53 Slam-de-baker!

[OldNYJim]

I’ve been waiting for the humidity to drop so I can finish getting the clear on my stock 53 Studebaker project, so in the meantime I thought I’d start on the gluebombed kit that I had...

The body wasn’t too bad except for snapped and missing a pillars, which I patched up but couldn’t get perfect enough to look good for a shiny stock build...but I did want to do something with the body.  I had the idea of a patina’d heavily-lowered hot rod build for one of these kits, and this body seemed a decent candidate for that.

First up, rust colors:

I used a mix of Tamiya and craft store acrylics to get some different shades and colors of rust, then added a decent pinch of salt to season: 

Next up, after letting the hairspray holding the salt on dry for an hour or so, some baby blue Createx airbrush paint:

After that had set up for an hour or so, I mixed some more of the same color blue with some opaque white and airbrushed the roof, trunk and hood a little to depict some sun bleaching of the paint (not that much of it will be left by the time I remove that salt)

Then, the fun bit - removing the salt!  Once I’d brushed that off I went through and applied a mix of pastels to add some more texture and interest to the rust and give it some streaks over the paint:

I’ve got a tonne of ideas for this one, I really like doing a not-shiny build now and then for a change!  More soon, soon as I’ve done more ??

[misterNNL]

Looking like the builder might want to consider a tetanus shot before working on this any further:)

[OldNYJim]

22 hours ago, misterNNL said:

Looking like the builder might want to consider a tetanus shot before working on this any further:)

You’re not wrong ?. 
 

Im thinking this thing would look really cool over a set of whitewalls, something like this:

I want certain elements to look nice and new and clean and well done, and some to look ratty - like someone put a sketchy body over a decent frame and added some nice touches to make something that isn’t just a straight rat rod.  
 

I’m not intending to do a bunch of detail to the frame or underside of this, but I did z the front to help drop it a scale 10 inches (!) and did some mods to the rear axle to drop that a bunch too.  I’m trying to keep everything so it COULD drive and steer, even if there’s only a few inches of suspension travel at best:

I imagined this thing having bright red steelies on it - all shiny and brand new looking...then my wife showed me a cool nail color that she liked so I ‘borrowed’ some of that to paint some resin wheels:

Love the color!  Wish there was enough in the bottle to paint a whole body, but there was enough to shoot these and the dash anyway...

More soon, soon as I’ve done more!

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

You should take a hot pin and poke the center of those salt craters to make them look like a gunshot wounds....? -RRR

[OldNYJim]

On 11/1/2019 at 6:35 PM, Rocking Rodney Rat said:

You should take a hot pin and poke the center of those salt craters to make them look like a gunshot wounds....? -RRR

I should!  It was a little too extreme so I feathered some of the rust out with the airbrush today and got it a little more realistic and less ‘spotty’.

Today’s projects were to give those wheels a wash and pick out the lug nuts with a Molotow pen, and then airbrush some whitewalls onto the kit tires:

I weathered the whitewalls a little - they looked too clean but I like how they look with the car now:

And a shot of the slightly less rusty body:

I needed to make a windshield, so I employed some CAD for that (cardboard aided design ?)

I really like this Elmer’s purple glue for holding glass in - the fact that it loses it’s purple tiny when it’s dry is really useful:

And a little weathering (and some light airbrushing later...):

I also made a rubber gasket with some thin black wire to add a little detail, although it’s hard to see how I’ve blended I’d all in with pastels and whatnot:

I’m just working on a swamp cooler to hang in that driver’s window - More soon, soon as I’ve done more!

[Claude Thibodeau]

Hi!

Super results! I've never used the "salt" method myself, but you just convinced me to try it on my next patina built. Very convincing!

CT

[OldNYJim]

14 hours ago, Claude Thibodeau said:

Hi!

Super results! I've never used the "salt" method myself, but you just convinced me to try it on my next patina built. Very convincing!

