Maserati A6GCS Spyder

[absmiami]

Ive never seen ayone else design / make an articulating mirror window - thats some scary s*it - 

[MarkJ]

16 hours ago, absmiami said:

Ive never seen ayone else design / make an articulating mirror window - thats some scary s*it - 

How does he get that glue to stick and hold? I must be doing something wrong. I agree about how scary that level of skill is. Shaping that piece of metal for the quarter glass is really impressive.

[absmiami]

Think Mr 4 uses Tamiya’s liquid glues - i’m a convert - 

[absmiami]

Using it here to peice together the footwells …

[absmiami]

.020 Evergreen sheet - drew the pattern - cut filed and sanded

[absmiami]

Using one of A4’s tricks to glue  strip on a curve - the driver side footwell cover is curved to make space for the exhaust pipes and hard lines in the engine bay - 

[absmiami]

The battery sits against the frame in the right hand footwell - and i got to make the pedal assembly - and those fuel pumps …

[absmiami]

Cleaning up the trans tunnel and boxing the right hand footwell  -  which is shorter than the driver side - with these parts glued to the chassis - i made some small adjustments to the engine mounts so that i can do the engine install when the chassis  assembly and painting is finished - 

[absmiami]

Thinner Evergreen plastic -  .012 - for the pedal box cover - to acheive the curved shape - glued w Tamiya liquid glue - 

[absmiami]

Bits and pieces of Evergreen strip used to brace the engine bulkheard and the fender panels - the bracket locating the steering column glued to the bulkhead with the bulkhead temporarily in place - 

[MarkJ]

Very clean and impressive work as always, Andrew. 

[absmiami]

gracias MJ  - 

to the dash  -  which was not standardized on the A6GCS - 2053's dash is the one with the tach within the rim of the steering wheel - this appears to be the layout for the dash for team factory cars in '54 - including Sebring - how do I know ??

Edited November 10 by absmiami

[absmiami]

as restored - 2053's layout matches the dash photographed here - this is not 2053 but another factory team entry - probably correct for 2053 at Sebring 

[Big Messer]

The thing is there are no accurate race cars restorations. Race cars change almost from race to race. A restoration will show probably an average assembled from whatever the restorer found that was period correct, everything spotless and shiny but not what was in real life. A race car is intended to win, whatever it takes. If a patch with a 2x4 piece of wood does the trick they will do it. And teams WILL cheat, hoping not to get caught.

[absmiami]

In fact, Big, 2053’s restored dash has changed over time also … the kit dash has a different layout - which ive destroyed with a sanding stick - and i’ve added some evergreen strip to the base - increasing dash height to about 11 inches - which is closer to spec - 

[absmiami]

The excellent bezel and tach gauge decal are in the kit - the bezel appears to have been machined - quite rare for a limited issue ‘garage” kit -

 

[absmiami]

More changes coming - but this is close - 

[absmiami]

So here’s a mock up of the dash - i have to figure out whether can attach the dash and driving compartment frame to the chassis - this would br preferred - before attaching the body - 

[absmiami]

Whilst pondering the above i’ve added some features to the kit seat castings - which were pretty good - the leather seating area is stretched over the basic seat frame on the real thing with fabric sides and a perforated aluminum “fabric cover” - so i’m cutting this feature out of .008 alu sheet …

[absmiami]

And i’ve added the frame support and seat tracks - not visible in the pictures of the restored car - but they have to be down there somewhere …

[MarkJ]

Man, Andrew. those seats are fabuloso. Never seen anything quite like that before. No way you could have duplicated that with any kind of paint. Awesome job.

[AmericanMuscleFan]

I've noticed you have some nice toys too, Andrew... and you know how to make the most of them, from what I can see!

However, talent can't be bought, but it seems that nature has blessed you!  It's motivating to work on a Maserati, isn't it! 😉

[absmiami]

Thanks MJ

AMF - did your first snow melt?  I caught a flurry in Calgary spending time w relations in early October - 

[absmiami]

Seats turned out well - but… er … they need paint  - restored 2053 sports red leather- no way to be certain what Maserati’s team cars used at Sebring - but ill take it - began with some primer - 

[absmiami]

The Tam red w some flat base additive - the acrylic lacquer stuff - too dark over the gray primer - so plan B -