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Cars
Discuss all types of automotive modeling here.
Cars fueled by coffee ( WIP thread for cars )
Lokis_Tyro
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Wisconsin, United States
Joined: March 08, 2016
KitMaker: 128 posts
Auto Modeler: 31 posts
Posted: Monday, July 25, 2016 - 08:00 AM UTC
Hey neighbor. I'll be using this thread to post photos of my car builds. The majority of them will be sanded primer, melted styrene and other random hideousness with holes drilled in it. If you're looking for instant gratification from shelf/garage queens, or work from a pro-builder, I'm positive you wont find it here! On the other hand, if you're still interested, stop by with a snarky remark, critique, or tip sometime.

So, enough of that, eh?

I'm currently building AMT's Christine for the '1950's Group Build' which you can find here: https://archive.kitmaker.net/forums/238101
So far, lots of big fins, chrome, and beauty and also to be noted an interesting scratch-build by turtle65 which can be seen here:
http://automodeler.kitmaker.net/forums/249470&page=1
If you add a colon after 'http' on his link in the address bar it should work too. Not sure what the issue is there. Talked to him and he said it's there so maybe a mod can fix that.

I decided against building the AMT model as Christine. The model is a 1958 Plymouth Belvedere. There are a few corrections that could be done to build it into the 'show me' version of the movie car (the scene where she repairs the damage caused by Archie's "enemies" on her own), but I thought I could do something different since the interior wouldn't match the scene car. Neither would the engine. In my opinion the engine doesn't accurately represent any Plymouth engine. There are parts, the majority of them from the Golden Commando engine, which appear accurate but the distributor is on the firewall side of the engine. With a proper intake manifold this would be an easy fix and could also bring you closer to the 'show me' Christine car as you could opt for a dual-carburetor setup. For me it was confusing and I spent hours looking into it. So, because of a few piddly details I decided to build a mild custom while keeping in mind how cars from this era got their wings,, err, I mean fins. So far this has gone as far as a "takeoff" stance and my choice of using a combination of a zinc chromate green and a flat sky blue for body color. The use of aviation aerials and guages is another thought and you can probably guess the location of a race if one were to occur.

Onward! Most of my time has been spent on filing and sanding so far, plenty of pics of that in the group build already. I didn't want to bomb the thread more, hence this one. But don't worry, there's many more! This last Sunday night I was able to get most of the suspension situated. To lower the front of the car I swapped spindles from left to right and vice versa. This left the arms for the tierods on opposite sides and upsidedown. They were cut free and swapped from side to side and reinforced with sheet styrene after they were tacked on in the proper location and left overnight to let the glue cure. On each spindle are the stubs that will eventually accept the wheels. These were filed square, I hope, before I cut them off so I could reuse them. They were then moved to the top of the hub plate to further lower the ride height (the use of torsion springs on this car meant there was nothing to interfere with any of this). I let those dry then drilled through the back of the spindle and into the stub so I could fill it with glue and stuff in some styrene to reinforce the stub in hopes that the front wheels are not easy to knock loose once glued on. I've seen wire or rod used in this way but I prefer a plastic to plastic bond since I have been using old Testors liquid glue. This all worked exceptionally well and I am very glad I pushed myself to hack up a model a bit. Finally. I can do anything now! lol That was my feeling until, against better judgement, I tried something weird. Instead of cutting the rear free and adding lowering blocks I layered on top of it with sheet styrene like little leaf springs. It has worked, but definitely isn't the way to go. The leaves were then drilled for the locator pins on the axle housing. The rear is lowered a scale 3 inches so I needed to adjust the shocks. Rather than try to find the correct length by measuring I had the idea of cutting them in half and drilling them to make them "semi-functional" and very easy to fit when the axle assembly has been installed. Well thanks for stopping in and reading if you made it this far. As a reward, here's some crappy pics! And a bonus tire issue preview! Haha. Happy modeling!



























AussieReg
Staff MemberAssociate Editor
AUTOMODELER
#007
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Victoria, Australia
Joined: June 09, 2009
KitMaker: 8,156 posts
Auto Modeler: 2,953 posts
Posted: Monday, July 25, 2016 - 08:16 AM UTC
Andrew, this looks like a bunch of fun mate!

I will be following along on your four-barrel caffeine injection shenanigans.

Cheers, D
Lokis_Tyro
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Wisconsin, United States
Joined: March 08, 2016
KitMaker: 128 posts
Auto Modeler: 31 posts
Posted: Monday, July 25, 2016 - 08:50 AM UTC
Thanks, Damian! It's been a lot of fun! Can't wait to see more of that Caddy you have on the bench.
C[ ]
Lokis_Tyro
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Wisconsin, United States
Joined: March 08, 2016
KitMaker: 128 posts
Auto Modeler: 31 posts
Posted: Sunday, August 07, 2016 - 02:46 AM UTC
I've been airbrushing a testors flat sky blue thinned with hardware store/wally world thinner. I haven't really had any problems as far as spraying goes but the thinner adds a gloss to the finish if thinned on the watery side. Are there any thinners that won't do this?
Lokis_Tyro
_VISITCOMMUNITY
Wisconsin, United States
Joined: March 08, 2016
KitMaker: 128 posts
Auto Modeler: 31 posts
Posted: Sunday, August 21, 2016 - 12:37 AM UTC
Moving forward like a sloth.





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