‘75 Gremlin pro touring slammer

[Steve H]

1 hour ago, Tom Geiger said:

Whoa!  That is way too cool ?! 

I’d love to see the Dobberton J2000 reissued again!  A lot of guys build with that chassis. I’d like to blend the body with the Chevy Cavalier kit for a stock one to sit next to my Cavalier!

Hi Tom, I’m with you there. I have had two J2000’s and two Baretta’s. they are all pretty much parted out now. They do show up at swap meets for reasonable prices from time to time. 

[Claude Thibodeau]

9 hours ago, Steve H said:

Hi Tom, I’m with you there. I have had two J2000’s and two Baretta’s. they are all pretty much parted out now. They do show up at swap meets for reasonable prices from time to time. 

Hi Tom & Steve!

Actually, the Beretta has been reissued lately. It is on the shelves of many LHS. The box art depicts a street-race scene with a green flamed Beretta. FYI...

CT

[Steve H]

Hi all, got a bit of desk time over the weekend. 
Started some work on the chassis. As Dave mentioned earlier I this thread the chassis is wayyyyyy to narrow. I used some square styrene to widen it out. The body will be channeled over the chassis, so I may do a bit more once ride height is established. My plan is still to do very minimal work on the chassis. I needed to move the inner front fenders in to fit the wider tires, I will reattach later. I can’t remember what the blue plastic piece is from, I modified it  to be a 9V battery holder. More on that in a later post.

The body work is close. One or two more rounds of fill, sand, prime, and should be there. 
I mocked up the body and chassis to get a feel for ride height. I’m going to aim for just a tick lower in the rear, front looks good.

Hopefully have more to share later in the week.

Thanks for looking, all comments welcome 

Cheers, Steve

[1930fordpickup]

The rear is looing great. 

[AmericanMuscleFan]

Great start Steve, the Pontiac's front chin that you have grafted fits very well and the taillights give it a more modern look!   Do you use LEDs for lighting or if these are traditional mini incandescent bulbs like those used by model train enthusiasts, I'm just curious?

[bobthehobbyguy]

Nice work so far. I think your choice for the front is perfect. I think the front looks better with the gremlin grill rather than the j2000. In the rear the changes work well with the rest of the car. Keep up the good work.

[cobraman]

Nice work, looking good !

[Jantrix]

I have this kit and the custom AMT set aside. I'll be taking notes here. Good work so far.

[doorsovdoon]

Just in mock-up I can see how sweet this is going to look! Very nice.

[Steve H]

10 hours ago, AmericanMuscleFan said:

Great start Steve, the Pontiac's front chin that you have grafted fits very well and the taillights give it a more modern look!   Do you use LEDs for lighting or if these are traditional mini incandescent bulbs like those used by model train enthusiasts, I'm just curious?

Hi Francis! Thanks for checking in sir. I’m quite pleased with the front end, I had a few options on the bench, no regrets about what I chose. I use LED’s, this is only my second car with lights. I will give more info on them when I get to that part of the build. SUPER easy to install, especially on a slammer build. I have plans (possibly my next build) to do a full detail El Camino build with working lights, I’m thinking a hard cover on the bed to hide the battery. 
Cheers, Steve

[Steve H]

10 hours ago, bobthehobbyguy said:

Nice work so far. I think your choice for the front is perfect. I think the front looks better with the gremlin grill rather than the j2000. In the rear the changes work well with the rest of the car. Keep up the good work.

Thanks Bob, I do think it may have looked cool with the whole J2000 front, but it might have been TOO different, so happy with how it looks.

Cheers

9 hours ago, cobraman said:

Nice work, looking good !

Hi Ray, thanks for the kind words.

7 hours ago, Jantrix said:

I have this kit and the custom AMT set aside. I'll be taking notes here. Good work so far.

Hi Rob, if I were doing a detail build, I think I would be researching a replacement chassis. Very little detail to work with, and a lot of the parts lack any crispness at all. I don’t want to discourage anyone though, cause it is kinda cool. I’m actually growing to like the lines of the car!

