AMT "Sand T" Rebuild/Resto--Finished Pics 10/14

[Snake45]

In the late '60s, AMT issued some of their '23 T parts as the "Sand T"--no head or tail lights, no windshield, no afterbody options except the beer-keg gas tank, no options of any kind. Had some nice big rear tires, though--I wish I knew what happened to them. Anyway, I built the thing, with the frame painted silver for some reason, and the body and engine AMT Burnt Orange Metalflake lacquer (one of my favorite colors--I wish Testors had something like that in the new lacquer line). Over the years it fell into disrepair and eventually ended up as a sandwich baggie full of parts project.

Been working on getting back together, for no particular reason. Stripped all the parts I could off the frame (the ancient tube glue refused to give up some of the front suspension), then I filled the frame's numerous and profound sink marks with Sikkins autobody filler, several applications and sandings. Doing the same thing with a new Tweety Pie frame too, while I'm at it and in the mood. Here's how the two frames look after several fill and sand sessions (the filler is the olive drab colored areas).

This morning I spent several hours reinstalling the suspension stuff. Cut, scraped, and chipped off old original flash, mold lines, and tube glue before reinstalling the original pieces. One of the wishbones was broken and had to be glued back together. Thanks heavens for superglue. Took FAR longer than I thought it would, but looks like it's ready for paint. This time around, the whole mess is getting painted black, even the former chrome.

I'm determined to get the evil little thing back together. Stay tuned....

Edited October 14, 2014 by Snake45

[frozono]

Nice....... Need to see more pics.........

[mnwildpunk]

Cool. I know how hard that tube glue can be when trying to get old builds apart

Edited September 17, 2014 by mnwildpunk

[Snake45]

Cool. I know how hard that tube glue can be when trying to get old builds apart

Some of them pop right apart, especially chrome-to-chrome joints where I didn't scrape off the chrome originally. Other glue joint have to be pried or cut apart.

Anyway, now I feel like an idiot. Last night I was looking at the instructions for the Fruit Wagon kit and noticed that the brackets for the wishbones and radius rods are supposed to be glued to the sides of the frame, not underneath. I had these wrong the whole time! I said a very bad word and then had to cut the brackets off with a razor saw. Will reglue them today, and then hopefully get some black primer on the thing.

If I'm not mistaken, it looks like I'll be able to build the Fruit Wagon as a C-cab and have a whole T tub body left over. If so, I'll build up a new body for this one and just keep the old body as-is for laughs or something.

Interesting learning experience. Glad I made the suspension mistake on this one, and not on the new build!

[Snake45]

Two coats of Krylon Satin Black for a primer, and then airbrushed Model Master Black Chrome Trim for a final finish. I thought gloss black would be overstated on these builds, especially on the old crock that I'm rebuilding. I'd have liked just a little more gloss, but this will do. Better understated than overstated. I think the effort I spent in filling and sanding the horrendous sink marks was well worth it.

[slusher]

Nice work on the frame Snake. Paint looks good..

[chunkypeanutbutter]

Nice gunmetal color.

[Snake45]

Nice gunmetal color.

I lightened the pics quite a bit so some of the details would show, but they are quite black.

[DeeCee]

Nice work, and i could not agree more with your signature mate, and only 1 persons opinion. i live by that. !!

Edited October 2, 2014 by DeeCee

[scummy]

Keep at it mate , love any sort of resto's. Next time you want to restore an old build and you cant get the peices apart , soak them in water and then put them in the freezer . Some how MOST of the times the freezing will pull the parts apart .

[freakshow12]

This is firery orange laquer. It's a decent burnt orange color. Would fit this build just fine

[Snake45]

This is firery orange laquer. It's a decent burnt orange color. Would fit this build just fine

Thanks for that! Very cool! I think what I'm gonna do is, clean up the old body as well as I can, maybe even clearcoat it, I dunno, and leave it alone. I just got the reissued AMT Fruit Wagon T and I'm gonna use the T body and build up a complete new body too. I think Model Master Kiln Red metallic over a yellow primer will get me "close enough" to the original color.

That's the plan today, anyway.

