60's styled 2005 "RETRO-VETTE" COUPE

[E St. Kruiser50]

absolutley beautifull dave! just one question, when did you say you were going to send it here?? :D like you said "its fun to pretend"

Thanks Jeff

Got a different set of handles to use. These on the door's look to big to me.

Later this morning I'll start on the seat's, after I go out for breakfast with a friend.

Car should be done today or tomorrow. EEEEHAH

Be good - dave

[E St. Kruiser50]

Exquisite. Really cool how you're addin' another dimension to the modely world, Dave. The smell of leather. mucho coolness

Hey John - Thanks

Gonna have the ol' girl done today, maybe tomorrow at the latest.

Been a fun ride, but got some other COOL PROJECTS just "Sizzlin", and need to get after um.

Lot smaller builds and less time for them.

Be fun to see this all done, and getr in a case.

Later - dave

[white00gt]

Amazing work/detail

I know this has been covered a million and one times(now a million and two )Sorry did a search but couldnt find any tutorials

but what thickness did you use for the leather and how did you get it to stay on without any glue "bleeding through", lastly where would you get leather pieces like that?

Edited March 10, 2009 by white00gt

[E St. Kruiser50]

Amazing work/detail

I know this has been covered a million and one times(now a million and two )Sorry did a search but couldnt find any tutorials

but what thickness did you use for the leather and how did you get it to stay on without any glue "bleeding through", lastly where would you get leather pieces like that?

Hey GT - How are ya?

Yeah, it was covered, but sorta buried in all the post's.

The leather I use comes in "Skins" from Denmark, and unfortunately, at least where I come from, isn't available in pieces.

They're usually around 9-18 square feet, and you're charged by the square foot.

My experience is, you have to go to a leather supply store and buy what you think will work. That's how I did it.

The skin thickness is catagorized by a numbering system, 1 & 2, being the thinist - around .013" - .020" thick - about the thickness of a #79 micro-mini drill. Extremely thin and supple.

If you go to a thrift shop and look for women's leather purses and winter gloves, or look for men's driving gloves, that could be an inexpensive source for your "Skins".

I use Testor's styrene glue glue sparingly, and there's never been a problem with bleed-through.

Hope all this helps.

Good luck - dave

[Tony T]

I just stumbled upon this thread...and proceeded to read every post, and take in every picture.

I am speechless! Dave, you've done some awesome imagineering here! Wow!

I can't wait to see the final reveal. Very cool, absolutely awesome build!

I'm looking forward to retiring, in 20 years or so!!

[Foxer]

OMG! that is looking fantastic. Even in the pics the sheen off the leather looks great.

rambling.. seeing all that cut material brings back memories.. in 1960 ( !! ) at ripe age of 14, I upholstered a 40 Ford Sedan (chopped, channeled, sectioned.. 48 scale inches high) with alternate strips of corduroy, 2 ribs to the strip to simulate tuck & roll. Never with the sewing skills I see here thou.. ! ehhe

[E St. Kruiser50]

Here's where my OCD comes in handy LOL

Three pieces on the left are one seat and there'll be more pieces, but haven't finished figuring out where to go on the cutting part.

I think there will eventually be either five or seven pieces per seat that'll be covered in leather.

You'll find out when I do .

Gotta get a plan before I do much more.

Started knifing the back off the right seat a bit ago, and may finish that tonight. Takes awhile.

Anyhow, here's a couple up-date pic's.

This is a small "scrap" that I cut from the outside edge of the "Skin", which is actually the belly of the animal, where the skin is the thinnest. The animal is split length-wise at the belly. The back area, or the center of the skin, is the thickest.

After cutting it out, I used my oil-based black dye to color the piece, and it'll need to dry until tomorrow, before I start cutting. Hope I cut out enough .

Edited March 11, 2009 by Treehugger Dave

[mountaindewd]

Hey Dave,

New member here. I've been sitting here for the last hour and a half reading through this thread and must say your craftsmanship is inspiring. The details are beautiful.

I took about 12 yrs. off from the hobby and have slowly been working back into it for a couple years now, more or less trying to hone simple scratching skills building custom sleepers for trucks and a few kits got finished along the way.

I have a few rods planned for the bench and want to experiment with tricks like the doors and hatch to start. Could you tell me what you use to cut them out with to keep the gaps so tight?

Thanks for posting the progress on this build! You are most certainly one of the craftsmen that allow this hobby to venture into the genre of art. Most impressive!

