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Post by chepp on Apr 9, 2019 23:29:29 GMT -5
It's starting to look like a car. The engine is the stock 389 from the Moebius except for three things: 1. The air cleaners are on the chrome tree but are not mentioned in the instructions and were not production items on the 1961 Pontiac. 2. The generator, normally over the passenger side valve cover, is deleted. I had tucked it in low on the right side but it interfered with the suspension. 3. I cut off the top of the kit distributor and made my own ignition wires with fine electrical wire.
Another hidden part are the front lowered spindles — they, too, are not shown on the instructions and probably were put there for a future stock car racer version.
It's hard to believe it's taken so long to get to this point. I've been making good on my New Years' resolution to post a weekly progress report — but it's been three and a half months (and even then the model was partly done).
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Post by spex84 on Apr 10, 2019 1:11:17 GMT -5
It's looking good!! I've really been appreciating the weekly updates, considering how little building I've been doing for myself (and how quiet the forum has been lately)...it's nice to have something to look at regularly here on TRAK. The techniques you've used for keeping everything square and solving various fabrication problems have been illuminating. I'm probably too lazy to put that much effort into it, but sooner or later I'll hit a frustrating patch and come back to this thread to see how you've dealt with various problems. So thanks for that!
As for taking a long time, well...it's an ambitious project with lots of sneaky little issues (ie inner fender aprons). Imagine if you had to build door jambs now. Lol!
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Post by Mr409 on Apr 10, 2019 3:39:36 GMT -5
This is a great project, and I've also been enjoying the weekly updates as I haven't had time to build anything myself. I like all of the fabrication you've done with this build, I think it's shaping up very nicely. The chassis looks really good too. This will be a really cool model when finished, so keep it up.
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Post by chepp on Apr 16, 2019 23:41:45 GMT -5
Thanks for the kind words...but I'm depending on everybody to point out boo-boos, too. In my April 9 post I mentioned the extra front spindles that weren't shown on the instruction sheet. I must have had modelers dyslexia because instead of being lowered, they were RAISED! Doh! They were probably for a future super stock drag version. It was lots of fun taking them out and putting them in 180 degrees even though the mounting lugs were not designed for that.
I'll probably use the AMT parts pack tires shown above. I think that I can modify the Moebius 8-lug wheels to fit better than I'm showing here. Cliff Read built a showroom stock version of the '61 and he thinned the rim so the finned center section would fit nicely so I'll try that. The outer rim on the slick shown here is far too heavy — I need to find a kit with a chrome one that also has a matching narrower one for the front. Or, I can use the Moebius beauty rings for the front and back with an additional chrome spacer between the ring and wheel on the rear. At some point I'll align the headlight pods and cement them in place. Originally I was going to make them rotate but I didn't drill their axis on center.
Work continues on making/painting/attaching details. The Molotow chrome looks OK on the Silhouette steering wheel. It looks "chromier" in real life than in this photo. I cut that big piece of the Ventura gas tank out leaving two little ones that are glued together to make one that will fit on this car. Maybe I could claim that it's the reserve tank and the unseen actual tank is in the trunk area.
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Post by spex84 on Apr 17, 2019 0:22:47 GMT -5
Cool! I like the sectioned gas tank. The 8-lug wheels are an odd but interesting touch; the centers have that "atomic age" look. Some AMT kits have nice wheel rims and other have the fat, featureless rims. If you can't find decent chrome rings, maybe look to the optional 80s/90s-style deep custom wheels that came with some of those kits (Lindberg '34 Ford, AMT '57 Ford etc) and slice the front of the wheel off to make chrome rings of the appropriate depth and with nice stepped rim detail.
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Post by afx on Apr 17, 2019 5:13:14 GMT -5
This is a very ambitious build that has been well executed.
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Post by mack2856 on Apr 17, 2019 13:00:46 GMT -5
I believe the AMT 65 Bonneville has a nice set of chrome 8 lug rims that might look right.
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Post by chepp on Apr 23, 2019 23:53:57 GMT -5
I believe the AMT 65 Bonneville has a nice set of chrome 8 lug rims that might look right. Thanks. I have the AMT '65 Grand Prix with probably the same wheels. They look pretty good except that they are one piece. Still, the backs could be sanded down to open them up then have a painted disc attached behind that would show through the new openings. I haven't done anything regarding wheels on this model this week.
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Post by chepp on Apr 24, 2019 0:04:16 GMT -5
Well isn't this just special? It needed a short driveshaft with a steep angle. So I cut the front and rear U-joints from an AMT '66 Riviera (did the real car really need three shafts?) and used half of each of the front and rear joints and part of the shaft from the Moebius '61 Ventura.
The engine is glued in and the radiator/heater hoses are in. The primered floor pan still needs some work but it's getting there.
The body has about five heavy coats of Mr. White Surfacer 1000 and still needs work but it's getting closer to being ready for pearl white color. The interior/floor pan and frame don't quite fit right so I'll have to figure out how to get them to fit tighter. As was suggested earlier, it could use some nerf bars or tiny bumperettes on the rear but I haven't found any yet.
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Post by chepp on Apr 30, 2019 21:32:30 GMT -5
Despite the mockups that showed other ones, these are the wheels and tires that will be on the car. The Corvette wheel and the wheel back are from the AMT '65 Pontiac Grand Prix. The early '60s Goodyear Blue Streak racing tire is from PPP and the brake backing plate is from the Moebius '61 Pontiac Ventura.
A couple of coats of Tamiya TS-45 Pearl White covered with about five of Tamiya TS-13 Clear gloss are on the body and floor pan. As I write this it's almost all assembled so this will be my final post in the build thread. When it's done you can see it on the trakinscale.proboards.com/board/31/on-freakin-shelf thread.
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