carl63_99

One of everybody's favorite stage, primer! First coat, and I'm pleased with what it shows me. I have more filling and sanding to do on the areas where the bumper mounts were, but overall looking good. Panel lines are pretty good. A couple round of prep and I should be moving forward to paint!

I have chosen the color, champagne gold. I got a couple bottles of automotive touch up paint and splashed it on a junk body to see how it looks. Based on the sample, black primer with the c gold. Body is ready for primer, I just need to get some from the store.

Smart phone are great for taking lots of pics, cheap, disposable, no worries about cost, because there is practically none. I can't stress enough the importance of test fitting and taking lots of pics. 1:1 scale builders will disassemble a car as many times as needed to verify fit and look. What I learned from last night and this mornings test fitting is that I have to be very careful with installation of the radiator. It has almost no room for error and will look like BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH if not installed perfectly vertical. I also tested out the ride height and fit of the tires. I'm actually going to have to trim a small amount off the inside of the rims to get them snug and not touching the outer fenders. Another thing I'm going to do is leave the exhaust pipes in place from the engine bay to the fender. But, I will trim them as I will be using modern exhaust. I added sheet plastic under the fender cutouts so the pipes will rest on those when installed. This keeps the look of the original.

I've been busy with a lot of other things, but I did get the final shape of the tail lights, finally. I then put sheet plastic behind them so the Corvette lights set in place. I also took the gas filler cap from the Audi and mounted it. After a lot of checking, testing and mulling, I decided not to use inset, exposed headlights. As original, they don't give you much to work with and I couldn't come up with something custom that looked good. Sometimes, you have to try things to see if/how they might work. I saw a pic of a 1/1 Cord and the soft top was cut short. Since my original plan was open cabriolet, I wasn't worried about destroying the top. However, I do not like the look on my car and won't be using it.

My absolute favorite from my collection. 3rd place at the Dallas IPMS nationals in 2000. Every once in a while I pull her out of the display case to wax. After the nationals, I was contacted by a guy asking if he could post my pics on his site. Sure, no problem. A few months later, Tom Daniel emailed me saying he saw the pics and liked what I did. Tom said I just about nailed the interior. As the exterior is orange with black trim, I went black with orange trim interior and it came out pretty good. 1st place in Austin, Houston, San Antonio, and Lake Charles shows.

Looking really nice!

I'm using old Corvette half shafts to do the driveshafts. I will cut them to length when the time comes, so the U joint is in the open space between the frame and the hub. Also, with the Mercedes rims, lots of light comes through the wheel wells. I attached some sheet plastic to the frame so you won't be able to see through the back end. This doesn't have to be perfect as I'm not opening the truck.

Having built a Pagani, it would be interesting to see how that engine would fit in this space. I think it would be pretty tight.

Looking really nice! I'm inspired to get working on mine. Pics posted of the WIP just a short time ago.

You remember the mockup I shared of my Cord with Mercedes rims and tires? Well I got busy on it and am slowly solving all the challenges of putting modern German components in an old pre-war car. When I do customs, often my goal is to capture the essence of the original, while improving on things that really need to be improved. Classic example here, I'm using a Revell Audi R8 v8 mounted reverse from its normal position. The Cord, being front wheel drive, actually accepted this motor nicely. I am tweaking the intake to fit, exhaust will drop and go out the rear. The Cord exhaust pipes will be left in place to retain the original look of the car. I already sanded down the radiator from a Corvette for the radiator fans, and will also go with Corvette tail lights.

Hard to tell from the pics, but it looks pretty good. I built the Testors kit long ago. It wasn't very detailed, could have used engine.

Just completed. I'm pretty happy with how it looks even though it wasn't quite what I envisioned when I started.

I lied, to myself. I suddenly got busy, but got things taken care of quickly. I should actually be able to finish this thing before the holidays. Everything is coming together with glass, exhaust, rear view mirrors and a lot of detail painting to go. I like how low it sits in the front compared to a stock H/O.

Test fitting things and the look after painting and a couple hours in the dryer. As I will be too busy over the holidays, the paint will have plenty of time to dry completely before I do all the detail paint on the body, finish the engine, then move on to final assembly. Happy Holidays!

Interior is almost done, just need to finish the seatbelts. Exterior is masked and ready for paint. Should be hitting the airbrush booth this afternoon!

I'm watching this build with interest! Although I am working on my Olds, I'm playing around a little with my Cord. I decided to cut the top rib from the hood and mount it on the grill where it belongs. Mine is going to be custom, with an Audi V8 and Mercedes rims.

I really cannot stress enough the importance of taking pics along the way. Everybody has cameras on their phones these days, so it's easy to take a decent pic and be able to look at it for reference when building. I always see something that needs more attention when reviewing pics I've taken. Case in point, I note that the paint doesn't look very good on the backs of the front seats. I'll paint them in a color to look like carbon fiber. I also note the engine is sitting higher now and the hood is not going to close. Checking, I find the newly installed headers are up against the frame and I'll need to trim a bit away from that for a proper fit. I'm really pushing myself with the color. I'm going with a mint green interior, something I saw in a 442 once. Although I don't like it, I feel it will go with the green exterior color I plan to use.

Been busy doing a kitchen remodel. Done with that, back to the Olds. Started painting the engine. Shown here is a test fit.

At this point its round and round of body filler, sand, repeat. I did take a break from that to work on the air filter box. It's going to sit right behind the cut out headlight, with the filter actually visible from the front of the car. The box, you ask? It's the tape player from the Lincoln Continental hollowed out. I'll finalized the intake tube when I have the body on the chassis for the last time.

Engine came in today, WOHOOOOO! This 3D printed engine is so nice. Crisp detail, smooth mating surfaces, well worth the price. I test fit it and have plenty of room in the engine bay. And, if you note something else, yes, it's in primer! Now to get all the fine details of the body smooth around those rear fenderwells.

Not a bad kit, and those tires are the biggest street legal treads in 1/25th scale.

On to the Interior. I built a bit of roll cage, added shofters, guages for the dash. I also opened the vents and put card stock in for the blades in the vents. All this will get adjusted when final interior assembly happens. The door handle is a bent pushpin and I replaced the molded in door pull with 1/2 round Evergreen strip.

I build for me. I'm happy with my work.

Latest updates: Fender inserts are set, gives me a comfortable amount of room for those huge tires. Also did the trunklid underside so it looks more presentable and leaves the hinge mount JB bonder lumps less visable.

Back from vacation. Got caught in Tropical depression Nadine while on Cozumel. Rain, rain, rain. Anyhoos, Found the Mickey Thompson sportsmans and Centerlines to go on this project. Tires are a tab bid, so I'm going to extend the wheelwells back a bit to maintain the shape of the original wheelwell. Gonna measure a few more times before I do any cutting.