Johan ‘70 Cadillac ElDorado pro touring (low and aggressive)

[Steve H]

On 10/2/2023 at 1:01 AM, Mattilacken said:

Verry nice progress! color looks awesome! and gona dress that body beautifully! 

Hello Anton my friend!! Great to hear from you. As for the colour, I sure hope you are right. In my head, it’s going to look amazing, now it’s time to actually do it and see how she looks. Hoping to have it green in a couple of days…
 

 

On 10/3/2023 at 3:59 AM, Zippi said:

This is looking pretty kewl.  I'm liking the color selection.  

Thanks Bob! Nice to hear from you sir.

On 10/3/2023 at 5:46 AM, bobss396 said:

I just read the whole thread. Nice choice on the chassis, I would never thought of using a WC chassis under a non stock car build. Making it up as you go along, that is the fun part.

Hi Bob, I appreciate you taking the time to read thru the thread, and commenting. The chassis selection was a little different, and Anton (“Mattilacken”) above, was somewhat responsible for leading me that way. I’m very pleased with the choice as I am aiming for an aggressive, racey platform, while retaining much of the stock lines of the car. In hindsight, there are a few things I could have done differently when modifying the chassis that would have made construction a fair bit easier, but that’s the fun in building these things right?! Stay tuned, it should be green soon, and the engine should be complete in a couple of days too. Just need to squeeze in some desk time…

Cheers, Steve

[Claude Thibodeau]

Hi Steve!

Well, if ever something was to be called "stealthy", this is IT! 

Very nice, and the mods to the body end up being so subtle, it works to great effect.

I built a 70 Eldo a few years ago, on a 66 Riv chassis, to get it to be RWD. To my surprise, most spectator at model shows never got it... LOL. 

I bought a pack of shoestring ferrules at Michael's last year, and they came in various shades, almost like anodizing. Including black. 

Keep at it, impressive, bravo!

CT

[Rattlecan Dan]

Incredible work. Just incredible. Thanks for sharing and illustrating how to.

[Steve H]

On 10/5/2023 at 8:45 AM, Claude Thibodeau said:

Hi Steve!

Well, if ever something was to be called "stealthy", this is IT! 

Very nice, and the mods to the body end up being so subtle, it works to great effect.

I built a 70 Eldo a few years ago, on a 66 Riv chassis, to get it to be RWD. To my surprise, most spectator at model shows never got it... LOL. 

I bought a pack of shoestring ferrules at Michael's last year, and they came in various shades, almost like anodizing. Including black. 

Keep at it, impressive, bravo!

CT

Hello Claude!! Thanks for the comments on the body. I hope you are right. The goal has always been to have a modified wide body, but to have it subtle enough that you have to look twice. I am really looking forward to seeing this beast in green, aiming for Sunday. I checked out, (and saved a few photos from), your 70 Eldo. Stunning work as always sir. I will definitely check for those ferrules at the local Michaels, sounds like something else I need in the stash… I have my ferrules cut down, and painted. Should have some photographic evidence of that soon… Always good to hear from you Claude, I admire your work, and truly appreciate you taking the time to check in with my progress. The pace should pick up here quite a bit now!!??

[Steve H]

On 10/5/2023 at 8:54 AM, Rattlecan Dan said:

Incredible work. Just incredible. Thanks for sharing and illustrating how to.

Hello Donato, thanks for having a look! If things go as planned, the best is yet to come. 
 

Cheers, Steve

[Ace-Garageguy]

Really, really nice.  

[Steve H]

PAINT!! At long last, the body is now in colour. It’s very hard to capture the matte finish well. I will need to get some outside shots with indirect sunlight later. It turned out as I was hoping, and the matte finish ties in the stealth aggressive look I wanted. No mock up yet, but you know I’ll have one up soon. So, after the base coat of Tamiya semi gloss black, it was 2 light coats of Vedoro green, then a medium coat. After that it was 2 light coats of Tamiya pearl clear, then one mist coat of Mr. Hobby super smooth matte clear, followed by a medium/heavy coat. I masked the window trim before applying the green. 
First two photos are in direct sunlight, then under artificial lighting.

