Oldsmobile Quartet

[GMasterG]

I bought 3 Salvinos kits on a whim when one of Sydney's hobby stores had some of the kits heavily discounted. Having never build a NASCAR stocker or a Salvinos kit before I thought: "Why not?" One of those kits happened to be Cale Yarborough's Oldsmobile 442. Black Friday rolled round and some more kits were on sale and they all happened to be 442s; so I purchased 3 more! So here is the first post of what I hope is a build diary of all 4 to keep me focused to see them through to the end. 4 Oldsmobile 442s filled, sanded and primed from left to right:

Cale Yarborough #11
Benny Parsons #72
Buddy Baker #28
AJ Foyt #51

All comments, reference pictures, build suggestions, and comparisons to your own builds are more than welcome.

Edited November 28, 2024 by GMasterG

[GMasterG]

This morning’s pre-work construction: 4 x roll-cages. 

[Shark]

For not having built any Nascar's, you sort of jumped in the deep end of the pool so to speak. Doing four at once and not necessarily the easiest of kits. But it does seem like you have a handle on it. I'll be following along and look forward to your updates.

[GMasterG]

1 hour ago, Shark said:

For not having built any Nascar's, you sort of jumped in the deep end of the pool so to speak. Doing four at once and not necessarily the easiest of kits. But it does seem like you have a handle on it. I'll be following along and look forward to your updates.

I finished this one a couple weekends ago - it was my beta-test and was one of the original 3 that I purchased when they were on sale. It was my inspiration to build some more. 

[GMasterG]

I don’t like the base of the window frame for a couple of reasons. Firstly it has no profile which doesn’t make sense intuitively. And secondly it’s not a very smooth curve from one side to the next. So I’ve used some plastic strip to address it. 

Edited November 30, 2024 by GMasterG
Spelling

[GMasterG]

Chassis and roll cages for Yarborough, Parsons and Baker. Still waiting on some Poppy Red to arrive before I spray the AJ Foytmobile

[GMasterG]

A little detail added to the first of the interiors. So far so good. I added the bezel to the fire extinguisher using 0.2mm solder, used a decal from a sheet of generic dashboard decals from Interdecal, flattened everything out with some clear and then added a drop of clear resin over the extinguisher gauge. 

[GMasterG]

Some production-line preparation over the last couple days including painting all the rear shocks, fitting and  installing the rear end, and test-fitting the drive-train. A little prep-work to detail the underneath of the fuel cell the bracing of which I will paint aluminium. 
 

 

[GMasterG]

My last weekend of building before heading to Kenya for 3 weeks.

Body painted, cleared, and decaled.

Engine progress

Interior complete

Fuel cell 3D-printed (separate bracing on its way).

The diagonal bracing on the roll cage is a bit weird. The trailing arm has a little locating pin on the end which would suggest the existence of a reciprocal locating hole somewhere in the rear floor pan but there isn’t one so I had to drill it.

There is a hole in the front bar work to fix the leading arm but the arm is short by about 3mm so I simply fixed it to the bar with CA glue. 

The white base color is from SMS and the clear is from Outlaw Paints. Both are local Australian manufacturers and very nice lacquers to work with. 
 

[Old Buckaroo]

Nice production line and the Hardee's car turned out fantastic. I have a couple of the Salvino kits but yet to crack them open.

 

Ive been working on two Polar Lights Nascar Chargers off and on and they've been a challenge.

[Bills72sj]

I often do similar builds in a batch as well. When I run across an issue, the solution is easy to implement across the rest. Also there always a task that be accomplished while something dries or cures. If one build is failing I can kept my motivation rolling on the other two or three. I do Day 2 Muscle Car builds so it also gives me the privilege to mix and match options on each build to keep them unique. (i.e. I engine swapped 3 of my 4 Mustang builds).

[GMasterG]

1 hour ago, Old Buckaroo said:

Nice production line and the Hardee's car turned out fantastic. I have a couple of the Salvino kits but yet to crack them open.

 

Ive been working on two Polar Lights Nascar Chargers off and on and they've been a challenge.

Thanks Sean. I've not heard of Polar LIghts kits before; I don't think they ever made it to the Australian market. I was very pleased with the Hardee's car as a first build.

