LennyB Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 I'm new to the board and I must admit it was customline's post of the 41 Plymouth that encouraged me to finally sign up. Up until now I have been viewing from the sidelines. Then bluestringer stepped up with his '41 and I felt I needed to add my 2-cents. I have a number of started projects from the past few years but haven't finished anything in a long time. Two of them happen to be the '41 Plymouth's. When the 1941 Plymouth first came out in the 70's, long before it showed up in Coca Cola garb, I converted one to a 1939 Plymouth P8 and a four door sedan at that. As there are numerous differences between the '39 and '41 it was not an easy task, as well as throwing in two extra doors. The reason I choose that subject was to duplicate my Father's first car which was a 39 4-dr. Years later I restored the real thing for him but that story needs to find a home on a different forum. But other then the 39 I have yet to complete this kit. About 7-8 years ago I started a woody project, mating the front of the '41 Plymouth with the back half of Revell's '48 Ford Woody. The Revell parts were fresh out of the box while the Plymouth bits were taken from a glue bomb, my favorite medium. They actually blend quite nicely. Everything from the cowl panel back is from the Ford. The Ford is slightly wider so as you can see I needed to add a pie shaped section to the hood and spread the fenders a bit. Other mods include adding the three ridges to the rear fender and creating the raised section around the wheel opening. The Ford is flat along these lines. The "wood" required some modification as the pieces are similar but smoother on the Plymouth then the Ford. More work on the nose as mentioned by customline, smoothing the seam that doesn't belong and adding the welting, still in process here. I used Plastruct for the welting. Not sure where I'm going with this once the bodywork is done. At this point I'm thinking original 6-cylinder and probably a Royal Blue for the color. While working on this Woody I grabbed another '41 glue bomb and started hacking away at that. Couldn't help it have a box of 41 parts cars, 1/25th not 1/1. It's probably hard to notice but I chopped the top slightly with the aid of an additional top from another glue bomb. That was how I stretched the roof to get the 'A' pillars to align properly. The seam between the two can still be seen here at the top of the door. The nose will still need work. Not sure yet on color for this one. Will probably go with a late model Hemi for motivation if it will fit. Even thought the car looks wide in front because of those fenders, the engine compartment doesn't go out past the edges of the hood. And of course chassis mods to bring it up to date. We shall see. I should really quit when I'm ahead but I found this resin '41 2-dr sedan on eBay. So I might have another one in the barn. Thant's all for now. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dust collectors Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 These are both interesting project, thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 Welcome Lenny, and I'm happy that my project moved you. Your projects are very interesting to me. I'm following. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LennyB Posted February 3 Author Share Posted February 3 THE COUPE Spent the week mainly working on the Coupe which is a bit ironic as the Woody was the original project I started in the first place. To backtrack a bit the coupe only came about because of the bits leftover from dissecting a junk body for it's nose to marry to the Woody back half. This left me with half a coupe, and as I don't like to let anything go to waste, trying to figure out what to do with it. That half a Coupe donated the front part of it's roof to assist in the chopped top on this Coupe. So one coupe gave it's life so two others could live. What remained were these random bit of parts. I had thought about using the rear fenders on the Woody but changed my mind. Honestly, once dove into the Coupe I started having second thoughts about my first choice to get back into this hobby. A lot of issues with the kit started to reveal themselves. If you’ve followed along with Cusomline’s build you will see that we are both fighting with the nose. I guess it’s better to work out the issues now on the Coupe before I get too deep on the Woody. The Coupe is to be a resto-mod and I decided to eliminate the front bumpers so the cutouts in the body needed to be filled in. Probably the only easy fix on the nose. A little scrap plastic, a little glue and a little sanding. Found some inspiration on the net. I like the stance of the red one and the headlight treatment on the black one. Probably because of the known issues with the kit headlights LOL. The real issue with the body’s beak is the trim. The trim detail is a bit faint and off center. Also along the top center it is uneven. And the hood doesn't want to stay in place. Below is a shot of just the center section from the kit. Look at the top and the faint trim lines. Those vertical lines at either edge are meant to be the fender welting. Taking a cue from Centerline the trim has been removed and replaced with half round styrene rod. .040” for the vertical and .030” for the horizontal. Another issue with the nose is the grill itself. The inner edges have a vertical bar which is not true to the 1:1 Plymouth. So while adding the new vertical trim I placed it over this bar to try and resolve this problem Not the best fix but I feel a little better about it. The trouble with this fix as NOBLNG pointed out, the center of the nose piece is too wide compared to the 1:1 '41. And with this mod I just made it look widerI Well, we have to make concessions somewhere. But we still have issues with the hood. At first I thought about adding hinges to the hood to keep it centered. But was reminded of how the hood sits on the real '41 and had another idea. There is a wide edge under the hood upon where it rests. Those black circles are rubber bumpers. So to replicate this I added square stock along the inner edge of the hood opening and raised it slightly. This keeps the hood centered and helps to maintain an even gap. Now to do some cleanup work and hit it with some primer so we can assess where we are at. 'till next time. