"Our ride starts when yours ends"

[Dinky]

Great progress, looking forward to a great result

[mrm]

Thanks for all the interest guys. It's really appreciated.

I am starting on the engine today. Tonight the body will most likely get sanded and receive first coat of paint.

The "metal" on the body will be deep shiny black. The "wood framing" will be semi gloss black and the incerts flat black. This should make things "pop" on an all black model. Thr way I see it, white walls are a must, but I can't make up my mind on the wheels. They will be painted black with just a little chrome accents. I can't decide between the spokes from the Tudor or the steelies from the 5 window. Also not sure on the grille. Leave it all chrome or paint the incert black with just a chrome frame.

Any sugdestions are welcome

[mrm]

Getting closer. I fixed the rear axle and radius rods together, prior to painting. The chrome stuff is going to be masked. Also needed to make a longer drive shaft, since the chassis is now longer.

Everything fits aaaaaannnddd…..off to be painted. I sprayed the drivetrain in a mix of the Rosso Fuoco base and gold and it will be all covered by the Rosso Fuoco mid coat.

The cab needed to be slightly extended beneath the "wood" to give it a more finished look.

[mrm]

Here are the parts after the Rosso Fuoco midcoat.

The rear end after the masking has been removed

Some of the engine accessories received the same paint treatment

[donb]

That is a great color Michael. Looking forward to more updates.

[squirrel886]

?

[rustybill1960]

WOW!

I like the look of that paint!

What is the name of it again, Rosso Fuoco?

Nice looking paint.

Looking forward to more

Thank You for sharing

Later

Russ

[mrm]

Thank you guys.

Russel, Rosso Fuoco is a Ferrari color, which on the real car is about $40 000 option It is a tri-coat, so you need good primer, base coat, mid coat and then good clear. Most good paint shops should be able to pull a PPG code in their systems and mix you some.

Now to today's work. Photoetched …..wel, everything My eyes hurt, my back hurts, my fingers hurt and I am without nerves after doing this on my dining table while my two kids played hockey in my living room and fought all the time.

After this setup for the wires, the headers are going to be a nightmare, as there is not much space, but I'll fight that battle tomorrow. Such a shame some of all this will be burried and not seen, like the cool drilled bracket for the ignition coil, which I made out of spare wire loom with 8 holes that I had from no idea where.

I color coded pretty much everything. Trying to keep the chrome to a minimum.

The brackets for the alternator and the ACcomp killed me. First drilling the tiny holes in the block and then fitting in them miniature pieces of wire that the brackets are mounted on. I feel like I need new glasses.

Thanks for looking.

[1 bad55 stan]

That engine is looking sweet,super nice detailing mrm

[vintagedragcrazy]

not only is that engine sweet the whole thing is awsome as awsome could be hang in there dude i can't wait to see this one done

vince

[mrm]

Stan , Vince, Thank you both.

Today - some of my favorite: Interior work.

Everything is kept rather simple. It is a hearse after all. The very dark red is actually automotive interior die by SEM and it looks and feels like leather. The color is NAPA. Everything else is black. However there are parts in gloss, semi-gloss and flat black. Black flocking on the floor and a pair of simple photoetched pedals, which match the center of the steering wheel.

The dash is semi-gloss black, the steering column gloss black and the steering wheel flat black. This way everything "separates" under the limited lighting in the finished model. Gauge panel is etched with black faces with red numerals. Steering wheel spokes and dash vents are also etched. I also added an AC control panel under the dash, which is……….black.

To spice things up a little, I cut a little piece of 1mm sheet styrene and wrapped it in very thin piece styrene to form a book. I filed roughly its edges to give it a slightly used look.

The cover received semi-gloss black and the pages got a mix of gold and white for a fancy-but-used look. A gold cross on the cover and gloss letters made it THE Book.

Now the driver can really claim "God is my co-pilot", which I have seen on quite a few bumper stickers.

Now I just need to touch up the seats and finish my headliner and I can turn my full attention to finishing the body.

[donb]

Those seats do look like leather and the the "Book" is a nice touch!

[Roncla]

This is a very creative project. Its coming together to be something unique.

[mrm]

Donald and Ron, thanks guys.

This was supposed to be a simple build just for fun to exercise an idea. But it got a life of his own now.

