Altered Ego Fiat Topolino

[gasser59]

A bit more progress on the interior tin. out of more printing plate, I made the output shaft tunnel and am now working on the front piece. Man its tight in there with my fat fingers. Here's a picture of the tunnel. Sorry for the big rubber band in the way but its holding on the floorboard at the moment at its needed for proper fitting of the tunnel.

 

That's all for now. Another update will be forthcoming tomorrow. Thanks for following along and comments welcome.

Edited July 24, 2017 by gasser59

[brett]

Looking great Brad! Quick question, What do you use to join the printers plate,I assume it would be an epoxy?

[Mooneyzs]

Brad...Looking good. Looks like you have gotten to work a little more on things. The Fuel gage looks great and so does the break line on the rear end. The output shaft tunnel is very nice. Keep up the great work.

[gasser59]

Thanks Brett and Chris. The glue I use for the printing plate is Zap-A-Gap. As you can see in the picture, when ever I need to join two pieces, I bend over tabs to glue together. It makes a very strong bond and is impossible to take it apart without ruining the piece and starting over. Here's a pic showing the bent over tabs for the glue.

 

As you guys can see, I got the front piece on and still working out the top where it will mate up with the body in the down position and still open up with being able to lift the body plus fit around the steering box.

 

Also took some time and kinda worked out of sequence but created the body support bar out of aluminum tubing and padding.

 

As always, thanks for following along.

Edited July 24, 2017 by gasser59

[John Pol]

Doing a fine job on this project still trying to get some printer plate not much luck in this town. Well keep up the good work love it so far.

John Pol

[tyrone]

This looks AWESOME....

[Danno]

Fantastic, Brad!!

[Randy D]

Hi Brad, Awesome build!!! Your fab skills are great, keep it going!

Randy

[gasser59]

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm really enjoying this build and the challenges it brings. Since the body and front nose piece will lift, everything will be visible so I'm pulling all of the stops and going for broke. Thanks again for following along.

[gasser59]

Another update but not really much to show for the amount time put into them. Scratch built the aluminum gas and brake pedals. Also made a new master cylinder out of aluminum tubing. Tough to get good lighting in such a tight area and still have room for the camera so I used my LED flashlight on the brake pedal picture. It sure skewed the color but you can see it much better.

Next up is to source an appropriately scaled material for the seat padding and then put together the PE seat belt harness. I ended up making a new seat because the old one just didn't fit quite right.

Thanks for following along and as always, comments/advice always welcome.

Edited July 24, 2017 by gasser59

[Mooneyzs]

Brad you have done some great work on this build with that printing plate. Love that gas pedal, awesome detail work on it. I really need to get some of this material. Post pics of the seat already

[James2]

I'm blown away by the details, very well done.

[gasser59]

Thanks for the comments Randy D, Chris and James2. Seems I spend an evening and have little to post.

 

Chris - here's a picture of the seat with the padding I finally found that I like. It is the non-hook side of black Velcro. Now I'm working on the seat belts but am not that happy with the red material that comes in the package because of the fur and fuzz that sticks to the edges of the adhesive. The color isn't all that bright either once the backing is removed. I may try to source some cloth ribbon from a fabric store. The one on the right is from the package and the one on the left is some red paper I had in my supply. Each of these have good qualities and I'm not sure which one I like better. Open to input and suggestions.

 

I still am planning on some weight-lightening holes in the seat sides which I probably should have done before applying the padding. Seems I always get ahead of myself.

Edited July 24, 2017 by gasser59

[Mooneyzs]

Brad, That seat is awesome and looks great. I really need to get some of that print plate. As far for the seat belt material, what about medical wrap tape or bandage tape. Go take a look a the Datona Pro Mod build in "on the workbench" from Aftashox and you will see what I am talking about. I have some but I want to get some like what he used in his build.

[gasser59]

That's just the ticket. I'll be off to the store on my way home from work. Hopefully the drugstore has colored Sharpie's!!

Thanks for the info Chris.

[gasser59]

OK, got the new seat belt material. What I found that worked for me in 1/24/25th scale is called Johnson & Johnson FirstAid Cloth Tape. Of course it only comes in white so while I was at Walgreens, I picked up a new red Sharpie. I'm really happy with the results although I'm no where near done with the belts but the texture looks so much better than the original material in the package or the red paper I was using.

Tell me what you think and thanks Rom and Chris for steering me in the right direction.

Edited July 24, 2017 by gasser59

[saltflat1]

Brad, this is an incredible build . Beautiful. I might have a source for aluminum . I have used it in the past and still do. Flashing material for eaves and covering windows. A few bigbox stores have it ( Home Depot, Lowes ). I have found it plain and it comes in a roll. Enough for a lifetime.Another source is disposable foil cooking pans .Look for large pans without any embossing on the bottom.The material is thin but it works. Hope this helps a few people.

[Mooneyzs]

Brad that new belt material looks so much better. I had also gone out and picked up a roll of the same stuff since the other stuff I picked up wasn't right. I also picked up a roll of some 3M brand too just because the webbing looked a little bigger, possibly to use for 1/16th scale. I can't wait to see the belts all done. Its looking great man!!

[gasser59]

I too have used a roll of that flashing from the big box stores to build the camper portion of the model below. It works great for this purpose but is a bit thick for all of the small detail stuff. Thanks for the kind words Henry.

Opps. Is it possible to hijack your own thread? Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

Edited August 22, 2017 by gasser59

[Romell R]

Job well done Brad, I really like the truck too, I had a Flying Cloud by Air Stream that was in the Wally Byam Caravan I sold it to a collector for a pretty penny, I thought you might like to see it.

sorry about High Jacking your thread , just say the word and I'll delete this.

[gasser59]

WOW Rom, I'm impressed. Looks to be a '56 or '57 model? I have a '59 Aistream Tradewind that we redid and travel in it whenever we can. Maiden voyage was to Jackson, Michigan back in June of 2002. Check out my webpage at airztream.com f you're interested.

[mcandela]

Man, all I can say is WOW!! and WOW!!! again.

[gasser59]

Thanks for the compliment Mike. Looks like today's bench time is done as I've got to get ready for work so here's today's update. Almost done with the seat belts, just need a bit more work on the shoulder straps and the cam-lock buckle. Also made the frame mounting brackets for the shoulder straps which I'll paint next time at the bench..

 

Thanks for following along and again, comments greatly appreciated.

Edited July 24, 2017 by gasser59

[gasser59]

Finally some measurable progress. The seat belt harness is done and before I could glue in the seat, I had to finish up the output shaft tunnel and wire in the brake cylinder. The tunnel needed some drawn-on rivets too. Also, the shoulder belt mounts needed to be reglued to an appropriate angle behind the seat. This is the most extensive seat belt system I've ever done and I have to say I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Now it onto the steering components and the levers and parachute pull.

Stay tuned and thanks for following along.

Edited August 22, 2017 by gasser59

[Mooneyzs]

Brad... Wow that look great. Nice work on the seatbelt stuff. The assembly looks great. And so does the riviets on the output shaft. Tjis is very nice. Cant wait to see more pics!!