My take on the most famous ‘55 gasser street machine’…

[OldNYJim]

On 8/4/2023 at 10:12 AM, customline said:

Some great work being done here, kids! Pay attention! 

Thanks Jim!

 

A little more progress - and if it seems like I’m going slowly on this, that would probably be accurate…lots of fitting and refitting and reassembling to do once you start cutting stuff open…but it’s coming along ok…

Next thing to handle, was how the interior tub will interface with the body and those opening panels…hopefully if I did my measurements ok then we’ll be good.  Cut open the inner doors so I can re-attach them (with some upgrades, of course, now that they’ll be more visible) to the doors:

Test fit of the door cards to the doors:

(ignore those vent windows, they’re going away anyway…)

And a test fit…the doors still close as they should and (importantly) open too:

Success! Of course, the interior tub, when installed, doesn’t mate up to my door jambs…got a nasty gap to fill:

No biggie, some more styrene strip fixed that:

I had this idea to open the fuel filler up too, but when I looked at the original TD art, there is no filler, so I guess that saved me from myself…Bondo to the rescue!

In other dumb ideas I probably shouldn’t try, I was trying to think of how I could open the cowl vents…they’re way too small and shallow to sand the inside of the cowl to open them, but I did draw up a 3D model of a replacement piece I could install in there:

This part proved near impossible to print - the vents are really thin and it’s tough to print them without them warping, sagging or getting clogged with resin but after a dozen tries and tweaks I got a part that is CLOSE:

It needs a few more rounds in my ultrasonic cleaner to clean out the vents as best I can before curing it, but it MIGHT be usable…

And, whilst I was waiting for stuff to dry and print and whatnot I did some research on the ‘69 Winternationals, which I think was the inspiration for TD’s artwork.  I found a good square-on image with the copy on that banner so that I can make a little scene for the car to sit on:

I’ll make a little version of that banner to go on this base that I started fabricating (it’s too big to fit nicely in my photobooth without the insides showing…sorry about that):

The asphalt is an AK Interactive product that I picked up to play with…I’m not very good at using it yet but it has a nice realistic texture and it dried pretty quick:

And, that’s about my progress this past few days…will eventually run out of stuff to do on the body and move onto something more fun…more soon, thanks for looking!

Edited August 7, 2023 by CabDriver

[Steve H]

Awesome work as always Jim. Your wips are full of fantastic ideas and very talented craftsmanship. Cool to see someone take this kit to the “next level”. Badman was one of the first kits I built as a kid, so I definitely have a soft spot for this one. REALLY interested to see what paint work you do on this one. 
 

Cheers, Steve

[Bainford]

Cool project, Jim. Nice work so far. Another enjoyable build to watch. 

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

Wow, opening doors and trunks, that's way too much work for this olde guy!!! Looks real good on this venerable kit... Looking forward to seeing more. -RRR

[TransAmMike]

On 8/6/2023 at 10:06 PM, CabDriver said:

Thanks Jim!

 

A little more progress - and if it seems like I’m going slowly on this, that would probably be accurate…lots of fitting and refitting and reassembling to do once you start cutting stuff open…but it’s coming along ok…

Next thing to handle, was how the interior tub will interface with the body and those opening panels…hopefully if I did my measurements ok then we’ll be good.  Cut open the inner doors so I can re-attach them (with some upgrades, of course, now that they’ll be more visible) to the doors:

Test fit of the door cards to the doors:

 

(ignore those vent windows, they’re going away anyway…)

And a test fit…the doors still close as they should and (importantly) open too:

Success! Of course, the interior tub, when installed, doesn’t mate up to my door jambs…got a nasty gap to fill:

No biggie, some more styrene strip fixed that:

I had this idea to open the fuel filler up too, but when I looked at the original TD art, there is no filler, so I guess that saved me from myself…Bondo to the rescue!

