Discussion Forum - Northstar Chevelle Club

A few progress pics...

Engine's coming together. Working on the fuel delivery rails.

Excellent detailing. Way to small and detailed for me to do. The "rotisserie", is that something special for modelers ? or a JD "repurposed' item...

I just noticed it has 5 stacks/carbs, not 4, on each side. In the pic with Eddy, the center carb is a different color. Was that a dummy just to fill the space better ?

Interesting that they moved the fuel rail from outside the stacks to in the center in the last 2 pics.

I'm still working on my "full scale" models...

John D wrote:

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Derek... since the Koach has driver's side doors, does that mean they used Canadian bodies?

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 No, drivers doors were a feature of the "improved Ford" 26-27 models. They all had them. 

Update...
(JD's brain is ? - too detail oriented?)

The rear/rearmost "death-ride" seat on the Koach is basically on some brackets hanging off the back of the car. From the pics of the prototype, and text descriptions (I'm guessing) they were made from 1/4 x 1-1/2 flat-stock, rolled and shaped. The seat itself was probably some 3/4" plywood with foam & the red velvet "whore's drawers" diamond-buttoned upholstering.
The kit has some really cludgy brackets... all wrong and about a scale inch thick. Just won't do. The supplied seat cushions were hollowed out on the back/undersides as well...

Took some .020 brass sheet, made some scale 1-1/2 strips, and built up a pair of new brackets.
A piece of .005 sheet styrene was glued to the back to cover the hollow, and simulate the real seats.

Been at it again...
Headlights. The originals are HUGE, and glazed on 3 sides. They're all wrong on the kit.
The supplied aren't much more than chromed plastic blobs, with a badly shaped hollow in the front. They supply a piece of clear for the "lens".

(If you're wondering how I removed the chrome from the parts... Easy Off oven cleaner in a little "Jello-shot" plastic cup. The chrome is actually aluminum, and the lye in the Easy Off eats it right off in about 5 minutes, and doesn't damage the plastic parts!)

This is my 1st go-around with making something presentable. I'm using the top & bottom finials (sawed off of the supplied), and cut some acrylic blocks. There's 3/32 brass angle on the corners. They're not as big as the prototypes though... but they fit in the footprint of the finials. (I really need a micro-lathe/jeweler's lathe... I could turn correct parts out of brass stock!)

John have you thought about entering it in a model building contest?  For that much effort, it would be cool to know how it stacks up as well as give others an opportunity to see the fine work!

John, how do you find the quality of the parts in current kits with those of years ago? Do you shop for kits in retail stores or do you prefer to look on-line? Do you have a scale you prefer?

As others have noted, you do real nice work!

Been chipping away the last several nights - a few hours at a time...

Like the headlamps, the side-mounted coach lamps were "ok", but not right.
Why they didn't mold them in clear plastic is beyond me... the detail was really pretty good, but there's no way you could make them look like lamps with clear glass via paint. So, I recreated them in clear.

I found some stuff in the railroader section at Hub Hobby. One kit was two-part putty, that when squished together 1:1 will cure into a silicone rubber compound. You have about 5 minutes of working time before it starts reacting. I glued some scrap to the original (forming a pour spout and a vent), then encased it in the putty. About 20 minutes later it was hardened. Slicing along one edge I was able to free the original part from the mold.
The other kit was a two-part casting acrylic. Again a 1:1 mix, with about a 30 minute working time before it starts hardening. This stuff is usually used for encasing objects in a clear block - like an award, coin, etc. The problem with casting acrylics is when they're mixed, air is entrapped in the material creating bubbles. This stuff is viscous, and the bubbles won't work themselves out without help. Enter a process called vacuum de-gassing. (Many years ago when I was doing the LED's, I picked up a used vacuum pump, and made a small chamber. The intent was to possibly make my own lenses for the lights, but it never developed beyond the idea and the pump) I dug out the pump and chamber and de-gassed my mix, and poured it into the mold.
This stuff requires about 30 hours to harden enough to de-mold, and 7 days (!) to fully cure. After a few days I freed my 1st casting, set it aside, then poured #2. In a week or so I'll start cleaning up the castings, and polishing/painting when the material is fully hard.

