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Post by chepp on Jun 9, 2018 14:25:11 GMT -5
Thanks, Ed. Here's a detail of a photo I swiped from your fotki files: Those Blue Beetle seats look perfect for my Pontiac. I'll try to find a pair of the smaller ones in the Blue Bandito reissue.
jbwelda suggested seats from an AMT Corvair. I happened to have a pair so I narrowed them:
They have a nice '60s custom look to them but they're too squarish to look right with the curves on this car so I think that the BB ones would be better.
Here's a side view. It's important to me that the frame not be below the bottom of the body (yellow arrow). I don't like having the seats sticking so far above the body as they do here. I hope that the smaller BB seats will help this problem. I think that the BB seat backs will be angled a bit toward the rear -- if so, that will give our little people a couple more scale inches and also fill in some of the space currently between the back of the seats and the opening in the body.
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Post by mod3llover on Nov 14, 2018 13:32:39 GMT -5
Charley, we must see more on this one please!?! When I watch builds that are so inspiring, it makes my builds somewhat easier to do!!! Weird, . . . right?
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Post by chepp on Nov 14, 2018 20:19:33 GMT -5
Thanks for remembering this. I haven't touched it since June but I do have a pair of Blue Beetle resin seat copies from Ed Fluck that look like they'll work. It isn't that I have lost interest in this, it's that I'm not as good at managing my time as I should be. My goal is to finish this model to enter in the GSL in May. I have a different radical custom that I've started and want to have that done for GSL, too.
I followed John Teresi's build of his '59 Cadillac custom -- I wish I could build like that! A few weeks ago I saw his model at a show in Pomona. That thing is amazing.
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Post by chepp on Jan 1, 2019 18:34:39 GMT -5
I'm baaaaaaaaaack! Even though I've been retired for two years I've been distracted by some OT model building and other projects that kept me away from this.
The Blue Beetle resin seat copies by Drag City Casting are just right! Thanks, Ed, for the suggestion and the nice product. Upon taking a fresh look at this car, I saw that the twin windscreens didn't align with the seats. I couldn't move the seats any further toward the centerline of the car because of the driveshaft hump and the floor shifter location so I had to move the windscreens outward.
Moving the body panels under the windscreens wasn't as easy as it might seem because of the steel wires I had embedded on the inside of the body to add strength. But now the panels are in the right locations so all I need to do is fill in the open areas.
My New Year's resolution is to keep going on this. I want to finish it in time to enter in the GSL in May. I don't expect it to be a contender in a judged category because I'm not likely to include every last detail such as brake lines. Instead, my goal is to show models of TRAK-friendly "what if" kinds of cars that look good from a few feet away. In that vein, I've started a radical custom (not yet posted) that I also want to bring to the GSL but it may be on the "unfinished projects" table there. I've got a wacky diorama idea, too -- not yet started -- and maybe a simple build of a '36 Ford for the Group category...
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Post by spex84 on Jan 1, 2019 18:47:03 GMT -5
That all sounds awesome! I can't wait to see it! I like the idea of seeing more radical customs on TRAK. Ambitious idea with the windscreens...I hope it works out! The Blue Beetle resin seats from Ed look great; the curves match the body much better than the previous seats.
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Post by mod3llover on Jan 1, 2019 19:51:26 GMT -5
Yeah, that does look great Charley!!
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Post by chepp on Jan 7, 2019 17:33:47 GMT -5
Here's the latest. The relocated panels have been filled in — now the windscreens are aligned with the seats. Ergonomically it is better than before (more legroom and the driver can reach the shifter easily) as is the engineering (the steering column ahead of the firewall will be in line with the steering column at the steering wheel). As for styling, it now has a big space between the seats. I was thinking about adding a "waterfall" similar to a first generation Corvette but decided against it. I'll probably just put a fire extinguiser there to fill the otherwise empty space and give it a racy appearance.
I intend to post once a week to show the progress. Now I'll return to adding inner panels. It's a lot of time-consuming work that virtually no one will notice but I don't see any alternative.
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Post by spex84 on Jan 7, 2019 18:06:16 GMT -5
Looks great! I agree that inner panels etc are a pain in the butt. One bit at a time, and it'll get there...
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Post by chepp on Jan 7, 2019 22:07:15 GMT -5
Thanks, spex84. That post made me a hoodlum! And people used to say that I'd never amount to anything.
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Post by chepp on Jan 14, 2019 23:17:07 GMT -5
Hey, kids! You can add add fender wells and inner body panels to your model cars. Just cut out little pieces of .040", .030" or .020" styrene and glue them in place. It's so much fun we've done it dozens of times on just this one body.
When the panels are in place, apply some two-part auto body filler to the joints and start sanding. Fill and sand, fill and sand...
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Post by chepp on Jan 22, 2019 20:51:48 GMT -5
I intentionally left a lot of "air" between the inner fender panels and the frame but now I'm not so sure. The body will likely be pearl white and the frame medium metallic blue. What do you think? I also left a lot of space behind the front wheels for two or four exhaust pipes (sort of like on the Monkeemobile). Instead, maybe I will have two pipes visible there but have them curve down behind the rocker panel and exit just ahead of the rear wheels.
Some white primer makes it look better. There's still lots of shaping and finishing to do. I'm thinking of using stock '61 Ventura taillights mounted close to the license plate recess. If they were located more outboard they wouldn't be aimed to the rear because of the curvature of the body. Those wide whites have gotta go!
Here's the underside. The frame and floorboards were modified from the Mobius '61 Ventura kit.
Comments -- good, bad and otherwise -- are welcome.
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Post by spex84 on Jan 23, 2019 0:46:04 GMT -5
Love the Ventura taillight idea! This custom is looking excellent...takes some serious determination to rip apart a finished model and re-build it like you're doing here! Pearl white with a met. blue frame sounds good too. Shades of Roth's Outlaw and Beatnik Bandit? Hmm, maybe it needs a fogged paint job like the first iteration. Definitely!
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Post by Mr. Metallic on Jan 23, 2019 8:54:29 GMT -5
I envision this would look killer with the dual pinstripe whitewalls that Round2 offers in a parts pack now, but were first available in the Surf Woody reissue. The rears are cheater slicks as well
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Post by chepp on Jan 29, 2019 0:57:13 GMT -5
Thanks, spex84, for the vote of confidence on my idea to use stock '61 taillights -- unfortunately, they're much larger than I had expected.
Perhaps I'll embed some clear red plastic, possibly as a full-width taillight. The material in the photo is filament used in 3D printing machines.
Thanks, mrmetallic, for the twin thinwall idea. I like it. The closest that I have on hand are the AMT parts packs here so I'd need to go shopping -- not a problem since Pegasus Hobbies is less than two miles away! The slick at the lower right has a thin whitewall with a red pinstripe creating the illusion of two stripes. Interesting but it's probably "too new" for 1961. I can't recall ever having seen that in real life.
The next task is to make the vertical sides of the interior. They will be separate pieces sandwiched between the floorpan and the body that will also hold the dashboards. But before I can make them I've got to hog out a consistent mating surface for the top edges on the underside of the body.
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Post by mod3llover on Jan 29, 2019 13:14:48 GMT -5
It's looking great Charley! And I like the idea of the long horizontal tail light(s) on that car. It seems to fit the styling quite nicely!! IMHO anyway! I have one of those little spring loaded sanding sticks myself, and I was wondering if, and where I might find new belts for it these days?
Build on sir, David S.
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