Plastic surgery for a '41 Plymouth

[bluestringer]

Jim, your 41 is looking good. You are doing a lot more mods than I am on mine. Looking forward to seeing your finished work.

[customline]

5 hours ago, bluestringer said:

Jim, your 41 is looking good. You are doing a lot more mods than I am on mine. Looking forward to seeing your finished work.

Thanks, James.  It's unfortunate that mods of this nature are necessary to produce a good likeness of a '41 Plymouth but it is what it is.  Maybe another manufacturer will step up and create accurate representations of these pre-war MoPars but don't hold your breath. 

[slusher]

Impressive work on your Plymouth, and you have made a lot of progress!

[charlie8575]

Of the one '41 I managed to mostly finish (I had to set it aside, and somehow, large portions of the kit got mangled), the rear suspension was positively vexing for getting it to stay assembled. The windshield divider wasn't exactly fun, either. They should have notched it with a slightly longer back so that it would securely glue into place from inside.

I really love the subject, and have a bunch of these. Even with the warts, they give me something a little different from a Ford or Chevy.

As I've seen observed on this board, with rare exception, cars tend to be "if A does it, B, C,D, et al will never do one," unlike armour or planes, so if Airfix does a Panzer or a P-40 in a certain scale and configuration, Tamiya will copy, then Meng, then Hobby Boss, then Aoshima, and so forth, and then, frequently, a manufacturer will re-do an earlier kit to modern standards with improved fit and detail. For whatever reason, this doesn't happen with cars.

The more I'm looking at this, the more I'm thinking a new '41 Plymouth might be a viable kit, especially if the tooling is set up to do different years. and a few different body styles. It could prove a jump-off for other cars, too.

Charlie Larkin

 

[customline]

8 hours ago, slusher said:

Impressive work on your Plymouth, and you have made a lot of progress!

Thanks, Carl, progress is waiting for paint now and paint waits for weather, which has been uncooperative lately.  Whenever the opportunity presents itself though, I try to move forward and get some paint done. I'm preparing to prime a bunch of yellow plastic today.

6 hours ago, charlie8575 said:

Of the one '41 I managed to mostly finish (I had to set it aside, and somehow, large portions of the kit got mangled), the rear suspension was positively vexing for getting it to stay assembled. The windshield divider wasn't exactly fun, either. They should have notched it with a slightly longer back so that it would securely glue into place from inside.

I really love the subject, and have a bunch of these. Even with the warts, they give me something a little different from a Ford or Chevy.

As I've seen observed on this board, with rare exception, cars tend to be "if A does it, B, C,D, et al will never do one," unlike armour or planes, so if Airfix does a Panzer or a P-40 in a certain scale and configuration, Tamiya will copy, then Meng, then Hobby Boss, then Aoshima, and so forth, and then, frequently, a manufacturer will re-do an earlier kit to modern standards with improved fit and detail. For whatever reason, this doesn't happen with cars.

The more I'm looking at this, the more I'm thinking a new '41 Plymouth might be a viable kit, especially if the tooling is set up to do different years. and a few different body styles. It could prove a jump-off for other cars, too.

Charlie Larkin

 

This thread and Lenny's have brought this kit some fair attention. The builder is faced with how best to build it based on the builder's skill set. I can't see this kit (and some others on my shelves) being anything but raw material rather than a real "kit".  Like a resin body with some usable components thrown in. Like the "Craftsman Series" from AMT, it's a good start for a gasser or custom but not an authentic representation out of the box. Full stop. I know I complain too much about the deficiencies of some kits but it's because there are a lot of great kits out there for comparison. Gotta take the good with the bad, I guess. 🙂

[NOBLNG]

23 hours ago, customline said:

This thread and Lenny's have brought this kit some fair attention. The builder is faced with how best to build it based on the builder's skill set. I can't see this kit (and some others on my shelves) being anything but raw material rather than a real "kit".  Like a resin body with some usable components thrown in. Like the "Craftsman Series" from AMT, it's a good start for a gasser or custom but not an authentic representation out of the box. Full stop. I know I complain too much about the deficiencies of some kits but it's because there are a lot of great kits out there for comparison. Gotta take the good with the bad, I guess. 🙂

