Plowboy Posted February 14, 2021 Share Posted February 14, 2021 Since I'm still waiting for some of the paint to come off of my '49 Mercury project, I figured I would work on this project for a minute. I've had this resin body for several years. Don't remember how I ended up with or who the caster is. It's a pretty nice casting whoever did it. I stuck a firewall from the Rat Roaster to it. This model will mostly come from my parts box. The frame, front suspension, grille, hood, tires and wheels are from an AMT Phantom Vickie. The wheels and tires may or may not stay. I also have a set of Pegasus TT2'S in 19 and 23 inch that I may use. Holding up the rear is an IRS from an MPC '84 Corvette. Right now, I'm just kinda spit balling. I have a couple different ideas. One is to go with no hood and the engine from a Rat Roaster. The other is to go with a smooth hood/sides and an LS engine from a '98 Corvette. The color is already nailed down. It will be Tamiya Bright Red over Mica Silver. Looking at it now, I'm thinking the body needs to go over the frame. It'll help cover the frame on the sides (since they're missing the reveal) and rear. Plus, it'll lower it down and place the rear wheels a little better. However, I don't look forward to having to section the interior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullybeef Posted February 14, 2021 Share Posted February 14, 2021 Have you been spying on my build bench? I’ve mocked up my chopped three window to almost the exact same setup! However mine is about three builds down the line so I’ll follow along with yours for inspiration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted February 14, 2021 Share Posted February 14, 2021 Roger, i wouldn't be in any hurry to lower the body to hide the lack of a reveal. There are aftermarket frames out there in1:1 with no reveal and as you are heading in a very contemporary direction, especially if you use the LS, that smooth frame would look just fine. The stance is so nice right now it would be a shame to hurt it. Cheers Alan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted February 14, 2021 Share Posted February 14, 2021 I’m with @alan barton With the decidedly modern direction of the car the smooth sided frame works. And, as he said, there’s several manufacturers of aftermarket ‘32 frames that don’t add the reveal. So keep it and go with the Corvette LS1 motor under a full, smooth hood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plowboy Posted February 14, 2021 Author Share Posted February 14, 2021 13 hours ago, alan barton said: Roger, i wouldn't be in any hurry to lower the body to hide the lack of a reveal. There are aftermarket frames out there in1:1 with no reveal and as you are heading in a very contemporary direction, especially if you use the LS, that smooth frame would look just fine. The stance is so nice right now it would be a shame to hurt it. Cheers Alan. 12 hours ago, Dennis Lacy said: I’m with @alan barton With the decidedly modern direction of the car the smooth sided frame works. And, as he said, there’s several manufacturers of aftermarket ‘32 frames that don’t add the reveal. So keep it and go with the Corvette LS1 motor under a full, smooth hood. I think you guys are right. The only thing that's really bugging me as-is is the frame hanging down at the rear. I can can cut it behind the suspension and raise it up so that it tucks under the body. I'm leaning more towards the smooth hood and LS engine idea and I want to see what the TT2'S look like on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted February 14, 2021 Share Posted February 14, 2021 @Plowboy How about a rolled pan to hide the rear section of the frame? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullybeef Posted February 14, 2021 Share Posted February 14, 2021 1 hour ago, Plowboy said: I think you guys are right. The only thing that's really bugging me as-is is the frame hanging down at the rear. I can can cut it behind the suspension and raise it up so that it tucks under the body. I'm leaning more towards the smooth hood and LS engine idea and I want to see what the TT2'S look like on it. Why not a mild Z section to move the rear frame section up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plowboy Posted February 14, 2021 Author Share Posted February 14, 2021 34 minutes ago, Dennis Lacy said: @Plowboy How about a rolled pan to hide the rear section of the frame? The frame hangs down a good 6 or 7 mms. A rolled pan that big wouldn't work I don't think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plowboy Posted February 14, 2021 Author Share Posted February 14, 2021 7 minutes ago, Bullybeef said: Why not a mild Z section to move the rear frame section up? I'm going to try to notch it at the top, push the rails up until the notch is closed and glue it. If that doesn't get it where I want, then I'll give it a Z section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plowboy Posted February 18, 2021 Author Share Posted February 18, 2021 I've done quite a bit of work on this thing the past few days even though it doesn’t show a great deal. Mostly tweaks and changes. I got the body to set a little lower on the frame. It was enough that a two scale inch rolled pan almost hid the frame. I can live with this. Where I've spent most of my time has been the front straightened out. When I did a mockup with the hood, sides and grille together, I was 1.5 mms short. Plus, I had dropped the front of the body to make the floorpan rest completely on the frame. This caused lots of problems! My fix for the hood being too short was simple. Kind of. I slid the frame back and the rearend forward. That caused some