'Altered' Fiat (Mighty) Topolino Update 12/27/14 Finished! Pics!

[Speedfreak]

Thanks Bob! Glad you like it, I put a lot of work into this car.

Ira, thanks very much. I like your work and follow it all the time.

Stan, Thanks. Us drag racing freaks gotta stick together!

Edited November 25, 2014 by Speedfreak

[Speedfreak]

I got the under body painted, I used MM Gun Metal from the bottle. The floor pan is Testors Flat Aluminum from the bottle. It looks a little cheesy so I'll touch it up. Now on to final assembly! (woops, not quite yet, can't decide if I want to clear it, and , then gotta make the decal). And putting the steering rod in.

Edited November 25, 2014 by Speedfreak

[10thumbs]

Hi Gene,

Good to see you're getting at this cool car again! I think a good idea that the inside is a dark color.

I'll be a lookin'.

Good stuff.

Michael

[Speedfreak]

Hi Michael, Thanks for the comment, I really appreciate it. And, thanks for following along and sharing your thoughts. Ya, I wasn't sure about the inside color but I guess it works. And that one stupid hair keeps showing up in the photos!

Edited November 25, 2014 by Speedfreak

[W-409]

Really nice and clean work. I'm glad to see these Altereds being built and yours definitely has the "Early Vibe". My favorite part is the tinted glass. I might have missed it, but where did you get them?

[Speedfreak]

Niko, thanks for the compliment. I love Altereds too and will be watching your build for sure. The tinted glass is the clear glass from the kit sprayed with one coat(?) of Tamiya 'Clear Blue' TS-72. I didn't want it too dark.

[Beeg Juanito]

Scott, I thought that Carl was the only one that didn't get the memo saying, " we don't like this car" 'cause for four days after the second update he was the only one that left a comment.

I remember Hamm's beer well. Growing up in KC they were the sponsor for major league baseball radio broadcast's here, so I've heard that jingle 'many' times! I think the Hamm's logo decals would work well. Like mine it will be a 'what if' car, lol.

Here's a link to an article that was in Mopar Muscle Magazine a few years ago. If you scroll down the second picture on right is the 'original' car taken in 1959, it's 'BLUE', (click to get larger view). The AMT Double Dragster Fiat is based on 'that' car. In your kit there should be a second set of headers, (there is in the 'Tin' version) with one tube hanging lower than the others? In the picture look at the header tube closest to the firewall, same droop. Only thing is, AMT molded it backwards! So if you use it you have to put it on the 'passenger' side, which would be incorrect. It's one of the few pics that exist of the car to my knowledge.

http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/featuredvehicles/race_car/mopp_1006_1939_fiat_coupe_altered/

Thanks for the comment Scott, I appreciate it. It's fun to have someone doing the same build! Let me know if you start a thread.

Gene, at the risk of sounding like a know it all, Those "Other " headers are injector tubes. The bend is correct to clear the magneto. I have used them though as zoomies just by replacing the "bent" pipe with one of the others. (if you have extras).

[Speedfreak]

John, you're right, thanks for pointing that out, it's my first DD kit. I also thought 'zoomies' was a slang term for injector tubes? But, it looks like I had that wrong too. This is the MCM forum, right? I should have the car finished in a couple of days.

[gasser59]

Gene - this little Fiat is looking so nice. You're in the home stretch and I'm looking forward to the completed build. How do you plan on doing the decals?

[Speedfreak]

Brad, thanks very much. The decals are on the car, I need to get some update pics up, there were some pics that showed how they were going to look that got lost in the server transfer. Yes, I'm in the home stretch!!!!!!!!! Just messing with the tint on the windows, and then final assembly begins. Thanks for the comment Brad! How's your 'Puffer coming along?

Edited December 18, 2014 by Speedfreak

[gasser59]

The Puffer progress has stalled as the busyness of the season has taken its toll on my available bench time. I was looking at it the other night and said I really need to get back on this. Thanks for asking Gene.

[Fortheloveofgassers]

I have been following your posts and love what you have done. I was wondering if you would consider selling a set of decals when you make them. I have a 1955 Chevy slot car I would love to name Mighty Mouse.

Thanks in advance.

[Speedfreak]

Ed, I sent you a PM.

[Speedfreak]

Well, here's a little update/mock-up. Almost done, but , I'm having problems with the floor pan, or , 'belly' pan as they call it on the kit instructions, lol. It doesn't want to line up lengthtwise with the sides of the body. I've found one of the probelms, that being the gas pedal being too low, so I can re-locate that easy enough, but,....... I don't know if that's going to solve the problem totally, I might have to do major surgery on the pan, I hope not at this point in the build. Anyone with any experience with this problem please chime in!

Merry Christmas, and , Happy Holidays to all!

Here's some pics of where he stands: Well, it's not uploading the pics, server problems maybe, I'll try later.

[OldTimer50707]

Ran into the same problem with mine. When I mocked it up everything fit fine. When I did the final assembly it was off on one side Which I didn't catch until it was too late. You are doing a fantastic job on this.

[Speedfreak]

Thanks Lee! I'm gonna tackle this thing one way or the other! (Without getting adhesive on the body, yikes!) Working on it right now in fact. Merry Christmas!

[Speedfreak]

The belly pan is on, all that remains is the steering rod. Should have pics up by tonight. Merry Christmas!

For some reason it still will not let me upload pics, not sure what the problem is, nothing has changed on my end, never had a problem before. Same eveything, and , proper file size(?)

[OldTimer50707]

Merry Christmas to you.

[W-409]

I'm glad to hear you got the belly pan installed properly. I can't wait to see this one done as it's looking very good already, but I just hope you can solve the problem with the pics.

And Merry Christmas!

[Speedfreak]

Bummer, All I get is: Upload Skipped (Error301). I've changed nothing in my methods or equipment and the file size is less then 2mb, I'm baffled. Help!

Ok, I'll try this again. Could it be that overall internet traffic is 'so heavy' today (people uploading Christmas pictures) that things are just not working right?

Update 12/27/14: Still can't upload pics, bummer, I've spent nine months on this build and can't show it finished. I've tried everything, even different browser. Like I said before I've 'never' before had a problem uploading pics.

Update: I just uploaded some of these pics to another site with no problems, so I think it's safe to say the problem isn't on my end. Oh well, thanks for all the interest, and , help/support. I really do appreciate it.

Gene

Edited December 27, 2014 by Speedfreak

[W-409]

I just checked this one from DrasticPlastics and I must say that it looks Fantastic!

Maybe you could try uploading the pictures in Fotki or Photobucket to be able to post them here as well? I don't know what would be the problem as I've never used attachments while posting to forums.

I think the end result was worth the wait. Now just let's hope you can get the pics in here, too.

[Speedfreak]

Ok, here's the Photobucket attempt: It worked! Thanks Niko! And thanks for the compliments on the car! I'll post more pics later. I went crazy on the number of photos. Enjoy!

Edited December 28, 2014 by Speedfreak

[AZ Boy]

Real nice job on this, Gene!

[slusher]

Excellent build Gene. Great color and detail. So clean. Fine work on this project...

[AC Norton]

terrific work here, Gene....car is as nice as nice can be. congrats, .........the ace...........