The Blob!

[Snake45]

My, oh my. What we have here is the cut-down "custom" windshield from an original AMT '66 Corvette roadster, with an open wheel, a wheel ring, a license plate, and a cylinder head partially encased in and stuck to it with some kind of mysterious blob. It looks like nothing so much as a chunk of melted and re-cooled Bonomo's Vanilla Turkish Taffy, but it's not (I licked it). It's also not water-soluble, whatever it is, and it's VERY hard--harder than kit styrene. The Blob is on both sides of the glass.

I'm going to try to save the windshield, because I need it. I have a '65 roadster body with only vestigial stubs of the windshield frame left on it--just about exactly what I'd need to replicate the cut-down racing windshields of the day (I have several period photos of such arrangements). I THINK I can save JUST ENOUGH of this windshield to make this sad old body into a racer. If I can, I won't have to sacrifice a good stock windshield for this project, which I can use on another restoration.  Wish me luck. I'm going in!

 

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Seems like it would be pretty straightforward.

Remove most of the blob from the 'glass' with a drum-sander on a Dremel, down to about 1/32" from the surface.

Take it just to the 'glass' with small files...a flat one on the outside, a half-round one inside.

Finish with progressively finer and finer wet sandpaper grits, polish as you usually do.  

 

[Lizard Racing]

Was this a "barn find"?  The blob seems to be a mystery.

I will have to check the parts bin, but I may have an already cut down windshield for you.

Alternatively, you could use some heavy clear plastic (like a soda bottle) to make a cut-down.  That may look more realistic, as the 1:1 racers didn't use the windshield glass. 

[Snake45]

Seems like it would be pretty straightforward.

Remove most of the blob from the 'glass' with a drum-sander on a Dremel, down to about 1/32" from the surface.

Take it just to the 'glass' with small files...a flat one on the outside, a half-round one inside.

Finish with progressively finer and finer wet sandpaper grits, polish as you usually do.  

 

I went a different way. I cut the front half off with a coping saw, starting at the bottom of the windshield and working up, along the surface. There will be no need to remove the inside Blob, as that part of the windshield will have to be cut off anyway.

Still don't know what The Blob is. It's about 30% hollow on the inside, like eaten-away Styrofoam, but still very hard. Whatever it is, it ate a hole completely through the windshield and infused its white self into the clear plastic around the hole. So all that will have to be cut off, but I think there will be enough left to use.

The license plate--turns out to be a cool Alexander Brothers Custom plate--broke away from The Blob in very usable shape. I'm pretty sure I can salvage the wheel ring. But the nice open wheel, which I'd like to have, is toast, unsavable.

Updated pics to follow as soon as I can get them shot and uploaded.

[Snake45]

Was this a "barn find"?  The blob seems to be a mystery.

I will have to check the parts bin, but I may have an already cut down windshield for you.

Alternatively, you could use some heavy clear plastic (like a soda bottle) to make a cut-down.  That may look more realistic, as the 1:1 racers didn't use the windshield glass.

I hear ya my brother. I'd already thought of the thickness, but am trying to drive on with a model as it could have/would have been built by a typical hobby modeler circa 1965-66. And I'm trying to do it with leftover and otherwise unloved parts, such as this Blobbed windshield.

But I'm beginning to think that this "custom" windshield might be designed with a steeper angle than the stock windshield, and thus won't fit with the stubs on the body anyway. If that's the case, I'll try making a "heat and smash" copy of the kit stock windshield. This would be thinner and more realistic looking anyway. We'll just have to see what happens.

[BigTallDad]

The "Blob" might be insulating foam sealant, which is NASTY stuff to remove.

[Snake45]

The "Blob" might be insulating foam sealant, which is NASTY stuff to remove.

Could be! Does it dry very hard and smooth on the outside? Would it dissolve/eat through styrene?

[Snake45]

Here's the liberated windshield, with huge hole and fused white stuff in it. I've tried it in the subject body, and looks like there is JUST enough to work with--and looks like it will be a good fit. Cutting it with a razor saw shouldn't be a problem, as long as I get it marked accurately.

I was also able to separate the wheel ring, and file it back to usable shape. I could probably save the cylinder head, if I really needed it. The open wheel is melted toast, a real shame--I never have enough of those.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Trust me on this. That's clearly a heat-melted hole...not a solvent-melted hole, due to heat produced by an exothermic reaction from...probably...an epoxy product that was mixed up on a hot day and "went-off" somewhat unexpectedly. The bubbles visible in the stuff bear this out.

That would also explain the tenacious adhesion, the relatively smooth surface and the hardness.

And it looks like you will be able to salvage at least enough to make a racing screen, if not for this particular model, then one in the future.

Applause for trying to make something useful from a piece of carp most everyone else would toss. 

[Snake45]

Trust me on this. That's clearly a heat-melted hole...not a solvent-melted hole, due to heat produced by an exothermic reaction from...probably...an epoxy product that was mixed up on a hot day and "went-off" somewhat unexpectedly. The bubbles visible in the stuff bear this out.

That would also explain the tenacious adhesion, the relatively smooth surface and the hardness.

And it looks like you will be able to salvage at least enough to make a racing screen, if not for this particular model, then one in the future.

Applause for trying to make something useful from a piece of carp most everyone else would toss. 

Everything you say is consistent with what I'm looking at/working with. I kinda thought you might have some kind of idea about this thing.

And I appreciate your appreciation of my modest recycling/repurposing effort. "Waste not, want not. Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."