[Snake45]

Went to reinstall the rear end and discovered that for some long-forgotten reason, I'd cut about 1/4 inch or so off each end. What was I thinking? I have no idea. Anyway, gotta fix it. I could prolly scrounge up replacement axles but where's the fun in that? Part of the challenge of these rebuild projects for me is using as many of the original parts as possible. Besides, if I replaced this axle, it would just sit in the parts box, mocking me, and daring me to fix it and use it on something else.

Didn't have any plastic tubing or rod of appropriate diameter but I did find some aluminum tubing that's close. So I filed back a little bit of the plastic axle so I can slip the aluminum over it and get a good joint, rather than try to just butt-joint it and hope the superglue would hold. Some tedious work there but a little putty to fair it all in and a little paint and you'll never spot the repair unless you're looking for it. Good enough!

[Snake45]

With the putty now smoothing the aluminum extentions into the plastic axle, the rear end is ready to go to the paint shop.

Rear end back from the paint shop and installed, the chassis now sits on its wheels again for the first time in more than 40 years. Actually, the wheels, axles, and front tires are borrowed from the current Fruit Wagon reissue, the whitewall slicks are from AMT parts pack. I'm thinking to use these wheels and tires on this, going for a mid-'60s look.

Time for a quick set-together just to see where I'm at with this thing. Wow, I don't think it looked this good when I originally built it around 1968. I think this hot little mess just jumped to the top of my Git Er Done list.

After taking these photos, I spent about four hours today working on the engine, mostly cleaning up the headers, drilling them out, and making new mounting flanges for them. Also repainted the interior with Black Chrome Trim. Should finish the engine tomorrow and then it should be all downhill from there.

[crazyrichard]

nice !!!!!

[Tom Geiger]

Fun lil bugger!

[Nova-ss]

Good work!!!.I like seeing the old builds go back together.

[Snake45]

No pics today but I did get a good deal of necessary work done. I thought I would Git Er Done today but I'll have at least one more session. But for those interested, here's what I got done:

*Built a new "keg" gas tank. Decided it wasn't worth stripping and repainting the old one when I can't see using the new one from the Fruit Wagon on anything else. Painted it three times--first a base coat of Testor Flat Tan, then a heavy dry-brush of Testor Leather (only brown paint I have on hand), about 90%, then a light dry-brush of black. Instead of trying to paint the keg straps, I just cut two strips of black vinyl tape and wrapped the thing with those. It doesn't look half bad--much better than the old one, anyway.

*Pried the instrument panel insert out of the dashboard. Repainted all the instrument dials black, then scraped the black paint off the numbers and dials back to the white plastic underneath. Filed/sanded the insert (originally chrome, which I'd painted with gloss brown paint) perfectly flat, then gave it the same 3-step "wood" treatment as the keg.

*Filed/sanded the injection sink marks out of the chrome keg mounting deck so everything's nice and flat, then airbrushed it all Black Chrome Trim to match the frame.

*Pried off the intake manifold. Filed and scraped all injection marks off the log manifold and the six carbs. Repainted the manifold Testor Steel and the carbs Model Master Jet Exhaust, a dark goldish color I like a lot for carburetors. Removed the molding flash and cleaned up the six velocity stacks as best I could. I hope they fit better now than they did first time around. Will know next session.

*Tried to clean up those weird Lincoln valve covers but I wasn't able to make any satisfactory progress on them. So I dug up an old glue bomb copy of this model I bought for $1 about 20 years ago, pried the valve covers off that, and went to work on them. They were heavy with paint and glue. I decided to file all that weird vertical finning off them and leave them plain. Originally planned to leave the two distinctive mounting bolts but after spending almost an hour just filing the fins off the top and bottom edges, I just broke out the BAF (Big Ass File) and cleaned the tops of the covers off flat. They're very plain looking now but at least they don't look like the valve covers on every other copy of this kit ever built in the last 50+ years. Rattlecanned them with Walmart gray primer, and then with Krylon Satin Nickel, a flat silver color. I think they'll look okay. If those velocity stacks all fit in place now, should be able to finish up the engine tomorrow (or next session if I don't get to work on it tomorrow).