Regards,

Les

[E St. Kruiser50]

Hey Dave,

New member here. I've been sitting here for the last hour and a half reading through this thread and must say your craftsmanship is inspiring. The details are beautiful.

I took about 12 yrs. off from the hobby and have slowly been working back into it for a couple years now, more or less trying to hone simple scratching skills building custom sleepers for trucks and a few kits got finished along the way.

I have a few rods planned for the bench and want to experiment with tricks like the doors and hatch to start. Could you tell me what you use to cut them out with to keep the gaps so tight?

Thanks for posting the progress on this build! You are most certainly one of the craftsmen that allow this hobby to venture into the genre of art. Most impressive!

Regards,

Les

Hey Les . Nice to hear from you.

Glad your back into the hobby.

I see this is your first post here on the forum. WELCOME !!!

Hope you join in and stick around.

It's a fun place here, with a lot great people, and really great builder's.

For cutting opening feature's, door's, etc., I use a #11 Exacto blade, and I used to use the back side like most guy's do here, and use it as a scribe, but discovered that if I use the sharp blade side, almost no material in removed, and the gap stay's much tighter.

It take's longer to do, and is DEFINETLY more dangerous, as the sharp edge is coming at you vs., the dull side coming at you, so it can be really tricky. I have a fresh bandaide on my left pointy finger from today .

Anyway, hope to see some posts of your work here - dave

[E St. Kruiser50]

Hey all

Takin' a bit longer to get these seat's done. Partly because of a busy life right now, and partly because there's more parts, and the leather preperation is more involved that I was expecting.

The dying process takes a day to dry and then I needed to apply a black creme conditioner/polish, that helps brings back the luster and suppleness to the surface, and that has to dry over-night, then polish.

I didn't start with enough leather either, so I have to dye another piece, and go down and buy some more of the conditioner that comes from a boot store here in town.

Each seat now has 6 pieces of plastic, with two more scrap pieces for back up on the center piece, for a total of 8 pieces of plastic, plus 6 pieces of leather, for a total of 14 pieces for each seat. 28 pieces in all.

Here's a pic of the plastic pieces for one seat. All of these will be covered with leather.

Edited March 12, 2009 by Treehugger Dave

[E St. Kruiser50]

The interior detail on this kit is really nice. The seat's have plenty of detail too, but need to be deepened and widened by using a file shown here.

The next step is to cut the leather a little larger than you need, then put glue in those "Accentuated" deep details one at a time, and then I use a flattened on the end wood ice cream stick, that has been shaped to a flat point, so I can press the leather into the deep area where the glue was applied, then let it dry, before going on to the next area. Very 'Meticulous" and time consuming, but well worth it when done.

Anyhow, here's a few new pic's.

The flat piece is done and the other is started and drying.

Here's 5 of the 6 pieces started. The 6th is the center piece which has to be reinforced, narrowed and then the leather colored yellow to match the outside of the car, and then applied.

Here's some of what it takes to do this.

Here's the other pieces of leather I had to cut out and dye, because I didn't start with enough, and also the boot creme I'll use to give the leather some more softness and sheen.

Edited March 12, 2009 by Treehugger Dave

[Clay]

Wow Dave, I just wanted to say thanks for going into so much detail and acutally showing us the processes

[E St. Kruiser50]

Well here's one of the seat's with all it's black dyed leather and the yellow center area that help's open up the car, and give it some depth and contrast, as well as tie the inside to the outside.

A little hard to see all the detail, because it's black.

[Raul_Perez]

Looking good, Dave!!

It's almost time to wrap this one up and drop it in the mail to me!!

Later,

[george 53]

Davearino, Your killin me Bro! I hacked up an old leather purse my wife gave me,an I'm TRYING to cut the leather as thin as yours, but I keep slicing thru to the other side!Is there a trick to it? or just your sheer patience? I start on the leather side, but after a few mm's. I end up going THRU it to the suede side. How thin is your stock? the leather I'm useing is only like a 64th or so thick. Is it too thin? I just figgerd the thinner it was, the better it would lay into the contours of the seat. Either way Daddy-O, you've inspired me to go that next step and give it a shot. Never be as good as you, but I can sure as hell give it a try!!! Like Clay said, THANX for the wip pics

[E St. Kruiser50]

Davearino, Your killin me Bro! I hacked up an old leather purse my wife gave me,an I'm TRYING to cut the leather as thin as yours, but I keep slicing thru to the other side!Is there a trick to it? or just your sheer patience? I start on the leather side, but after a few mm's. I end up going THRU it to the suede side. How thin is your stock? the leather I'm useing is only like a 64th or so thick. Is it too thin? I just figgerd the thinner it was, the better it would lay into the contours of the seat. Either way Daddy-O, you've inspired me to go that next step and give it a shot. Never be as good as you, but I can sure as hell give it a try!!! Like Clay said, THANX for the wip pics

Hey george

That's really cool you're doin' the leather thing.

