What Did You Accomplish Today? (Model Car Work)

[Bucky]

Well...today I checked the Krylon Gloss White I sprayed on the Boss Nova Saturday night. It's still just a wee bit too tacky to try laying any masking tape on it. I read the back of the can, and it said to spray at 85% humidity! At that percentage around here, it's raining, and I hafta spray outside! 

Any ideas why they recommend that high humidity?

[espo]

8 hours ago, Bucky said:

Well...today I checked the Krylon Gloss White I sprayed on the Boss Nova Saturday night. It's still just a wee bit too tacky to try laying any masking tape on it. I read the back of the can, and it said to spray at 85% humidity! At that percentage around here, it's raining, and I hafta spray outside! 

Any ideas why they recommend that high humidity?

That is most likely the max humidity level rather than suggested. 

[Tom Geiger]

13 hours ago, Mike999 said:

%$#$#@!!!  Back to the drawing board.  And the parts box.  I tried several different starters.  And mocked each one up, by temporarily attaching the header, while checking to see if it would fit around the starter and still connect to the exhaust pipe.  

I feel your pain! Going through the same thing with a Jeepster transfer case that won’t fit under the floor!

A lot of rodders use aftermarket mini starters because of this. Just cut starter length down as needed and nobody should complain 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Got a little more done on a "minimal" upgrade of the engine for a 1/24 GTO project...which is turning into brain surgery. As little of the damm thing as is going to show, I should have just used one of the decent 1/25 engines...but noooooooo. I had to take a POS blobular mess and make it into a nice representation of the real thing.

Oh well. Guess I can make a mold of it so I won't have so much work next time. 

[Brudda]

Well painted two yesterday. Was 100 degrees here. Paint dries real fast. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

5 minutes ago, Brudda said:

Well painted two yesterday. Was 100 degrees here. Paint dries real fast. 

Those look great. Nice work.

[Brudda]

Just now, Ace-Garageguy said:

Those look great. Nice work.

Thank you sir

[TransAmMike]

Whoa, painting in 100 degrees?  Sure is a beautiful yellow paint job.  May I ask if air brushed or spray can and what paint??

[Deuces ll]

Daytona yellow????..... ??

[cobraman]

I got the clear applied to my Mustang Mach 1 concept. Used Duplicolor clear. I don't think I care for it much.

[oldscool]

Today I repainted the hood on my GTX flat black because it just looks right to me even though it's not factory correct. The original paint I had on the hood was much rougher than the rest of the body anyway. Never cared for the wide stripes that Ma Mopar put on these cars. Also went to Hobby Lobby after work and bought up some Model Master bottle paint in the colors that I use the most.

Consider it the modellers version of toilet paper panic buying.?

 

[Tom Geiger]

I worked on the fitting of the 4x4 transfer case into my Jeepster today. I needed to create a bump in the floor alongside the transmission jump to allow for it to fit. I found a shape in my scrap box, cut it to size, then glued and putties it in.  Floor now will sit flat!   Putty drying, will sand it all tomorrow!

[Modlbldr]

Threw some paint Rust-Oleum Winter Grey on a rebuilder Mack Bulldog that I disassembled earlier this week.

Later-

[ChrisBcritter]

In the last couple days I did a bunch of work on the '62 Newport's chassis. Got the other torsion bar out intact and cut the axle end to remove the wheel; removed the engine by drilling and cutting the blob of glue on the transmission tailshaft; broke the front crossmember trying to cut the glue where the oil pan was attached, and sawed off the front of the chassis with the radiator so I could repair the crossmember. The car had sat for a long time with something on top of it so the torsion bars were twisted beyond use and the chassis was tweaked a bit, but I repaired and straightened the crossmember, and very very carefully drilled and pinned the front of the chassis and reinstalled it - now it's all much straighter. Removed the air cleaner and sawed off and realigned the intake manifold to make that fit, and... Hey! WAKE UP! 

Well, my own fault for deciding to resurrect what was supposed to be a parts car for the other one... 

