1935 Auburn Speedster - The Abysmal Lindberg/Pyro Kit Completely Reworked

[vwdave92]

WOW.  Looks amazing.  I've always wanted to stretch that body over a new Corvette chassis or something similar.  Kind of modern Pro Street style

 

[Ack! Ack-ack!]

Thanks for the Molotow tutorial. I must have a try as soon as possible!

[Plastheniker]

Thanks again for all replies! I am very happy that you find my result convincing.

 

AMAZING Build- great to  see one with the top up and the colors are great.   how did you do the wheels?  

I made the tyres from styrene with separate whitewall insets which made painting easier.

I modified suitable rims from my parts box and laced the spokes as shown here:

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=77554

 

[BERT100]

Very impressive transformation of a old kit.  Bet that is what the Pyro kit makers whished they had, had to sell 

[misterNNL]

A very impressive "body" of work converting that out of scale version into something beautiful.The dedication involved in re-scaling alone had to be a monumental task.

[Plastheniker]

Thanks for the recent replies!

When rescaling, reshaping or scratch building such non-geometric shapes I never rely on eyeballing.

Using contour gauges (= negative templates) is the key to success IMO:

 

I glue some additional copies of my 1:25 drawing onto cardboard. When I want to rework a part, f. e. a front fender, I cut out this particular part from the cardboard. Inserting the plastic fender into this opening shows what has (still) to be done. I apply this as far as possible to all parts, sub-assemblies and even the complete bodyshell. Side views and topviews are particularly useful.

 

[djflyer]

I would agree with all accolades and say amazing is the best way to describe the transformation.  I saw that kit years ago and its almost unbelievable what you were able to accomplish.

One question I have is what did you use for the metal exhausts?  They look quite convincing and that is a major focal point in cars of that era.

Edited September 11, 2017 by djflyer

[Plastheniker]

I would agree with all accolades and say amazing is the best way to describe the transformation.  I saw that kit years ago and its almost unbelievable what you were able to accomplish.

One question I have is what did you use for the metal exhausts?  They look quite convincing and that is a major focal point in cars of that era.

The kit exhaust parts (if any) were wrong.

Making the flexible heat protection tubes was rather simple:

 

First I bent the cores of the four flex tubes (so to speak the four exhaust manifolds) from 3(?)mm soldering wire. Then I rolled 0.5 or 0.8mm soldering wire and wrapped this flattened wire round the four manifolds. After aligning these rolled wires I secured them with liquid super glue at the ends and inside the bends. Last I polished the visible surfaces.

 

BTW I used te same technique here http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=76128 on a Mercedes SSKL and on a Mercedes 540K I am going to show next.

 

There are two ways to roll soldering wire:

• You can improvise an inexpensive rolling device usable for rather thin soldering wire by fixing a small, hard wheel (hard plastic or metal, available at hardware/house improvement stores) under a piece of wood. With the weight of your body roll over the soldering wire on a hard and smooth surface and you get a thin, bright, very flexible strip of metal that can be glued easily with super glue.

• Rolled wires of any kind, i. e. also thicker soldering wire, brass, aluminum and copper wire, so-called silver wire, even hypodermic needles, are extremely useful for numberless purposes when detailing, converting and scratch building. I used them on virtually all models during the past 20 years. For making such rolled wires of exact thicknesses/widths the fast and easy way I made one of the best investments of my modeling life: a bending machine. Bending machines are actually meant for making equal, kink-free curves in sheet and strip stock. Usually they look similar to this one:

When I bought mine I was not sure if the considerable amount of money would pay off. It really did.