*Decided that the kit "custom" wheels, even though I'm gonna use them, are just too toy-like looking as they are. Experimented with some Black Chrome Trim and Steel paint on one of them. It seems to be an improvement. Now I have to do the other three. That will probably take another two hours next session. (Does anyone know what those wheels are supposed to be? They look like the love children of Cragars and Apaches.)

Still have to find and install some headlights (maybe taillights, too, if the mood strikes me), and find and install a windshield. I think for right now I'll be going with a low, cut-down windshield. Still have to repaint the steering wheel and those other three wheels. I should try to find a shift lever but I'm not gonna get anal about it if I don't. I guess I could make something out of plastic rod.

The end is in sight on this little evil mess. Next pics I post of it SHOULD be finished shots.

Edited October 10, 2014 by Snake45

[chunkypeanutbutter]

Are those tires Firestone Supremes? I have to say it every time someone puts them on a car, I just love em.

(Edited post... Why do I always type "outs" instead of "puts?!?!?!?")

Edited October 10, 2014 by chunkypeanutbutter

[Snake45]

Are those tires Firestone Supremes? I have to say it every time someone puts them on a car, I just love em.

Yup. From the new Fruit Wagon kit.

[RatRod]

Was hoping you were going after the original box art!!!

[Snake45]

Was hoping you were going after the original box art!!!

Well, I could, except for I don't have the big dually rear tires anymore. It's still missing lights and windshield, which I hope to rectify tomorrow. I think I still have the roll bar.

That picture clears up a mystery, which is why the keg mount thingie seems to fit backwards. The gear shift lever coming over the cowl shows that the body is supposed to be mounted far, far back of the "normal" fad T position. Now it all makes sense. (I'm not doing that.)

I always wondered, from Day One, how much fun it would be to run six carbs with big velocity horns in the sand. I'll bet it would be great---once.

[Snake45]

Some pics of the work described above in post #18.

Finally unholstered my “secret weapon” for this build, two glue bomb builds of this kit that I bought at a show about 20 years ago for $1 each (or maybe $1 for both, I don't remember). I figgered I could salvage enough parts from both of them to build one passable model, with maybe some good stuff left over. I harvested the "new" valve covers from one of them. Today I harvested the headlights from the yellow one, scraped and filed decades of glue off them, removed the injection lines, and airbrushed them Testor Chrome Silver. They're drying as I type this and I hope will be ready to install tomorrow.



Cleaned up, “repurposed” and repainted valve covers as described above installed. I left the magneto and thread plug wires unmolested, just as I built them in 1968 or whenever. Gotta preserve SOME "heritage" on this thing!

Painted wheel (L) and unpainted, out of the box wheel ( R ). The difference doesn't show that well here but really stands out in person. BTW, I've just been looking at some 1962-'64 Rod & Custom magazines. I'd been thinking that whitewalls were still prevalent until about '64 or '65 but it looks like they were going “out” on rods even earlier than that. I think I'll be losing the whitewall slicks on this one before it's all over. I'm going for about a 1964-65 or so look here.

The new keg (on the car) compared to the original (in my fingers). Looks better, I think. I see by the photo that I need to get some more brown paint on the ends. The photo is also showing what looks like white streaks on the new keg, but they're not on the 3D piece. You can also see the reworked dash and gauge panel in this shot.

If I can get three or four hours in on this thing tomorrow, I think I can wrap it up. Gotta paint the other three wheels, install the headlights, make and install a windshield, install two of the velocity stacks (got the “four corners” ones done today, just have to squeeze the two middle on in), and then put it all together.

Edited October 13, 2014 by Snake45

[chunkypeanutbutter]

I think you should keep the whitewalls on there, AND add em on the front.

Edited October 13, 2014 by chunkypeanutbutter

[Snake45]

I think you should keep the whitewalls on there, AND add em on the front.

That was the plan. I have a set of whitewall Supremes but the white is so close to the wheel they don't look right. The Fruit Wagon has a nice set of new whitewalls, but I want to use them on a Tweety Pie I'm doing which will be set even earlier than this one. I'll keep these slicks on the car and put the whites on the insides, then if I ever turn up another good set of whites for the front, I can turn 'em around again.

Personally, I dislike whitewall tires of all kinds, but I was going for a period look here. And I just bought that set of AMT piecrusts that have 'em, so I wanted to use 'em.