In other dumb ideas I probably shouldn’t try, I was trying to think of how I could open the cowl vents…they’re way too small and shallow to sand the inside of the cowl to open them, but I did draw up a 3D model of a replacement piece I could install in there:

This part proved near impossible to print - the vents are really thin and it’s tough to print them without them warping, sagging or getting clogged with resin but after a dozen tries and tweaks I got a part that is CLOSE:

It needs a few more rounds in my ultrasonic cleaner to clean out the vents as best I can before curing it, but it MIGHT be usable…

And, whilst I was waiting for stuff to dry and print and whatnot I did some research on the ‘69 Winternationals, which I think was the inspiration for TD’s artwork.  I found a good square-on image with the copy on that banner so that I can make a little scene for the car to sit on:

I’ll make a little version of that banner to go on this base that I started fabricating (it’s too big to fit nicely in my photobooth without the insides showing…sorry about that):

The asphalt is an AK Interactive product that I picked up to play with…I’m not very good at using it yet but it has a nice realistic texture and it dried pretty quick:

And, that’s about my progress this past few days…will eventually run out of stuff to do on the body and move onto something more fun…more soon, thanks for looking!

 

\Well I didn't want to show all the pics quoting you, just the pic that shows the fit of the interior tub attached firewall under the cowl.  Can't wait to see how you solve that issue.

I'm a watchin'?

Edited August 8, 2023 by TransAmMike

[OldNYJim]

Thank you so much fellas - appreciate the kind words!

On 8/8/2023 at 2:43 PM, TransAmMike said:

 

\Well I didn't want to show all the pics quoting you, just the pic that shows the fit of the interior tub attached firewall under the cowl.  Can't wait to see how you solve that issue.

I'm a watchin'?

I have a plan…kinda ?. Need to figure that firewall out soon, I guess…

Tiny midweek update…

Removed the kit cowl vent and the molded in wipers, and installed my opened-up 3D printed version:

I printed it a little ‘deeper’ than it needed to be so I could carefully shape the upper arc of it to match the body - it’s pretty close I think (but all those vents need cleaning out again ??)

This kit comes with chromed headlamps, but I want real ones…found some suitable substitutes in the parts box:

Opened up the body to receive them…looks WAY better I think!

And I wanted to figure out placement for the hood pins…the kit has them molded in, so I drilled through where they should go when I was messing with the hood and then discovered they don’t align with ANYTHING under the hood whatsoever, just fresh air.  Made some mounts for the pins to attach to:

I would’ve preferred the front ones to be WAY further back and to mount to the back of the core support, but that’s not where they are in the kit hood, so….  

Those oversize brass tubes are just there for helping me locate the holes…need to make some hood pin posts somehow I guess…they’re going to be a little awkward to make in scale I think but I’ll figure something out.

Just a quickie update - thanks for looking y’all!  And if anyone has a lead on 1/32” brass square tube or rod, I’d love to hear about it…

More soon!

Edited August 10, 2023 by CabDriver

[OldNYJim]

A little more progress…there’s so much bodywork to do on this before I can start getting to the primer stage but it’s gotta be done (and all of my own doing…)

First job this weekend was making vent windows.  Luckily, the 1:1 parts are pretty simple, but they’re small enough that I didn’t want to use styrene in case they moved or got damaged too easily…used some brass strip and round bar and got a start on them today:

I bent that lip on the bottom edge of each of them to fit the curve of the upper part of the door, so I have a nice secure gluing surface…I got lucky with the sizes and they fit pretty well right out of the gate:

And hopefully, they’ll be tough enough to not fall apart or get ripped off too easily:

I can add some additional detail to these too, now that I’ve got a solid base to work with…plus I’ll need to get some windows in there, obviously…
 

@TransAmMike had raised the point of the firewall being a poor fit, so I checked mine…guess I got lucky again because mine fits ok, although I don’t like those holes you can see on either side:

A little styrene strip and some sanding fixed that little issue tho:

Way better:

Speaking of holes, now I opened the trunk, you can see a bunch of negative spaces that should’ve be seen, so I made a ‘floor mat’ from some patterned styrene sheet:

Looks like this, in place:

A lot of these gassers would run a big heavy truck battery in the trunk, apparently, to help put more weight over the rear wheels, so that might be a nice detail to add back there - plus seeing as there’s a stock fuel tank in there, but no filler on the rear fender anymore, adding a filler neck would be smart.  The box art shows a Moon tank out front, which mine will have too, but for actual street cruisability I think having the rear tank functional too would be a good move.

 I’m trying to focus on getting everything related to the body handled before moving onto the next steps…I did start a related side-project though to display with this build…back to removing molded-in exhausts!

