'71 Convertable Olds

[71drolds]

i am new to this site and just getting back into scale modeling. the new '72 olds model is a kit ive been waiting for for a long, long time. i have a 1:1 1971 cutlass supreme convertable and this model will represent what i want my car to look like when its done. the car will have a pro touring vibe and have a turbo charged 468 olds.

so heres what ive done so for with this kit: im scratch building a turbo from some 6/32" threaded rod and two 6/32" thumb nuts. i put the nuts on the rod and into a drill. with the drill running in a vise, i used a dremel with a grinding disc to remove the thumb grips and shape the nuts. i used a utility knife to carve out the funnel of the turbo air intake in the same manner.

for a carb hat, i used a right angle lag bolt. i cut just the elbow out of the bolt.

very little needs to be done to change from a '72 to a '71. the grills and the taillights are the main differences. i had an old '71 resin kit that i never built. i decided to cut out the proper 442 grills and add them to the '72's bumper/grill piece. i could have used the resin bumper assembly, but the chrome didnt look very good and the headlights were molded in. the grills in the revell kit are right for the H/O car, but they are not right for a 442. they are cutlass supreme grills. im using 442 grills on my 1:1 so they had to be changed. http://img36.imageshack.us/i/a1001q.jpg/

thats all for now. tell me what you think.

some thing i really need to complete this that i dont have is a set of factory w-30 stripes in black. does anybody have any i could buy?

Edited January 8, 2010 by 71drolds

[Nick Winter]

well for the decals Keith Marks is your man, he makes great stuff, that's what I've used so far on two pontiac F bodies, one's finished so far

[71drolds]

i found a site to order the keith marks decals. thanks, but im not sure ive got the right thing. the decal sheet is only $.09! is that right?

[Nick Winter]

i found a site to order the keith marks decals. thanks, but im not sure ive got the right thing. the decal sheet is only $.09! is that right?

That's keith's site, I'd Email him at mofobow@hotmail.com the cheapest I've ever got from keith were $10

[Greg Cullinan]

Matt s all I can say is WOW! that is so sweet the way you fabricated supercharger and carb hats.Looks like this is going to be one bad Olds.I'd like to see your 1/1 if you ever fell like posting a picture.Thanks

'p;;;;p

[tuffone20]

I'm going to be watching this one for sure!! I had a '71 Cutlass Conv. that I sold in some 20 plus years ago And as soon as I can I'll be picking up one of those kits and building the one I never finished. I saved mine from a junk yard then waited a year for my brother to move to AZ from MI to do the body work on it.

And this is as far as I got on it, man do I miss that car.

[jeffs396]

Welcome to the site Matt!

Awesome work on that lil turbo, very clever! Can't wait to see it done.

[RTK434]

Great work on the turbo and carb hat! Looks like I'll have to head to Lowe's for a couple lag bolts today.

[71drolds]

heres a couple of picts of my 1:1. one is the condition its currently in. i just got done putting in a new drivers side floor board and next up is a new quarter. the other picture is of my dad with the car the day he bought it.

thanks for all the comments. so for ive got all these parts at lowes. i spent alot of time looking for things that are just close to the right shape and i figure i can take it from there. the fab part is easy, its the painting that i lack the skill on. ive got an airbrush that i cant figure out, so im stuck with using a rattle can. let me know what you think of my paint idea. im going to make the real car all black with flat black W-30 stripes. ive never seen anybody do that with an olds before and i always like the way it looks on the mopars. i dont get a whole lot of time to work on this but i'll keep you all updated as i go.

[71drolds]

i got my Pegasus 1272 19" Chrome T wheel spokes painted. i will most likely go a shade darker on the spokes. i took the four wheel disc brakes from a revell '67 chevelle kit. the brakes sat right up against the wheels and looked stupid so i used some 3/8" nylon bushings cut in half and drilled out to fit over the wheel center as spacers. the picture doesnt show the drilled rotor decal that goes on the brakes. i think i will need to trim down the spacers diameter as they look a little big. the last shot is a mock up of the rolling stock under the car. the ride height will be a little bit higher, but not much.

Edited January 12, 2010 by 71drolds

[tuffone20]

Those wheels are going to look real nice on the Cutlass!! Keep on posting the updates..

[71drolds]

got a little more done today. i got one header done using .062 solder and heat shrink tube for a collector.

i decided to scrap the idea of using the thumb nuts for the turbo. i was having trouble with the paint sticking to the brass and then theres the joining metal to plastic mess. so after looking at some ideas in the tips section, i went with .100" styrene rod bent around a small screwdriver.

the spacers i made for inbetween the brakes and the wheels arent looking right either. they are too big in diameter. so tomorrow i'll get some styrene rod to make spacers out of.

