Big Tub from Newguy

[jbwelda]

the little drag could also be made using the Little T, which includes the turtle deck although no other Big Drag specific parts, but combined with a revell speed parts pack, would be coming close.

I just built a big drag after scoring the body and all the blue molded pieces and combined it with some old and some reissue frame and suspension. didn't paint anything just to leave it original plastic...but I broke down and painted the seat tuck and roll inserts and a couple of little details.

I also got a Big Tub off ebay before they were reissued, and totally rebuilt it from the ground up. theres a thread somewhere on the workbench but heres a quick shot...wasn't much left of the original when I got done:

[pharoah]

Very cool William! I'm restoring a Big Tub right now,but mine is going to look like the box art.

I have a Big Drag too that I built from old and new parts. Had to paint mine though. I had one when they were new way back when...

[LaughingIndian]

its a tough audience around here sometimes but that build not to mention the kool photos, well don't worry about being impressive, that's for sure!

jb

Wow what a treat. When I bought this kit I looked around for ideas (since it was the first model in 30 somethin years for me) and found a "Rat Rod" magazine and web images of YOUR Big Tub version jb! Your design was inspiring (I didn't want to go with a rusted rat rod model) and your execution was/is intimidating — beautiful!

Thanks jb. I'm a big fan.

I suggest any yet-to-be-fans take a look:

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8545

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks, I think. Your criticism, though positive, is spooky on. Your observation of the brake drum is exact. I'm a graphic artist by trade and that brake drum is as good as I get, but I never expect someone else to appreciate, let alone know, the specific nuances of this stuff. And that includes others in the profession.

Again, thank you, but I'm now a little more intimidated on showing my work ...

but I will anyway :-)

Thanks Mike, I think... I've been around graphics and publishing software since the earliest days of Aldus Pagemaker running under Windows 2, but always on a "need to know" basis, learning just enough to get the job done in various situations I found myself in. But about 5 years ago I took up car modeling again after a long hiatus and discovered the world of cheap digital photography and on line-posting. That's when I got into P-shop with a little more depth. I still can't lay in a picture the way you did but I do know what it involves. That's reall classy stuff when you can take a table top front 3/4 view and match perspective, lighting, color values and even whatever the digital equivalent of "photo grain" is... At this point photography is such an integral part of the hobby for me that a modeling project isn't really done until I've finished up the photo work.

And I'm a fan of Bill's too, ever since he published a w.i.p. and final shots of a lovely little Offy powered track roadster a few years back.

Welcome to MCM. I hope you'll grace us with more modeling work.

[LaughingIndian]

Thanks Mike, I think... I've been around graphics and publishing software since the earliest days of Aldus Pagemaker running under Windows 2, but always on a "need to know" basis, learning just enough to get the job done in various situations I found myself in. But about 5 years ago I took up car modeling again after a long hiatus and discovered the world of cheap digital photography and on line-posting. That's when I got into P-shop with a little more depth. I still can't lay in a picture the way you did but I do know what it involves. That's reall classy stuff when you can take a table top front 3/4 view and match perspective, lighting, color values and even whatever the digital equivalent of "photo grain" is... At this point photography is such an integral part of the hobby for me that a modeling project isn't really done until I've finished up the photo work.

And I'm a fan of Bill's too, ever since he published a w.i.p. and final shots of a lovely little Offy powered track roadster a few years back.

Welcome to MCM. I hope you'll grace us with more modeling work.

Thank you B.

There's about ten different ways to do the same thing in PS and because I'm self taught I don't do things using the best methods (like everybody else I guess). But I did happen to find this great lesson at the end of the YouTube tutorial on how to post pictures to this forum. Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLK7rm1J5ww

But the easist way is to take a picture of a subject (say in the backyard) and run like hell and take the background picture (say in the driveway) before the sun moves and then overlay that.

Seriously, I started in the print industry before Photoshop and met amazing graphic artists. Imagine overlaying a glossy print photo over another. Masking (with adhesive frisket and/or amberlith), airbrushing (with a real airbrush), then scraping the paper backing off, buffing off the finish, cutting (with a knife), pasting (with glue), burnishing and refinishing with a homemade concoction of gelatin. Then sending to camera, screening and then pasting into position on page. And if it was color, there'd be three other screens that had to be individually angled and hand registered.

