CabDriver Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 Well, arguably the most famous anyway… I was excited when this got reissued recently (and my local HL finally got them in-stock this week): Because I want to build this: The ultimate “street funny car and drag strip gasser”! Chopped roof, tinted glass, an engine that may be three different displacements (including two different sizes just in the ad above alone)…and I THINK everything to build it is still in this issue of the kit. Sweet! Sidebar: I posted this build in this section because I’ll be trying to make it loosely street-legal as Tom Daniel intended… “BOSS 55” license plate and all… First job, getting some of the tedious work done right out of the gate, removing the molded-in exhaust from the frame, because we won’t be needing those…(virgin frame top, modified one bottom): Aside from being a little boring, it wasn’t too tough to clean these up - a couple of strips of styrene to fill some airspace under the muffler and some little patch pieces and roundbar to get it back where it was before I started sanding and grinding. Speaking of tedious work, next up was a couple of hours of careful(ish) scribing to get the doors and trunk opened… And the rest of day 1’s progress was starting to make jambs - first for the trunk: …and then for the doors: Fairly humble start - tomorrow’s job is hinges…thanks for looking, more soon! 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Irwin Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 Ambitious project, watching. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.A.K Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 Very nice sofar. Like how you opened it all up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobss396 Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 I built one of the OG kits. I messed up the BADMAN decals and made it into MADMAN, on the trunk lid. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bytownshaker Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 Looking forward to progress on this one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang1989 Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 There's a lot goin' on in this thread. Looking forward to seeing what you do with this one Jim. This kit comes with a molded in exhaust?? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atomicholiday Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 Looking great so far. Can't wait to see what you do with it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vintage AMT Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 Might be a good time to get one, I've always wanted to do the purple car on the box top!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ea0863 Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 Way cool! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 Looks like you're going all out on this. Like the doors and trunk work. Sort of beyond my comfort zone but like seeing how it's done. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 Oh boy, this looks like great fun. I want to see the way you handle the windshield dog-leg jamb area. I need some insight on this. Definitely following, Jim. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TransAmMike Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 Good luck when I comes time to install the interior tub attached firewall to the cowl. I wound up reboxing it when I saw the terrible fit (at least in my opinion). I'll really be interested in your solution, I sure couldn't come up with one but I'm no master builder. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted July 31, 2023 Author Share Posted July 31, 2023 (edited) Thanks for all the nice comments, everybody! 13 hours ago, mustang1989 said: This kit comes with a molded in exhaust?? Yup! It’s there from an earlier version of the tooling, I believe… 11 hours ago, Vintage AMT said: Might be a good time to get one, I've always wanted to do the purple car on the box top!! Me too! I got a couple of these so I can do just that! I like the idea, if I’m doing some kind of racecar to do something for it to race against 🤪 8 hours ago, customline said: Oh boy, this looks like great fun. I want to see the way you handle the windshield dog-leg jamb area. I need some insight on this. Definitely following, Jim. Luckily, best I can tell, it’s not too complicated on the 1:1s: I’ll have to mess with it slightly to make it work in scale, but that’ll be a job for when I’ve got the hinges in place… Speaking of which, first job today was hinging the trunk (which I tackled first because there’s only one of them…) Went to Ace for some brass rod, and bent a hinge around some styrene square tube. I like using square tube for this job rather than round because you have a nice fat gluing surface to attach it to the body… Glued it in behind the upper jamb (note the little square tube receivers I’ve got slid on there, which will attach to the inner trunk lid): Then taped the trunk in place where it needs to fall and attached the receivers: I only used some tiny dots of glue initially to tack it in place - the last thing you want to do is to get glue on the brass here…). Then, removed it from the body and fabricated a little faux latch that helps locate the lid on the lower jamb and keep it from flopping around: And then a test fit once the glue had dried - closed: And open: I added a couple of strips of styrene to the bottom of the body, behind the rockers, to help locate the frame properly every time and make sure everything stays aligned as it should do though the dozens of test fits I’ll be doing…test fit with the frame in place to make sure I’m still good: Yup, still works! Of course, I have to add all the inner trunk detail now that you can see in there, but that was kinda the point of the exercise… With that done, I could start roughing in the door jambs: Because I need space for the dash I need a flat(ter) hinge for the doors than I could get away with for the trunk, but the process is about the same… hinges made: Because door cards will cover the inner doors, and they’re fairly deep, I can get away with some sturdier receivers in the doors: I made some little brass inserts that slide into the styrene tube in the doors that I can use to adjust the fit somewhat come assembly time: And a quick test fit of the doors too, to see where we’re at: Because I had to scribe some lines and cut some awkward curves I need to add some material back into the doors themselves to get a good fit, but I had decided before I started cutting that I’d rather add material to the doors than have to mess with the body itself too much - and once I’ve got the doors fitting nice I can work on the front door jamb and then figuring out a good way to mount the dash. Thanks for looking everybody - appreciate your comments! Edited July 31, 2023 by CabDriver 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFrancois70 Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 Awesome job you did removing the doors and trunk. I often thought about doing the same thing but never dared.