CT

I always enjoy seeing your builds Claude, and you do very impressive work so I’m sure you’ll make good use of that technique!  I’m definitely no expert at it myself; it takes me a few tries to get an acceptable result usually...but a fun trick I’ve been playing with today on some practice pieces is to use mediums other than salt for different size and shapes of rust patches.  Herbs, spices, sand - all kinds of different materials could be employed to get some different results!

[Claude Thibodeau]

8 hours ago, CabDriver said:

I always enjoy seeing your builds Claude, and you do very impressive work so I’m sure you’ll make good use of that technique!  I’m definitely no expert at it myself; it takes me a few tries to get an acceptable result usually...but a fun trick I’ve been playing with today on some practice pieces is to use mediums other than salt for different size and shapes of rust patches.  Herbs, spices, sand - all kinds of different materials could be employed to get some different results!

Hi!

Thank you for the compliments, Jim. 

Your idea to vary medium is brilliant. The only apparent limitation of the salt method seems to be that the "melting" salt spreads on the "wetted" surface in a rather circular pattern, making every rust spot look vaguely similar to the next. I think you make a fair reading when you imply that different types of "matters" would lead to a even more realistic rust surface, just like you may find on, say, a typical barnfind. 

Can't wait to see pics of your next experiment with "mixed" rust sources. To me, it's like attenting a course in RUST 101 at the modeling school!

CT

[mvadrag]

Instead of salt, I like to use rubber cement stippled on strategically with a scouring pad. After painting the body, remove the rubber cement by dabbing with masking tape to reveal the "rust". (A Ken Hamilton trick from one of his books.)

[OldNYJim]

13 hours ago, mvadrag said:

Instead of salt, I like to use rubber cement stippled on strategically with a scouring pad. After painting the body, remove the rubber cement by dabbing with masking tape to reveal the "rust". (A Ken Hamilton trick from one of his books.)

That’s a good tip!  I have some of that here!  Will definitely be trying that out!

Meanwhile, I cut a mask (actually five, to get a good one ?) to add some lettering to the rear decklid:

I tried a few different types of vinyl to get one that would work - it was tricky because of how intricate the design and regular airbrush mask was too thin to cut without tearing - got there in the end though, and shot some Createx opaque white through it and got pretty much what I was trying for anyway:

I wanted to see how it looked with the bumper, so next job was to mask up the lights and shoot them.  I wanted a real dark red taillight rather than the bright red that you get from Tamiya clear red so I used another Createx color for this too:

Their transparent clears aren’t quite as transparent as Tamiya clears or most candies, but it got the look I was after:

Whilst I had the cutter running I cut that little bumper sticker from some thin signwriter’s vinyl:

I really need to start working on the chassis, but I’m having too much fun doing these details on the body ?

More soon, soon as I’ve done more!

Edited November 5, 2019 by CabDriver

[Tom Geiger]

I love the resulting lettering from your mask!   

I don't use the salt technique for rusting. I go my own way with Testors Dullcote and chalk dusts.  I work with it until it looks right to my eye.

I have collected a ton of photos of old rusty cars for reference. It's best to see how a specific car rusts and copy it.

 

 

[OldNYJim]

34 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said:

I love the resulting lettering from your mask!   

I don't use the salt technique for rusting. I go my own way with Testors Dullcote and chalk dusts.  I work with it until it looks right to my eye.

I have collected a ton of photos of old rusty cars for reference. It's best to see how a specific car rusts and copy it.

 

 

That’s a great tip Tom, yes!  It’s really useful to know how the real thing rusts - especially if you’re doing an extreme look with rust holes and other damage. 
 

A couple of little bits, as I’m still at the bench and replying anyway...had Walgreens print a licence plate and used a photoetch frame and some photoetch bolts to finish it off:

I shot the headlamp buckets with the same Krylon chrome (which doesn’t look chrome at all, but does a decent job of brushed aluminum) as the bumpers and gave the lenses a little tint with some clear yellow.  The race car-style tape crosses aren’t a thing anyone seems to be doing in 1:1 but I cut some with some more vinyl and added those for an extra little detail.  This build is too much fun!