The other project was the totally clunky side-steps. Again some plastic blobs with a little scroll-detail in them. Using some scrap PC board material (again from the LED era) I carved a slotted rectangle in the sizes needed for the 4 front, and 2 rear steps. Using some brass sheet cut in 5/64" strips, they were bent into rectangles and set in the groove. The next challenge was to bend 36 little loop-de-loops. Using some brass rod, I made a jig to bend them (more or less) identical. The next step will be to solder the loops into the frames.

(Yes, I am certifiably nutz ... but it's the challenge of building these parts that's the fun part for me )

A few more pics of the completed steps - they'll be touched up when mounted.

Amazing detail and talent on that ship. I love the bullet scene!  

About nearly to admit defeat with the side-mounted coach lamp project... I'm on round 8 or 9 with several different molds. Can't get a good casting.
(Some research reveals that casting very small parts with the stuff is difficult. There's not volume of material to self-generate enough heat for proper curing. They're recommending placing the filled mold in a 150deg oven for an hour after pouring. We'll give it a try.)

Changed gears.
Started getting some color on the Koach body! Sprayed the red interior areas of the body shell, masked, then sprayed the semi-gloss black areas of the roof & tonneau's. All of this will get masked off when the gloss black goes on the remainder.

Ah-ha, the 10 strombergs are fake !! They are sitting on a single 4 barrel carb on a tunnel ram...

It would look better if it had dual quads and didn't leave the strombergs hanging in mid-air so badly.

Other than that, it IS pretty cool to see and the detail should inspire MR. OCD's creative determination.

Been a long while... finally got back to the Koach.

Well, I was lax on photo taking again. Got my head into the game and just wanted to get this project done.

Derek... on your prompt and others in the modelling community I tried the brake fluid thing. Had nothing to lose, and the stuff DOES eat paint off what it touches. After an hour or so with some and a Q-tip, I was able to remove the paint off the fenders without harm to the plastic! Got the fubar'd paint off, neutralized what was left with a good soap & water bath, and tried again. Reloaded the airbrush with gloss black and re-shot the fenders. Waited 3 days for cure.

Fender detail round #2: This time I tried Gold-tone "Bare Metal Foil" for the raised beads on the fenders.
Trust me, you just have to have your head in the right place to do this stuff (and NO caffeine!). It is truly like gold-leafing an art object... about 90% of what's applied winds up as scrap. After cutting a piece to cover the entire fender, sticking it down, burnishing with a Q-tip, running the edges/creases with a toothpick tip, burnishing again, then (SCARY) taking a brand-new #11 X-Acto blade and EVER SO GENTLY tracing the edges/outline...

Moment of truth. Unstick an edge of what will be removed and gently lift it off. Success!!
After removing everything but the rolled beads, another gentle burnishing to clean the edges, then a few shots of clear to seal everything in place.

After this minor triumph, it was all downhill. From here it was just assembly of all the sub-assemblies that were all ready test-fitted, done & waiting.

Done with the scale stuff for awhile - cleaned up the "40 Watt Skunkworks" shop.

("Dashboard" Kevin visited the house one day, and I took him down to my basement workshop... where all the electronics, doodads, toys and model stuff is kept... He said something along the lines of "Oh, this is where you imagineer all that stuff... the JD Skunkworks! Name stuck)

Next project will be restoring/resto-modding my vintage 1960's "Orange Crush" illuminated wall clock.

I picked this up at a yard sale 10 years back, and had it in the 40 Watt before the remodel. Worked great for about a year - until the ancient plastic gears in the clock movement gave it up and started shedding teeth.

Derek69SS wrote:

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I have heard of using brake fluid to remove paint from model kits but have never tried it... might be worth trying on some scrap plastic first though.

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I have used it to soften the plastic too. Did a few junkyard cars long ago and it worked well. I still have a post-race stock car I did and used it sparingly to help crumple some "sheetmetal"