customline Posted February 26 Author Share Posted February 26 18 minutes ago, NOBLNG said: No, it was in a glass bottle, but it’s likely the same stuff. No, it looks like you have a solvent type. The one I pictured above is thicker; runny but not watery. It's a mystery, Greg. Hopefully the Dehydrator will suck the life out of it pretty soon. Is it still gooey or can you stick a finger in it and not get any on it? Did it bond to the plastic really well? The reason I used the Plastruct "welder" was its pretty hot and I wanted to get a good bond. The solvent type cements are not all the same, some are hotter than others- they melt the plastic and evaporate at different rates from brand to brand and maybe the one you used is a "cooler" type. You just gotta wait it out 😪. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOBLNG Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 3 hours ago, customline said: No, it looks like you have a solvent type. The one I pictured above is thicker; runny but not watery. It's a mystery, Greg. Hopefully the Dehydrator will suck the life out of it pretty soon. Is it still gooey or can you stick a finger in it and not get any on it? Did it bond to the plastic really well? The reason I used the Plastruct "welder" was its pretty hot and I wanted to get a good bond. The solvent type cements are not all the same, some are hotter than others- they melt the plastic and evaporate at different rates from brand to brand and maybe the one you used is a "cooler" type. You just gotta wait it out 😪. It is pretty hard…but not as hard as virgin styrene. I can still dent it slightly with my fingernail. I want it to be firm so it won’t smear or clog the sandpaper when I shape it. I might not even sand through to it, but it is there for insurance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted February 26 Author Share Posted February 26 2 hours ago, NOBLNG said: It is pretty hard…but not as hard as virgin styrene. I can still dent it slightly with my fingernail. I want it to be firm so it won’t smear or clog the sandpaper when I shape it. I might not even sand through to it, but it is there for insurance. I went through just a little and mine was like you describe so when I hit white I stopped the shaping operation for another day. You're getting close. I shot mine this afternoon with Ace Premium gloss black and tried to put it in my new dehydrator but it wouldn't fit! The body is mounted on a Tamiya spray stand and it wouldn't fit under the "dome" 🥵 ! ! I gotta raise the dome or chop the stand 🤔 Normal, perfectly normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOBLNG Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 (edited) 22 minutes ago, customline said: I went through just a little and mine was like you describe so when I hit white I stopped the shaping operation for another day. You're getting close. I shot mine this afternoon with Ace Premium gloss black and tried to put it in my new dehydrator but it wouldn't fit! The body is mounted on a Tamiya spray stand and it wouldn't fit under the "dome" 🥵 ! ! I gotta raise the dome or chop the stand 🤔 Normal, perfectly normal. This is the one in my garage. I found an auto air filter that fit nicely under it, since my garage is filthy. And I keep it on low heat so I can store some “soon to be used” paints in it. My detached garage has a heater going in it constantly, but it gets pretty chilly in there sometimes. This is the one in my basement. I have cranked it up to the max 160F to dry paint and it has not melted any styrene. You could certainly build a box from plywood or cardboard that would give you more room and easier access. The clear doors are not really necessary, and the heat is not high enough to cause a fire hazard. The main thing is to allow airflow out of the box. Edited February 26 by NOBLNG 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David G. Posted February 27 Share Posted February 27 On 2/26/2024 at 5:13 AM, customline said: 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 😅 Thanks Jim, I'm glad to know that. No worries. David G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted February 27 Author Share Posted February 27 (edited) 19 hours ago, NOBLNG said: This is the one in my garage. I found an auto air filter that fit nicely under it, since my garage is filthy. And I keep it on low heat so I can store some “soon to be used” paints in it. My detached garage has a heater going in it constantly, but it gets pretty chilly in there sometimes. This is the one in my basement. I have cranked it up to the max 160F to dry paint and it has not melted any styrene. You could certainly build a box from plywood or cardboard that would give you more room and easier access. The clear doors are not really necessary, and the heat is not high enough to cause a fire hazard. The main thing is to allow airflow out of the box Thanks, Greg.....I have work to do ....edit: I really like the air filter, my garage is filthy too ! 🙂 Edited February 27 by customline Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 Jim, I've really enjoyed watching how you deal with the vagaries of this kit. I have recently completed a full custom 41 Plymouth and encountered many of the issues you have - plus I cut the daylights out of it and created some of my own issues. I have plans to build another two, a woody and a convertible so eveything in your post is going to come in very handy! Cheers Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim boyd Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 (edited) On 1/24/2024 at 3:01 PM, Ace-Garageguy said: Simply to accommodate the reality of tooling-design for injection molding. The "tuck-under" of the nose panel, and the carve-outs for the grille, could not have been formed in one piece with the body without resorting to more expensive sliding die elements, and possibly straightening the lower front edge of the body so it would come out of the tool. Unfortunately, some tooling designers have indeed taken the expedient route, straightening the lower edge, making a "flat face", and the model's finished appearance suffers unless it's corrected by the builder...usually beyond the skill set or interest level of the typical modeler. Be glad they did it the way they did, 'cause you've about got it beat, and it's going to look great. Bill is exactly correct in both points he makes explaining why AMT did the front end as they did. I should also add that this kit was developed during a period at AMT where scale authenticity and fidelity were often compromised in favor of reduced project costs and possibly unrealistic timing goals. I was actually somewhat impressed with this kit relative to some of AMT's other projects developed at the same time (e.g. their '34 Ford three window coupe kit). There's more to tell on the development of this this kit but I will post the info later in a separate thread...TB Edited February 29 by tim boyd 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim boyd Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 On 2/25/2024 at 10:21 PM, 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......