Oh, and I added some bracing to the inside of the trunk lid…not super accurate to a stock 1:1 trunklid, but it looks like the aluminum bracing on some aftermarket fibreglass pieces that I found online so that’s what this one is now…

Thanks for looking…more soon, soon as I’ve done more! 

[Straightliner59]

Awesome, Jim! It's not often that I see someone else performing work on one of these old Monogram kits that has their friends and family wondering about their sanity. ? I mean that, only in the best possible way! Excellent work, sir.

[OldNYJim]

On 8/12/2023 at 11:01 PM, Straightliner59 said:

Awesome, Jim! It's not often that I see someone else performing work on one of these old Monogram kits that has their friends and family wondering about their sanity. ? I mean that, only in the best possible way! Excellent work, sir.

Thanks Daniel!  I’ve been enjoying seeing your work!

 

A little more progress…mocked up the interior, complete with the kit roll cage:

Aside from the weird way the seats attach (or don’t, very well) the bar thickness on that cage bothered me, so I made one out of a thinner diameter styrene rod:

Thanks to perspective, it’s not immediately obvious that the new one (front) is much better than the kit part, but I think it looks more in-scale with it in place:

I also cut the mounts off the kit bucket seats and replaced them with some plain old styrene square bar for easier installation when it comes time to put this together…

In other projects, drew up a license plate in CAD - the number is the same as the one on the Badman box art:

I worked my 3D printer to death so I didn’t get chance to print one yet…but I have a new one coming…

Next job on the body is to figure out the glass situation…the kit glass still snaps right into the body and fits, despite all my cutting and gluing I’ve been doing, so that’s reassuring.  Obviously, with the opening doors, I need to open up the one piece glass too…started with the windshield:

I inserted a little styrene bar into the roof for the glass to snap into, and it’s a pretty good fit right out of the gate:

Same trick with the rear glass - cut away the portions I didn’t need and added some styrene for it to snap into to aid in assembly after all the paint is done:

That kit glass is REALLY thick, but the windshield especially has got some curves to it that I wouldn’t be able to reproduce with acetate sheet, so I’m kinda committed to using this…I’m gonna sand out some ripples in it and thin the edges as best I can…hopefully when it’s tinted and installed I’ll be able to make it look acceptable…

Thanks for looking - just a mini update before I forgot what I’d done…more soon!

[mustang1989]

Man this is just some INSANE work going on with this car Jim. Un.....frickin' .....believable!! 

[OldNYJim]

12 hours ago, mustang1989 said:

Man this is just some INSANE work going on with this car Jim. Un.....frickin' .....believable!! 

Thanks Joe!

 

A little more progress…

Printed up some license plates, plus some door handles and window winders:

My old printer had died and this was first test with the new one - figured I may as well print something I can use.  Still getting it dialed in as you can see from some of the failed parts, but I’m getting there with it…

I need those window cranks and door handles because I’m adding some detail to the door cards - they’re pretty flat and unexciting as they come out of the box, which is ok unless you’re dumb and you make the doors open ?

I’m not done with these yet, but I added some half-round bar to somewhat match the doors on a 1:1 ‘55, although I went with a much larger size bar than would actually be correct because I want them to match the look of the kit bucket seats which have pretty large pleats:

Next think I wanted to tackle is the airdamn on the front…the box art looks like this:

But the kit piece looks like this:

A little chopping and reshaping got me this (standard kit part, top):

Which, when installed, looks like this:

Way better!

I’m pretty much at the point now where I can start painting some stuff, or at least getting the body ready for paint…shot a little primer tonight so I can see how much more work I need to do before I can start laying down some yellow:

It’s not terrible, at first glances, but not ready for color by a long-shot…but considering how much I’ve messed with this body I’m pretty pleased…sure did take a lot of work to get from an out of the box body to one that looks the same but has open doors ?

Next project, besides lots more sanding and priming will be the engine…the kit small-block is pretty blobular, but I found a decent 3D file and scaled it to match the kit engine:

If nothing else, this’ll be WAY easier to paint…need to figure out the trans though still…

Thanks for looking - more soon, soon as I’ve done more!

[Bills72sj]

Thank for putting on a clinic with all the nice mods you have been doing.