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straightliner59 Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 One of my favorite kits. You're off to a great start, Jim! I'm really looking forward to watching you build this'n. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afx Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 I really enjoyed building the original kit when I was a rookie builder, looking forward to your efforts with the kit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zippi Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 The 55 is looking pretty sweet. Love all the mods. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobthehobbyguy Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 Cool project. Great start. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Oldenburg Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 Good job on the hinges! This project is going where I like it. I havn´t made a gasser myself so far, but the tri-5 Chevys are definitely the best choice. Looking forward to the next steps. I like to cut those wires in slightly different lengths. It much easier to fiddle them into the tubes.🤙 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted August 3, 2023 Author Share Posted August 3, 2023 Thanks for all the nice comments fellas! On 7/31/2023 at 12:40 AM, DFrancois70 said: Awesome job you did removing the doors and trunk. I often thought about doing the same thing but never dared.. It’s no big deal - jump in and try it! It’s only plastic, and each step of the process is pretty easy (although I’m still practicing it myself here, so whadda I know?! 🤪) On 7/31/2023 at 9:44 AM, Andy Oldenburg said: I like to cut those wires in slightly different lengths. It much easier to fiddle them into the tubes.🤙 Yes!!! Great tip (and one I accidentally discovered myself on a previous build!). It really helps! Slow progress this week so far, but I’m just messing with those doors… Got rearmost door jambs made: And the last couple of nights I’ve been playing with the fit of the front most edges of the doors to get them as nice as I can. I used some BMF to cover the openings on the body itself so that I could lay some Bondo around the edges once I’d got them as close as I could with styrene strips to close the gaps up, then laid down a little masking tape to make sure I didn’t get any filler where I didn’t want it: After letting it set up overnight - here you can see some of the BMF peeking through: What I like to do with Bondo when it’s on an edge is brush on a little thin superglue, which penetrates the filler a little and toughens it up to stop it cracking so easily…plus you can work it a little more aggressively to get it shaped how you want…not totally done here, but getting closer! Once I get that squared away I’ll need to mess with the hood…the fit isn’t the best, right now: I have the germ of an idea for a plan on those vent windows too, but that might be a job for the weekend… Just a small update (but a few hours work, behind the scenes…)…thanks for looking - more soon! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFrancois70 Posted August 3, 2023 Share Posted August 3, 2023 Nice work.. you have a lot of patience.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew McD Posted August 3, 2023 Share Posted August 3, 2023 You make it look so easy; the mark of a truly skilled craftsman! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang1989 Posted August 3, 2023 Share Posted August 3, 2023 All these open doors and trunk lid are looking great and I'm learning. Where do you get the square tub from? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted August 4, 2023 Author Share Posted August 4, 2023 (edited) Thank you fellas! 12 hours ago, mustang1989 said: Where do you get the square tub from? The tube I’m using on this one is by Evergreen - most Hobby Lobbys carry it, or a decent hobby store. Brass square tube would work just as well if that’s easier to find. Tiny update - I didn’t have a bunch of bench time today but I thought I’d try and tackle that hood: A lot of people like using heat for this kind of job, but I never quite trust that the plastic won’t eventually just go back to it’s original shape over time, or reset when it’s hit with the solvents in whatever paint I end up using. So…I split it down the center: And with it split in two, it sits perfectly! Just need to fill those gaps. A little styrene strip, tacked lightly in place first so I had some tweak-ability, then given an additional coat of a thin superglue, test fitting as I went, followed by a little more on the underside: And some sanding later…WAY better! A skim coat of filler should get it pretty close to perfect - as you can see I added a little strip of styrene to the rear of the hood too so I have some material to work with to shape it nicely to the opening. No hinge required here, because it’s intended to be mounted with hood pins; I drilled out the molded-in ones ready for some real ones further down the line. Just a mini update…more soon, soon as I’ve done more! Edited August 4, 2023 by CabDriver 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted August 4, 2023 Share Posted August 4, 2023 Some great work being done here, kids! Pay attention! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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