AMEN! I think the biggest issue (other than the poorly shaped fenders) is the grill itself. If the nose flash is filed off, the grill doesn’t fit properly. And I haven’t even looked seriously at the rest of the kit yet. I’ve pulled mine out and will start a thread when I get a bit of substantial progress. Thanks for the inspiration guys!🥴

Edit: What an ugly chrome job on mine!😬

Edited February 16 by NOBLNG

[customline]

2 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

AMEN! I think the biggest issue (other than the poorly shaped fenders) is the grill itself. If the nose flash is filed off, the grill doesn’t fit properly. And I haven’t even looked seriously at the rest of the kit yet. I’ve pulled mine out and will start a thread when I get a bit of substantial progress. Thanks for the inspiration guys!🥴

Edit: What an ugly chrome job on mine!😬

Oh wow, Greg. That totally sucks! .....  Well, at least it's not yellow 🥴. OK, not funny.  I will look at my other 2 kits and PM you later today. Hang in there.

Edited February 16 by customline
Re-wording expletives

[customline]

Lenny showed us a situation he encountered involving the inner fender panels. Taking his advice, I test fitted the panels with the radiator to see if I had the same problem. My problem was different. I had to tweak the locating pins at the bottom back end of the panels to get them to fit and it was just some minor trimming with a knife. Yours may be different so look them over well. What I found was my right (passenger) side was about 1/16 high based on the left side where it joins the radiator. I trimmed it with my #11 until it was consistent with the other side. Oops, too much. My bad 💩

The above is the "corrected" assembly. I figured I should join the 3 parts permanently in order to test fit the body/ interior/ chassis (and I wanted to paint it as an assembly, which I did). The left side doesn't quite mate with the fender so I will need to do something there.

It will be posted when I figure it out but the important thing is for the body to end up in the correct place at the chassis.

The bottom of the grille panel must contact the bumper brackets as shown. The kit is not a 2 as they say but (today....due to the molds being worn out ) a 3. Or maybe 4 or 5.  You cannot throw this kit together. You must think of it as raw material. It has become, because of it's age, just a pile of plastic from which you must create what you envision. Maybe it's time to retire it or maybe re-tool it, I dunno, but I love it, so it's not easy. I have a few of them in my inventory still to be built. Just raw material as far as I'm concerned. I plan to paint her black, because it was probably the most popular color for this and many other cars of this era. And the fender welt would be black. Thanks for checking in 🥴

 

[LennyB]

2 hours ago, customline said:

Lenny showed us a situation he encountered involving the inner fender panels. Taking his advice, I test fitted the panels with the radiator to see if I had the same problem. My problem was different. I had to tweak the locating pins at the bottom back end of the panels to get them to fit and it was just some minor trimming with a knife. Yours may be different so look them over well. What I found was my right (passenger) side was about 1/16 high based on the left side where it joins the radiator. I trimmed it with my #11 until it was consistent with the other side. Oops, too much. My bad 💩

The above is the "corrected" assembly. I figured I should join the 3 parts permanently in order to test fit the body/ interior/ chassis (and I wanted to paint it as an assembly, which I did). The left side doesn't quite mate with the fender so I will need to do something there.

It will be posted when I figure it out but the important thing is for the body to end up in the correct place at the chassis.

The bottom of the grille panel must contact the bumper brackets as shown. The kit is not a 2 as they say but (today....due to the molds being worn out ) a 3. Or maybe 4 or 5.  You cannot throw this kit together. You must think of it as raw material. It has become, because of it's age, just a pile of plastic from which you must create what you envision. Maybe it's time to retire it or maybe re-tool it, I dunno, but I love it, so it's not easy. I have a few of them in my inventory still to be built. Just raw material as far as I'm concerned. I plan to paint her black, because it was probably the most popular color for this and many other cars of this era. And the fender welt would be black. Thanks for checking in 🥴

 

