dragcarz Posted November 23, 2023 Share Posted November 23, 2023 On 11/15/2023 at 7:14 PM, R. Thorne said: Finished the front mount and made some end brackets. Hey Ron I thought I’d share this with you, Plastruct sells styrene hexagon Rod in real small sizes, this works great for recreating bolt heads. I’ve used them for oil pans, rear vale covers fender flanges and suspension mounting bolts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Thorne Posted November 25, 2023 Author Share Posted November 25, 2023 Thanks, I am considering something of that sort for the future, or perhaps this: might be a little easier? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Thorne Posted November 27, 2023 Author Share Posted November 27, 2023 Sort of a ho hum day. The closest wheels (Alumastar, that is) i can find measure about .660” o.d. That means the I.d. of the tires i have in my parts box have to be opened up about .060”. Well, after scrounging around, I came up with a 5/8” (.625”) drum sander. By “drilling” it out, holding the tire with one hand and drilling with the other, a shaky proposition, and not one I recommend. Then, working the drum around the inner circumference of the tire (a tedious procedure with lots of measuring thrown in) we arrive at an I.d. of .660”. I am not thrilled with this procedure, as I would like to “make” about 15 of these for future Stocker projects. I am considering using 15 and 16mm sanding flaps. If anyone has any better, simpler, safer, etc., ideas , I am all ears. I also did some sanding on the sidewall of one tire to more closely approximate the racing front tires used on Stock and Super Stocks. They are smooth and have no side tread ribs. Oh, yeah, I did find in my cheapie Harbor Freight grinder a 3/8” drum sander that you walk around the circumference of the tire a little easier but, kinda slow going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Thorne Posted November 28, 2023 Author Share Posted November 28, 2023 Drilled out the axle stub holes from .075” to .093” in 2 or 3 increments to fit the Corvette kit stub diameter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Thorne Posted November 29, 2023 Author Share Posted November 29, 2023 (edited) Taking a break from wheels and tires and trying some chromy stuff. First, some pics of the Hasegawa mirror chrome. Definitely different to work with than BMF, but, also very shiny. I put it on one windshield post (passenger’s side), then BMF on the other (driver’s side). Excuse the roughness (poor prep of the windshield posts which shows the dinkleberries present). The pictures do not reveal the difference in shine as much as looking at the car in real life (probably the result of my poor photography). Edited November 29, 2023 by R. Thorne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Thorne Posted November 29, 2023 Author Share Posted November 29, 2023 This picture better shows the difference (Hasegawa on the left). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Thorne Posted November 29, 2023 Author Share Posted November 29, 2023 Finally, the Ammo by Mig tape on the lower section (not very sticky, but looks ok) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ybsluos Posted December 2, 2023 Share Posted December 2, 2023 Ron this looks great. Wish I could lay down Candy Red like you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Thorne Posted December 7, 2023 Author Share Posted December 7, 2023 On 12/1/2023 at 11:53 PM, ybsluos said: Ron this looks great. Wish I could lay down Candy Red like you!! No magic here. Just Tamiya ts spray paint. Gold, then clear red (watch out for runs). Anyway, after a break of a few days, I am back at it making the 14” (1/25 scale .560”) resin wheels into 10” Stock Eliminator wheels (1/25 scale .400”). I have done this on other wheels (narrowed them) in a miter box with double back tack to hold them in place and did so again on these, but did not like the results. The razor saw(s) always seem to cut crooked and require a fair amount of truing up. Looked for something better and my new specialty jewelry pliars and saw worked much better. Hopefully, you can see the difference between them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Thorne Posted December 9, 2023 Author Share Posted December 9, 2023 Well, after bragging about my new tools for cutting straighter lines, the next 2 wheels turned out worse and varied about .030” from one side to the other and required tedious hand sanding to straighten them. If anybody has any suggestions, let’s hear them. Good old coarse sanding stick to the rescue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwc43 Posted December 11, 2023 Share Posted December 11, 2023 I have one of these. The slots in that box are very tight and it makes for a straight cut with a stiff back saw like the one in the pic. Midwest Easy Miter Box Deluxe 83277 | Zoro And Micro Mark has this handy electric one. MicroLux® Mini Miter / Cut-Off Saw (micromark.com) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Thorne Posted December 13, 2023 Author Share Posted December 13, 2023 On 12/11/2023 at 9:42 AM, dwc43 said: I have one of these. The slots in that box are very tight and it makes for a straight cut with a stiff back saw like the one in the pic. Midwest Easy Miter Box Deluxe 83277 | Zoro And Micro Mark has this handy electric one. MicroLux® Mini Miter / Cut-Off Saw (micromark.com) Your input is much appreciated. I have the Zona 35-241 thin slot on order. We shall see how that works out. Spent some time fabricating a performance air cleaner base that a lot of guys use and is worth as a tenth of a second on some cars. Used the stock air cleaner from the Moebius Chevy 2 kit and some .010” styrene. I plan on making a mold and casting a few for future builds. Still have some finish work, but almost there. Also, cut off the Chief Joseph quadrajet (great carbs, as almost everyone knows) with that great cutter I got from UMM-USA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Thorne Posted December 13, 2023 Author Share Posted December 13, 2023 By the way, I used this adapter for a cut off wheel out of a Harbor Freight cheapo grinder set, drilled a hole in the air cleaner the size of the screw, and mounted it in my cordless drill. This allowed me to sand it down to the shape of the air cleaner base. