Plastic surgery for a '41 Plymouth

[customline]

1 hour ago, TarheelRick said:

I am really impressed with the attention you are showing to the appearance of this car.  I have a few in my stash and will keep this post flagged to come back to. The local WalMart had 6 of the Coke versions on their Clearance shelf for more than 5 months. I approached the manager about selling them to me at a more reduced price, she agreed. When we got to the cash register they rang up 1/2 of what I had considered paying for them.  Anyway, I built one of these before getting that deal and here is the way I fixed the grille problem.

 

Yup, that's how to solve the problem, Rick!  I have one of my $13 Ollie's kits planned for just that solution 😁. But what are you gonna do with six of 'em?!?.....OK..... gasser, short track, street rod, rust-out, showroom stock, custom, salt....yeah, I can see that 🤔. Maybe I should try to buy a few more. Just what did you pay for the six, if you don't mind me asking? BTW, thanks for your encouragement,  Rick. I appreciate the kind words!

Edited February 6 by customline

[customline]

Another update.  A re-do of the trim on the hood- the left side trim was removed and replaced.....twice. I'm having a great time with this one 🫤.  I think I got it as good as I can get it.  We won't know till the foil is on.  I'm thinking about trimming the foil on the body a tiny bit wide and then tight on the new stuff to maybe compensate for the difference in width.  My estimate for chance of success on that is about 50/50 🥴.

When it warms up out there I'll get some more primer on it. Thanks for sticking around 🤓

[LennyB]

Jim, I think it's looking better. Headlights look like you have them fitting better also.

 

I still experimenting with the welting. Now I'm thinking of using very small wire. This is from a grain of wheat bulb and about .030 in size. Now if I can find it in black and a little smaller.

 

[customline]

I love these little magnets. I use 'em to keep doors and trunks and hoods closed. But not just closed but, more importantly, in alignment.

 

in the case of this hood, the rear alignment is provided by the "stubs" at the back corners. All I needed was something at the nose....MAGNETS! 😃

I was waiting for the glue to dry on the magnets so I "created" a distributor from sprue.  Crude but the wires have gotta go somewhere 🤔. 

 

Also, I just remembered to add the correct seam lines to the nose. I haven't done it yet....but I did remember it and that's something 🥴.

 

Edited February 7 by customline

[maxwell48098]

Having worked on several 1:1 versions of these old Mopars, I must say that nearly every single one had various panel gaps and fit far worse than those on your model.  On 1:1, we've spent days getting them even close to being equal and tight.  Kudos on your efforts.

 

A.J.

[David G.]

Removing and replacing the chrome trim seem to be the perfect way of addressing the fit issued between the hood and body.

Great call Jim!

David G.

[customline]

2 hours ago, David G. said:

Removing and replacing the chrome trim seem to be the perfect way of addressing the fit issued between the hood and body.

Great call Jim!

David G.

Thanks, Dave.  The trim on the cowl was pretty poor so that was replaced too. I was after a better alignment with the trim on the hood, which was narrowed in the process by removing material beyond just the hood trim. The sides were sanded quite a bit. 

My hood had a slight twist so I twisted it the other way and it seemed to fit better. Styrene is pretty good about that sometimes 🤓.

[Chuckyg1]

I've been watching this. Your efforts are well rewarded and I admire your perseverance. Great stuff. Oh...... and look at me, I'm learning something.

[customline]

1 hour ago, Chuckyg1 said:

I've been watching this. Your efforts are well rewarded and I admire your perseverance. Great stuff. Oh...... and look at me, I'm learning something.

That makes two of us, John.  Thank you!

[charlie8575]

On 1/25/2024 at 9:51 PM, customline said:

I think Ace nailed it, Dave. It's just how things had to be done to facilitate the molding process.

The '46 model, I believe, is new sheet metal. We're gonna find out, though. Wait for it.....

You may be able to turn the '41 into a '46.....maaaaaaybe. the greenhouse looks the same on that top photo. You have to mess with the fenders quite a bit but the general shape is there. The grille would be a labor of pure love. The chassis could go as is. Bumpers from the stash. Gotta cover the running boards.....the headlights would be easy  🤓.   Fun! Ya know.........?

1941-'48 are largely the same car. The front and tail ensembles changed, along with other trim.

The short answer is yes, with some time and careful scratch-building, a 1942-'48 Plymouth is entirely possible with the '41, and it will be reasonably correct.