[GMasterG]

40 minutes ago, Bills72sj said:

I often do similar builds in a batch as well. When I run across an issue, the solution is easy to implement across the rest. Also there always a task that be accomplished while something dries or cures. If one build is failing I can kept my motivation rolling on the other two or three. I do Day 2 Muscle Car builds so it also gives me the privilege to mix and match options on each build to keep them unique. (i.e. I engine swapped 3 of my 4 Mustang builds).

I've experienced the very same dynamic with these 4 cars, Bill. I was a WW2 plane builder until the beginning of the year when, on a whim, I bought a Dodge Challenger to build. When I reached my limits I bought a Camaro and started on that and found I could advance it a little more so and so the Challenger got a little more work done to it. By my 8th build I'd mastered bare metal foil trim and applied that to the previous 7. By the time you've BMFed 8 models consecutively on a Friday night you can retire to the couch satisfied that you've conquered the skill!! 

[GMasterG]

The Cale Yarborough car gets a clear coat:

I’d never sprayed a 2k clear coat until June of this year and within seconds I’d ruined a good 2 months of work on a 69 Boss 302. I managed to rescue it and in the process learned a lot about spraying 2k clear coats.
I call this my reflection test and 5.5 months on from that first fail I start the sanding/polishing/finishing process with a better base than most of my early finishes.

Whilst doing the clear coat I was thinking about how to finish the grille and I remembered some very fine metal mesh that I’d purchased for another task on another car but it was wholly unsuitable. I think this might work proving that one project’s trash is another’s treasure:

So far so good:

Edited December 10, 2024 by GMasterG
Spelling mistakes.

[GMasterG]

A pool, some palms, a little Mombasa heat has provided some inspiration to design some coil springs to replace those that come with the kit. Nothing here is to scale but I'm happy with the basic design and I can re-size everything once back in Perth (for some reason I forgot to bring my vernier calipers on holidays with me). I've left the stirrup until I decide if it should be a separate part or integrated into the other end of the coil.

[PatW]

On 11/29/2024 at 1:10 AM, GMasterG said:

I finished this one a couple weekends ago - it was my beta-test and was one of the original 3 that I purchased when they were on sale. It was my inspiration to build some more. 

Superb finish!

[GMasterG]

On 12/23/2024 at 8:40 PM, PatW said:

Superb finish!

Thank you, Pat. The paints are lacquers by SMS and the clear coat is HK 2k automotive. After spraying the base colors, I air-brush Mr Hobby Levelling Thinner over the wet lacquer and it creates a natural, smooth gloss that for the most part I don't need to wet-sand or polish before clear coating.

[PatW]

Being an oldie (76) I just use rattle cans for spraying. Undercoats, top coats and gloss clear!

[GMasterG]

4 hours ago, PatW said:

Being an oldie (76) I just use rattle cans for spraying. Undercoats, top coats and gloss clear!

Old is gold. I would count myself as old-school as well but I never had any opportunity to use anything other than brushes when I was a kid and into my early teens. Some early challenges in life meant that I didn't return to the hobby until I was 40 at which time I bought an airbrush and started experimenting. I bypassed the entire rattle-can stage of the evolutionary process; I've never used one.

[GMasterG]

A little more time this afternoon as the rain pours in Nairobi so I decided to design a shock absorber as well:

[GMasterG]

Some progress wiring one of the engines. I’ve used 0.7mm aluminium tube into which I’ve slotted 0.4mm solder. The dizzy is the original from the kit that’s been cut short and placed at an angle. I can’t raise the height of the air cleaner because that will cause clearance issues with the hood:

I will try 3D printing a coil. If anyone has any suggestions as to where I should locate the coil I’d be grateful for the guidance. 

[Shark]

Most of the time, two coils were mounted on the backside of the firewall in the interior. They would do this to keep them away from heat. Most times I drill a hole in the firewall behind the distributor and stick the wire in there. I don't bother putting any coils in the car because they can't be seen that well.

Also, back then they didn't run coil over shock assemblies.

[GMasterG]

4 hours ago, Shark said:

Most of the time, two coils were mounted on the backside of the firewall in the interior. They would do this to keep them away from heat. Most times I drill a hole in the firewall behind the distributor and stick the wire in there. I don't bother putting any coils in the car because they can't be seen that well.

Also, back then they didn't run coil over shock assemblies.

Thank you, Todd. I've designed the shock absorber in parts so I can simply print the components that I need.

Cheers

[GMasterG]

The Foytmobile gets a few coats of ‘66 Ford Poppy Red. The automotive paint has been nice to work with:

[GMasterG]

Front bumpers done: