51 Channeled Chevy--Engine is finally in....

I haven't blogged much but I have been building! I thought assembling the rest of the Channeled 51 Chevy would be easy but it's not been...I have fought almost every part to get it glued into place!

The engine compartment was smaller than "stock" due to the channeling and I didn't know if anything other than the block would fit! To make things even more challenging, I am using a parts-box V8 instead of the kit supplied straight 6. I did a pretty good job customizing the frame and engine compartment to accept the larger block, but didn't plan for anything else under the hood. Thus I decided to build most of the engine with the block already mounted inside the engine compartment which of course isn't the way a sane person would do this.

Fuel lines and some plumbing are already in place, but I have along way to go!

Lo and behold--the fanbelt/pulley assembly didn't fit quite right, so I had to do some minor surgery and then use this contraption to hold it all in place while the glue set.

Same thing with the radiator--I didn't do the best job "engineering" that fit before paint and assembly, and the channeling meant I had to be pretty accurate or nothing else would fit. So I had to do some trimming and repainting, and then hold the radiator in place with a weight while the glue dried.

Speaking of paint....I have rethought how I apply brush paint....I used to dip brushes directly into bottles but no more. Now, I always stir the paint with a craft stick and then use the stick to transfer the paint to a small cup (like, the little paper ones you get at a burger place for ketchup). Less paint clumps and brush streaks that way.

The engine compartment is finished! I feel like I can knock the rest out in a day or two but that's what I said before; it took 3 weeks (off an on, more off than on) to assemble the interior and engine....so who knows.

51 Channeled Chevy--the Build Dabbles On....

Back at the bench!!! I am still working on a 1:25 scale 1951 Channeled Chevy, based on AMT's AMT-608 kit. The good news: the body and paint are pretty much done. There wasn't any "customizing" for this build as far as the body; but, there were lots of sink marks, casting imperfections, mold seams, and other gremlins had to be removed/filled/fixed before paint....after these fixes, the body was shot with Duplicolor white primer and sanded lightly (!) with 2000 grit wet n' dry.

For color I used decanted Duplicolor metalflake silver, with extra Jacquard PearlEX silver flakes thrown in (anyone who has read this blog to date knows I LOVE Jacquard paints!) I sprayed the mixture with a Iwata SAR single action airbrush which replaced my single action external Paasche--it was time to move up! This was my first attempt at decanting lacquer; I will cover it in more detail in later posts. To make a long story short(er), decanting lacquer, then airbrushing, yields a much smoother finish (for me anyway), versus just spraying out of the rattle can.

What about the flames? The hood was masked with a hand-cut frisket. With limited time to devote to this hobby, frisket cutting by hand doesn't work for me--I simply don't have the hours to cut the tiny patterns--so I am considering using some sort of computerized frisket cutting for future projects. The sides were entirely hand flamed using different acrylics--lame excuse, but I ran out of time to cut a mask for this! I like the hood flames much better than the sides; the side flames look sloppy but also bright and happy. The oranges and yellows were applied either by hand or with an Iwata Micron-C. Finally, after a quick sanding with 2000 grit paper, all was coated with HOK Kustom two-part Polyester clear, as far as the clear, I was extremely happy with the results; this was followed by the requisite Bare Metal Foil.

The AMT 51 Chevy kit comes with a cool straight-6, but for me it wasn't right for this build. So: I scrounged around in my parts box for a small block V8. Since this is a channeled build, like a 1:1 chaneled car, there isn't much room under the hood. During mock up, this engine just barely fit! I have no idea what kit this came out of--it's AMT something I think, at scale, probably too small to even be a 280 c.i. ish engine--maybe out of a 55ish AMT Chevy?

To finish the other engine parts I used Alclad II, and tried something new: spraying one color of Alclad and then, to get some variety, gradually mixed other Alclad colors into the airbrush's hopper. It worked great--Alclad can indeed be mixed, and the results are really nice. I started with chrome; mixed in some stainless steel for the belt assembly, and finally some pale gold for the fan. Variety under the hood is always nice!

The block was painted with Testors One-Coat metalflake blue and then hit with 2 part clear. I was curious if 2 part clear can be detailed after application with acrylics, and it seemed that it can--the advantage being that any detailing "painting mistakes" can be easily cleaned up with Windex without anyone being the wiser.....the Windex takes off the acryic but leaves the 2 part clear and color coat beneath untouched! Another victory over sloppy paint!

51 Channeled Chevy--Interior Hack

Again not much time to build this month....just a little bit, really....so this is going to be a quick one....

From last time: I had some 51 Chevy Kits lying around--one convertible, two coupes. I thought it'd be fun to make a 1:25 scale channeled hot rod....

The body/frame/stance mock up was done end of last month....now it's time to chop some stuff up!

Inner door panels needed to be taken down about 5 scale inches. I also had to screw around with the back part of each panel, so it fit a wider back seat (I really didn't like the kit seats--too bulky!)...I am not happy with how this came out, and do not have time to redo them....Fortunately not much of the rear part of either panel will be seen, as it's hidden by the seats.

Next time I mock up a convertible I put in the seats! As I said, the kit seats were way too bulky. Compare the bottom seats with the top--which one would you want in a sleek hot rod? To find the smaller seats, I hunted around in the my parts box and came up with two that not only fit, they matched each other, uphostery wise! I have no idea what kit these originally came out of.