Charlie Larkin

[customline]

6 hours ago, charlie8575 said:

1941-'48 are largely the same car. The front and tail ensembles changed, along with other trim.

The short answer is yes, with some time and careful scratch-building, a 1942-'48 Plymouth is entirely possible with the '41, and it will be reasonably correct.

Charlie Larkin

Probably more correct than AMT would have rendered it 🥴. Maybe some day.

[LennyB]

1 hour ago, customline said:

Probably more correct than AMT would have rendered it 🥴. Maybe some day.

Picked up a resin body of a 42-48 a while back. Needs a lot of work but was clearly based on the AMT '41 kit. It's a very thick casting and it is incomplete in the nose along with being warped. Not sure if it's a good starting point or if starting from scratch would be better.

[Speedpro]

Thats alot of work you put into that front end! But you pulled it off and your efforts really show because it looks awsome. Will get even better when paint hits it! Looking forward to seeing more.

[customline]

5 hours ago, LennyB said:

Picked up a resin body of a 42-48 a while back. Needs a lot of work but was clearly based on the AMT '41 kit. It's a very thick casting and it is incomplete in the nose along with being warped. Not sure if it's a good starting point or if starting from scratch would be better.

I think the grille looks great. The headlights, which look kinda "fat" could be replaced with some custom kit parts (48 Ford). The hood might need replacement with a styrene part. Resin means CA for assembly so trim work is a bit more difficult but not impossible. Maybe some reworking of the bottom of the front fenders/cowl/door area. The trunk and hood badges looks pretty good. The running board covers seem too deep. I dunno, Len, it's just a matter of desire, but if you want a '42-'48, it could be done. The backlight opening needs work too. Because it's resin, you may find you can modify an original kit a bit easier but that's just my opinion and you know what they say.

[bill-e-boy]

This an excellent build of the Plymouth coupe.

Have you tried spark plug wire for the welting. It is usually 0.4mm (0.015"). Typically the real thing is about 5mm diameter so 0.5mm would be correct but may still look a little large but 0.4mm plug wire woud be sweet with paint on it. 

 

[customline]

2 hours ago, bill-e-boy said:

This an excellent build of the Plymouth coupe.

Have you tried spark plug wire for the welting. It is usually 0.4mm (0.015"). Typically the real thing is about 5mm diameter so 0.5mm would be correct but may still look a little large but 0.4mm plug wire woud be sweet with paint on it. 

 

Thanks for your comments and suggestions, Bill.  I will be trying some .020 styrene rod when it arrives. The normal prime/sand process should render it a bit smaller but I plan on down-playing it as much as I can by painting the car black. The welt situation has taken on a life of its own but, for me, its just something I've got to deal with to finish out the nose mod. In fact, yesterday I put a full coat of primer on the car and then remembered that I was going to wait till the welt was put in 💩

[charlie8575]

I never really noticed how flubbed this kit was. I mean, at least to me, it still looks nice assembled, and clearly, there's room for improvement, but wow.

I seem to remember Tim Boyd discussing some of the development of this kit a while back, and it was in AMT was in pretty serious crisis, so, there is that, and it would explain a lot of the slap-dash engineering and design seen in many of their kits of this vintage.

Seems to me that this is a subject that would ripe for Moebius to come up with a new-and-improved product.

That being said, I know where there's a really nice, appears to be mostly original '41 4-door. I'm half-tempted to rent a 3-D scanner, and see about scanning the body, and then selling a corrected front clip cast in resin from a 3-D printed master.

Heck, maybe use that as the starting point for a new kit done to modern standards.

Charlie Larkin

[customline]

1 hour ago, charlie8575 said:

I never really noticed how flubbed this kit was. I mean, at least to me, it still looks nice assembled, and clearly, there's room for improvement, but wow.

I seem to remember Tim Boyd discussing some of the development of this kit a while back, and it was in AMT was in pretty serious crisis, so, there is that, and it would explain a lot of the slap-dash engineering and design seen in many of their kits of this vintage.

Seems to me that this is a subject that would ripe for Moebius to come up with a new-and-improved product.

That being said, I know where there's a really nice, appears to be mostly original '41 4-door. I'm half-tempted to rent a 3-D scanner, and see about scanning the body, and then selling a corrected front clip cast in resin from a 3-D printed master.

Heck, maybe use that as the starting point for a new kit done to modern standards.