[bobss396]

I have to grab one of these kits, nice work... very slick looking. I have to give 3D printing a try. I spend enough buying parts already made, but the $$ is not too bad.

On small tubing and other stock. I use a load of K&S 1/32" and 3/64" brass wire. I pin almost everything these days, makes a good fit a lot easier. Also their 1/16" aluminum tubing and up from there.

I have looked around for some 3/64" tubing, no luck. RB Motion has some on their site, tried to order some but it failed. I have to give them a call to see if they are still in business.

I'm doing some hinges mow on a pro-street Chevelle trunk and somewhere got a package of Plastruct 1/8" square tube with a hole through it. I'd like to hunt around for more. This is the stuff you need to get their solvent glue for or use CA glue.

On roll cages, I use almost exclusively Evergreen 3/32" tube. The hole takes a 3/64" piece of stock.

[Zippi]

The ole 55 is coming along and looking good.  Great mods.  

[ea0863]

Jim, may I have 1/10th of your skills, and 1/2 of your patience please?!  

[Steve H]

Awesome stuff as always Jim! Love your informative, educational builds, thanks for sharing sir.

Cheers, Steve

[Straightliner59]

22 hours ago, bobss396 said:

I have looked around for some 3/64" tubing, no luck.

K&S makes it in a line called "Special Shapes" it has its own rack at the hobby shop. They also make 1/32" brass tube, in that line. I have been buying it, for years, whenever I see it, so I haven't done a Google search for a source to buy it, because there's a couple of local shops here, that have it. It's available, for sure. 

[bobss396]

1 hour ago, Straightliner59 said:

K&S makes it in a line called "Special Shapes" it has its own rack at the hobby shop. They also make 1/32" brass tube, in that line. I have been buying it, for years, whenever I see it, so I haven't done a Google search for a source to buy it, because there's a couple of local shops here, that have it. It's available, for sure. 

Thanks, I will look for it. Nothing locally so far. I have a good selection of their stock as it is.

[Straightliner59]

1 hour ago, bobss396 said:

Thanks, I will look for it. Nothing locally so far. I have a good selection of their stock as it is.

Most of the time I actually go to a hobby shop, it's for supplies. I usually come out with a handful of stock! You can never have too much of that stuff!?

[OldNYJim]

Thanks for the nice comments everybody!  And yeah, I’m a sucker for styrene supplies too - can never have enough raw materials for building stuff!

Small update…found a good print file for Chevy bellhousings and 3-speed transmissions…not sure how long those stock parts would last on an overbored blown engine on sticky drag slicks…but that’s how the kit is, and I’m trying to build a detailed-up version of it so there we are…

Batch of bellhousings and transmissions fresh off the printer:

I printed a few variations for future use, but I was always going with the most stock version.

Once I had those bits, I could mock up the new engine…my plan is to use a few of the kit parts (hence scaling the engine to match the kit block) - although there’s definitely plenty of potential to add more detail here:

And a quick comparison with the kit part…

Meanwhile on the body, I’ve done a couple of coats of primer now, and I’m about far enough along to start wetsanding it to make sure I have a good straight base for the final primer coat and then hopefully some color:

I’m mostly finding small imperfections now rather than big ones (although I’m going to give it another round of sanding tomorrow to see where we’re at…) and I want to tweak the cowl a little more but it’s getting closer - not the nightmare it could’ve been after all that cutting and slicing…

And finally, the underside is getting the same treatment…I THINK it would be cool to shoot it in body color rather than just plain old black, but I haven’t totally decided yet, but I want it straight and perfect as can be anyway:

And that’s all folks for today…got some more parts to work out on the engine so that’ll be next, and then I need to try and find a better stock-Tri 5 rear axle to replace the hollowed out blobby kit piece.

More soon, soon as I’ve done more!

[Rattlecan Dan]

Certainly admire your ambition and aggression. Coming along just great! Gonna' be somethin' special.

[bobss396]

On 8/21/2023 at 5:55 AM, Straightliner59 said:

8 hours ago, CabDriver said:

Thanks for the nice comments everybody!  And yeah, I’m a sucker for styrene supplies too - can never have enough raw materials for building stuff!

