1969 Plymouth Satellite Convertable Build...

[ian ashton]

Thanks for the positive comments

The project is coming right along, here are some more updates.

For tires I decided to go with redlines, I just think they look so good on B5 blue B-bodies (my dad had a B5 blue '69 440 GTX with AC and redlines when I was a kid. - always loved that car.)

Anyway, I used some parts bin tires and the redline decals from the Revell Hemi Dart with a little Testors DullCoat, they came out OK, some flaws but the best I could get 'em.

Decals applied, ready for Dull Coat:

After Dull Coat:

I cast a bunch of these Mopar Steelies and painted them to see which came out best (some of the castings were iffy) and I just picked the best 4:

Wheels and Tires:

I have since added valve stems and lug nuts.

Got the exhaust installed, as well as the rear suspension and rear wheels (still have to hook up the rear brake lines):

Installed the firewall and fender wells, and did a small amount of detail painting. I used a Revell clear washer bottle, I think they are so cool - in retrospect I wish I would have sanded the fender wells smooth and ran the wires myself:

My finished woodgrain (upgrade) steering wheel with collum shift - The wheel is from an AMT '70 Super Bee kit, BMF'd the trim ring and used a push pin with some superglue on the tip for the shifter:

Edited October 30, 2010 by ian ashton

[charlie8575]

Looking great and the redlines are an interesting addition in place of whitewalls.

Charlie Larkin

[ian ashton]

In 1969 for just $70.90 you could upgrade the tires on your 318 Convertable fo E70 x 14 RSW (Red Side Wall).

Edited October 30, 2010 by ian ashton

[ian ashton]

Too many pics for 1 post - here is the rest of my progress to date:

Every AMT Mopar kit that I have seems to have a totally wrong battery, so I figured I'd do my best to fix it.

I started by sanding it flat, then drilled 6 holes for where the caps will go:

Again, I used some push pins for teh caps, glued in place and painted the whole thing black:

Painted the caps (I did 2, since I'll probably need another for my next project):

Finshed battery with Detail Master Photo Etched battery terminals and wired up:

Did a few test fittings with the body to make sure my suspension height looks right and my wheels are level and such:

Chassis with all 4 wheels and no body:

Just gotta do some paint work on the body and put it all togather!

[High octane]

Great site for factory info on Mopars:

http://www.hamtramck-historical.com/dealerships/1969PlymouthDealershipDataBook-02.shtml

http://www.hamtramck-historical.com/dealerships/1969PlymouthColorAndTrim-03.shtml

EXCELLENT info, many thanks!!!

[charlie8575]

Looking good, nice battery, too.

What's the wire on the chassis?

Charlie Larkin

[ian ashton]

Brake and fuel lines, not yet connected.

[ian ashton]

Nearing completion!

The engine bay with a few more details: (SORRY FOR THE UNFOCUSED PICS - ###### DSLR!)

Test fitting the engine:

I had to make some risers for the small block to sit level in the big block K member. Seems to work just fine.

I did a quick wash on my '68 Road Runner grille, which is the closest I can get to a '69 Satellite:

I also got the first coat of paint laid down, and did a little wet sanding.

The eBay Satellite hood, I am elated with how nice it is!

Wet sanded, ready for a second coat:

[MrDemon340]

man that things looking sweet cant wait to see it under glass

[Nick W.]

When I was a wee little lad, my friends dad across the street from my house had a blue 69 gtx convertible! I believe a B5 blue one to be exact! Love the work keep it up!

[ian ashton]

Keeping things moving, I stopped by a hobby shop and picked up some Testors decal paper to give my Satellite emblems a shot. I am pleased with the results - for the cost definately can't be beat!

I started in Photoshop with a picture of the actual emblem, and re-drew it as close as I could. This wasn't very hard, as I do quite a bit of graphic design stuff for other hobbies.

A screen shot of my Photoshop workspace:

I made the emblem quite a bit larger than I needed, probably close to the actual 1:1 size, that way when I shrink it down I retain all of the detail. I think I was working around 300 DPI. I printed a few test pages to get my sizing right - I think in the end I went a little bit big, but the smaller you go the more accuracy you lose, so this was a decent compramise.

In the mean time I sprayed a second and final coat of paint, and also wet sanded up to 12,000 grit, now all thats left is to apply some clear!

My decal sheet - I printed plenty of extra, and used 2 different types of clear coat. Normal Testors Laquer seems to work fine.

Applied to the fender:

It seems that the black covers very well, however the "silver" (aka gray) is nearly transparent - I believe this is due to the printer "thinking" it is printing on a white surface, and doing half tones of black ink. No biggie, I considered putting a sliver of BMF behind the decal, and deleting the gray layer, but I'm lazy.

