface to close against. Even though I'm gluing these doors shut, I still need a surface to glue them to, so I added some styrene strip all around the openings. If I had kept the opening door feature, this is what they would have closed against. Without this, the doors would just flop in the opening like a swinging door, with nothing to shut against.
sjordan2 Posted December 3, 2015 Posted December 3, 2015 Would there be any gauges on the firewall, as on the Itala or Fiat?
Harry P. Posted December 3, 2015 Author Posted December 3, 2015 Would there be any gauges on the firewall, as on the Itala or Fiat?You would think so, but there aren't any in the kit. I'll have to scratchbuild them.
Harry P. Posted December 5, 2015 Author Posted December 5, 2015 Here are the new, fake hinges. Remember, I'm gluing the doors shut, so they don't have to work... just have to look correct.
Harry P. Posted December 5, 2015 Author Posted December 5, 2015 I decided to go with a yellow upper and "wood" lower on the coach body. Then I used Tamiya tape to mask off the window trim and painted that black. This is the coach body front wall...
Harry P. Posted December 5, 2015 Author Posted December 5, 2015 On the inside, the kit part has engraved "woodgrain" on it, but as we all know, "nothing looks more like real wood than real wood," so I added that to the inside of the front wall... I'm replacing all the thick kit glass with thinner clear styrene sheet, an easy fix because all the coach glass is flat, or in the case of the rear window, curved... but only in one direction, not a compound curve... Things are looking a little messy at this point, but once I paint all the window trim and install the interior panels, all of the edges will be sharp and well-defined.
sjordan2 Posted December 5, 2015 Posted December 5, 2015 Looking awesome, though I would have chosen fabric or leather for the bottom part of the coach. How will you finish the coach seats?
Harry P. Posted December 5, 2015 Author Posted December 5, 2015 I really went around in circles in my head as far as what colors to use on the body. At first I was going to go with a yellow lower half and black upper... then black and red, then finally I decided on keeping the bottom part "wood." The plastic looks pretty much like wood veneer in that scale... it has a visible "grain" to it. I'm thinking that under a few coats of clear it'll look reasonably close to a wood veneer. Trying to cover the lower half with either fabric or leather would have been a nightmare.I'm going to upholster the seat with dark red velour fabric, and the interior will be a matching dark red–I bought some heavy, stiff colored paper in the scrapbooking aisle at Hobby Lobby that I will use to cut the individual interior panels from.The interior floor will be stained wood, and the roof of the coach will be satin black. And oh yeah... I will be adding a scratchbuilt wooden trunk out back to replace the (too small IMO) kit supplied trunk.
Ace-Garageguy Posted December 5, 2015 Posted December 5, 2015 Truly remarkable improvement over the simplified kit you started with. You're really a wizard at making these things look real.
Harry P. Posted December 5, 2015 Author Posted December 5, 2015 Thanks, Bill. Yeah, the fun part of model building for me is taking a simple kit and making it look decent.
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