1966 Pontiac GTO crazy low

[Andy Oldenburg]

After building a few classic stocks, I was eager to try something extreme. I have watched some videos from low rider shows and meetings and got triggered to get crazy on my Revell GTO. This kit is very fine detailed and and the parts fit very good to me, so I don´t have to hassle with extra problems. ( I mean, other than those that I got into myself🤣).

I opened the doors and the trunk with a scalpel and my micro tool saw.

I have made it a habit to add another layer of 0.5mm styrene before I attach the lips to the trunk and the doors. The paint layers add up too much later and then the trunk and the doors don´t close correctly any more.

The hinges are bent from 1mm brass rods and fit smooth into 2mm styrene tubes. I cut the rods to different lengths, that way it is easier to fumble the doors onto the body.

The bonnet received a muscle hood and the rear wheel arch is filled with a skirt.

The trunk and the doors are fixed with tape in preparation for attaching the hinges. After a first gluing of the hinge tubes I later did a second round of gluing with epoxy. I can´t afford losing a hinge once the build is too far into progress or even finished.

This is a first mock up to check the stance and looks. I might even drop the body lower....

And this is what I meant with "crazy":

I still have time to think about the paint job. It will be multi colored, but I am waiting for that bulb to light up over my head.

Thanks for watching!

[stitchdup]

your off to a good start, its a cool project

[Zippi]

That's a lot of good looking mods going on.  

[NOBLNG]

Cool project!😎 I like the way those hinges work.👍

[Slotto]

Looking good Andy. 2 popsicle sticks is what I usually use. I cut the doors off of a 65 Pontiac and she got real flimsy. You could run some of that wire along the rockers for support if you need to.

[slusher]

Really nice start you have her opened up ..

[TarheelRick]

Very imaginative concept. I really like the suicide doors, hood, & trunk lid.  I have been trying to figure a way to hinge the hood on my 57 300C custom, and you have effectively solved that problem for me - thanks.

[Andy Oldenburg]

15 hours ago, Slotto said:

Looking good Andy. 2 popsicle sticks is what I usually use. I cut the doors off of a 65 Pontiac and she got real flimsy. You could run some of that wire along the rockers for support if you need to.

Hi Steve, thanks for the advice! I have clipped the undercarriage on to check my trunk interior. Look like everything will be quite sturdy when glued correctly.

 

[Andy Oldenburg]

2 minutes ago, TarheelRick said:

Very imaginative concept. I really like the suicide doors, hood, & trunk lid.  I have been trying to figure a way to hinge the hood on my 57 300C custom, and you have effectively solved that problem for me - thanks.

Hi Ricky, thanks for your reply! The hood and trunk hinges are actually quite simple. The tricky part is getting both sides bent in exact the same length and angle, and of course gluing to the same opposite spots. I would not have tried this stunt 2 years ago...

[Andy Oldenburg]

On my last model I tried incorporating magnets into my build for the first time. I was tired of doors that didn´t stay put when closed. I was overwhelmed how good that worked out. OK, that means some extra crafting and time, but the doors look great. On this build I hid the smaller micro magnets under the door panels. Attached with superglue.

Covering the open spaces is the same procedure as always with sheet styrene.

Here you can see the counter magnet attached to the firewall. Triple check the correct sides so that the magnets attract themselves! Once glued and covered you will hardly get them out without heavy deconstruction. The flat ones on the firewall are now hidden behind a second wall.

Instead of building the trunk onto the undercarriage I this time connected it right to the body. Here too it took a few checks to make sure that the body and undercarriage fit well.

The body parts received a base coat of silver metallic. Because the paint job will have several layers, the silver serves well as a base for the metallic light orange. Here the orange is already masked for the second color, Tamiya pearl green. The masking tape is by Tamiya too.

The orange and green match quite well and I was tempted to keep it this way, but I felt that something was still missing.

I masked everything again and added a few highlights with Tamiya pearl light red, which is more like a dull rose. Now I am happy with the paint job.

A few corners needed a touch up and overall I am very relieved that no paint creeped under the tape. I wet sanded the layer edges very carefully with grit 2000 and now the surface is almost smooth. At this moment the first clear coat is drying and waiting for the BMF.

While the paint layers was drying I started building the engine. Since this will be a show car I will stay away from grime or weathering, and the engine deserves a bit of bling. I found custom valve covers and a chrome pan in my boxs to pimp the engine. The distributor is home made and step by step I am adding details to the kit engine.

Thanks for watching!

 

 

[Steve H]

Awesome project Andy. Not your usual low rider subject. I like the idea of building the inner trunk area and attaching it to the body, not the frame. I’ll tuck that idea away for future use… That paint will really pop with some clear on it! 

[Andy Oldenburg]

3 hours ago, Steve H said:

Awesome project Andy. Not your usual low rider subject. I like the idea of building the inner trunk area and attaching it to the body, not the frame. I’ll tuck that idea away for future use… That paint will really pop with some clear on it! 

