Jimmy's 1967 Ford Galaxie

[falcon wagon]

Love the dog

[LennyB]

3 hours ago, TarheelRick said:

Good looking Galaxie, really nice paint work. My aunt had a white 67 Galaxie, she traded every three years - '61, '64, '67, first two were black. Really like the detail you are putting into this one.

Thanks Ricky, I'm trying to do it justice.

[LennyB]

47 minutes ago, falcon wagon said:

Love the dog

Thanks Carl, and I think she's happy in the back seat. Just need to build the rest of the car around her. 😉

[LennyB]

 And so progress moves us forward. Finished up with the BMF on the Galaxie, this time I used the Matte Aluminum and I think it looks more realistic. It didn't seem to  adhere as well at first as the last batch of New Chrome I bought. But as I got further away from the edge of the sheet it improved. Still need to remove the sticky residue from the foil and dust off the body.

 

Starting on the engine which is taken from the Moebius 1967 F-100. Still want to add a few more details to it but wanted to get it this far so I could mock it up in the chassis. Turned out the oil filter hit the left frame rail, so I had to take a little off the top (that's what all the dust is from). In other words I swapped out the FL-1A for a FL-300.

But that wasn't the only fitment issue I ran into. After fabricating that core support a while back it turned out to be too close to the engine that I didn't have enough room to put a radiator. Cut that one out and found a core support with a radiator and a bonus fan shroud in the parts bin. Mounted this in place a tad further forward to gain the clearance Clarence that we need. Still needs a little work and some paint, but we are good, for now😏.

And you may notice we now have the 'glass' installed. If you recall the glass that came with this promo was all yellowed.  I found the windshield from a '66 Galaxie worked for the front and in the rear the glass was from a Bonneville, not sure of the year.  So the glass is in, rear view mirror in place and adjusted, we even have a dome light, has a burnt out bulb unfortunately. We'll save that repair for the next time. See ya then.

[TopherMcGinnis]

I dunno man, those short filters don't filter as well. Especially if you run past the oil change interval. 

The build is looking GREAT by the way 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

[NOBLNG]

This is really shaping up nicely Len. Great job on the hubcaps and interior.

[customline]

Oh Jimmy would love what you've done with his ol' Gal. 

I have observed the same thing with the foil adhesive on several sheets that I have. My thought is that it's common enough to be considered normal 😕.  Besides, what else do we have that's better? 

 I like the way the engine looks. It has a very familiar patina.

Len, was it you who built a '39 Plymouth? 

 

[LennyB]

10 hours ago, TopherMcGinnis said:

I dunno man, those short filters don't filter as well. Especially if you run past the oil change interval. 

The build is looking GREAT by the way 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

That will be a problem if I follow today's oil change schedule. On this one it's 3,000 miles or six months whichever comes first. So I guess I'm due for an oil change as I've been working on it that long.🤔

9 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

This is really shaping up nicely Len. Great job on the hubcaps and interior.

Thanks Greg, appreciate it😀

[LennyB]

6 hours ago, customline said:

Oh Jimmy would love what you've done with his ol' Gal. 

I have observed the same thing with the foil adhesive on several sheets that I have. My thought is that it's common enough to be considered normal 😕.  Besides, what else do we have that's better? 

 I like the way the engine looks. It has a very familiar patina.

Len, was it you who built a '39 Plymouth? 

 

Perhaps, I might have done one or two.

 

[LennyB]

Getting down to the nitty gritty on the Galaxie. Tying up the loose ends seems to take the longest.

One thing Jimmy always added to his cars was the fancy Rotunda side mirrors and the trunk mounted antenna. Almost didn't want to add the antenna as doing it just went against the grain for me but it is what the car had. To give you and idea here is one on a Galaxie.

Went sorting through my parts boxes to see what I came up with and I got lucky fairly quick when I found this.

Looks close enough I think as a starting point, although the shaft is a bit too thick.

 

I cut off the shaft and replaced it with an antenna in my stash from PJS Enterprises, something I've had in the drawer a long time. Are they even still in business I wonder. End result looks pretty good. For such a simple detail I spent a good few hours pulling it together.

A much easier detail was the side view mirror. Found this is the stash, same box as the antenna.

 

Few more details added to the engine, radiator and heater hoses.

 

Didn't have a driveshaft long enough so one was fabricated but cutting the ends off of one and shoving a straight piece of sprue in the middle. Sent it out for balancing which took a while but it came back with nary a wobble.

And we now have a complete exhaust system. The back half are original to the 66 Galaxie chassis. The front half is from the parts box of unknown origin. That gave me some trouble as the first attempt broke in my hands. Luckily I found a second H-Pipe and that one survived my big thumbs. Oh, and there is also the drive shaft in there somewhere.

 

 

Almost ready to bring the chassis and body together on the assembly line but first I have to get the front and rear bumpers chromed. I opened up some of the front bumper next to the parking lights and the space between the grill and the bumper. Considered opening up more in the center of the grill but the assembly is a bit fragile at this point.