More soon!

[OldNYJim]

A little more on this one...had a busy week so didn’t get as much done as I hoped but still got a couple of little bits done...

Got the rear and side windows made from some PVC sheet, and added a rubber gasket around the edge of the rear one before weathering and adding a ‘sticker’:

Worked on a swamp cooler for the driver’s window - scratchbuilt this from styrene and brass, with a couple of metal parts and some photoetch:

And I’m debating having a roof rack with some stuff in it (Radio Flyer cart, a cooler maybe, perhaps a Jerry can or something) so I built one of those to see how I felt about it...

More soon, soon as I’ve done more! ??

Edited November 8, 2019 by CabDriver

[randyc]

love the roof rack!

 

[OldNYJim]

15 minutes ago, randyc said:

love the roof rack!

 

Thank you!  I wasn’t totally decided if I liked it...but now it’s painted I’m warming to it:

Just needs some cool whatevers to put on it! 

[Scalper]

nice weathering.. I will have to try the salt trick one day 

[Claude Thibodeau]

Hi!

Sweet! If only we could see beaters like this running around nowadays...

CT

[OldNYJim]

34 minutes ago, Claude Thibodeau said:

Hi!

Sweet! If only we could see beaters like this running around nowadays...

CT

Hey Claude!

We have a couple or threee kinda ratty-but-running cars around my neighborhood...not quite like this build but still cool enough to turn my head!

I always wonder what happened to this Astro van to make it so patina-y:

 

[Claude Thibodeau]

Hi!

Maybe there's someting in the New-York atmosphere? Just guessing...LOL  Here in the Great White North, it's the salt on the road. 

CT

[Koellefornia Kid]

Cool! The weathering and the color combination look good, the roof rack and the swamp cooler are awesome  and I really like these little details like the stickers...

[misterNNL]

On 11/8/2019 at 3:53 PM, CabDriver said:

Thank you!  I wasn’t totally decided if I liked it...but now it’s painted I’m warming to it:

Just needs some cool whatevers to put on it! 

You might want to consider moving your swamp cooler to the other side of the car. Placing it where you have it is in the driver's line of sight:)

[Cpt Tuttle]

Nice , the combination of the rust, baby blue paint and different accessories gives it a kind of different style.

[OldNYJim]

On 11/9/2019 at 5:02 PM, misterNNL said:

You might want to consider moving your swamp cooler to the other side of the car. Placing it where you have it is in the driver's line of sight:)

I did have it on the other side originally, then I decided that if I was driving it I’d rather have the cool air for myself and let the passenger have the better visibility ??‍♂️
 

20 hours ago, Cpt Tuttle said:

Nice , the combination of the rust, baby blue paint and different accessories gives it a kind of different style.

Thank you sir!  
 

A couple of little updates - had the idea for a bomber BENCH seat, so I made one of those: 

I used my scrapbook cutter to put a pattern on the back panel of the seat but it’s not really visible yet - I’ll need to squirt some paint over it to bring that out.  I made the cushion from some styrene sheet, laminated together to make one piece - I’ve got a particular design in mind for the fabrics which I’m excited to get done...
 

The interior rub that I had was a real mess, so I’m making new door panels and some little bits and pieces for that: 

And here’s a hint at the first step of the interior fabrics color scheme - more on that soon!

 

[PatW]

Superb Jim! Real ratty! Plus the super roofrack!

Edited November 12, 2019 by PatW

[OldNYJim]

Thanks, Pat!

Work continues on the interior - cut some masks for the pattern I wanted for the interior pieces:

And after a little black paint...leopardprint!

And a look at how it’ll look in place:

Need to paint the dash today - and that tiki shift knob!  More soon!