Thanks for looking

6 hours ago, doorsovdoon said:

Just in mock-up I can see how sweet this is going to look! Very nice.

Hi Gareth !! Thank you sir, I will do my best at making this little beast look cool. Hopefully the lights will be enough of a distraction to hide any mistakes when I’m done.

[Steve H]

21 hours ago, 1930fordpickup said:

The rear is looing great. 

Hi Andy, thanks for your compliment. It is starting to take shape, a bit more clean up to do but close. I think it will look good with the flush mount working rear lights. Thanks for looking!

[slusher]

I love the front and the back! Really nice work!

[Steve H]

20 hours ago, slusher said:

I love the front and the back! Really nice work!

Thanks Carl !! 

[Stingray wes]

Tuned in on this one! 

[Claude Thibodeau]

Hi Steve!

I'm ashamed it took me so long, but the light went on in my head this afternoon. My grand daughter was taking a nap on my lap, and I was leafing trought the latest Contest Car, and  saw that candy red 66 Chevelle in a report from NNL West. The caption contained the words Acadian Canso. Uh? Can this be a guy from Canada? West coast, like, near BC? Then, I connected the dots: it IS the Steve Hayden that I chat with on this forum! But wait, there's more: a great rod PU, plus a Highboy 32 Sedan in the report from Deuce Day...

All great cars, and well deserved appearances in Contest Car. Congrats again!

Regards,

CT 

[Steve H]

2 hours ago, Claude Thibodeau said:

Hi Steve!

I'm ashamed it took me so long, but the light went on in my head this afternoon. My grand daughter was taking a nap on my lap, and I was leafing trought the latest Contest Car, and  saw that candy red 66 Chevelle in a report from NNL West. The caption contained the words Acadian Canso. Uh? Can this be a guy from Canada? West coast, like, near BC? Then, I connected the dots: it IS the Steve Hayden that I chat with on this forum! But wait, there's more: a great rod PU, plus a Highboy 32 Sedan in the report from Deuce Day...

All great cars, and well deserved appearances in Contest Car. Congrats again!

Regards,

CT 

Hello Claude, it’s me!  Well, to be precise the caption contained “Beaumont”, I’m lucky enough to own a ‘67 2 door hardtop. Thanks for connecting the dots. Not sure if you have been over here for Duece days, but I promise you it is AMAZING. It’s the largest gathering of deuces in the world, the atmosphere is .... well, you just have to come and experience it. And bring some scale models too! Included a couple photos from deuce days, yes the first on is the view from my Beaumont,

Cheers

[Claude Thibodeau]

Hi Steve!

Thanks for the pics. This is obviously a well attended event! I'll put it on my bucket list. 

I had a 32 3W that I built in 2004, drove it around and then sold it in 2006. Here's a blurry pic I found in the online coverage of the Rhinebeck NY GoodGuys event I attended in 2006. Thats the only "digitized" pick I have. I did not own a digital camera back then. 

CT

[Steve H]

13 hours ago, Claude Thibodeau said:

Hi Steve!

Thanks for the pics. This is obviously a well attended event! I'll put it on my bucket list. 

I had a 32 3W that I built in 2004, drove it around and then sold it in 2006. Here's a blurry pic I found in the online coverage of the Rhinebeck NY GoodGuys event I attended in 2006. Thats the only "digitized" pick I have. I did not own a digital camera back then. 

CT

 

 

Claude, see you here in Beautiful Victoria in 2022!  Hopefully by then there will be a vaccine, and we can once again be in large gatherings...like the old days. If you come, PM me, and bring some models for “Duece Days in Scale”! As someone that builds 1/1 cars you would be in heaven. I believe there is about  1100 cars, and they come from all over North America. It is quite a spectacle, our city gets taken over by hot rods and gear heads, everyone that owns a classic car is out cruising. And yes, it is VERY well attended.

That is a stunning 32 that you built, knowing the details in your 1/25 cars, I can only imagine all the details in the 1/1. Colour is spectacular. 
 