Charlie Larkin

Can you really do that Charlie? Sounds like a worthwhile undertaking, for sure. I would be interested in a new front clip that is accurate to 21st century standards (or a whole new kit, for that matter 😞).  Not sure if it's cost effective but I have no knowledge of that stuff. I'm still stuck in the 20th century. 🫤

[charlie8575]

9 minutes ago, customline said:

Can you really do that Charlie? Sounds like a worthwhile undertaking, for sure. I would be interested in a new front clip that is accurate to 21st century standards (or a whole new kit, for that matter 😞).  Not sure if it's cost effective but I have no knowledge of that stuff. I'm still stuck in the 20th century. 🫤

As the Joe Cocker (?) song goes, I get by with a little help from my friends.....

But the short answer is yes, it could probably be done with a little creativity and some time. A lot of money would help, too, because moulds and licensing are expensive.

Charlie Larkin

[customline]

3 hours ago, charlie8575 said:

As the Joe Cocker (?) song goes, I get by with a little help from my friends.....

But the short answer is yes, it could probably be done with a little creativity and some time. A lot of money would help, too, because moulds and licensing are expensive.

Charlie Larkin

Well...actually it was Ringo's song first and his friends were pretty helpful. And oh, yeah, licensing....that's a big one. I guess we gotta do it the hard way ☹️. The .020 styrene rod showed up today. Yay. The work shall resume 😎

[charlie8575]

15 minutes ago, customline said:

Well...actually it was Ringo's song first and his friends were pretty helpful. And oh, yeah, licensing....that's a big one. I guess we gotta do it the hard way ☹️. The .020 styrene rod showed up today. Yay. The work shall resume 😎

So, point of clarification.

I could come up with a part, probably sell it, and nobody would really care very much. Resin is low-enough volume that the most of the manufacturers don't both going after it. Very small volume, usually not a lot money, just more hassle than it's worth for them. This would still take a while. I'm horrible with drafting software, so I'd have to get someone I know who can actually use the stuff to do something. Once that's done, a master can be printed, and parts cast. I can tell you that the separate grille panel would still probably be needed for resin-casting, too, but it might be possible to get a tighter tolerance so the seam is less obvious.

Kit-kit...that's when that hits. I don't know how Chrysler's present-time overlords are to deal with, but Chrysler was historically very difficult and expensive. I remember seeing mentioned somewhere that one of the manufacturers (I think G.M.) had retained a firm that did sports licensing (e.g., hats, shirts, etc.), and upon doing so, the licensing costs went into orbit.

It has long been my dream to start making kits in large production scale. Maybe this is the one to start with?

If anyone wants to invest, I'd be open to discussing it.

Charlie Larkin

 

[customline]

Well, there you go folks! PM Charlie if you want in on this! It's way over my head 🥴.

[customline]

While waiting for my Hobbylinc order to get here I figured I try to complete the boat mooring.  I found a great photo of one and thought it would be cool to connect the ignition wires like they did back in the day

I figured I give it a try. I soldered my wires to .020 brass and painted below the connection with gloss white. Drilled out the molded-in plugs and inserted the brass. Cut the wires to length and inserted in my "distributor". A very fiddly operation(for me 🥴). 

So I got my .020 styrene and installed the fender welt. Thanks for your interest 🫣

All right then.

[David G.]

Great progress on this Jim.

I wired the engine in the one I built too. I tried to make one of those clamshell wire guides but couldn't quite get it to look the way I wanted it to so I did without it.

The fender welt looks great! I wish I'd thought of using styrene rods when I built mine. Another case of what I call "delayed intelligence".

David G.

[customline]

5 hours ago, David G. said:

Great progress on this Jim.

I wired the engine in the one I built too. I tried to make one of those clamshell wire guides but couldn't quite get it to look the way I wanted it to so I did without it.

The fender welt looks great! I wish I'd thought of using styrene rods when I built mine. Another case of what I call "delayed intelligence".

 

Yeah...I tried that too.  As far as the welt goes, It's a bit large but there's so much out-of-scale nonsense going on with this kit, it's not relevant to me anymore. The liberties they took with the chassis and drive line turn the whole thing into a joke. I started the assembly of the suspension and when I got to the rear axle/springs/shocks I found very little resemblance to the 1:1.  I started to "fix" things and realized it was useless . 😓  it's pretty "toy-like", not a serious model. Maybe it can be detailed by someone with a better attitude but I've had enough of this one and just want to settle for making the body look more realistic and move on. There's your delayed intelligence, Dave. 🥴