 

I cut down some bootlace ferrules to use on the intake. They are now painted black, no photos of them finished yet, hoping to glue them in place tomorrow…

The exhaust headers would not fit between the frame rails, so after an extensive search thru kits and parts bins turned up no suitable options, I decided the easiest solution was to modify the headers that came with the engine. Cut the flange off, removed some length off the tubes and reattached. Yes… those flanges are both beautifully printed, and extremely fragile.?

Not getting too carried away with engine detail, spark plug wires, fuel rail, and I will add heater hoses later. And the finished seats which I may already have shown.??‍♂️

Very pleased to finally have this thing in colour!! Should have the engine complete tomorrow, also have some disk brakes ready for paint. With any luck, it could be a “rolling chassis” by end of Monday…

As always, thanks for having a look, all comments welcome

[Steve H]

On 10/6/2023 at 6:41 PM, Ace-Garageguy said:

Really, really nice.  

Hi Bill, I thought maybe I had lost you cause I was taking so long… Thanks for checking in again sir. Finally got those Cadillac valve covers on!!

Cheers, Steve

[Steve H]

Yep, mock time…

[Keef]

10 hours ago, Steve H said:

Yep, mock time…

All I can say is O. M. G!!! This is turning out absolutely gorgeous!!!

[Claude Thibodeau]

Hi Steve!

This car proves once again that planning your colors before a project always pay big dividends down the road... Superb!

CT

[Mattilacken]

Looks Epic!

[Steve H]

On 10/8/2023 at 6:09 AM, Keef said:

All I can say is O. M. G!!! This is turning out absolutely gorgeous!!!

Thanks Keith! It is starting to come together which has me highly motivated to bring it to the finish line.

On 10/8/2023 at 12:54 PM, Claude Thibodeau said:

Hi Steve!

This car proves once again that planning your colors before a project always pay big dividends down the road... Superb!

CT

Gotta love test spoons, they sure help. Thank you Claude. This definitely won’t be a popular colour scheme for some, but I’m pleased with how it’s looking.

 

17 hours ago, Mattilacken said:

Looks Epic!

Thank you Anton!!

[Steve H]

Getting some of the smaller details sorted out now. Disc brakes are painted and mounted.

Next was the track bar. Rather than clean the mold seams, I just cut the ends free and added a piece of aluminum tubing. 

Bringing that work together, wheels mounted, track bar installed, added a fuel pump and fuel line while I was at it. 

For the drive shaft, I used the u-joints from the Hay’s pro street T-Bird and used aluminium tubing to connect them. The paint is still drying on that… 

 

I also got some small bits painted and prepared for the interior, but nothing worth showing at this point. 
Thanks for having a look!

[bobthehobbyguy]

Impressive. Great concept. You have nailed. Love the matte finish. Looking forward to more.

You've inspired me to try doing something down the road with a Johan pikes peak Tornado.

[Steve H]

3 minutes ago, bobthehobbyguy said:

Impressive. Great concept. You have nailed. Love the matte finish. Looking forward to more.

You've inspired me to try doing something down the road with a Johan pikes peak Tornado.

Thanks Bob! I really like matte finishes on certain types of cars, it definitely suits this build in my opinion. Awesome that this has inspired thoughts for a future build for you, I love it. I hope you go for it, I’d follow along for sure. This one, as I mentioned at the beginning, was inspired somewhat by the late Juha Aurio. 
Thanks for checking in Bob, should have more soon.

[Mattilacken]

Nice progress! Chassis looks really clean and nice! Are the tires out of some kit or are they printed? 

[NOBLNG]

Love the color and the finish Steve. And I like the little recess for the door latch. I’ve been thinking of doing that to my T-Bird.

Edited October 10, 2023 by NOBLNG

[Phildaupho]

On 10/9/2023 at 8:04 PM, Steve H said:

Thanks Bob! I really like matte finishes on certain types of cars, it definitely suits this build in my opinion. Awesome that this has inspired thoughts for a future build for you, I love it. I hope you go for it, I’d follow along for sure. This one, as I mentioned at the beginning, was inspired somewhat by the late Juha Aurio. 
Thanks for checking in Bob, should have more soon.

Hi Steve - As Juha Airio personally noted -

Rumors about my death are greatly exaggerated.

I am still building.

Juha Airio - Model Cars Magazine Forum

[Steve H]

On 10/9/2023 at 11:30 PM, Mattilacken said:

Nice progress! Chassis looks really clean and nice! Are the tires out of some kit or are they printed? 

