MPC 1967 GTO

[Jim Smitty]

This is my first model since my teenage years. However I hit a bit of a snag and wondering if anyone can help me out and figuring out how to move forward. 

 

However here are some pics to so progress till I hit this snag today. 

 

 

[Jim Smitty]

Today I when to seat the engine in the chassis. Only one problem it couldn't be sit in the right position. So I decided to try and join the body and the chassis together to see what would happen. It was when I did this I noticed a major problem. The wheel wells aren't anywhere close to where they should be. The front collapses down with nothing to support it, I don't have a photo of that one but here are the wheel wells. If someone could give me a few pointers on how to possibly fix this problem I would be thankful. 

 

[Keesee17]

That body has a lot of under cupping to the complete sides of the car...I don’t see anything wrong or out of the ordinary here.  You’ll need to expand the sides of the body while guiding the chassis into the body. Try using a butter knife or other flat wide blade to “ shoe horn” it together...

Edited January 26, 2018 by Keesee17

[Flynlo]

Also it looks like you did not install the interior tub when dry fitting the chassis. Generally, in final assembly the windows will be installed it the body. Then, the interior and firewall are assembled and installed. This will give the chassis a solid base to attach to after "shoehorning" it into the body as mentioned above.

Looks like a great return to modelling for you...press on!

[Jim Smitty]

I currently have the interior tub drying in place at the moment. But mine main worry was the fairly massive gap in the wheel well along with the lack of support at the front end to hold the body up. I'm currently looking at a few possibilities to help keep it up but those gaps in the wheel well area got me worried. 

[bisc63]

Is your interior tub squarely seated? It appears your chassis is being "pushed" rearwards, both front and rear tires are nearly touching their respective openings at the backside. This kit is a very old molding, and has its share of problems, BUT they can be overcome. You might need to file a bit of plastic away from the front side of the rear wheel wells, and/or from the bottom rear portion of the interior tub (see where they  touch, at the seat cushion area?). Also, check those round "holes" that locate the interior tub, behind the rear package tray. You may need to file them back into a better version of "round", again, as this is an old molding. That should help bring the chassis closer to center in the wheel openings, then you can judge other fitment issues more accurately. Adding plastic pieces to the inner fenders is pretty basic modeling stuff, but if this is new to you, don't be afraid to tackle it! I would locate some stiff paper to use to make patterns, then use those to make custom fit extensions to hide that space that bothers you in the wheel well. ( I like 3x5 index cards for drawing/cutting patterns. Manila folders also work well.) This saves your valuable plastic, as paper is easy to cut, re-cut, and fit as much as needed before tracing onto plastic sheet. The support you want may be as simple as a short stack of small squares of sheet plastic, or trial and fit stub of sprue attached to the top of the front inner fenders, so that they contact the underside of the horizontal, flat part of the front fender. DRY FIT EVERYTHING! Time spent now will reward you with a satisfying stance. We're all pulling for you...

[Keesee17]

This kit didn’t have the round pegs to locate the interior to the body. It mostly lines up from the dash board and firewall. The chassis aligns with molded pegs that match the alignment holes in the radiator support and rear inner body. Once everything is sandwiched together. The front of the car is supported by radiator support. Believe it or not, I’m currently working on the same exact kit but I’m adapting the excellent Revell engine bay and chassis to this body.. here is a really quick shot of the kit parts to show the fenderwell gaps when properly located. It interior is pretty well positioned by the chassis when assembled.

As a side note I need to ask how you do the final assembly..? I normally let the interior of the car free float without trying to glue it to either the chassis or the body...

[Keesee17]

The closeup pics of the front and rear wheels both show that the interior wasn’t in the car but more importantly the both show that you didn’t stretch the body sides to fully seat the chassis into the inside of the body. Re-read my very first post...!

 

[Jim Smitty]

5 hours ago, Keesee17 said:

This kit didn’t have the round pegs to locate the interior to the body. It mostly lines up from the dash board and firewall. The chassis aligns with molded pegs that match the alignment holes in the radiator support and rear inner body. Once everything is sandwiched together. The front of the car is supported by radiator support. Believe it or not, I’m currently working on the same exact kit but I’m adapting the excellent Revell engine bay and chassis to this body.. here is a really quick shot of the kit parts to show the fenderwell gaps when properly located. It interior is pretty well positioned by the chassis when assembled.

As a side note I need to ask how you do the final assembly..? I normally let the interior of the car free float without trying to glue it to either the chassis or the body...

I glued the interior tub to the body. 

 

I think I just started to freak when I had troubles seating the engine yesterday and I jumped ahead too much in worry and in freak out model. That said I didn't glue anything yesterday thankfully. But now I have a new plan of attack to finish this. 

[Keesee17]

Hopefully you’re back on track to finishing it. Post more progress pic and the final product soon..!

 

[Sledsel]

Working on the same kit, had to do some "adjusting" to get the wheelbase better. 

You next kit, do a lot of dry fitting even before paint to resolve any issues early. A must on these older kits

Keep going

[Jim Smitty]

Ok after some work I finally got the engine, chassis, and body joined as one unit now. Still not totally happy with how it turned out but its far better than what it would had been if I had made some major changes to it.