MGL Posted May 30, 2016 Posted May 30, 2016 (edited) I had planned on painting this pearl white with a black frame and black and white interior but after spraying the base coat of white and the frame black it just wasn't working for me. After staring at it for awhile I started looking through my stash for some inspiration and knocked a AMT engine parts pack and a sheet of BMF off the shelf just I spotted my unbuilt Rat Fink model. I decided to go with more of an un-finished look rather than a true rat rod, hence the complete interior and some chrome and clean paint. I had to have a crazy Rat Fink shifter and I wanted a ridiculous engine. The 421 Pontiac posed a couple of issues, there is no water pump or alternator, and no water hose inlet on the intake so I had to move the belt drive for the blower forward, make a water pump, alternator, pulleys, brackets, drive belt, and hoses. By the time I did all that, in order to get the radiator close to where I wanted it I hade to notch the firewall. I would have liked to have moved the engine back a little more but I would have had to redo the transmission tunnel and I didn't want to fool with that. The radiator support rods are guitar string, the shift rod is a paper clip and I didn't want to fight with the kit "eye" decal for the shift knob so I painted my own. The drive shaft had to be lengthened so I used some aluminum tube and the fuel line and plug wires are beading wire. I'm pretty happy with it although if I were to build this again I would probably use a 427 SOHC engine and brace the frame. Of course that would require some major surgery to fit. I'm not much of a hot rod guy but I do like this model. I am curious why it came with a 4 speed shifter and an automatic transmission. I'm also wondering if anybody has used the rusty decals that come with the kit. Edited July 12, 2017 by MGL Replacing photos
Rider Posted May 30, 2016 Posted May 30, 2016 That looks dam good! Your brushed metal treatment looks bang on, nice job man.
bbowser Posted May 30, 2016 Posted May 30, 2016 I'm not much of a hot rod guy but that looks darn good! Very convincing finish on the body.
hgbben Posted May 31, 2016 Posted May 31, 2016 As mentioned, that has great detail and finish. The eyeball shift knob is the best part.
V8 Trucker Posted June 1, 2016 Posted June 1, 2016 That looks dam good! Your brushed metal treatment looks bang on, nice job man. I agree
MGL Posted June 2, 2016 Author Posted June 2, 2016 The bare metal looks really good. How did you do it?Nice. How did you get the bare metal finish?I covered the whole thing with BMF one panel at a time, then lightly sanded with different light to medium grit sanding sticks, then I used some black, rust, and steel washes, then some more sanding.
Ace-Garageguy Posted June 2, 2016 Posted June 2, 2016 Nothing looks more like metal than metal. Nice work.
Dennis Lacy Posted June 3, 2016 Posted June 3, 2016 This is just about the best "bare metal" model I've ever seen. The weathering effects on the entire car are awesome realistic and the use of the parts pack Pontiac is totally sweet. Being heavily involved in full scale hot rodding, I've seen quite a few rods being driven around in a state just like this.
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