Thanks Anton, the tires are from Scale Productions. I’m not certain, but I think he gets them from other sources and uses him on his wheel sets. But again. I am not 100% certain on that. They are rubber and appear to be molded not printed. I placed a large order from him early this year, and all of the wheels and tires are beautifully done. Website has lots of detailed information and I highly recommend his products. 
 

 

On 10/10/2023 at 4:02 AM, NOBLNG said:

Love the color and the finish Steve. And I like the little recess for the door latch. I’ve been thinking of doing that to my T-Bird.

Thanks Greg. Ya when I saw the door latches on the Dutch Boys Camaro, I had to try to replicate them. They turned out ok the first time so I thought I’d do it again. My thought is that it adds a bit of detail, rather than just shaving off the door handles. 

On 10/11/2023 at 4:45 PM, Phildaupho said:

Hi Steve - As Juha Airio personally noted -

Rumors about my death are greatly exaggerated.

I am still building.

Juha Airio - Model Cars Magazine Forum

Well, this is fantastic news, and very embarrassing. I definitely read somewhere he had passed. Just proves that you can’t trust everything you read. Thank you very much for correcting this Phil. 
Juha, if you happen to read this, please accept my sincere apologies, and also thank you for inspiring this build!!

 

Sorry for the delayed replies guys, it was a busy week! Thanks you for for your interest.

[Steve H]

I managed to spend a few hours at the desk last week, and actually have a little something to show for it.

The engine and driveshaft are now installed, so chassis is “almost” complete. I did add the drain plug in  oil pan after the photo…?

 

The interior platform is coming together. I mixed black and grey embossing powder for the “carpet”, it’s not quite as “disco” looking as it appears in the photos. I made seat belt “retractors?”, still need to add a few “bits” to finish off the shoulder belts. I had to make the seat belt buckle as the photoetch ones I had didn’t quite work out. Added a water bottle in one of the cup holders, the amp has power/ground/and speaker wires. 
The intake trumpets are now installed. Yes, they are different lengths, and that was intentional. Slightly shorter ones in the middle to show a bit more of the Cadillac valve covers. Ignition wires have been added, still need to complete some wiring once body is installed.

That’s it for now! Thanks for having a look. Oh… yes I will dust the embossing powder off the seats! 
Cheers, Steve

[Keef]

BEEYOOTEEFULL!!! I absolutely LOVE this build!!

[dino246gt]

This could be the coolest Eldo ever!

 

[Steve H]

On 10/20/2023 at 2:55 AM, Keef said:

BEEYOOTEEFULL!!! I absolutely LOVE this build!!

Thanks Keith! It was a slow weekend with not much to show for progress. I did sort through some of the small detail/decision type stuff though, so hopefully I can have a decent update soon. Thanks for your support, I appreciate it.

 

On 10/20/2023 at 7:19 AM, dino246gt said:

This could be the coolest Eldo ever!

 

I hope so!! I’m glad you like it Dennis, and appreciate your comment. I had a vision for this kit a few years back. With the knowledge and sharing of all the talented builders on this forum, the kit is coming together much nicer than my original vision. So glad to have joined this community, and learn from all of people like yourself on here that are so willing to share their expertise. 
 

Cheers, Steve

[Steve H]

Hi guys, it’s been a few minutes… I had a mini holiday to go watch the last NASCAR race of the season, then managed to get a nasty case of Covid upon arriving home. So, starting to feel better now and have an update. 
The interior is complete. I had a few things that didn’t turn out quite as good as hoped, but overall I’m happy with it. I added shoulder belt guides for the seat belts, Door locks, and new gauges. The inside of the body got a dome light and rear view mirror. 

I tried to polish the kits glass, but there was a couple of deep scratches on the windshield that wouldn’t come out. So I made new glass from acetate for front and rear glass. Not perfect, but a definite improvement, the optical clarity is better, but still has some scuffs depending on the light. With the interior complete, it was time to mate the body and chassis.

As you can see, there are still some wires to connect in the engine compartment. I will get the details done under the hood, then install the bumpers, splitter, nav antenna, and side view mirrors and then, at long last it will be complete!! The ride height turned out as hoped. It’s rewarding to finally have this one close, it’s taken way too long. Thanks for having a look.

Cheers, Steve