Jim, after having the issue with my Woody I was working on the Coupe today and found a different problem with that one. As you have here I found it made the nose sit too high, elevated off the bumper brackets. I did some trimming of the inner fenders to lower everything. But as you mention you're going to have to tweak each kit to make things fit. I'll have pics up later, now it's time to cook some dinner.🍲

[customline]

Yeah, Lenny, I get it. Saturdays are fun days.  I was able to take advantage of the weather today and get some paint done.  This build is a learning experience and I will have lots of Intel to help me now and the next time thanks to you and Greg and everyone else who contributed to this project. I have had and continue to have a great deal of fun with this. However it turns out, I am happy to have been part of it.

Edited February 25 by customline

[LennyB]

1 hour ago, customline said:

Yeah, Lenny, I get it. Saturdays are fun days.  I was able to take advantage of the weather today and get some paint done.  This build is a learning experience and I will have lots of Intel to help me now and the next time thanks to you and Greg and everyone else who contributed to this project. I have had and continue to have a great deal of fun with this. However it turns out, I am happy to have been part of it.

Jim, I like the look of the wheels. Did you paint right over the chrome?

[customline]

2 hours ago, LennyB said:

Jim, I like the look of the wheels. Did you paint right over the chrome?

Yeah, I did.  I'm not really happy with it but not because of the way it looks. It ain't right. Such is the way with this kit. I may look for alternatives. One of the kit tires has a bad white wall. It's everywhere I turn. 😞. As it stands, the plan is a rattle can paint job in gloss black using Ace Premium brand.... weather permitting.

Edited February 25 by customline

[LennyB]

7 hours ago, customline said:

Yeah, I did.  I'm not really happy with it but not because of the way it looks. It ain't right. Such is the way with this kit. I may look for alternatives. One of the kit tires has a bad white wall. It's everywhere I turn. 😞. As it stands, the plan is a rattle can paint job in gloss black using Ace Premium brand.... weather permitting.

I know what you mean. I thought about trying to get rid of that ribbed trim ring but not sure how to go about it. JC Whitney lives again. (actually they are still in business)

[dwc43]

7 minutes ago, LennyB said:

I know what you mean. I thought about trying to get rid of that ribbed trim ring but not sure how to go about it. JC Whitney lives again. (actually they are still in business)

No, it's not. J.C. got bought out in 2010 by Car Parts dot com. 

[David G.]

I remember having some difficulty with the inner fender well on mine. I don't remember if it was the issue you identified or something different. What I do remember is that they had something to do with the body not fitting down on the chassis properly. I think they affected how the interior tub fit into the body shell.

On mine, I never did get the body and chassis to mate properly.

Thanks for keeping us up to date on this build Jim.

David G.

[LennyB]

1 hour ago, dwc43 said:

No, it's not. J.C. got bought out in 2010 by Car Parts dot com. 

True, but they still exists as a company. https://www.jcwhitney.com/ How many times has AMT been bought out over the years. I lost count.

[NOBLNG]

Looking sharp Jim! Mine’s been in the dehydrator for the last week, and the sprue goo is still a little soft.🤨

[customline]

13 hours ago, David G. said:

I remember having some difficulty with the inner fender well on mine. I don't remember if it was the issue you identified or something different. What I do remember is that they had something to do with the body not fitting down on the chassis properly. I think they affected how the interior tub fit into the body shell.

On mine, I never did get the body and chassis to mate properly.

Thanks for keeping us up to date on this build Jim.

David G.

Let's be clear about this kit, the way it is currently..... P.O.S., full stop. Maybe the early ones were better but it's clearly not well designed. The fit of the interior tub is absolute. The inner fender panels must be tweaked at the locating pins. Look closely, there's a round pin with a D shape at the bottom and I had to clean them up to get them in all the way. The panels must mate with the radiator support(which includes the radiator) with no way of positive locating and, on my kit, the driver side panel top front corner lined up flush with the top of the rad support.  The right side was high by about 1/16". I had to trim the bottom to get it to fit like the driver side and there is nothing on the firewall to locate the panels and the interface is very tight. I have glued the panel/rad assembly so now I will need to force the tub into place in order to get all 4 pins to go in their holes. I may need to trim the panels if I can't get a fit. The fun never ends. And then there's the exhaust system......😬

