95 Subaru Legacy Wagon 9/1/17 move to Fotki

[Foxer]

This is modeled after one of my wife's cars. My son inherited it for college where after 2 years he decided to change the oil and mechanic told him, "I can't change the oil.. there IS none." Needless to say, my son is not a car guy. Oh.. the Subaru survived the dry crankcase will no ill effects!

This kit was a Japanese Touring model which differed with a raised roof and right-hand drive. The roof gave the most challenge mostly due to the thin roof pillars. Since I had previously done this to a 91 Legacy ... 2 times for success ... this one worked out well. The raised front section can be seen in the box art.

Body with first coat of paint. I used Subaru Touch Up paint thinned for the airbrush.

 

Typical Japanese kit detail on chassis. No engine but looks great.

 

The dash required conversion to left hand drive which was an easy job with the symmetry of the dash. All you see here was done 15 years ago and I have no idea why I flocked the seats! The color is right, so they are staying.

 

The grill seems to be my stumbling block. My wife's car has 3 grill bars where the kit was modeled with a mesh design. I sanded off the back, added a new backing and made the bars from .01 styrene. Getting back to it recently, I failed in my attempts to glue these in the grill shell with proper spacing. It's a too confined space for everything I tried. Now the grill bars resemble a ball of masking tape.. eheh I think I need to make an insert I can assemble outside the shell and drop in.

 

Hopefully putting this up will put me on the line to finish...!!

Edited September 1, 2017 by Foxer

[Nick F40]

I like these, I love wagons so this one i'll watch, I like that green.

The no oil is funny because all these "imports" that junkyards rev out until they, well they wish and hope die, they run them without oil

[Dingo]

Luv the oil story as my son did the same thing whenwe gave him our old car ran it for a week without oil just shows you how good old Aussie 6 cyl are. The model is looking good so far and as you said can't remember why you flocked the seats I think we've all done something we can't remember but it's turned out OK will watch this build with interest.

Dingo

[Foxer]

This has been sitting as I tried to find the rear window. I even put a post up looking for one, but to no avail ... it isn't a common kit I know.

So yesterday the cat was down in the basement shop and I heard him run back upstairs and was running around like he had a toy .. seemed odd. When I came up there was the Subaru rear window in the middle of the floor! That cat has good eyes!

 

It sure is the worst for wear .. has something stuck to the back and a crack in the middle.I must have stepped on it at some point. It will need some sanding to clean up the gunk and scratches. I'm going to run some Future into the crack and call it a 1:1 repair waiting to go to the glass shop. Oh well ...

Edited September 1, 2017 by Foxer

[Foxer]

good old fashioned tooth past will help buff that out.. you just have to take your time... but the crack well I have no idea on how to fix. just make sure it is the old style tooth paste not the new gel stuff..

I have glass polishing sticks I've used before but the polishing needs to be done on the inside where the defroster elements are. Toothpaste sounds good for this .. think I'll be trying it. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Foxer]

Chuck Most asked me in a PM about how I modified the roof to make an American version of the Legacy and I think the answer deserves to be here so all can gain from my experience.

I first did this on a '91 Legacy and that became a disaster on first try. The roof raised at the front, tapering to flush at the rear. I cut across the front edge and down the sided along the line I needed to lower. The roof was just pushed down flush and glued, with some sheet plastic across the cut underneath to keep it flush and reinforce the joint. The seams were puttied and sanded smooth.

This is a very delicate operation because the roof pillars are so thin and subject to breaking. I had to buy another '91 kit because the roof pillars broke on the first one. Here's a pic of that one where you can see the reinforcing piece underneath.

For the '95 Legacy the roof needed the same operation and I did it the same, third time's a charm! Here's the underside of the '95 Legacy roof. I imagine I ground away the slopes sides of the roof edges and filled.

 

 

Edited September 1, 2017 by Foxer

[TarheelRick]

Beautiful work on this Legacy, nice color.  A suggestion if you ever do another one is to use acrylic nail filler rather than putty and glue.  The stuff dries hard and holds better than the original plastic, therefore does not need any reinforcement on the underside.  However, a few caveats, it does require some pretty intense sanding, do not put the body into a dehydrator, and it does have a strong odor requiring GOOD ventilation.

[Foxer]

Beautiful work on this Legacy, nice color.  A suggestion if you ever do another one is to use acrylic nail filler rather than putty and glue.  The stuff dries hard and holds better than the original plastic, therefore does not need any reinforcement on the underside.  However, a few caveats, it does require some pretty intense sanding, do not put the body into a dehydrator, and it does have a strong odor requiring GOOD ventilation.

Thanks for the comment on this old build .. still waiting for final paint.

I've tried acrylic nail filler at one time. The things you mention are good reasons for me not using it. Plastic welded to itself makes for a strong bond in itself. When I feel more is needed I use epoxy with fine fiberglass cloth in it. It's interesting you've found it has a good bond to plastic, will have to keep that in mind.

With all the sanding I had to do on the top side of roof to level it out it was critical that any filler have the same hardness as the plastic so it all sands the same and blends.

[Chuck Most]

Thanks for that, Mike.  Hopefully I'll be able to put this information to use shortly. 

[Foxer]

Moved photos to Fotki