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LennyB Posted February 3 Author Share Posted February 3 The Woody Don't think for one minute I've neglected the Woody. It got some love this week also. The Woody is just hanging back a bit to see how the battle of the noses progresses. Meanwhile it has it's own issues, namely the hood. The hood is actually twisted and sits high on the drivers side front. Part of that problem may be my fault. The body of the Ford woody is a bit wider then the Plymouth. So rather then make the Woody body narrower, I made the rear of the hood wider. I cut a slice down the middle of the hood and added a pie shaped sliver. This afternoon I cut through that sliver, taped the hood down solid to the body re-glued it and hope that when the glue dries it retains it's shape. We shall see.... A keen eye may note that I have removed the fender welting on the Woody and right now it has a groove cut in it's place. That is for the ongoing indecision on how we are going to tackle the welting. More on that later. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LennyB Posted February 3 Author Share Posted February 3 THE COUPE After some primer the coupe is starting to take shape. The top chop still needs some cleaning up on the right side. Left side is just about there Still need to figure out the fender welting issue. On the coupe right now the welting is the original kit on top and the rear of the fenders and the front piece is .040" half round. Not sure if I will leave that and do some black BMF over it after the body is painted. It's hard to see in the pics but the bead is uneven along the top. Might remove it completely as with the Woody as Customline has done and fill it in with some styrene rod. Also considered brass rod. Other considerations are solder or bead wire. Nose needs some more cleanup also. That's all for now. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LennyB Posted February 7 Author Share Posted February 7 THE COUPE Wanted to step away from the body work a bit and concentrate on other areas. Pulled out the chassis pieces as I've been thinking about wheel combinations and a narrowed Ford 9" rears. Had totally forgotten I had done chassis work a couple of years back and had already selected old school Cragars. Not going to start all over with the chassis so I guess we will just go old school. Ran into a hiccup however. Found I don't have any spindles for the front end, am missing one coil spring and both the front sway bar and tie rod. That's the risk you take resurrecting a builder. I think I'm going to go with real springs for the coils and guess I will fab the rest. The kit calls for a metal axle which is OK for the rear but I want to eliminate that for the front. So new spindles would probably be needed anyway. Also have to drill out the spring pockets as they are filled with glue, can you say glue bomb? So for now let's just do a quick mock-up to get an idea of stance. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie8575 Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 The wagon especially is a nice bit of work. Charlie Larkin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LennyB Posted February 10 Author Share Posted February 10 Thanks Charlie, appreciate you checking in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LennyB Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 The Coupe Been bouncing around a lot on these two projects for the last week. Waiting for paint to dry, parts to arrive, you know how this is. Didn't feel I was really making any progress but as I step back I guess I did better then I thought. Working a bit on the chassis. Wanted to go old school on the wheels and pulled some bits from the parts box. Also wanted to "represent" discs on the front and drums on the back. For the rear I dug out some backing plates which I fit over the wheel stub. Lousy pic here but you get the idea. For the front I shopped around for some aftermarket discs but everything seemed too large for my rims. Purchased a set of Gopher Racing 15" discs, but they turned out to be too big as well. Finally cannibalized an AMT 50th Anniversary Camaro for the discs, still kinda big but workable. Gonna pretend the back side of the disc is the dust shield. Just go along with me on this one OK. I don't want to have a metal axle running across my engine bay so I fabricated short stubs from round stock which will be cut to size later. Next moved on to the suspension. I was missing a bunch of the parts for the front so I used real springs to replace the missing kit parts and stole some spindles from another kit. Drilled out the spring pockets and epoxied in the new springs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LennyB Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 (edited) The Coupe Next I did some interior remodeling. The interior in this kit leaves a lot to be desired. But one of the real things that bugs me is the underside view. There are huge gaps on either side of the interior tub and show outside the chassis frame rails. I decided to fabricate some floor sections to bridge the gap. Found some flat stock which was about the same thickness as the four pads on the bottom of the tub. Removed the pads and glued on my panels. Trimmed around them to give them some character. Still needs some adjusting and a spritz of black paint. But it's sure better then looking up at the drivers arm pit. And since the chassis is in place we can do a proper mock-up. But one last thing before I go. I want to replace the front bench seat with buckets. Digging through the old parts bin I came up with a few candidates. Opinions anyone? That's the kit bench on the far right as if I need to explain that. Edited February 14 by LennyB Remove photo that didn't belong 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 I like the middle pair of buckets, Len. They look like mid '60s style out of a GTO or some such thing. Same era as the mags you are using. Like a street rod built in 1972. Especially if you go with the kit V8. