1951 Chevy for the Dio.

[landman]

I have this 1951 Chevy which likely is one of my least successful builds of all time. I remember having all sorts of problems trying to put this thing together. So instead of restoring it I'll take it apart  and use it in the resto shop of my diorama. It'll be a freshly stripped chassis which hasn't been cleaned up yet. A few parts will be scattered about and some of the body parts will be shown under restoration. I'll use this to practice some weathering techniques and some fabbing. If I break something, it won't be a great loss.

The frame has open channels at the top. I closed that up with thin styrene strips.

Similarly the gas tank has only a bottom so I raised the walls a bit and made a top with some corrugated siding sheet. Added a drain plug.

Fabbed up a poseable steering using the original spindles and tie rods with some tubing & rod bits.

The rear shocks' top mounted to the floor pan so I made up some upper shock mount brackets.

 

[GTJUNIOR]

Great idea. Nice work so far.

[charlie8575]

Excellent reuse of an oops.

Charlie Larkin

[landman]

Working at adding brake & fuel lines. All this to paint them rust later.

[DrKerry]

Liking what I'm seeing so far, great detail!!!!!

[GTJUNIOR]

Liking what I'm seeing so far, great detail!!!!!

ditto. 

[wrecker388]

I like your idea. Looks great so far.

[landman]

Completed the brake & fuel lines.

The chassis will have some mismatched wheels with old tires on rusty drums to keep it mobile while the "good" wheels are getting restored.

[DrKerry]

Nice!!!!!

[landman]

Thanks guys for the nice words.

Now is decision time. Do I go the salt route to make some rust specks & runs or do I go the full rust coverage with grime, streaks and stains added after? After looking at some on the web, I think that the second option would meet the goal more nicely as 1951 is 65 years of gime to collect. There wouldn't be much black showing anymore.

[DrKerry]

I'd still let a little black show through, I wouldn't go all rust. If it was sitting in a barn it wouldn't weather quite as much...

[landman]

I'd still let a little black show through, I wouldn't go all rust. If it was sitting in a barn it wouldn't weather quite as much...

OOps. I'm a bit late. we'll see.

[landman]

Made a jig to bend some rod to make a work stand.

At the same time, I practiced working with the Uschi Van der Rosten powders to get a bare steel look. The fender will go on the workstand.

[1930fordpickup]

This is going to be cool Pat. I like this idea. 

[landman]

Here is a bit of a preview. I'm not happy with the color of the "steel". I may have to try it again with a lighter base.

This is more what I'm looking for as far as color and texture goes.

[landman]

After a bit of weathering. Will add some crud and maybe more tools.I need to check that leaning rear wheel. Funny how you notice stuff in photographs that you missed altogether.

[landman]

Here's a couple more views.

 

[Poppa mitch]

Very nice, working with old models has become more fun, I too would like to see some black, most of the older paints tend to last very long.  I'm curious what you are making the brake lines out of and where you got it.  Keep the pics coming.

[landman]

Mitch, the brake lines are 26 GA wire and the fuel line is 24 GA. Both come from the jewelry/beading section of stores. The 24 was Walmart. the other one may have been Michaels.

As far as the black, this was my inspiration, and you are right, there is a bit of black shoeing on the inside.

This will be continued here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/97646-background-diorama-flatheads-to-boxers-engine-rebuilders/?page=6#comment-1618176

Edited April 15, 2016 by landman
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