26 replies to this topic

[Jairus]

While back a friend asked me to build a vintage-looking chassis for a VW body.
When I got the body, the request was that the chassis be close to the year of the car which turned out to be a 1963. Not sure if this is a Du-Bro body or something else, but the earliest chassis I could find was Kemtron.


 

 

I've used Kemtron before so nothing was out of the ordinary other than figuring out how to mount the darned body.

Chassis went together just like the directions.  Weekpoints would be the motor screws for the tongue and axle brackets.  One wall hit and alignment goes out the door....

 

Finished chassis looks almost like the directions.

 

Guide and foam tires are Cox. Front rubber tires E.J.'s hobbies.
Wheels are Russkit repops.

[Jairus]

Okay, now forward a couple months... and I finally figured out a mounting for the body.
Well, almost.


Built a pan and for a LONG time tried to figure out how to mount it to the chassis.

 

 

Eventually it dawned on me that cars in the early 60's never had moving pans and the most vintage thing I could do was a solid mount.

So that's that I did.

 

 

 

At this point you are caught up to today.
Making an interior now and getting set to paint the body.  Even have a set of inserts for the wheels.

 

 

[old & gray]

I love the muffler and exhaust.

[Geary Carrier]

Had a 64 split window with very little clutch, this is much nicer and faster...

[Joe Mig]

Had a 64 split window with very little clutch, this is much nicer and faster...

I'm pretty sure the split window was in the 50s. I had a 63 bug and had a smaller rear window but definitely not split.

[John Streisguth]

splits were up until 54, then ovals until 58

[Geary Carrier]

Sorry, you guys are very right, it was a 54 with the rag top...

 

Only off by 10 years.

 

Thanks,

g

[Jairus]

Okay, we have an interior tray.  Made it up in a couple hours from styrene.  Fits pretty good and will be suitable to hold a driver and other details.

 

 

Hard part is building the driver.
No helmet since this is not a racing car, but a street car.  Therefore, either I use some torso from Fujimi or build my own from Ulrich.  Either process means putty, but I like the larger 1/24th scale of the Fujimi in grey. And, people don't come in one size so maybe this driver stands 6' 6" and was a boxer?
Ulrich stuff and most of what is in my box of toys appear too small anyway.
Time for modification and modeling construction.
(Edit: Was told the body is actually a Lancer and the year should be 1961.  Like it makes much difference? ;-) 

 

 

[chaparrAL]

My 63 keeps going.

[Jairus]

Al... that helps!


Got a driver!
Time to make seat backs.  Then paint.

 

[Jairus]

Now we have a complete interior!

 

Everything but the driver is scratch built from Evergreen Styrene.  Which requires at least 5 hours dry time before sanding or cutting.... or painting.
Doesn't matter.  The customer wants blade bumpers.... sigh.
Debated making them out of brass and attaching them to the chassis.
Alternative is carved plastic or even aluminum carved (and polished) bumpers attached to the body.  THAT would break off too easy, but is easier to construct.
Still working on it.... so stay tuned.

[Grant G.]

Not that you need any advice, but Tamiya has a pretty decent 66 Beetle model you might be able to use the bumpers from if the proportions work out. Downside is they have the built in over riders if you're going for a custom look.   

[Jairus]

Thank you Grant.  It's a good idea, but hanging plastic bumpers on a vac-formed body is just asking for trouble.
The best solution is to make the bumpers part of the frame in my opinion. 
Soooo... I made a set from brass.

A bit of 1/4" tubing was cut length wise and slowly formed over a mandrel with a small hammer to maintain the curve of the tubing.
Then they were trimmed, sanded and polished to fit the body.  Pretty darned easy actually!
Mounting them tho....

 

The problem now.... is the width of the stock mounting points.

 

Those narrow mounting points mean restriction for the guide flag.
And I want these pieces to be mounted directly to the frame.

[Jairus]

Bumpers mounted.
Not sure how they will hold up, but much better than plastic glued to the body.

 

 

 

 

Now, need to make some headlight buckets.... stay tuned.

[Regis4446]

Great job

It remains to do the painting, and there, I trust you.

[Jairus]

Thank you Régis! 

I went to the Portland Transmission Show last Saturday.  Took some pics of a car that has the same stance and look as what I am building down to the exhaust pipe.

 

 

 

 

Other than the color, this is what I'll look like.  (Poor guy was trying to eat his lunch while I shot pictures.)
Probably paint the interior this same mouse grey.  
The body of the car however is suppose to be painted Porsche Grey, which is darker than the interior.

Other pics from the car show are here: http://public.fotki....portland-trans/

[Bill from NH]

Nice collection of photos Jairus. It was definitely a show worth attending. Those other wagons, like yours, are neat.

[Jairus]

Yeah.... I'm a trail-blazer, due to poverty.    

All jokes aside, there were quite a few wagons very much like mine.  Just NO '58 Fords at all!
Most of the vintage ratty stuff were Mopar, Volvo and Chevrolet wagons.

[Regis4446]

And 2 french 2 CV CITROEN, incroyable 

[Jairus]

Oui, et pas de wagons Ford 1958 du tout.

[zipper]

And 2 french 2 CV CITROEN, incroyable 

Too new - here's a little older

[Jairus]

How To Make Headlight Buckets!

Hit the ground running this morning and decided to show you guys what it takes to make headlight buckets.
The technique is called the "plunge method" a trick I read about in 1975 inside the pages of a much older model aircraft magazine.

Items needed:
1) Heat Gun
2) Table vice
3) Sheet styrene (.020)
4) An item to mold over, in this case a Swizzel Stick.


 

 

Then mount the swizzle stick into the vice small end up.
The large end is great for larger items.
Note: keep the heat away from the stick or you'll melt that too.....

 

Then, holding only a corner of the sheet of plastic, heat the rest with the heat gun on high.
Soon as the plastic starts wrinkling and becoming flexable, set the gun down and plunge the plastic over the shape.

Should look like this:

 

Once it's cool, time to cut and sand.

 

 

And now, repeat the process so you have two.  :-)

 

[Martin]

Pure craftsmanship, Love it in this stage Jairus.But also looking forward to the paint work, that you do so well.

[Jairus]

Man, this project is killing me.  Too many details and too many fowl-ups.
To start off, the day I soldered the bumpers on, the soldering iron got too close to the vintage Cox rubber tires.
Never touched... but it did effect one tire.
New rubber takes two days to clean, glue and true.  Best part is the replacement rubber is fresh, new and very soft.

Interior took a ton detailing too.
As a teaser, here it is.  Final pics later today.

 

 

 

[Jairus]

Final pics... finally.

The paint is suppose to be "Porsche Rock Grey".  I found Tamiya German Grey to be as close as I could get.
No idea why it had to be that color as it's hard to see on a black or grey track.... but whatever.
Body is badly mastered.  Too short and the trim on the Drivers side droops at the front.
Hand carved for sure and I followed the lines best I could.

 

 

Wheel inserts by Al Penrose.
 

 

 

 

Wheels from Professor motor.
Front tires by E.J.'s Hobbies.
Rear rubber provided by "Samiam" on this forum.
Bumpers coated with gloss black and then sprayed with alclad lacquer.

In the mail Monday.