Hi Steve, thanks for your reply! I´m really eager to move on but unfortunately on a business trip for several days😖🤣

[Andy Oldenburg]

 Between business trips I had some time to get into my shop. Felt like being on turkey without my crafting hours in the evening...😂

After the first clear coat I did the BMF and applied a few decals to the body. The second layer AK gloss varnish is sprayed and after a few days of hardening I polished everything. Now the metallic sparkle shows much better.

 

The engine is completely finished. I raised the air filters a bit with styrene tube and wrapped them with mesh metal. The alternator and power steering are connected to the block with 0.5mm brass rods. The belt is cut from a synthetic rubber place mat. The chrome valve covers and pan are from my spares box. I used the colors from the body for the block and fan and will continue adapting the color code of the body to the rest of the build.

I tried to build this GTO out of the box a much as possible, so the red line tires were set. I did replace the wheels with customs from my spar box and added disc brakes from scale production. Yup, and added valves. I have to figure out, how I will attach the wheels later.

The interior is finished too. The floor flock I mixed from red and light gray to match the paint job and added more red for the floor mats. The seats are an offwhite and enhanced with a gold gel pen. Next to the chrome parts I tried to add some lux with a bit of gold. The decal set is very good and fits well. The dashboard top has the same stripes as the hood.

Last detail for the interior are a set of sum visors.

Thanks for watching!

[milo1303s]

Can't wait to see this finished strange wheel choice !!

[Andy Oldenburg]

The dashboard had to be adapted a bit for the doors. I cut a few mm´s off the left and the right, so that the door panels would have enough room to close correctly. I refrained from cutting off the molded on visors from the windshield. This clear plastic is very brittle and I didn´t want to risk cracking the window.

The tub fit in very well. The rockers were too high for the doors, so I reduced the width of the floorboard and filled the cavity with thin styrene.

I fumbled the dash and the hat rack when masking the stripes. The thin orange stripes I forgot, but you can file that under "artistic freedom".

Watching videos I saw many low riders with custom logos on the hat rack. I still have no idea what to call them.., (maybe someone can solve that mystery for me🤔). None the less I liked the idea and chose the initials of my YouTube channel. I cut and filed this from 0.8mm styrene and added the shine with a molotow fluid pen.

A real low rider needs a suspension system. I saw so many different versions that it seems like every custom build has it´s own personal creation. I let myself be inspired and built a few parts from scratch. The rest is aluminum 1mm wire and flex metal cord.

Getting the engine into the bay was a tight job because of the "false" custom pan. It does fit very smug without hardly any glue needed. The water cooler cap is molded to the fan cover. So I chose to open that hole like on the 1:1 and add a more realistic looking cap.

Apart from a few details the engine bay is just about finished.

The undercarriage is a bit more colorful than an everyday street side. Some major parts are painted in the body color code. Here the rear axle has received its brake lines.

The fuel and the brake lines lead to the front through metal tube crimp beads.

What is left to do for the underside is the parking brake cable. I made a small connecting part and am letting the glue dry now. The cable system is actually made of 0.8mm thin cable for fashion jewelry.

On the side I am preparing the few chrome parts. I like the look of a see-through grill, so I cut out the molded grill. Here my grill without the grill (yet...).

I am closing in to the final round and hope to get done by next weekend. Thanks for watching!

 

[Lowlife ! !]

 

Looking good, I like it,   and the air ride system in the boot is very creative !

The logos on the back shelf are Club Plaques, by the way... 

[slusher]

Outstanding detail and custom work!!

[Keef]

I absolutely love Love LOVE that paint job!!!!! How did you do the hinged hood? I have a project that I’m working on right now that would look great with that modification.

[Andy Oldenburg]

Hello Keith, Carl and Martin,

thank you for your kind response!

@ Martin: Club Plaques!... thanks for the science! I hope I wasn´t disrespectful to the low rider community by appropriating a plaque as a detail for my build. I think they look cool and didn´t think twice about adding one.

@Keith: I added some detailed images about the hinges lower below and hope you can modify a future model with winged hoods.

I am preparing the last parts to finish this build. I was getting tired of messing the doors with glue while attaching the rear view mirror. Although the work is very delicate, I have come to pinning the mirrors or other small parts with 0.5mm wire. The mirror wont slide any more after attaching and I only need a small dip of glue.

The grill/bumper part has received a fine metal mesh as grill and lenses instead of the kit headlamps. I glue the lenses with white acrylic glue.

The undercarriage is finished now with all lines and cables.

The hinges are actually quite simple engineering. The hard part is having to work as precise as possible. I use 1mm brass rod for the hinges, that fit tight into the 2mm styrene tubes I can acquire from my crafts store. For the front hood I drilled holes into the sides of the bay for the tubes and glued them generously on the back with epoxy. The length of the hinges should be long enough to swivel far to the front of the grill. Both hinges must have the exact same length and angles.

I tape the hood/bonnet to the body before gluing the tubes of the other hinge end to the inside surface of the hood. Of course all of this must be done before the detailed body work can begin. Cutting out doors, trunks etc. is always my first job on my models, then attaching the hinges.

The trunk work is not much different. I could glue the body tubes under the fenders.

Now it´s just the bumpers left to attach. And of course the photo work has to be done, making fine images for the under glass forum. Hope to get that done asap.

Thanks everyone for watching!