Small update…found a good print file for Chevy bellhousings and 3-speed transmissions…not sure how long those stock parts would last on an overbored blown engine on sticky drag slicks…but that’s how the kit is, and I’m trying to build a detailed-up version of it so there we are…

Batch of bellhousings and transmissions fresh off the printer:

I printed a few variations for future use, but I was always going with the most stock version.

Once I had those bits, I could mock up the new engine…my plan is to use a few of the kit parts (hence scaling the engine to match the kit block) - although there’s definitely plenty of potential to add more detail here:

And a quick comparison with the kit part…

Meanwhile on the body, I’ve done a couple of coats of primer now, and I’m about far enough along to start wetsanding it to make sure I have a good straight base for the final primer coat and then hopefully some color:

I’m mostly finding small imperfections now rather than big ones (although I’m going to give it another round of sanding tomorrow to see where we’re at…) and I want to tweak the cowl a little more but it’s getting closer - not the nightmare it could’ve been after all that cutting and slicing…

And finally, the underside is getting the same treatment…I THINK it would be cool to shoot it in body color rather than just plain old black, but I haven’t totally decided yet, but I want it straight and perfect as can be anyway:

And that’s all folks for today…got some more parts to work out on the engine so that’ll be next, and then I need to try and find a better stock-Tri 5 rear axle to replace the hollowed out blobby kit piece.

More soon, soon as I’ve done more!

I have started to give away my current collection of resin carbs, really not as god as the printed ones.

 

[crazyjim]

Fabulous work.

[mustang1989]

Your work here is nothing short of amazing Jim. Those 3D printed bellhousings and transmissions look great as does the start on the engine. On that starter motor, rotating that bad boy 180 degrees will put that starter solenoid on top where they normally reside. Love your work man. Just beautiful so far.

[OldNYJim]

Thanks so much fellas!  
 

On 8/22/2023 at 9:51 AM, mustang1989 said:

On that starter motor, rotating that bad boy 180 degrees will put that starter solenoid on top where they normally reside

Correct!  I just couldn’t get it to hold in position the correct way up using Elmers so I hoped nobody would notice ?. That reminds me I need to pin that thing…

In the meantime…spent most of the week getting the body straight and perfect as I could - many MANY rounds of sanding and primering.  Something I like for those final little pinpricks and scratches that you need to fix is this Vallejo plastic putty - dries quick and does a good job of fixing anything you need fixing that wouldn’t call for Bondo.  I thinned some with water and fixed some flaws on the chassis and for final tweaks on the body:

The cowl vents didn’t make it…they clogged up constantly when I primed the body and were a real pain for only a little gain so I filled those somewhere down the line…need to experiment with them more on future builds…

Eventually tho, I got to this:

(Actually, I think I still did a little more wetsanding and tweaking after this shot too, but I got tired of photographing the body in primer ?)

Then, shot all of the outside facing parts of everything with Tamiya white as a base:

I’m going to try a military modeler trick of simulating some additional shadows and depth to the inside of things like the hood and the inner trunk by leaving them in gray primer, to give some very subtle color variations to the (fairly thin) yellow paint.  Speaking of which, this is my main color palette for this build:

Going with the Createx yellow as it’s the brightest, purest yellow I’ve found and it really pops…the pearl yellow will be for the seat inserts, the orange for the block, red for the roll cage and lettering on the doors and black for the stripes.  Oh, and clear yellow for some little interior parts like the steering wheel and shift knob and some stuff like that I think.

So, after what seems like months of messing with this body…finally got it in color:

Plus all the other stuff that attaches to it or goes somewhere inside it:

And, this being a showrod, the underside got the same treatment too:

In other non-body projects, I cleaned up those big old headers (which scale out to about 2.5-3” pipes at the top ends, so maybe they’re not SUPER out of scale) and added pins to fit them to my 3D printed engine (and to assemble them to each other when I’m doing assembly later):

Still need to tweak them some more before paint…

And final project for the weekend was printing up some concrete barriers for the display base I’m building for this thing too:

I’ll post some pics of the sistercar that I’m working on too…made some decent steps in getting the box-stock (ish) comparison piece ready for paint but it’s not very exciting yet - just a bunch of stuff in primer.

Thanks for looking - more soon, soon as I’ve done more!