[Tom Geiger]

Chris, have you thought about an upgraded chassis?  Lindberg 64 Dodge / Plymouth or one of the Moebius cars?

[Tom Geiger]

 

Working on the Jeepster. The four cylinder transfer case sat next to transmission and didn’t fit under kit floorboard.

Modified version where I widened the trans tunnel to the right to make it fit. Maybe one more go with putty, but pretty much where it needs to be. It probably going to be black, so it should look fine.

[Spottedlaurel]

16 hours ago, Tom Geiger said:

Working on the Jeepster. The four cylinder transfer case sat next to transmission and didn’t fit under kit floorboard.

Modified version where I widened the trans tunnel to the right to make it fit. Maybe one more go with putty, but pretty much where it needs to be. It probably going to be black, so it should look fine.

Will the seats then fit OK?

Aside from continuing progress on the Maserati and Corvette, both of which have their own WIP threads, I got the Datsun Roadster back to where it was 10 years ago. Then:

Fujimi 1:24 Nissan Fairlady Roadster by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

And now:

1:24 Fujimi Datsun Fairlady Roadster kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

As reported previously, it got to the point of being almost finished with BMF applied, then ended up on the floor. Local repairs didn't work, so it got stripped and luckily I found a pretty close match in the local car parts shop. It matches the original more closely than these photos suggest, which is good as the floorpan and underbonnet areas were all painted body colour. It appears that I've applied it more thinly this time, as the badging looks a bit crisper so it should be an easier job to detail (but then my eyesight is 10 years worse). Wet sand and final coat or two to go, then I can finish it up along with few others during my forthcoming holiday.

[Tom Geiger]

6 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Will the seats then fit OK?

Yes! I was very careful and constantly test fit as I went along. I’ve had the entire interior mock assembled with tape and in/out of the body too!   Learned the hard way over the years!

[ChrisBcritter]

On 7/24/2020 at 10:34 AM, Tom Geiger said:

Chris, have you thought about an upgraded chassis?  Lindberg 64 Dodge / Plymouth or one of the Moebius cars?

Thought about it briefly, but decided to go with the stock chassis since it fits the body. I may use some 1/16" steel axles to replace the warped torsion bars, but I don't feel like doing a full dress-up on this one like with the '65 Nova project.

[Mike999]

Interior & trim work continued on the "Flea Market Special," a beater AMT '59 El Camino with beater camper. 

One thing I learned from websites about the real cars: the stock '59 Elky interior didn't have carpet.  It had a black vinyl floor mat with flecks that matched the interior. Interiors were only available in gray, green, or blue. According to one site: "Unfortunately, moisture could become trapped beneath these mats, causing floor pans to rust as the years went by."  So my Elky's floor will be bare and rusty.  That meant I had to grind/sand off the floor mat texture in the kit.

Interior parts, carefully shaved/harvested from an AMT '62 Chevy:  fresh air vents (in the kick panels), window cranks/door handles and arm rests.  In the kit, these are all molded in and "flat."  Boring.  The '62 Chevy items are 3D and will look much better.

I also ground off the molded-in brake and clutch pedals, replaced with some from the parts box.  The '62 Chevy donated its parking brake pedal, with rework. 

The Elky kit doesn't have any detail for the radio or the heater controls.  Also boring.  Cut out/sanded down the heater control panel from...yep, the '62 Chevy.  Hogged out the radio and left a hole.  I'll stuff an aftermarket stereo in there, and add speakers on the panel behind the seats.  All common "shade-tree mods" to these cars, once they hit their third or fourth owners.  

Just for fun, I cut out the ashtray door.  I might run a coiled power cord from the cigar lighter socket in the ash tray, hooked to a cell phone or something. 

The kit comes with a custom console.  Modified that to look like a home-made console caddy, that I can fill with random junk.

Trim:  I did the chrome, and the '59 Elky had a lot of it!  Even though I removed a couple of side pieces and drilled holes where the trim clips would have been. The car is a rusty, faded beater, so I thought BMF might be too shiny.  Did the chrome with a silver Sharpie, and hit a few random places with Molotow, for some variety.