That trade (and the graphic artists) is long gone — although I see alot of that craft in model making.

[jbwelda]

hey Mike thanks for the compliments, honestly I find it pretty easy to work in 1/8 scale and make details look good without a whole lot of work. I did work away on that tub for awhile, probably at least a year it lived on my kitchen table, which my girlfriend took in pretty good stride for the most part!

I think I have heard that images of it appear somewhere other than here on MCM site, but I never figured out where. if you have a link could you post it or PM me with it, just out of curiosity?

so one thing that struck me building the Big Drag especially, was how difficult it was to get a decent bond with superglue, which is pretty much my "go to" adhesive in smaller scales. I found I had to at least drill and pin all major connections, and/or use five minute epoxy. otherwise if they didn't fail immediately, only with a little handling pieces would fall apart.

when I built this big tub, which as pointed out was some years ago, I pretty much pinned every connection as a matter of course, but when I built the Big Drag, I was hoping for more of a quick build (don't we all...) but it ended up taking some time re-doing joints I hadn't secured properly to begin with.

did you find the same thing? whats your glue of choice?

I haven't tried the real "solvent" glues of my childhood since I got back into models, but maybe that works a little better (with much less volume than when I was 12).

again great build and im sure you will have similar success with future builds, I look forward to seeing them!

jb

Edited January 17, 2014 by jbwelda

[blackbeard]

very cool

[LaughingIndian]

hey Mike thanks for the compliments, honestly I find it pretty easy to work in 1/8 scale and make details look good without a whole lot of work. I did work away on that tub for awhile, probably at least a year it lived on my kitchen table, which my girlfriend took in pretty good stride for the most part!

I think I have heard that images of it appear somewhere other than here on MCM site, but I never figured out where. if you have a link could you post it or PM me with it, just out of curiosity?

so one thing that struck me building the Big Drag especially, was how difficult it was to get a decent bond with superglue, which is pretty much my "go to" adhesive in smaller scales. I found I had to at least drill and pin all major connections, and/or use five minute epoxy. otherwise if they didn't fail immediately, only with a little handling pieces would fall apart.

when I built this big tub, which as pointed out was some years ago, I pretty much pinned every connection as a matter of course, but when I built the Big Drag, I was hoping for more of a quick build (don't we all...) but it ended up taking some time re-doing joints I hadn't secured properly to begin with.

did you find the same thing? whats your glue of choice?

I haven't tried the real "solvent" glues of my childhood since I got back into models, but maybe that works a little better (with much less volume than when I was 12).

again great build and im sure you will have similar success with future builds, I look forward to seeing them!

jb

I found your Tub through a Google Images search using "Big Tub model." Your pic was just a few behind a couple of girls in a Hot tub . The shift knob was a little further down ... the page.

Regarding glue, I'm a greenhorn, but as such, an amateur can stumble on usefulness. In my case, I did not have any material when I bought the kit and made a quickstop to the hardware store. I found the only styrene glue available there called "Duco." I since have heard some swear by it. Remembering the glue bombs of my teenage years, I forced myself to clean every joint (that I could) down to the bare plastic, got a couple of clothes pins (1/8 scale is great), and let stand over night. None of which was done when I was a teenie. I had a lot of success except for non-similar material like wheels, spark wires and fuel tubes (you can see they don't come straight out of the carbs). I highly suggest having a tube of Duco along side Testors Liquid Glue (that tube dispenser wasn't around back when) and of course, a bottle of Zap.

I'm guessing that since your kit was an older production, the plastic may be a different composition (or just older) and therefore bonding would differ.

One more compliment: I really like the bigger scales (that's why I'm here), and your Big Tub exemplifies how the thickness of plastic is so much truer to scale than a smaller model. The color, the lack of upholstery, and the fenders make your model look more like a steel car than any other I've seen. And that includes the allclad and metal lathed models I've seen.

Thanks again jb.

[mredjr]

Great Job!!!