clearance issues with the rearend. With the gap closed on the hood, I still had an issue with the sides not being quite square. I had to do a little fill work to get a nice line between the sides and body. I temp glued the hood and sides to the grille and noticed the grille has a peak to it. So, I puttied the hood at the front and faded it out to the rear. I also got rid of the lip on the body at the front to make it more smooth looking. I made a new windshield frame from .040 styrene. The kit piece wouldn't come close to flush. I think I may need to thin it down a bit more. I've decided to go with the Rat Roaster engine as a backup just in case the hood somehow doesn't pan out in the end: paint doesn't match or it doesn’t fit right. Plus, a real hot rod should look cool with the hood on or off. The chassis still in the works. I used the rear half of the Phantom Vickie's floor pan to fill in the rear. Still some hacking and stuff to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullybeef Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 I’m liking all that I see, great work sir Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plowboy Posted March 9, 2021 Author Share Posted March 9, 2021 (edited) Thanx Bill! I now have the chassis, body and interior in paint. The red is Tamiya Bright Red. The Tan is also Tamiya. I've made a change regarding the wheels. I'm going with 19 and 23 inch Hellas. Not sure if I'll leave them as-is or paint them. I still have to get the exhaust worked out. I discovered too late that the center dump block hugger headers won't work with center motor mounts. So, I'm going to have to make a set of headers. Edited March 9, 2021 by Plowboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afx Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 (edited) The wheels and stance announce this thing means business. Edited March 10, 2021 by afx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamelvis Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 This is gonna be a nice ride ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spex84 Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 I love the way that Phantom Vicky frame looks in red. Wow! Nice work on the hood side panels, roll pan etc...it's all looking tight and neatly packaged. Can't wait to see it sitting up on its tires again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plowboy Posted March 10, 2021 Author Share Posted March 10, 2021 19 hours ago, Spex84 said: I love the way that Phantom Vicky frame looks in red. Wow! Nice work on the hood side panels, roll pan etc...it's all looking tight and neatly packaged. Can't wait to see it sitting up on its tires again! Thanx Chris! It ain't looking too good right now. I did solve my header problem though. As soon as I made the first down pipe, I knew there was no way I would have room for the steering rod by the time I completed the header. Then I remembered that the first V-8 Chevy engines had the motor mounts on the front of the block. So, I cut a pair from a Revell '55 and glued them to the block. I then cut the frame mounts loose and moved them forward appropriately. Now I have all the room I need for a nice set of block huggers. I need to trim the motor mounts down just a little. I want to stick the body back on the frame to see how much. The engine and transmission will either get painted satin black or the matching red. Hopefully, I won't have any more issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Another great build you have going Roger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jantrix Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Very slick. I'm following along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geemoney Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 LOVE THIS CAR! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomascoffey1959@gmail.com Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 This is a very interesting parts box, kit bash, scratch build project. I love the subject matter, and the style you've decided to go with. "build on" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plowboy Posted March 13, 2021 Author Share Posted March 13, 2021 Thanx guys! I got the engine and frame back in paint. I still have to clear the frame. The engine is almost too shiney. I may hit it with Semi Gloss clear like I did with the floor pan. I only have a handful of parts left to primer and paint. The body is ready to be polished. Hopefully, no more surprises. Fingers crossed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plowboy Posted March 15, 2021 Author Share Posted March 15, 2021 I now have the paint polished on the body. I really like this color and I'm not a big fan of red! I have everything but the exhaust in paint. I'll have to do it once I have the engine mounted. I also have to do the driveshaft. I just discovered that I don't have the rack and pinion from the Phantom Vickie. If anyone has one to spare, please send me a PM. I need one worse than a blind man needs eyeballs! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted March 16, 2021 Share Posted March 16, 2021 That paint looks amazing, nice polishing job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam I Am Posted March 17, 2021 Share Posted March 17, 2021 Wow Roger, three going at once and all have your outstanding attention to detail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted March 17, 2021 Share Posted March 17, 2021 Did you paint your bright red over white primer? I haves a can of this for a project and was curious.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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