I have been thinking paint for the last three days, but I can't do it, until all the parts that need to be painted are ready. So I started on the hoods. I have made Deuce models in the past where I glued the side hood on and left the top one loose. Or I had the side hoods glued to the top one so they could be taken off together. The last detailed Deuce I made had custom hoods that were all left loose and they just fitted on and held up pretty good. However here the situation is a little different. The hoods need to be on for the model to look right. But then it would be nice to see the engine. So the solution was to hinge the top hood and to make the side hoods detachable. But then I wanted to have everything look really clean with or without the side hoods. So I knew I needed a "frame". 1:1 rods have it too for the same reasons.

So I made a piece from 0.80 x 0.80 square rod for the driver side. This also connects the grille to the firewall without the use of the center rod provided in the kit. Keeps things cleaner and stronger.

This gives a mounting place for the side hoods and as it sits right on their upper edge, it is almost invisible with the side hood on.

It also gives a resting surface for the top hood when the side hood is off, but is also is invisible, as it blends with the top hood.

Now, on the other side things get interesting. To make things look even, I made the hinge from the thinnest aluminum hollow rod that I know of, which is 0.50 with brassrod inside that feels like a hair, but it is stiff enough when short. The hinge was then glued to a 0.40 x 0.40 square rod. So when painted both sides of the frame are going to look the same size with only 0.10 difference.

When mounted, the hinge is under the plastic rod, which when painted will look like just one piece. When the side hood is on it is absolutely invisible. The cool part is that without the side hood it is also almost invisible, as it blends with the top hood

Even when the hood is open without side hood it is still pretty invisible. And it still provides a mounting point for the side hood.

To make the hinges as out of site as possible, I had to put them at the very ends on the hood, but the front interferes with the radiator. and the rear with the firewall, so they had to go under weird angles. I don't like visible hinges anyway, but this was just one more reason to do something cool with the hood to hide the hinges. So I made a support brace with some holes in it. I think it will look cool once everything is evened, sanded and painted.

Thanks for looking

[squirrel886]

?

[mrm]

Thank you Bradley. I love your signature.

I decided to keep the headliner simple, but not plain. It will be all plain flat black.

[charlie8575]

A forty thousand dollar optional color?? Do I even want to know how much a touch-up vial of that costs??

Makes me wonder what GM, Ford and Chrysler are doing wrong with their tri-coats at $400-1000. It is a pretty color, I must admit.

The interior is nice, too. I like how you made the Bible. A very authentic touch.

Very nice work so far.

Charlie Larkin

[mrm]

Thank you Charlie.

I believe that because of the components in it, you can't make less than 8 ounces from the color. So you need 8oz from the base coat and 8oz from the midcoat. I believe my buddy charged me about $70 for the two cans. It is difficult to fork with honestly. I have other Ferrari tri-coats and they are not such a pain. Their Giallo Tristrati is a $60 000 option on their cars. But it has a lot more to do with the "right to exclusivity" than with the paint itself. Here is a Giallo Tristrati California I made.

[1 bad55 stan]

Your doing i fine job on this mrm,That hood is cool just like the rest of your build!

[geetee66]

Sweet!

I'd like that to be my final ride..

The engine is looking great and the whole design is a real feat of ingenuity

I take my hat off to you, sir!

[mrm]

Thank you both guys.

Today I did the floor in the back. First I started with laying down some strips to represent the sliders on the bed.

Then made some designs from half round stock, which represent the little wheels sunk in hearses floors that "glide" the coffins in. These are going to be foiled together with the outer sliders.

The finished floor will have the decoration from the Boothill Express' roof, but only four of them and some chrome hardware, which i haven't figured out yet.

That's a pretty big and flat floor, so I thought it would need to be pretty strong (if it were 1:1) so I cut a bunch of small strips and sanded their edges (bottom one on picture)…..

…..to make a floor that is "stamped" and reinforced.

[charlie8575]

Nice work on the floor.

$60,000????!!! For a paint option? Eesh. Not this week.

Charlie Larkin

[mrm]

Thank you Charlie. I am still working on the floor and the frame that supports it.

About the optional paint on Ferraris and other cars like that, it is basically paying to tell the other guy with the same car in red, that your d*** is bigger than his.

On the new Porsche 918 I believe the "liquid metal" paint option is closer to $100K. But everything is relative. Considering the 918 is a 2 million, percentage wise its paint option is cheaper than GM's. LOL

[mrm]

OK, so I just finished this.

I made a frame that supports the floor/body of the hearse.

cut some "brackets" that will "bolt" the frame to the body.

This is what it will look like from underneath, when everything is together. The black dots will be bolt heads, which I don't have right now, but I am getting tomorrow.

off to paint we go…..

Thanks for looking

[DumpyDan]

Great looking project, glad it is coming together. Looking good.