1964 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible.

[CabDriver]

That whole engine is awesome…but the weathered finish on the trans is particularly well done.  Is that Alclad Steve?  

Love the realistic finish you got there 

[StevenGuthmiller]

2 hours ago, CabDriver said:

That whole engine is awesome…but the weathered finish on the trans is particularly well done.  Is that Alclad Steve?  

Love the realistic finish you got there 

Yes, most of the metal parts on the engine are painted in various shades of Alclad paints.

 

 

 

Steve

[David G.]

Perfect right down to the manufacturer's marks on the belts. 😮 

David G.

[StevenGuthmiller]

Now that the engine is done, I can move on to the chassis.

 

First, I needed to move the transmission cross member forward a ways.

The lengthening of the chassis and the shorter transmission than the Moebius transmission made it necessary to readjust.

 

 

 

Next, the hollow front frame rails have a tendency to really bother me, so I began "boxing" them in.

 

 

And finally, as I replaced all of the wiring detail on the firewall, so I will do the same for the inner fender wells.

Got a start on that by removing most of the molded in detail, and began making a new relay for the fender well.

 

 

 

 

Steve

[tim boyd]

48 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Now that the engine is done, I can move on to the chassis.

 

First, I needed to move the transmission cross member forward a ways.

The lengthening of the chassis and the shorter transmission than the Moebius transmission made it necessary to readjust.

 

 

 

Next, the hollow front frame rails have a tendency to really bother me, so I began "boxing" them in.

 

 

And finally, as I replaced all of the wiring detail on the firewall, so I will do the same for the inner fender wells.

Got a start on that by removing most of the molded in detail, and began making a new relay for the fender well.

 

 

 

 

Steve

Magnificent progress and work on that engine/tranny, Steve.

Really great that you are taking time to share your work and knowledge here and inspire others to do the same!    Cheers....TIM    

[David G.]

Jumping in at this level on the chassis after completing so much work on the engine, it must feel like you're starting all over.

David G.

[StevenGuthmiller]

7 hours ago, David G. said:

Jumping in at this level on the chassis after completing so much work on the engine, it must feel like you're starting all over.

David G.

Sometimes yes.

But over time for me it has become evident that it’s better not to paint everything before hand when there’s any possibility whatsoever that there my be more modifications required in order for everything to fit together correctly.

It saves me a great deal of time and hassle in the long run.

 

 

Steve

[StevenGuthmiller]

Moving on with the chassis mods, my first change was re-configuring the front suspension to be steerable.

The Moebius front suspension is not steerable, but it has most of the necessary components to be able to convert it relatively simply.

First, I needed to find a suitable substitute for the tie rod, which the Revell 1966 GTO kit provided.

As an added bonus, the tie rod from the GTO is a better piece than what's molded onto the Moebius suspension as well.

 

Next, I simply needed to add some steering arms to the steering knuckles, which was ultimately accomplished by forming the arms from styrene strip, and then gluing a piece of drilled out plastic rod to the end.

These were glued to the existing knuckles.

Then the existing tie rod was removed and the new tie rod drilled out on the ends to accept some pins.

 

Looks like it should work pretty well without looking too clunky or contrived.

A little extra refining, and I can move on to other things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[StevenGuthmiller]

Kind of like Newton's third law, "For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction", every modification, "usually" requires another.

 

As the chassis needed to be stretched, which required that the transmission cross member be moved forward, (at least as is the case with the way that I stretched it) so therefore the kit exhaust will no longer fit as it should because of interference from the cross member due to it's proximity to the floor pan.

Of course the exhaust was designed to fit the Super Duty exhaust manifolds rather than stock manifolds anyway, so in any case, the exhaust pipes required replacement.

This just took a length of carefully bent plastic rod to remedy.

I'll tackle the other side and add some clamps forthwith.

 

 

 

 

Steve

[FLHCAHZ]

I can see the pictures on my IPAD. Amazing realism. Outstanding!!

[StevenGuthmiller]

10 minutes ago, FLHCAHZ said:

I can see the pictures on my IPAD. Amazing realism. Outstanding!!

Fantastic!

Glad that you can join in again!

 

 

 

Steve

[bobthehobbyguy]

Amazing work. The weathering is perfect.

[David G.]

Clever work with the steering linkage!

David G.

[StevenGuthmiller]

Thank you guys!

 

I have been rolling some ideas around in my head for a few chassis details, (although, I don't think I'm going to go crazy with it), but I was thinking about one of the more visually obvious features, and how I should approach it.

I was thinking about how to best throw in some emergency brake cables, and originally, the obligatory "wires" approach seemed to be the most likely solution.

But then I started thinking, "I really don't want to start monkeying with trying to route these wires once the chassis is painted and in the finishing stages, and there's nothing that I hate more than trying to keep exposed wire details straight and free of bends and kinks during the assembly process, and after".

In my mind at least, I figured that thin plastic would be more flexible and less likely to bend up on me as I progressed, and much easier to assemble and fit prior to the finishing stages of the build.

Granted, it would be more prone to breakage, but as flexible as stretched sprue is, it would require some fairly radical forces to break it, so, I decided that there was absolutely nothing to lose by attempting to construct an entire unit that could be painted and virtually just slipped into place towards the very end of construction.