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Thorne Posted December 19, 2023 Author Share Posted December 19, 2023 Slow going. Decided to get a bunch painted at once for future builds. Primed some wheels and rotors and the Quadrajet, then some gloss black. Some Titanium gold for the carb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Thorne Posted December 19, 2023 Author Share Posted December 19, 2023 Then some stainless steel for the rotors and GreenStuffWorld chrome for the wheels daubed on with a micro brush. Next step is to make some molds and castings of headers, trans, tire, and air cleaner base before I can finish the model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bills72sj Posted December 19, 2023 Share Posted December 19, 2023 For sanding wheels thinner, and/or opening up the holes, I tape some 180 grit sandpaper to my hobby desk under my bench towel. I just hold the rim and make circles and figure 8s until I get them where I want. If I have a lot of material to remove, say all I want are the hoops, I use my palm sander. Now that I have a mini lathe, I actually make custom hoops from genuine aluminum tubing. Opening the ID of a tire, I usually use a hobby knife. Generally I do not have to because I have 4 overflowing model boxes of tires. Over the weekend I used my lathe to carve groove in the side wall of some tires to make perfect big and littles white walls. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Thorne Posted January 31 Author Share Posted January 31 Returned to this build a few weeks ago, just didn’t update on here. My mold and casting experience was interesting, but not very productive. The first batch was worthless as the mold did not harden. I was not totally surprised as this kit was 2 years old. Ordered some smooth-on and had good results with it. Anyway, moving on, couldn’t resist posting a couple more pics of this beautiful car. I put the tailights in and painted the parking lights with some Tamiya white. I really like these coated tweezers for handling small parts with a good grip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Thorne Posted January 31 Author Share Posted January 31 Some wash on the vents, some chrome on the lower molding, cleaned up the cast TH200, shortened the driveshaft, tried some airbrush type GSW on the trans, didn’t like it, tried something else later. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rattlecan Dan Posted February 1 Share Posted February 1 Everyone including myself are impressed with your matching that beautiful color. Doing a nice job. Hope you'll post the finished build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Thorne Posted February 1 Author Share Posted February 1 3 hours ago, Rattlecan Dan said: Everyone including myself are impressed with your matching that beautiful color. Doing a nice job. Hope you'll post the finished build. Thanks for your kind words of encouragement and of course I will post the finished build (I am getting close). I cut the stick shift trans off daubed some GSW ( not the airbrush type) on the wheels with a microbrush. Also, increased the i.d. of the front tires to fit the wheels. I used an expandable rubber freeze plug wrapped with sandpaper. Also, drilled out in a couple steps, the mounting holes to fit the axle stubs I made up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Thorne Posted February 2 Author Share Posted February 2 Trying to catch up on the updates. Some semi gloss clear on the slicks, Mr. Metal aluminum on the trans, alternator, and air cleaner base. Glued the trans and carb on after some Chevrolet type orange paint on the engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Thorne Posted February 2 Author Share Posted February 2 Still another update. Modified the alternator bracketing as the only bracket is for the alternator. Also trimmed off the stock water pump in preparation for installation of the electric water pump from Iceman Collections, then some Hoosier tire decals for the slicks only. Tried out some E6000 glue on the air cleaner base (boy, that mold casting came out pretty rough), and the water pump. Pictures don’t lie, do they? Wheels and tires are ready to go on. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Thorne Posted February 2 Author Share Posted February 2 (edited) One more. Installed wheels, first trial fit of chassis on body, has posable front wheels. Edited February 2 by R. Thorne Wheels 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceMan Collections Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Looking good. 👍🏼 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Thorne Posted February 4 Author Share Posted February 4 (edited) 21 hours ago, IceMan Collections said: Looking good. 👍🏼 Thanks. Your quality parts make it easier. Made some side windows out of .005” clear styrene to put the class numbers on. Seems like I have to do this on every drag race car I build. The headers i’m using come in the Camaro and Nova kits. I have tried making 2 part molds for them with very little success. Real race car tuned equal length headers are difficult to find except in NASCAR kits which rarely fit standard chassis cars. Temporarily installed the engine with some e6000 to check for header fit and made some header collectors from aluminum tubing. Put some “welds” on with thick ca glue. Edited February 4 by R. Thorne Welds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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