AMT Gypsy Wagon

[Leanthraki]

Hi all,

It's been years since I built a model car of any kind, & having recently returned to building I thought it's about time for something new. So here I go, with an AMT Gypsy Wagon show rod. For some reason this kit caught my eye & I grabbed it at a sale price while visiting a friend in Switzerland. Home again in Greece I started looking around online at other builds, & altho I saw many really cool examples nobody had really 'gone to town' on detailing. One remark that stuck in my mind was about the front end, along the lines of "how would the steering work? Answer, it wouldn't". OK, challenge accepted! Another commented on the lack of engine detail, which set me thinking about stealing a Hemi from another kit. Those would be my main focus points, along with lots of other things to follow.

OK, the front end & steering. The kit has a fixed straight axle with the wheels at each end, definitely too basic, so I used a short piece of aluminium tube & made U-shaped supports for stub axles. The stub axles themselves are plastic tube uprights with metal rod spindles, attached with pins cut from pop rivets. The kit wheels are chromed & the spokes are quite thick, so I stole wheels from one of the motorcycles in a Monogram 'Off Road Adventure' kit that I've had for ages. They're basically the same size & the spokes are finer, I just sanded off the knobbly tread. For disc brakes & callipers I used the backs of the wheels from an MPC Shelby Charger, tiny steering arms cut from scrap plastic, & altho I made the steering link I might replace that later.

So here are the axle parts

And assembled (ignore the texture in the primer, it'll be coming off again)

Thinking about a replacement engine, I grabbed this Revell '32 Ford kit because it includes two complete engines, one of which is a hemi. So that's what will end up in my Wagon

Next job is to attach the axle to the forks, so more pics soon.

Thanks for looking!

G

[Leanthraki]

So I finally made a bit of progress with my Gypsy Wagon, starting with attaching the front axle/steering assembly to the forks. To add a bit of strength to what is a very small contact area, I drilled out the ends of the forks & inserted 2 pieces of metal rod, then drilled matching holes on the axle tube before gluing the parts together.





Knowing that I'd be using the hemi from the '32 Ford, which has a full gearbox, I needed to extend the frame & move the rear axle back by about 25mm. First I stripped the chromed parts & assembled the kit frame, & then used offcuts of 'L' section plastic to make the extension piece & attached it, adding some strength will metal pins. The other additions were engine mounts - the kit engine is fixed by a tiny lug on the crossmember but I wouldn't be using that as it blocked the sump of the new engine, so I made my mounts from scrap. There's more sanding & detailing to do but I sprayed the frame black so I can see areas that need filler, & here's a mock-up on its wheels.





You can see the frame extension in this photo, probably I'll make an insert from fine mesh, plastic sheet or even thin wood to make a kind of mini pick-up bed to store the accessories supplied in the kit.



Here you can just make out the engine mounts. I'm also thinking of making some sort of ladder bars between the frame & the rear axle.



And at the front I added extra supports, a piece of metal rod between the uprights on top & a scrap of plastic sheet underneath.



I'm thinking of having the forks, front axle & smaller details chrome, so I just got a Molotow refill for that - I haven't used it before so it'll be an interesting experiment!

Thanks for looking!
G

[CabDriver]

Great start!  It's cool to see ANY showrod kit get built - especially when they have some added thought put into them!  Keep going!

[Leanthraki]

Hey guys,

A bit more progress this weekend, working on the rear axle. I made up some simple ladder bars from scrap plastic, they locate to the chassis with pins into the frame.





The kit shocks aren't terrible but the springs aren't that well defined, so I cut off the tops & bottoms, inserted metal rods with a plastic sleeves, & then used a cut down spring from a old pen to make new versions. Not perfect but I'm quite happy with the way they look now.



This was my first attempt with the Molotow chrome paint - & I love it!

More soon, thanks for looking!
G

[bisc63]

What fun! The chrome is impressive.