I forgot to pick up normal clear coat, so that will have to be a project for another day, or later tonight if I get the drive to go pick some up.

[ian ashton]

And motivated by my pictures I decided to give the BMF behind the decal a shot. I actually just applied the decal to a piece of BMF on the sheet and shot some clear on them. When it dries my hope is that I'll be able to trim it very finely and give it a shot at looking like a real emblem.

Edited November 3, 2010 by ian ashton

[Hattley]

Great work you're doing here!

[John Teresi]

Ian......very nice detail......looking AWESOME buddy.

[ian ashton]

Another small update...

I got the body Bare Metal Foil'd up and cleared. Overall it looks pretty good - a few trouble spots that I'm going to have to focus on before final assembly, but not too shabby for my first shiney paint job in a long time.

I used BMF Matte Aluminum for the trunk trim panel, its a little too shiney, but I figured it would look better than if I tried to paint it:

And a sneak preview of the body after clear:

[Keef]

looks awesome so far, only question i have is this, is there a reason why you have the carb turned sideways? if your looking at the engine from the front the carb should be rotated 90 degrees to the right like this

Edited November 6, 2010 by BeeMopar

[ian ashton]

looks awesome so far, only question i have is this, is there a reason why you have the carb turned sideways? if your looking at the engine from the front the carb should be rotated 90 degrees to the right like this

http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.com/images/dustinc3.jpg

I couldn't really find a good reference photo, lol. That picture appears to be from an earlier A-body, so the fuel lines aren't routed correctly, and the AC compressor is different. I've actually been considering pulling this carb off and making something smaller, as this is a 4 barrel, and the car came with a 2 barrel.

This is what I was using for reference:

From a 1970 Dodge

From a 1969 B Body

A 1969 A Body

A 1969 B Body (air cleaner doesn't help much for the carb reference, this would be a perfect car to reference though, if I could see through the air cleaner!)

So yea, I will probably pull it off and correct, thanks!

[charlie8575]

Excellent work. For the trim panel on the trunk, try hitting it lightly with some 5-aught steel wool to make the foil more of a satin-like finish.

Charlie Larkin

[ian ashton]

I'm just about done with this build!

Engine compartment coming togather (notice the correct positioned carb, lol):

Interior into the body:

The windshield frame was a little warped, I figured that the glass would straighten it out. Unfortunately I was wrong, and didn't notice it until I looked at the pictures, after everything was glued togather - Grrrrrrrr!

I snagged a Revell '69 Charger from Meijer for $11, and it has a ton of great parts, so I adapted some of the details to this build. I'm using the heater hoses, wiper motor (not pictured) and core support (not pictured.) Here is a test fit of the heater hoses:

(Yes, I have touched up the blemish on the fender well - I had the washer fluid bottle in the wrong place, just had to touch up the paint a little)

Steering wheel and rear view mirror installed, along with the single exterior side mirror:

The core support/grille area looks like ######, so I decided to cut it out and use the part from a Revell '69 Charger. Here is the start:

Cutting that out:

Edited November 11, 2010 by ian ashton

[ian ashton]

A blurry picture of the excess plastic removed and test fitting the Revell core support:

Back to the decal paper, I printed out a bunch of Emission and Cooling System decals for underhood:

For fun I reproduced a Broadcast sheet to 'throw' on the front seat:

When its officially done I'll likely make an 'Under Glass' thread. You can see this car in person at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals in Chicago November 20 & 21 at the Model Car Contest. www.MCACN.com

[Hattley]

Great work you're doing!

A blurry picture of the excess plastic removed and test fitting the Revell core support:

Back to the decal paper, I printed out a bunch of Emission and Cooling System decals for underhood:

For fun I reproduced a Broadcast sheet to 'throw' on the front seat:

When its officially done I'll likely make an 'Under Glass' thread. You can see this car in person at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals in Chicago November 20 & 21 at the Model Car Contest. www.MCACN.com

[charlie8575]

Fantastic work, Ian. This is definitely a model to be proud of.

Charlie Larkin

[ian ashton]

Fantastic work, Ian. This is definitely a model to be proud of.

Charlie Larkin

This is probably my favorite and nicest build yet. I like the odd stuff. Next up is a red on red Slant6 Challenger Convert (inspired from a real deal ar in a Mopar mag), and then a Hang 10 Dart.

[High octane]

Your Satellite is lookin' real good so far and would look great with dog dish caps, or are you going to just go with the steelies??? I'll be checkikng it out at The Muscle Car & Corvette Nationals.

[ian ashton]

Your Satellite is lookin' real good so far and would look great with dog dish caps, or are you going to just go with the steelies??? I'll be checkikng it out at The Muscle Car & Corvette Nationals.

Just the steelies. I know it's not "correct" but I love the looks.