[customline]

13 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

Looking sharp Jim! Mine’s been in the dehydrator for the last week, and the sprue goo is still a little soft.🤨

Thanks, Greg. I don't get it about the sprue goo. Mine was solid after 48 hours. Oh, and I finally bought a dehydrator!  Haven't tried it yet but I cut out the baskets so it's ready when the weather breaks.  Should I tape all the sections together? I'm thinking like a dome with the lid taped to the sections. Pick the whole mess up off the base. Right? 🤔  

[David G.]

8 hours ago, customline said:

Let's be clear about this kit, the way it is currently..... P.O.S., full stop. Maybe the early ones were better but it's clearly not well designed. The fit of the interior tub is absolute. The inner fender panels must be tweaked at the locating pins. Look closely, there's a round pin with a D shape at the bottom and I had to clean them up to get them in all the way. The panels must mate with the radiator support(which includes the radiator) with no way of positive locating and, on my kit, the driver side panel top front corner lined up flush with the top of the rad support.  The right side was high by about 1/16". I had to trim the bottom to get it to fit like the driver side and there is nothing on the firewall to locate the panels and the interface is very tight. I have glued the panel/rad assembly so now I will need to force the tub into place in order to get all 4 pins to go in their holes. I may need to trim the panels if I can't get a fit. The fun never ends. And then there's the exhaust system......😬

Jim, I apologize if I upset or offended you. That was not my intent.

My comment was intended to relate some of the experiences we shared in wrangling this kit into some form of an acceptable representation of what it was supposed to be.

I continue to be impressed by the quality of work you're putting into this build and I would like to continue following this thread. I could do so without any further comment if you wish.

David G.

[customline]

17 minutes ago, David G. said:

Jim, I apologize if I upset or offended you. That was not my intent.

My comment was intended to relate some of the experiences we shared in wrangling this kit into some form of an acceptable representation of what it was supposed to be.

I continue to be impressed by the quality of work you're putting into this build and I would like to continue following this thread. I could do so without any further comment if you wish.

David G.

Oh no, Dave, I was just venting 😄  I guess I should used more emojis. Sorry 😁! For some reason my browser doesn't play well with the emoji thingie and it slows me down. I should be  more careful when venting 😅

[NOBLNG]

8 hours ago, customline said:

Thanks, Greg. I don't get it about the sprue goo. Mine was solid after 48 hours. Oh, and I finally bought a dehydrator!  Haven't tried it yet but I cut out the baskets so it's ready when the weather breaks.  Should I tape all the sections together? I'm thinking like a dome with the lid taped to the sections. Pick the whole mess up off the base. Right? 🤔  

It could be the solvent? I had mixed up this batch probably a year or more ago using Testors plastic cement. I opened the jar thinking it would be solid, but it was still VERY gooey. That sounds like a good idea for the dehydrator. You want it to be easy to get a freshly painted body into it. I had the use of a sheet metal shop, so I made custom cabinets for mine.🙂

[customline]

28 minutes ago, NOBLNG said:

It could be the solvent? I had mixed up this batch probably a year or more ago using Testors plastic cement. I opened the jar thinking it would be solid, but it was still VERY gooey. That sounds like a good idea for the dehydrator. You want it to be easy to get a freshly painted body into it. I had the use of a sheet metal shop, so I made custom cabinets for mine.🙂

Testor's plastic cement in a container like in the picture below but with a different label?

 

 

[dwc43]

23 hours ago, LennyB said:

True, but they still exists as a company. https://www.jcwhitney.com/ How many times has AMT been bought out over the years. I lost count.

True. But it looks like they turned that name into a magazine and car parts has the parts. Oh well, don't you miss the old car parts magazines, the wish lists. lol

[NOBLNG]

1 hour ago, customline said:

Testor's plastic cement in a container like in the picture below but with a different label?

No, it was in a glass bottle, but it’s likely the same stuff.