´70 Firebird low show

[Andy Oldenburg]

This kit was on special sale and out of an impulse I bought it, without really knowing what to do with it. I am not THAT fond of the Firebird, but it seemed to call my name and send wishes to make something special out of it. After brooding about the possibilities I decided to turn it into a show car. But a show car needs something special for the show, so it had to be the doors. Simple hinges were not enough... How about gull wings! Tricky, hard to build and: I had no idea how to get the engineering to work. But eventually I did come up with solution that could make the show.

First I had to cut out the doors. And keeping in mind where I was going and thinking at least three steps ahead. Meaning, not forgetting the tub with the door panels.

I had to figure out the sweet spot for the hinges. The doors should move out and swivel up. I saw how this worked on a 1:1, but of course with much more hydraulic mechanism. So the open doors shall look like this:

That spot on the tub: That´s my sweet spot. And with those special wheels from scale production I like the looks and the stance.

After cutting out the door panels I attached a 3mm styrene tube for the "hinges". I will reinforce the tub in a later step.

The panels have to fit at a precise spot, making the doors close correctly, but also giving them a natural look when opened.

Here I have the front part of the tub reinforced with an extra layer of 1mm styrene. That hinge tube will be hidden completely by the dashboard.

Now it´s time for the door lips. Having made a bad experience with my first door jobs I have come to add another slice of 0.5mm styrene to the body before I attach the actual lips. This way, the paint layers building up won´t prevent the doors from closing correctly.

Seems to fit very well. A bit of fine sanding is necessary, but the looks are going into the right direction.

A base coat in silver is applied and the body is ready for color. It did take some small amounts of putty to smooth out a few cuts on and around the door made during the door cutting process. Here you can see how the hinge is supposed to work.

Thanks for watching!

 

[Iraceitall]

Brilliant fab work!

[stavanzer]

Wow!

What Engineering. Spot On.

[slusher]

This is an interesting interesting build!

[thebavarian]

Great job. I cannot believe what I see at your pictures. It´s amazing and I am excited.

[Andy Oldenburg]

First of all thanks guys for your friendly response!

I finally found time to get into my shop again! Making progress with the body, engine and interior.

This is the body after the first clear coat. The orange is self mixed with Schmincke AERO Color acrylic airbrush paint, with about 25% metallic fluid. I really like using AERO Color, but due to a very high humidity, it took longer than usual to dry. Since it is water based, you have to apply and add up very thin layers to get the final rich color. I speed it up a bit with a heat gun, held at a safe distance?. The first layer Molotov crystal clear already looks good. Next step is 6000 grit wet sanding and the next layer clear. You can see that the hood is slightly warped and does not close perfectly. I have corrected that before painting with heat 3 times already but it keeps coming back, yet less serious than before. Must use my heat gun again a last time.

The engine is just about finished. I wont bother you with the first steps. I discarded the kit carb. Generally I was expecting more and better details in a level 4 Revell kit. This carb is from Scale Production and does the job much better. Sorry for the fuzzy image...

As always, I built the distributor myself for more detail. The messy paint on the cables will be removed later.

Fuel lines, spark lines and the throttle are attached.

I will not use the standard air filter box in the kit. For this 4 barrel carb I built an air filter that will be connected to the scoop, which I cut off the filter box. The filter is foam rubber wrapped around a styrene tube.

Cooling hose connected. I pull the thin copper filaments out of a vinyl wire and fill the space with a 1mm aluminum wire. It is now bendable in every direction and shape.

I like to deconstruct the pulley/belt part so I can set up "real" rubber belts. The wheels get some working with thin styrene slices and photo etched nuts.

The belts are cut off a 1mm rubber mat. Getting 2 belts on the pulley wheels took some weaving, but it ended up in line. The air filter received a mesh metal cover.

For the interior I chose a dark grey called stealth. I don´t often use a heavy black. If you look at a car or any other item, it is hardly ever a deep black, unless it has a high gloss finish. Typically matte surfaces appear anthracite or, if aged, very dark grey. Imho a black also neutralizes many fine details. Anyway, after 2 coats of stealth I masked the seats for a 2-tone upgrading. After a silver base coat I airbrushed the orange body paint.

The dashboard received the same color and fortunately this kit has good decals. As so often, the open areas for the gauges didn´t quite fit perfectly. With a round nose pliers I bent rings of .4mm silver wire to enhance the gauges. Hm... magnified this big, now I see that the rings are a bit wonky?

Thanks for watching!

[John B.]

Very nice!

[DJMar]

This is a really cool build. There's clearly lots of work in those doors; I don't have that kind of skill (or patience).

[Andy Oldenburg]

I´m finished with the interior tub. The floor is flocked in anthracite and seat belts are added. I was unsure if the blue kit floor mats would match to the orange seats, but they do harmonize well. The mats have received a flocking on the edges too. I drilled holes into the steering wheel sprockets and added a key with a hanger.  A pair of sun visors will enhance the interior.

I have expressed before, that the level of detail and complexity on this kit does not match the level 4 classification. The rear suspension/transmission and the exhaust system come as one part. And that part isn´t very detailed. So I deconstructed the whole thing with the aim to get more wow to the undercarriage.

