Exhaust molded in ?

[Jon Haigwood]

Working on a 40 Sedan Delivery and it has the exhaust molded in the chassis plate. How do you folks deal with this ?  

[Ace-Garageguy]

On the AMT and Lindberg '40 Fords, I usually remove the floors entirely and replace them with styrene sheet, then build whatever exhaust system is appropriate.

[Snake45]

To be honest, I usually just paint the whole chassis flat black and ignore molded-in exhausts. But my standards are getting lower the older I get. 

[64SS350]

I agree with both, if you don't want the work of cutting the floor...semi-gloss or flat black the chassis.

I also found it much easier to remove the whole floor, vs just the exhaust.

[deuces wild]

Me?.... I try not to buy new kits from outdated molds.....

[Jon Haigwood]

38 minutes ago, deuces wild said:

Me?.... I try not to buy new kits from outdated molds.....

Sounds like a good plan. Maybe you can have better luck than me in finding a 40 Ford in something other than AMT with  a better chassis.

[Jim B]

I generally don't worry about it as I don't enter my cars into competitions, and I don't look at the underside of my models in the case anyway.

[Ace-Garageguy]

26 minutes ago, Jon Haigwood said:

...Maybe you can have better luck than me in finding a 40 Ford in something other than AMT with  a better chassis.

Revell.   

[Jon Haigwood]

I think I solved my problem for this build anyway. On another build a 40 Ford Convert I used the chassis and running gear from the 39 Wagon Rod and still have the frame and floor pan from the convert. Looks like with a few mods I can make it work on my current 40 Ford Ute build. Not sure what I will do on my other 8 AMT 40 Ford kits. Thanks for all the advice , greatly appreciated. 

[doorsovdoon]

I usually mask off the entire floor and aerosol the exhausts. Sometimes it's easier to paint the whole underside silver with a dusting of brown for rust and then mask off the exhausts, but generally I find it easier masking off large areas like the floor pan instead of the exhausts. Masking tape is cheap so go nuts.

[midlineqb]

On 10/28/2021 at 11:47 AM, 64SS350 said:

I agree with both, if you don't want the work of cutting the floor...semi-gloss or flat black the chassis.

I also found it much easier to remove the whole floor, vs just the exhaust.

I also found it much easier to remove the whole floor, vs just the exhaust.

How do you go about doing this?

[midlineqb]

How do you go about cutting the floor?

[64SS350]

I believe I used a combination of a circular blade for the Dremel and back of a broken #11 blade. Certain scribers could be affective, finish with files and sandpaper 

[Rick L]

15 hours ago, 64SS350 said:

I believe I used a combination of a circular blade for the Dremel and back of a broken #11 blade. Certain scribers could be affective, finish with files and sandpaper 

I did the the same thing on this AMT 55 Chevy. A little Tamiya putty and flat black spray. Close enough.

Edited January 28, 2023 by Rick L
Added pic

[Mark]

I used to make a vacuform piece to replace the molded-in floor on the AMT '40 chassis (it also fit the '36 frame).  I sold hundreds of them.  The individual floor sections on the frame could be trimmed out by scoring along the edges with the back side of an X-Acto blade, exhaust filed off, muffler hole filled in, then reattach the modified parts to the frame.  Those who wanted dual exhaust detail usually just used the optional parts in the kit to add the second muffler and pipe.

[Dpate]

Brush painting while not the best finish is the easiest method.  Best method is using different size tape 1mm etc from tamiya and careful masking and air brush it.  Sometimes masking can take 2 hours or more depending on what you're masking and 1 min to remove it LOL.  I hate molded in parts too and especially interior tubs.  

[Joe Nunes]

On an old model kit build or restoration, like the original issue AMT 1960 Buick Invicta HT, kit 5560  ‘60  149, that I have been working on, I want to keep the original “look” of the model including the one piece chassis.  I am using a scriber and a couple of dental tools along with a #11 dull point blade to carefully remove plastic from around the items that I want to be a bit rounded where the plastic meets the chassis.  This should provide a shadow effect when painting the chassis…or at least clean it up some. ?

Joe

[doorsovdoon]

On 1/29/2023 at 6:28 PM, Joe Nunes said:

I am using a scriber and a couple of dental tools along with a #11 dull point blade to carefully remove plastic from around the items that I want to be a bit rounded where the plastic meets the chassis.  This should provide a shadow effect when painting the chassis…or at least clean it up some. ?

Joe

 

 

That's a good idea! I'm building the AMT 1970 Impala, and although the exhausts are separate, the chassis and fuel tank are moulded to the floors. I'm gonna try that.?

[BDSchindler]

I cut away all of the chassis pans on a '56 Fairlane.  The frame was molded hallow so I filled it in.  I then added a lot of support and other cross members as well as kit bashing the front a rear suspensions.  An application of body putty here and there and lots of sanding later