😬 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim boyd Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 Jim....fascinating to watch you go through this kit and address/fix all the shortcomings of this kit. I built three of them as the kit was first introduced around 1977 and I do not remember any of the assembly issues you have encountered (of course, my memory of events about 45 years ago isn't so great, either). I think it is probably a combination of tooling aging and our standards for building kits that far back being much less precise that they are today. Anyway, thanks very much for sharing your adventure with us and best wishes for final completion (looks like you are really close). TB 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted February 29 Author Share Posted February 29 8 hours ago, tim boyd said: Jim....fascinating to watch you go through this kit and address/fix all the shortcomings of this kit. I built three of them as the kit was first introduced around 1977 and I do not remember any of the assembly issues you have encountered (of course, my memory of events about 45 years ago isn't so great, either). I think it is probably a combination of tooling aging and our standards for building kits that far back being much less precise that they are today. Anyway, thanks very much for sharing your adventure with us and best wishes for final completion (looks like you are really close). TB Thanks for you comments, Tim. I value them greatly. There was a long period in which I did not build any car kits. I wandered into aircraft for a while but not in depth. I missed a lot of car kits while they were in their prime. When I jumped back in around '04 I got more deeply involved with customizing, and kit bashing. I caught the '41 Plymouth kit in it's....golden years, apparently 😏. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted February 29 Author Share Posted February 29 13 hours ago, alan barton said: Jim, I've really enjoyed watching how you deal with the vagaries of this kit. I have recently completed a full custom 41 Plymouth and encountered many of the issues you have - plus I cut the daylights out of it and created some of my own issues. I have plans to build another two, a woody and a convertible so eveything in your post is going to come in very handy! Cheers Alan Thanks for your interest, Alan. I hope you have a better time of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted March 7 Author Share Posted March 7 (edited) Greg did a really nice detailing job on his interior and I was at the point of just painting the damned thing and getting on with it. But I then felt shamed 😞. Okay, so even though I had a coat of primer on it I thought I should make an attempt to at least make some cranks and handles. I started by drilling in the centers of the hardly visible escutcheon and then discovered I could center-drill a piece of .100 evergreen rod and slice off thin pieces with my PE saw blade. I could then insert an .020 brass wire through the door panel and slide the new escutcheon down the wire and hit it with a tiny drop of solvent to bond it. then I found I could center-drill a piece of evergreen 1/16 rod and bend a piece of .020 brass wire into a crank shape and CA glue the wire into the rod. I then sliced off the 1/16" rod leaving a knob on the new crank. I finished off the knob with a drop of CA. The handles are just more .020 wire bent to shape. Simple. Not great, but adequate. Better than nothing. You can probably cast some handles and cranks but for me it's just not worth all that. After the interior is painted, I will add the new hardware and paint appropriately with Molotow and some ivory enamel. Easy. 🤓 Edited March 7 by customline 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOBLNG Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 Those look great Jim. Way better than what was barely there. I like how you use your vise as a guide to cut the escutcheons off.👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David G. Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 Clever work on the door hardware Jim! The results are impressive. David G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 I like the scratch built door handles… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted March 7 Author Share Posted March 7 8 hours ago, NOBLNG said: Those look great Jim. Way better than what was barely there. I like how you use your vise as a guide to cut the escutcheons off.👍 Thanks, Greg. I love my little vise. I have other vises but they're kind of personal. 🥴. The PE saw is extremely useful, especially for removing chrome parts from the sprue in this particular kit where sprue cutters won't work very well. 2 hours ago, David G. said: Clever work on the door hardware Jim! The results are impressive. David G. Thanks, David. I actually didn't injure myself in the process! That's impressive. 😏 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted March 7 Author Share Posted March 7 13 minutes ago, slusher said: I like the scratch built door handles… But.... Thanks, Carl. 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted March 8 Author Share Posted March 8 This is how well the body work went. The paint, not so much... I rushed it and made a mess of it but I'm OK with it. I gotta finish up a few things and then call it done. I used 5 minute epoxy to hold the headlights from the inside as well as the glass. The rear plate mount, trunk handle and the tail lights are pinned. Thanks for stopping by. By the way, there's a third tail light. Who knew? 😯 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David G. Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 The chrome trim strips never looked so good on this kit. David G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOBLNG Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 It’s looking really great Jim!👍😎 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted March 8 Author Share Posted March 8 1 hour ago, NOBLNG said: It’s looking really great Jim!👍😎 The narrative is "its an Earl Scheib paint job" 🙂 1 hour ago, David G. said: The chrome trim strips never looked so good on this kit. David G. Thanks to both of you for your kindness 😏 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted March 8 Author Share Posted March 8 Update: While trying to detail the interior tub, I was distracted by the fact that the floor does not extend to the full width of the body 🤓 which I already knew and had decided to "fix" 🥴. So then I thought I would do a trial fit of the tub and, as I suspected earlier, had to do more "fixing". Using my trusty #11, I removed a very small amount of the rear edge of the inner fender panel at a time until I was satisfied that that was not the only thing keeping the tub from fitting all the way down on the chassis. So I grabbed my fully charged Dremel Micro and removed a small amount from the transmission 😞. OK, nobody sees it. That did the trick! Well, that and I drilled the two front holes on the tub a bit bigger. I'm still playing with the floor extensions; more on that later. 😠 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LennyB Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 7 hours ago, customline said: The narrative is "its an Earl Scheib paint job" 🙂 Thanks to both of you for your kindness 😏 No the narrative is it's a period correct paint job. They didn't look as good back in the day as they do restored now. 😀 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted March 8 Author Share Posted March 8 1 hour ago, LennyB said: No the narrative is it's a period correct paint job. They didn't look as good back in the day as they do restored now. 😀 Oh...well all rightey then...😏 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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