I just use the leather the way it comes. A 1/64th of an inch shoud be fine to use. Never tried what your doing.

Try doing samples using the Testor's styrene glue, and cover some pieces with contour so you can learn to stretch it and have it stay in place.

It took me more than several tries to get it right, just don't give up.

I guess most of what I do looks pretty effortless, but everything I've learned wasn't easy at all. I just never quit trying 'till I get it. Determination

After a while you'll get it, and you'll be so proud of yourself and excited.

When that happen's, post some pic's, so I get to see how you're doin' to

Anyhow, good luck, and if ya got more question's, just fire away - dave

[E St. Kruiser50]

Well guy's, she's all done .

Harry got in touch with me some time ago and asked if I wanted to do this.

It took me a while to decide , yeah, about two seconds , so THE FIRST PIC'S of the completely finished car, with wheels/tires, exhaust, etc., will be in a multi page article by Harry in July.

I WON'T POST THEM HERE until after the july issue is out. SEE YOU THERE .

Thanks for all of everyone's support and Harry's "Art Work" and suggestion's - Dave

Edited March 13, 2009 by Treehugger Dave

[MrObsessive]

Fantastic craftsmanship with those seats Dave!

I think I'll just stick to paint for the time being!

Your point about sticking with some new technique is a good one though............determination is the key!

I nearly gave up on roll up windows several times on the '57 'Vette years ago because of the strange way the windows have to roll down.

I got curious and spent money on an actual assembly manual of the car coming down the line and got to see first hand what kind of window regulator the car had...............it made me that more determined once I saw it.

One of the favorite quotes I've heard said............"Results will follow desire!"

[Clay]

Well, where's the pictures?!?!

[Harry P.]

Well, where's the pictures?!?!

Did you read Dave's last post???

[sfhess]

Wow. Embargoed model car pics.

This has been an interesting build to watch. It will be nice to see the completed car when the July issue comes out.

Are you bringing it to GSL Dave?

[Harry P.]

Wow. Embargoed model car pics.

This has been an interesting build to watch. It will be nice to see the completed car when the July issue comes out.

For all you subscribers... look for the July issue, it's going to be a blockbuster!

For all of you who don't subscribe... number one, why the heck not???

And number two... start saving that allowance money! You're definitely going to want to snag the July issue, I guarantee it!

[Clay]

Did you read Dave's last post???

He edited it after I posted....

[Bernard Kron]

Wow. Embargoed model car pics....

Totally understandable. Frustrating as heck, but totally understandable. Luckily I'm a subscriber.

Will you show it at the Pacific NW NNL Model Car Fest on April 18? I'm planning on coming down from Seattle for it (missed the Bob Paeth Memorial due to going to the NNL West) and was sooo loking forward to seeing it and perhaps meeting you and Fletch.

[E St. Kruiser50]

Totally understandable. Frustrating as heck, but totally understandable. Luckily I'm a subscriber.

Will you show it at the Pacific NW NNL Model Car Fest on April 18? I'm planning on coming down from Seattle for it (missed the Bob Paeth Memorial due to going to the NNL West) and was sooo loking forward to seeing it and perhaps meeting you and Fletch.

Hey Bernard

This "CLIFF HANGER" was my idea, as I'm a real people person and love to joke around, and I love the people here on this forum, and was sure everyone would have fun with this.

For me this is sorta "tongue in cheek" fun, not meant to be serious, or a "SECRET" for any "DEVIOUS" reasons, but something new and fun for the magazine, and for all of you.

Expectations can be a lot of fun, and remember I HAVE TO WAIT TO, JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.

I hope this new idea doesn't upset anyone, as this is for the fun of it, and hopefully will stimulate more interests and growth in our hobby, this forum and the magazine.

Bernard, I haven't thought that far ahead about our NNL in April, but will definetly be there, and looking forward to meeting you, and hopefully buying some kits I'll be looking for.

I guess there's just never enough kit's in the ol' "CLOSET" .

Any comments about this is greatly appreciated.

Thanks everyone for making this build so much fun for me.

I look forward to many more here - dave

Edited March 14, 2009 by Treehugger Dave