I have tried different interior shades over the past couple of years but keep coming back to the Model Master "interior" colors--their semi-flat appearance looks realistic to me. That combined with cream lacquer from Duplicolor gives the upholstry a retro sort of look.

I am also experimenting with using craft wire to accent the paint--I have seen this done in hobby mags many times; I am not sure how to get all traces of the glue out of the final look, but I can get it pretty close.

51 Chevy--Changing the Channel

Having finished my experiments with 2 part clear it's back to some building. I got some AMT 51 Chevy kits on sale from modelroundup.com and it's time to build something.

I have found that mock-ups are key and, at least from the perspective of making a hot rod out of this, it needs to ride lower. I didn't end up getting a picture of "Before" I mocked up a lower ride...but it looked like "the Eisenhower family's Chevy" and I don't want that.

So here's "after" lowering. I quickly glued up the chassis frame and front and rear ends, found some tires in the scrap box, and came up with this:

The body is channeled about 8 scale inches--which means: a lot! The 51 kit came with spindles for the front for a "lowered ride" look. I used that, and the stock ride height for the rear.

Nothing is cleaned up yet--there are still ejector pins and mold lines all over the place and other than some primer, no paint has been applied yet. I have found in modelling you always, always have to walk before you run!!!

I am thinking about frenching the headlights, and doing some sort of flame thing for paint.

Channeling means that many other parts of the car will need to be customized--interior, seats, radiator, motor mounts, and so on, because they will now ride too high. But since I am working in plastic, and nothing has to "work" as it would on a 1:1 car, this is no big deal. I already started to hack up the interior and will take more photos soon.

66 Nova--Finished!

Not much time to build again this month but I did manage to finish the 66 Nova....

The Nova started mostly as an excuse to practice painting more with 2 part Polyurethane Clearcoat.

Again I have found that 2 part clear takes some extra attention to making sure the color coat is smooth--problems with the color coat seem amplified by tqo part polyurethane clear, rather than muted.

Overall a fun build...I had a good time applying the photoetch parts....

I used license plate decals, but just cut the decals out and did not soak them; I glued them to the bumpers with plain old styrene glue. I feel this looks better than other methods I have tried.

And, using brass for the fuel plumbing came out OK....

I have 3 '51 Chevy kits sitting around, that will be next....

Almost fall again!

66 Nova--Engine and Details

I have to remind myself that there are things everywhere. This silly hobby is no exception. Metalworking is something I want to know more about and what safer/easier way to learn a little about it than with a scale model.

So...this weekend, while some servers I was working on remotely were churning away on updates, I did some (very simple) metalwork to detail out the engine of the 1:25 scale 66 Nova, which I would now very much like to finish.

When I look at really good modelmakers, most seem to make pretty extensive use of metals (brass, tin, aluminum)....I spent many years working with electronics, so I am familiar with soldering, but I can't see how that would help with anything this small--at 1:1 scale even a really small solder joint is going to look like someone made a fist-sized weld. So I need to use glues. Epoxy works well for joining metals to all sorts of surfaces but mixing it is a pain, and the 5 minute kind isn't useful after, well, 5 minutes. CA glue works, and is especially good for metal to plastic bonds. The other glue you see here is "Cement for wood and metal" by good old Testors. I didn't know Testors made a glue for metal! It works well for metal, but is not useful for bonding metal to plastic.

Using simple bent brass and some small styrene bits, I scratch built this little fuel feed setup.....

Using CA I glued that to the intake manifold....Here's what I came up with so far.

Overall, metal (photoetch, wiring, brass tubing) does look pretty good for detailing out scale objects, but it's really hard toget the glue joints looking neat. And, getting the fit right on any engine has always proved difficult to me. I got some very small dremel grinding bits from Harbor Freight and put them to work levelling out the engine block so the oil pan and manifolds sit straight (or, straighter then usual, for me).

The carb assemblies were some of the smallest-scale detail work I've done--without really good magnification this isn't possible at all. I left the bend in the fuel feed to wrap around the radiator hoses (not quite sure how I am going to work that one out, but I will figure something out)....I left some of the plumbing long on purpose because at the moment I have no idea how any of this is going to "plug into" the firewall; that is for next time.

66 Nova Hiatus Continued--Now, a 68 GTO....

In my experimentation with two part polyurethane clear I shot a 68 GTO body I had lying around, so I figured why not finish the build....

Paint was Jacquard Acrylic, I mixed up a purple and kept throwing in red flake and red tint until it was a nice dark shade.

Overall, things were a bit rushed, although it seems it took a good 3 weeks to finish it, but just a bit of work here and there.....

There are lots of little sloppy things about this build--the Bare Metal Foil is a bit ratty in places (it usually seems to be)--next time I figure I will use some sort of guide to help this go on straighter.

I have always like GTO's--it was fun to build this but now it's back to the question--how much time am I really going to devote to this? To take this to "the next level" I'd need to spend more time....not sure I want to do that.

One thing about 2 part clear--it seems to amplify flaws in the color coat and makes careful sanding and finishing of the color coat critical. The danger though is burning through the color coat trying to flatten it all out. More time and effort are needed here.

The box stock stance was pretty bad--the tires for instance were way too big, giving the car a clownish look. I robbed some smaller tires from the parts box. I like the way the mag wheels came out.

I used more photo etch on this build, and it was a major breakthrough for me that photoetch looks good painted. However, after paint you have to apply it straight! Much harder!