Need to wet sand the bumpers some yet and give them another shot of primer. I also want to try something before I spray the chrome on. Going to just paint the bumper gloss black first and leave the grill in primer. See if it gives me a contrast between the two. The grill on the real deal is anodized aluminum, not chrome. So we shall see what happens.

 

Until then, make sure you put your boots on before you go out to play in the snow, 5-8" due tonight.

 

[customline]

Plumbing and wiring looking good, Len. Really like that side mirror. What about using hypodermic tubing for a telescopic mast? 

[LennyB]

1 hour ago, customline said:

 What about using hypodermic tubing for a telescopic mast? 

 

You are 100% correct sir. I shoulda/coulda used a hypodermic for this. But you see I have this drawer that's full of detailing bits that date back some 40-50 years and I'm a cheapskate and I can't let anything go to waste. I have this package of antennas  that I spent a whopping $1 on and I just have to use them before I shuffle off. I don't know what happened to the other three, probably just fell out of the bag, but I have one left and that will probably go on the companion piece to Jimmy's Gal.

[LennyB]

Trying to work on the bumpers. As mentioned previously I was thinking of using Spaz Stix chrome and applying the black base only to the bumper area and leaving the grill area in grey primer to try and get a contrast between the two. Saw no noticeable difference with and without the black, so that experiment was a failure. The Spax Stix in general was a failure due to the complex surface of the bumper. As you have to apply light coats of the product it was near impossible when you have to spray from different angles to cover all the curves. Got a nice finish on the front of the bumper and grill, but the flat top surface of the bumper came out coarse. So I had to strip everything and start all over.

Second attempt I went with the Revell Chrome over the Spaz Stix black backer which did a great job on the front bumper and grill. It actually looks better in real life then in the pic. Looks rough in the pic but it's not.

 

The back bumper did not come out as well. While the bumper section was good, the panel above it lost it's detail because after a coat of the black and then the chrome the detail was gone. Back into the drink to remove the chrome.

 

I had cast some bumpers for other projects in the attic so I decided to mess with one of these before working with the real bumper. This one the bumper alone has the black backer, the trim above just in primer. This looks like a working solution. Just have to do it to the real one when it comes out of purple purgatory.

 

And once the bumpers are done we can start bonding the body to the chassis. In order to do this I needed to add some styrene strips to the side of the interior tub so the chassis has something to hang on to, the original promo used screws fore and aft to secure things, we don't have that option any longer.

 

So this is where we're at for now, hopefully we can start putting things together for next time.

 

[customline]

Hey Len, if the trim above the bumper on the 1:1 is stainless or aluminum, would foiling work? You still have the aluminum BMF, right?

 

 

Edited February 16 by customline

[LennyB]

9 hours ago, customline said:

Hey Len, if the trim above the bumper on the 1:1 is stainless or aluminum, would foiling work? You still have the aluminum BMF, right?

 

 

Yes, I can try that.  Haven’t checked yet this morning to see if the oven cleaner has removed the revell chrome. That stuff is stubborn, purple power and brake fluid don’t touch it.  

[Bullybeef]

2 hours ago, LennyB said:

Yes, I can try that.  Haven’t checked yet this morning to see if the oven cleaner has removed the revell chrome. That stuff is stubborn, purple power and brake fluid don’t touch it.  

Try bleach or Windex! 

[LennyB]

19 minutes ago, Bullybeef said:

Try bleach or Windex! 

The oven cleaner works just takes time. Geeze, I should know have stripped this bumper three times now.😬

[customline]

14 minutes ago, LennyB said:

The oven cleaner works just takes time. Geeze, I should know have stripped this bumper three times now.😬

I've used  commercial grade "grille and oven cleaner" for plating and it's very fast, like 3 minutes. Don't know about paint. Test first.

[LennyB]

27 minutes ago, customline said:

I've used  commercial grade "grille and oven cleaner" for plating and it's very fast, like 3 minutes. Don't know about paint. Test first.

Regular chrome I have no issue removing but this spray on stuff is a different animal all together. But it's off now, hope to get back at it soon.

[customline]

17 minutes ago, LennyB said:

Regular chrome I have no issue removing but this spray on stuff is a different animal all together. But it's off now, hope to get back at it soon.

Yeah. Me too. 

[LennyB]

OK, so as not to leave you hanging Jim. Got the spray chrome cleaned off and I foiled the top panel with BMF. Left it there as a mask.

 

Sprayed the bumper with the Revell chrome and here it is mocked up with the taillights.  BMF mask has been removed and this will need to dry a good day or so before I reapply the BMF.

 

Then maybe we can move forward again.

[customline]

Yup. Good job 👌 

[dragcarz]

Wow Len, I missed this. I went through the build this morning and I’m very impressed with you Kit bashing skills! I love a good kit bash. Great save on an old promo. Thanks for posting the build. 

[LennyB]

3 hours ago, dragcarz said:

Wow Len, I missed this. I went through the build this morning and I’m very impressed with you Kit bashing skills! I love a good kit bash. Great save on an old promo. Thanks for posting the build. 

Thanks Roger, and this was an easy one, you should see the T-Bird I’m working on, more grey hairs.   

[LennyB]

And here is the bumper with the BMF and a license plate.

 

And on the car.