[Tom Geiger]

Got this far on the boat tail.. 

[Deuces ll]

Nice.....

[espo]

19 hours ago, Mike999 said:

Interior & trim work continued on the "Flea Market Special," a beater AMT '59 El Camino with beater camper. 

One thing I learned from websites about the real cars: the stock '59 Elky interior didn't have carpet.  It had a black vinyl floor mat with flecks that matched the interior. Interiors were only available in gray, green, or blue. According to one site: "Unfortunately, moisture could become trapped beneath these mats, causing floor pans to rust as the years went by."  So my Elky's floor will be bare and rusty.  That meant I had to grind/sand off the floor mat texture in the kit.

Interior parts, carefully shaved/harvested from an AMT '62 Chevy:  fresh air vents (in the kick panels), window cranks/door handles and arm rests.  In the kit, these are all molded in and "flat."  Boring.  The '62 Chevy items are 3D and will look much better.

I also ground off the molded-in brake and clutch pedals, replaced with some from the parts box.  The '62 Chevy donated its parking brake pedal, with rework. 

The Elky kit doesn't have any detail for the radio or the heater controls.  Also boring.  Cut out/sanded down the heater control panel from...yep, the '62 Chevy.  Hogged out the radio and left a hole.  I'll stuff an aftermarket stereo in there, and add speakers on the panel behind the seats.  All common "shade-tree mods" to these cars, once they hit their third or fourth owners.  

Just for fun, I cut out the ashtray door.  I might run a coiled power cord from the cigar lighter socket in the ash tray, hooked to a cell phone or something. 

The kit comes with a custom console.  Modified that to look like a home-made console caddy, that I can fill with random junk.

Trim:  I did the chrome, and the '59 Elky had a lot of it!  Even though I removed a couple of side pieces and drilled holes where the trim clips would have been. The car is a rusty, faded beater, so I thought BMF might be too shiny.  Did the chrome with a silver Sharpie, and hit a few random places with Molotow, for some variety.

I like your beater El Camino ideas. You're correct about the floor covering. A friend of mine used to have a '59 many years ago. The floor had a rubber covering with a simulated carpet  finish on it. His was worn where his heal would rest on the floor by the gas pedal and most of the area directly in front of the driver was also worn and the woven mat that was between the floor and the mat was sticking out on some areas and others were just the metal floor. The center transmission hump was almost like new and the passenger side was in somewhat better condition. I mention this as it might save you a little sanding on the floor of your model. The seat was gray vinyl and looked pretty much like a low line Bel Air type pattern. His had the romp'n stomp'n 283 2 bbl. and Powerslipe transmission.  

[Mike999]

24 minutes ago, espo said:

The seat was gray vinyl and looked pretty much like a low line Bel Air type pattern.

Thanks for the comments and help.  You're right, all '59 El Caminos originally had the low-line Bel Air style interior.  Most of the ones still running have been over-restored with Impala seats, door panels, steering wheels etc.  Even some aftermarket companies only sell the fancier Impala interior parts for '59 El Caminos.

Photos of original interiors are very hard to find.  For anyone else building a stock '59 Elky, here's an unrestored original.  It's in Norway, of all places. This one has power windows, which seems kind of unusual.

Edited July 28, 2020 by Mike999
goof

[espo]

1 minute ago, Mike999 said:

Thanks for the comments and help.  You're right, all '59 El Caminos originally had the low-line Bel Air style interior.  Most of the ones still running have been over-restored with Impala seats, door panels, steering wheels etc.  Even some aftermarket companies only sell the fancier Impala interior parts for '59 El Caminos.

Photos of original interiors are very hard to find.  For anyone else building a stock '59 Elky, here's an unrestored original.  It's in Norway, of all places. This one has power windows, which seems kind of unusual.

 

 

Except for being clean this is it alright. My friend got it from his father after he had worn it out.