It actually went much better than I anticipated, and installing it will require nothing more than a couple of seconds to slip it into place.

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

 

 

[Belugawrx]

Nice work Steve ..how did you get the sprue to such a length ? Mine usually get to about 1" before they stop stretching, or thin right out.

Yours seem very uniform in thickness throughout the length...

Well done

Cheers

[StevenGuthmiller]

19 minutes ago, Belugawrx said:

Nice work Steve ..how did you get the sprue to such a length ? Mine usually get to about 1" before they stop stretching, or thin right out.

Yours seem very uniform in thickness throughout the length...

Well done

Cheers

Thanks Bruce.

 

I don't really no how to describe it other than to heat the sprue over a flame until it really starts to sag, and then immediately pull on both ends with very slow and steady tension.

The slower you pull, the thicker the piece, the faster you pull, the thinner.

I've learned to be able to stretch sprue pieces probably not much thicker than a human hair, and possibly as long as 3 feet long.

 

 

 

Steve

[BDSchindler]

5 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Thank you guys!

 

I have been rolling some ideas around in my head for a few chassis details, (although, I don't think I'm going to go crazy with it), but I was thinking about one of the more visually obvious features, and how I should approach it.

I was thinking about how to best throw in some emergency brake cables, and originally, the obligatory "wires" approach seemed to be the most likely solution.

But then I started thinking, "I really don't want to start monkeying with trying to route these wires once the chassis is painted and in the finishing stages, and there's nothing that I hate more than trying to keep exposed wire details straight and free of bends and kinks during the assembly process, and after".

In my mind at least, I figured that thin plastic would be more flexible and less likely to bend up on me as I progressed, and much easier to assemble and fit prior to the finishing stages of the build.

Granted, it would be more prone to breakage, but as flexible as stretched sprue is, it would require some fairly radical forces to break it, so, I decided that there was absolutely nothing to lose by attempting to construct an entire unit that could be painted and virtually just slipped into place towards the very end of construction.

It actually went much better than I anticipated, and installing it will require nothing more than a couple of seconds to slip it into place.

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

 

 

Holy C R A P!  That is awesome work, Steve!  I'm envious of your talent! Makes me wonder why I keep focused!

Let's see...I got about 150 Kits, TONS of aftermarket parts and easily $2,000.00 in tools...$10.00 buys it all, any takers? (just kidding)

 

[StevenGuthmiller]

5 hours ago, Belugawrx said:

Nice work Steve ..how did you get the sprue to such a length ? Mine usually get to about 1" before they stop stretching, or thin right out.

Yours seem very uniform in thickness throughout the length...

Well done

Cheers

Maybe this will help Bruce?

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[StevenGuthmiller]

43 minutes ago, BDSchindler said:

Holy C R A P!  That is awesome work, Steve!  I'm envious of your talent! Makes me wonder why I keep focused!

Let's see...I got about 150 Kits, TONS of aftermarket parts and easily $2,000.00 in tools...$10.00 buys it all, any takers? (just kidding)

 

 

 

 

Steve

[David G.]

I'm not sure if I ever would have thought to think of using stretched sprue as a replacement for wire. If I did, I wouldn't have been able to get the sprue stretched so evenly and consistently.

I'm interested to see how this works in the long run.

David G.

[customline]

I just stumbled across this thread now..... it is obvious to me that Steven is a Master Craftsman. The level of detail is astounding. This is Ph D level model building.

[Scott8950]

Amazing detail work Steve. 

[Bills72sj]

On 4/5/2023 at 2:12 PM, StevenGuthmiller said:

Thank you guys!

 

I have been rolling some ideas around in my head for a few chassis details, (although, I don't think I'm going to go crazy with it), but I was thinking about one of the more visually obvious features, and how I should approach it.

I was thinking about how to best throw in some emergency brake cables, and originally, the obligatory "wires" approach seemed to be the most likely solution.

But then I started thinking, "I really don't want to start monkeying with trying to route these wires once the chassis is painted and in the finishing stages, and there's nothing that I hate more than trying to keep exposed wire details straight and free of bends and kinks during the assembly process, and after".

In my mind at least, I figured that thin plastic would be more flexible and less likely to bend up on me as I progressed, and much easier to assemble and fit prior to the finishing stages of the build.

Granted, it would be more prone to breakage, but as flexible as stretched sprue is, it would require some fairly radical forces to break it, so, I decided that there was absolutely nothing to lose by attempting to construct an entire unit that could be painted and virtually just slipped into place towards the very end of construction.

It actually went much better than I anticipated, and installing it will require nothing more than a couple of seconds to slip it into place.

 

 

Steve

 

 

 

All I can say is WOW!

[StevenGuthmiller]

Thanks everyone!

 

Some small progress on some of the chassis parts.

 

The drive shaft needed to be lengthened due to the chassis stretch and the shorter transmission.

Then, as I really didn't care for the appearance of the kit provided rear shocks, I decided to make some changes.

 

Finally, a few general chassis mock-up pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

[Kah puts]

The excellent details continue 🏒