[71drolds]

more progress today. i did a final mock up of the suspension and this will be my finished ride height.

while my 1:1 will have A/C, there just wasnt enough room for it with the turbo and custom headers on the model. since this kit has a very well detailed A/C system, i had to remove to box from the firewall. i used the heater box from the '67 chevelle kit to replace it and still look correct.

i got the pass. side header done today also. im going to redesign my collectors to look a little more realistic using some styrene tube and shrink tube.

heres a little tip i figured out. i needed to drill a very tiny hole in the heads to attach the plug wires. i didnt have a drill bit small enough, so i put a thumb tack in my drill and driled holes that will work perfectly.

Edited January 14, 2010 by 71drolds

[Eric Stone]

i found a site to order the keith marks decals. thanks, but im not sure ive got the right thing. the decal sheet is only $.09! is that right?

Sounds like what you found is a link to buy a print of the image there, and not the actual decal sheet, since his site is on Fotki, which is a photo-hosting site.

The car is coming along nicely- I like the stance on those wheels. I will have to keep an eye on this thread to follow your progress.

[Guest Mustang3.8]

Great work on the Olds. I will be staarting this kit, soon. mine will be a '72 H/O hardtop. Gloss black with the gold H/O markings.

[71drolds]

A WORD OF WARNING ON THIS KIT! before you take any parts off the trees, look at the head lights. one of my headlight lenses was not completely molded. if you look at the picture where the red marker is pointing, you'll see the bad lense. luckily, i was going to omit the inboard headlights for air ducts so it didnt matter in my case. however, this would really screw up a build if you didnt notice this until the end. hopefully this is isolated just to the kit i paid $22 for.

other than this, i have to say the level of detail and accuracy(for the most part) is outstanding!

Mustang 3.8, id like to see your finished kit. i like the color combo and the hard top idea. sounds great!

[Sixties Sam]

Lookin' good, Matt! I like how you made the metal turbo & carb hat. Too bad about the paint not sticking. Killer wheels, too! The model and the 1:1 will be nice!

Sam

[spkgibson]

A WORD OF WARNING ON THIS KIT! before you take any parts off the trees, look at the head lights. one of my headlight lenses was not completely molded. if you look at the picture where the red marker is pointing, you'll see the bad lense. luckily, i was going to omit the inboard headlights for air ducts so it didnt matter in my case. however, this would really screw up a build if you didnt notice this until the end. hopefully this is isolated just to the kit i paid $22 for.Isn't that just craptastic!nice going Revell,love the build so far!

other than this, i have to say the level of detail and accuracy(for the most part) is outstanding!

Mustang 3.8, id like to see your finished kit. i like the color combo and the hard top idea. sounds great!

[71drolds]

heres what ive done with he exhaust to turbo plumbing so far. i used #6 solid copper wire. the wire will be cut off right after the union and mounted to the turbo.

Edited January 26, 2010 by 71drolds

[71drolds]

well im up the creek now. how that saying go, measure twice cut once? i got my turbo 455 almost finished and decided to check the hood clearance. not even close to fitting. i thought i would just build the motor to look right and deal with the clearance issues as they come. i have no idea how to deal with this one. i could cut the hood out just where it needs it ( alot of turbo guys do this), but i think that will look stupid. alot of the engine is superglued due to all the metal stuff so i cant take it apart cleanly. any ideas?

[71drolds]

i may have come up with a solution. if i use the stock carb and ram-air cleaner set-up, it might work. too bad it will cover some of the custom stuff.

[Wayne Buck]

well im up the creek now. how that saying go, measure twice cut once? i got my turbo 455 almost finished and decided to check the hood clearance. not even close to fitting. i thought i would just build the motor to look right and deal with the clearance issues as they come. i have no idea how to deal with this one. i could cut the hood out just where it needs it ( alot of turbo guys do this), but i think that will look stupid. alot of the engine is superglued due to all the metal stuff so i cant take it apart cleanly. any ideas?

How about making a cowl hood for it?

Comp resins has cowls that you can attach to the hood. I believe they have 6" scale and 9" scale ones.

Here's the 9" one I'm using on one of my builds:

[Wayne Buck]

...and here's a 6 inch one I just dug outta my parts box:

If you re-route the intake pipe a bit, I think it should fit under there.

Edited February 4, 2010 by NJ-Wayne

[Wayne Buck]

OH WAIT!!

nevermind, I just remembered what the hood looks like on that car.... doh!

A cowl on top of that would probably look pretty stupid. sorry

[71drolds]

yeah that cowl wouldnt look right on the ram air olds hood. it looks great on the iroc front end. i think i have it fixed with the stock air cleaner assembly even though it doesnt look as good.