A new axle was connected to the differential and then to the springs.

For more detail I added a sway bar made of .5mm brass wire. The springs received clamps made of thin florist wire. To this point, the differential was still loose on the axle for the orange paint job. Now I could spray the spring/transmission setup with anthracite grey.

I attached the brake lines and the fuel line to the floor part. I drill small holes and loop the thin cables with a thin wire and then pull the wire tight onto the top side. The wires are twiddled a bit and bent down to be fixed with a drop of super glue. After the glue is dried, I cut off the excess.

The parking brake cable needed a bit more effort. for this I use a very thin coated cable I get from a crafts store for fashion jewelry. The setup on the 1:1 Firebird was not too difficult to duplicate.

On the side the body work was moving on too. After the first clear coat and a grit 6000 sanding, the bare metal and my selection of decals were attached. I had to wait a few days for the final clear finish, because we had a very high humidity here. I wanted to avoid having to polish much afterwards. I warmed my can of Molotow Crystal Varnish to make the paint flow better and the result was great.

My wheels are from Scale Production, fine printed and with rubber wheels. But all four have the same width and they don´t fit under the front fenders, would not look good either. I sliced the front wheels by about 20% to make them fit and give them a realistic appearance.

The kit grill needed some treatment for more detail also. I cut off and opened the back side, so I could fit in a fine metal mesh. in addition, the kit headlamps were replaced with metal/epoxy lamps.

There is not much work left on this kit. I´m putting the major parts together now and am exited about how the looks will be! I am still a bit nervous about fitting the doors. That will be the very last step. Crossing my fingers...??

Thanks for watching!

 

 

 

[Zippi]

This build is coming along nicely Andreas.  Love all the mods and the color is eye catching for sure.  

[Mattilacken]

Nice build there! Like your details! And i will have to pick up on your tequnice of fixating the cables under neath. 

[DJMar]

Lot of great detail work on this. I'm digging it! ??

[Andy Oldenburg]

I´ve finally crossed the finish line!

Getting the last parts together went faster than I had expected. Fortunately no bad surprise came up and I wasn´t forced to any emergency surgery on the chassis or body?. The wedding was easy peasy.

The undercarriage got a last treatment before I could assemble the exhaust system and the suspension. Since I wanted to drop the body as much as possible, the spring mounts were cut down as much as possible. It was a pinch assembly with a little tension on the exhaust pipes. So I clamped the parts until the glue dried.

I was quite dismayed about the details of the engine bay. Battery, brake booster, washer tank etc are all molded on. I didn´t have the nerve on this model to chop up and rebuild the bay, so I chose to craft covers for the bay sides. First, the cables, lines and the cooling hose needed to be connected.

The kit scoop was disconnected from the filter box. I attached it directly to my custom air filter and that looks quite aggressive now.

 

The covers are fabricated from .5mm sheet styrene. I had a decal sheet for quite a while with a carbon/kevlar print and now I finally had a suitable use for that look. The upgraded grill needed a small amount of filing to fit correctly and the metal grid looks much cooler than the standard structure surface.

The epoxy printed wheels are now jet black and glossy. I added disc brakes and calipers painted in orange to match the body. Originally I had planned to set the front wheels straight. But while the epoxy glue was drying I tipped them into a left steered position and just had to keep them that way. Unfortunately, now the steering wheel is positioned straight... well, I won´t tell anyone.

I had to fill the gap on the rocker and between the rear bench and the body. The sheet styrene is sprayed in the anthracite interior tone. I added a thin stripe of BMF to the doorstep.

Now comes the last step that I was nervous about: Connecting the gull wing doors. I had my plan how to glue them to the hinges. First I had to make sure, that they would not disconnect by slight force or my clumsyness any time later. I sanded the inside surface of the doors rough to make the epoxy glue stick better, then I worked the hinges in a similar way.

I inserted the correct amount of glue into the door cavities, slipped the doors onto the hinges and then gently closed the doors. To make sure nothing would slip they were fixed with tape.

While the glue was hardening, I attached the prepared door mirrors. I generally pin my mirrors to the doors. No more slipping off, no glue mess on a finished body. I can glue them with white glue and that leaves no mess or marks. And they don´t break off so easily any more.

My hopes were not disappointed! I danced a pogo round my shop after opening the doors for the first time! The idea worked and the effect is stunning! I am in model builders heaven....

I now have to think about how to stage this build for the "Under Glass" forum and YouTube.

Thanks to those that gave me support and watched my WIP thread.

Best wishes!

 

[stavanzer]

Jaw Dropping Detail!

Words Fail me....

[ksnow]

That engine bay looks fantastic! Amazing details.

[rv1963]

Great work on the paint and engine details, I really like the way your doors open very interesting.

[Andrew McD]

An inspirational level of detail!  Well engineered and beautifully done.

[Andy Oldenburg]

Hi Alan, Kyle, Robert and Andrew, and anyone I might have forgotten,

thanks for your friendly response! That means a lot to me and gives me motivation for my next build. Which will be....?, haven´t decided yet?