Cheers, Steve

[Claude Thibodeau]

12 hours ago, Steve H said:

Claude, see you here in Beautiful Victoria in 2022!  Hopefully by then there will be a vaccine, and we can once again be in large gatherings...like the old days. If you come, PM me, and bring some models for “Duece Days in Scale”! As someone that builds 1/1 cars you would be in heaven. I believe there is about  1100 cars, and they come from all over North America. It is quite a spectacle, our city gets taken over by hot rods and gear heads, everyone that owns a classic car is out cruising. And yes, it is VERY well attended.

That is a stunning 32 that you built, knowing the details in your 1/25 cars, I can only imagine all the details in the 1/1. Colour is spectacular. 
 

Cheers, Steve

Hi Steve!

I'll try to make it. I've visited the Alberta mountains, but never seen BC. So, why not? 

Thanks for the comments on the 1/1 32. The colour is a Nissan 350Z hue, circa 2002-2003, called FAUVE ORANGE. Base coat/clear coat. Truly pops under the sun!

[Steve H]

Hi all, sorry for lack of progress, it’s been a couple of weeks, with almost no desk time. My wife had a second surgery on a badly broken foot, and I did my Christmas lights early this year, and I do LOTS of lights. I feel we all need a little “light” in our lives right now, so trying to do my part. 
 

Chassis is in paint now, battery holder done, including Velcro strap to hold in place. I know I said no motor earlier, but, there will be the bottom half of the motor and exhaust. Still some detailing to do on motor, but not much. The body work is close, likely one more round of fill, sand, prime...
I will do a few detail photos and description on lighting soon, I’m probably not the right person to do a tutorial though. This is my second car with lights, both are slammers. I plan on doing a full detail build with lights soon...

Cheers, thanks for following 

 

[Steve H]

Hi all, still haven’t had much desk time, got a little done in the last couple of days though, so thought I would share. 
I made a couple of tail light “reflectors” from sheet styrene. The inside is covered with BMF for reflectivity when the lights are not on. A small hole drilled to poke the LED light thru. These pieces will be glued on after body is painted.

To prevent “unwanted” light from shining under car I paint the backs of the LED’s with black paint. 

For the wheels, I decided to try something a little different. I often use Tamiya smoke on my chrome to tone down the shine a bit. 
For this build, I wanted little or no chrome, so I decided to go heavy with the smoke for a black chrome look.  First pic is side by side with unpainted and smoked.  Probably not everyone’s taste, but I am really pleased with the look.

I did the same treatment on the grill. The kit did not have lenses for the turn signals. A quick dive in the parts stash turned up a tinted rear Camaro tail light. Perfect! In keeping with the tint theme I cut a couple of pieces and painted the backs with clear orange, added some BMF and voila!

Thats it for now...

[Claude Thibodeau]

Hi Steve!

Great work, it will provide luminous results, I'm certain!

To your smoke tint: I've seen that Billet Specialties started to offer a smoke finish on some of their polished billet wheels about two years ago. A smidge less dark than yours, but I can't wait to see yours in place.

A report on the 2019 SEMA show indicated that all sorts of "tinted" wheels are the rage. Many feature a frosted candy look. 

Keep on!

CT 

[Steve H]

Hi guys, time to wrap this one up. 
This wasn’t a “quick build” on the calendar, but really didn’t spend much time at the desk. It won’t win any contests, but will look good in the display case. 
The lights went more or less as planned, I mounted the switch in the gas tank...

The original plan was to have the battery mounted to the body...

however, due to the amount I channeled the body over the chassis, there was a fitment issue. So I carefully removed the battery holder and mounted it to the chassis....

The wiring is super simple. I highly recommend anyone to try this. “Evan Designs” has a great website, with lots of interesting lighting products and info. For this project I didn’t spend any time trying to hide the wires as it really wasn’t necessary, however, I plan on doing some lights on a full detail build in the future and I don’t think it would be too difficult to camouflage the wires. 
The body is now painted and polished, so I’m going to call this one good enough and put it under glass. Thanks to those who followed and contributed comments, much appreciated!

 

Cheers, Steve

[Bills72sj]

I really liked what you did on this build. Great creativity.