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Posted
1 hour ago, dino246gt said:

I did not open them but they're molded so nicely, they almost LOOK open. I guess it wouldn't be too difficult to do it though.

I have done it on other cars but on those with "normal" handles, which are fairly easy to drill out. You're right, though, they look darn good the way they come. 

Posted

Had to do it. Not just the handles, either. Side trim must have been an option because half the '62s don't have it. I think they look better without it. So much for one coat of primer ?.

Got the engine almost finished but I'm gonna do a dip stick.  Black-washed the wheels and grille.  Removed the fender badging....OK, I didn't see any way those front badges could possibly be workable. So it's a restoration and I'm waiting for a set of N.O.S. scripts and badges. I can drill some holes....?

I put the rear end together and found the mold of the springs was shifted enough to make clean-up impractical. A common situation.  Lots of small parts need cleaning-up but the big stuff is fine. When I opened the bag that the parts came in I found the front suspension had suffered some sort of mishap in packaging. It was twisted severely. I attempted to straighten it out and I eventually got it installed after cutting the sway bar. That stuff happens and it was still usable so "no harm, no fowl."

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  • Like 3
Posted
5 minutes ago, customline said:

Had to do it. Not just the handles, either. Side trim must have been an option because half the '62s don't have it. I think they look better without it. So much for one coat of primer ?.

Got the engine almost finished but I'm gonna do a dip stick.  Black-washed the wheels and grille.  Removed the fender badging....OK, I didn't see any way those front badges could possibly be workable. So it's a restoration and I'm waiting for a set of N.O.S. scripts and badges. I can drill some holes....?

I put the rear end together and found the mold of the springs was shifted enough to make clean-up impractical. A common situation.  Lots of small parts need cleaning-up but the big stuff is fine. When I opened the bag that the parts came in I found the front suspension had suffered some sort of mishap in packaging. It was twisted severely. I attempted to straighten it out and I eventually got it installed after cutting the sway bar. That stuff happens and it was still usable so "no harm, no fowl."

IMG_4317.thumb.jpg.a32f6f41b12f22fbfce7be272a79b235.jpgIMG_4314.jpg.0d1ca22c950ca16d4db6e34908e52269.jpg

So I was thinking about this kit today at work...and wondering what if?

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  • Like 5
Posted
9 hours ago, Calb56 said:

So I was thinking about this kit today at work...and wondering what if?

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So what are you tryin' to say, Charlie? 345 horsepower ain't enough for you? Good ? grief.   OK, so tell us what you got there ?

Posted
1 hour ago, customline said:

I've got an interesting "what if" for ya........pretty cool, huh?

Now, that's a really cool car! Would be an excellent direction for this..........

Posted (edited)

I was lucky enough to get a heads-up about the clearance issue involving the dash width so I spent some time with that today.  Thank you, TJ, you saved me from a whole bunch of very loud vulgar language. I had to shave the ends of the dash and that seemed to take care of it.  But then I wondered about the glass thickness so I installed the glass into the frame and tried it again.  ? Nope....in order to get it all to fit I had to remove material, a little at a time, from the front edge of the dash and from the bottom edge of the glass. This is where a Dremel comes in handy.

Got my grille and wheels washed and...... I entertained the "swing-away steering wheel" idea. ?

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Edited by customline
Added photos
  • Like 4
Posted
1 hour ago, customline said:

I entertained the "swing-away steering wheel" idea. ?

...just asking for trouble...?

Posted
1 hour ago, customline said:

I can't put a handle on this one : how about "Qustom" ??

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That's just...wrong.

  • Like 1
Posted (edited)

Yup....I saw that one.  Probably built for a foot-loose playboy with three kids . ?  Has there ever been a kit or resin body of a Vista Cruiser? ?

Edited by customline
Posted (edited)

Progress ?.  Got the bottom pan with front and rear end assembled and painted. Further assembled engine and exhaust system

Just a heads-up for those of you who have expressed a desire to get your paint-stained, CA encrusted digits on a copy of this wondrous AMT/ERTL kit (you know who you are, Michael.)   These are not complaints, mind you, just pointing out some things....... that if you were not checking for them, you'll wish you had when it's too late.

Earlier (somewhere above), I mentioned the dash width adjustment. There was quite a lot of fitting involved and you gotta go slow ...and the glass needs to be in place.  