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LennyB Posted February 14 Author Share Posted February 14 7 hours ago, customline said: I like the middle pair of buckets, Len. They look like mid '60s style out of a GTO or some such thing. Same era as the mags you are using. Like a street rod built in 1972. Especially if you go with the kit V8. Those were the one's I was leaning towards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOBLNG Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 (edited) I agree on the seats…raise them slightly on some pedestals or brackets. I like where you’re going with these projects Len.😎 I appreciate all the detail pics you and Jim are posting. It will help me greatly if I ever get around to starting mine. One thought about the nose that I’ve had after reading your thread, is to cast the emblem and then maybe take a thin 1/16” or 3/32” section vertically out of the nose and pinch the two sides back together. It would narrow the nose and keep the grill openings original. A bit of putty might be needed to preserve the peak in the beak?🙂 I don’t think that amount would be noticeable on the width of the vehicle. Then the hood may need a slight wedge removed also to narrow the front, or it could maybe be sanded to match if the plastic is thick enough? Keep up the good work fellas! Edit: I don’t know if that modification would cause problems with the frame mounting? It would only be 3/64” or .047” per side. Edited February 14 by NOBLNG 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LennyB Posted February 14 Author Share Posted February 14 5 hours ago, NOBLNG said: I agree on the seats…raise them slightly on some pedestals or brackets. I like where you’re going with these projects Len.😎 I appreciate all the detail pics you and Jim are posting. It will help me greatly if I ever get around to starting mine. One thought about the nose that I’ve had after reading your thread, is to cast the emblem and then maybe take a thin 1/16” or 3/32” section vertically out of the nose and pinch the two sides back together. It would narrow the nose and keep the grill openings original. A bit of putty might be needed to preserve the peak in the beak?🙂 I don’t think that amount would be noticeable on the width of the vehicle. Then the hood may need a slight wedge removed also to narrow the front, or it could maybe be sanded to match if the plastic is thick enough? Keep up the good work fellas! Edit: I don’t know if that modification would cause problems with the frame mounting? It would only be 3/64” or .047” per side. Greg Thanks for the feedback on the seats. I was going to go with a pedestal or something as they are a bit too wide, just like every other seat I tried, to fit the floor because of the center hump. So they have to be raised a bit to fit. And I like the idea of pinching the nose but I'm too far into it at this point to change things. Maybe on the next one. As the emblem is so faint as it is recasting it isn't a bad idea anyway. Or maybe just casting a whole new nose piece. I don't know, starting to sound like too much work 🤔 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOBLNG Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 33 minutes ago, LennyB said: And I like the idea of pinching the nose but I'm too far into it at this point to change things. Maybe on the next one. As the emblem is so faint as it is recasting it isn't a bad idea anyway. Or maybe just casting a whole new nose piece. I don't know, starting to sound like too much work That’s the dilemma with some of these sub-par kits…where do you draw the line eh?🥴 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 (edited) Build it as a flip-nose gasser and you solve all the issues. A) The nose becomes a one piece fiberglass unit with only a vague resemblance of the original. the crappy rear axle and the incorrect shock placement gets upgraded to something that actually looks like a rear axle housing (and you get to add ladder bars, laddie! ) (C) a tube axle replaces all that nonsense in the front suspension and steering. And D) you don't have to worry about trim....let's face it, this kit has much potential- just not as a stock '41 Plymouth 🫤. Think of it as a resin body with benefits ☺️. Edited February 14 by customline Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LennyB Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 Maybe I was right the first time I built this kit by turning it into a 1939 P8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 1 hour ago, LennyB said: Maybe I was right the first time I built this kit by turning it into a 1939 P8 Lenny, you gotta show me the '39. Please. (I have an unnatural thing for the '39) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LennyB Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 20 hours ago, customline said: Lenny, you gotta show me the '39. Please. (I have an unnatural thing for the '39) OK, I'll have to see where my father has it. I don't remember the last time I saw it and I'm sure it's not too accurate. In the meantime here's the real one I restored. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 37 minutes ago, LennyB said: OK, I'll have to see where my father has it. I don't remember the last time I saw it and I'm sure it's not too accurate. In the meantime here's the real one I restored. Oh that's a beauty, Len. When was the restoration done? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LennyB Posted February 16 Author Share Posted February 16 1 hour ago, customline said: Oh that's a beauty, Len. When was the restoration done? Back in 1999 for my parents 40th wedding anniversary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 7 minutes ago, LennyB said: Back in 1999 for my parents 40th wedding anniversary. Len, that is a wonderful anniversary gift. My 40th is coming up soon. I prefer the coupe but a convertible would also be nice 😁. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LennyB Posted February 16 Author Share Posted February 16 11 hours ago, customline said: Len, that is a wonderful anniversary gift. My 40th is coming up soon. I prefer the coupe but a convertible would also be nice 😁. I'll get right on that😜 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customline Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 (edited) 20 minutes ago, LennyB said: I'll get right on that😜 Take your time, you have a year 🙂. Incidently, I was comparing the '39 to the '41 and the (coupe) body is different so...I'm giving up on that idea. ☹️ Edited February 16 by customline Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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