Hood Latch

[Jairus]

Scratchbuilding is cool!

Here is a basic hood latch mechanism that will hold the hood closed until the trigger is toggeled by a finger.

There is nothing more embarrassing for a judge (just the guy you don't want to piss off) than to pick up a model car and have the hood or trunk or convertible roof fall off. So my earlier post showed how I choose to hinge a hood and trunk lid..... so today I am posting how I create a basic hood latch.

The latch presented here is made with brass strip about .025 thick but can be thicker or thinner if need be. Point of fact is that nearly anything can be changed but he three areas you need are a hook to hold the hood pin/loop, a return spring and a point at which your finger or a tool can work the latch.

A finger is the best tool because most of us including the judge has one. If you use a tool then the tool has to travel with the car and that presents a minor problem. So the simplest method is usually the best for me and I usually try to make anything moveable on my models activated by hands or fingers. The end of the latch protrudes below the front bumper and if painted flat black... will be almost invisible to the eye, yet easily workable by the human finger.

A. through D. show the brass strip bent and drilled and filed to shape. D. and E. show the evergreen carriage which will be attached to the model. F. is a round head pin such as that you might find holding together a good dress shirt from the mens department. The heads normal flat head pins with a "clay" like material added to the end. The material can be shaped like shown and added to the hood undersurface and this give the latch something to grab onto.

I will post more examples of other latches I have built later on including some good door latches.

Ciao!

[kustoms]

Thanks alot for the info Jairus I remember seeing a Red mustang convertable in Scale Auto years ago with these type hinges? Thanks for sharing agian with us ! looks like I need to try it myself now keep up the great work!

Bud Ellis Kustoms

Edited July 10, 2008 by kustoms

[James W]

Jairus I loved the door latches on your Mustang Convert. from a few decades ago. (well a couple anyway)

They pose as ordinary pull door handles but are sooo trick!!!!

[Harold]

Veddy interesting...I'll have to give it a try.

[MrObsessive]

AHA! Great minds think alike !! I think it was your idea I saw somewhere years ago on this.

I did this very thing to my now stillborn '64 GTO years ago, but I scratchbuilt the hood hinges which unfortunately have since broken...............

Someday, I'll get back to getting the GTO all together and ready to show, I may try to find those hood hinges from M.A.S. since those were PE and sturdier than the ones I did in brass.

But it worked great though while it worked..............you just touched the lever and the hood popped open like the 1:1!

[abedooley]

THAT IS JUST SWWWEEEEETTTTTTT!!!!!!! YOU GUYS ARE THE GODS OF THE MODEL WORLD!!!!!!! ALL HALE BILL AND JAIRUS!!!!!!!