On a lighter note...the engine mounting can be worrisome. By the way; if you have not read the reviews of this kit on the Hobbylinc.com site, it's a good idea.  Also watch the assembly sequence of the chassis. The exhaust is 3 pieces. A connected pair of exhaust pipes and a L & R  tail pipes, all of which have really cool connections molded in (I've never seen one like this) This allows you to assemble the rear end to the chassis and then paint, should you want to play that way. Another way to play is to assemble the entire exhaust system first, then you can make the connection vanish. ?.  Drop it in and then drop in the rear end. Maybe they had something completely different in mind ? I dunno, I just look at the uh....pictures. Think about it .... but I digress....you may need to clean up the connections a little - see photo.  If you apply glue and then find out they're too tight....?

While contemplating the engine install, I discovered I was able to glue the trans mount first, then I installed the engine with a tiny bit of extreme care and, since my rear end is already in,........well, don't forget the driveshaft!  I did it this way so I had a place for the exhaust pipes to land, rather than trying to deal with pipes while installing the big engine on a somewhat difficult mounting.   Thanks for your attention. 

 

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Edited by customline
  • Like 3
Posted

Gave this a shot because I want the nicely molded interior to look a little bit better by tending to a few things. One thing that I thought I could improve on was the inside door handles which are rendered in high relief- why not open 'em up?  They still need some work but now they really look like handles.....sort of ?.  The big problem is that the "handles" are located on the ribbed area that will eventually be covered with foil and getting it smooth there is difficult. To get this far I drilled through 4 or 5 holes in a row first and then dug the rest out with an #11 surgical blade. The effort will likely amount to a trade-off but we shall see. Thanks for checking in.

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  • Like 4
Posted (edited)

More crazy time ?....It looked easy.  I figured I could do it. It ain't pretty but I got it. Tried some different things and this is where it ended up. Enjoy!

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Edited by customline
  • Like 3
Posted (edited)
59 minutes ago, Slotto said:

Great idea Jim! Excellent execution 

It's getting kinda tricky playing with stuff that small. I went through a whole length of brass wire to get there ?. 3 or 4 hinge attempts, one time using fabric,  one time using that thick foil from my Trelegy packs.  Coulda saved a lot of time if I just resigned myself to cutting the trans tunnel from the beginning. It's been a strange day. Thanks, Steve.

                                                     ?

Edited by customline
Added content
Posted

I had a real 62 t bird and I have this kit in the pile.  The interior looks accurate except for the three instrument pods.  I haven't started this one, but now I'm getting an idea how to tackle that problem.  The gauge faces are sunk in about an inch and a half on the real thing.  I'm thinking about adding a scale inch to the front of the pod and cutting the whole gauge out and setting in back a scale inch.  Just thinking out loud looking at this.  

Posted (edited)
7 hours ago, Supernurd said:

I had a real 62 t bird and I have this kit in the pile.  The interior looks accurate except for the three instrument pods.  I haven't started this one, but now I'm getting an idea how to tackle that problem.  The gauge faces are sunk in about an inch and a half on the real thing.  I'm thinking about adding a scale inch to the front of the pod and cutting the whole gauge out and setting in back a scale inch.  Just thinking out loud looking at this.  

I'm glad you brought this to me, LM. I had no idea. I just looked at my dash -what about drilling the guage faces out and attaching a piece of sheet on the back side and using photo reduced guage faces from Best? In fact, I'm going to order some right now! Thanks for the tip!

Edited by customline
Posted
44 minutes ago, customline said:
8 hours ago, Supernurd said:

I had a real 62 t bird and I have this kit in the pile.  The interior looks accurate except for the three instrument pods.  I haven't started this one, but now I'm getting an idea how to tackle that problem.  The gauge faces are sunk in about an inch and a half on the real thing.  I'm thinking about adding a scale inch to the front of the pod and cutting the whole gauge out and setting in back a scale inch.  Just thinking out loud looking at this.  

Expand  

I'm glad you brought this to me, LM. I had no idea. I just looked at my dash -what about drilling the guage faces out and attaching a piece of sheet on the back side and using photo reduced guage faces from Best? In

That would be a good solution.  In reality the gauge is 3D in that the numerals are on the lens and the lines are behind the needles which are behind the lens.  This looks really cool especially when lit up.  To most people it probably doesn't matter, but the only reason I'm finicky about it is I made a bedroom clock out of one from a parts car and look at it every night!

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