VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions New hobby project...

Hey folks... Yesterday (March 13 2012) I started a new project. The goal is to have it on the model car table at the 55th Anniversary meet in 2016! I think I've given myself enough time... although, I think it did take Bill Barker longer to get his put together for Flint!

So, here's my new project... I'm going to add together two AMT kits; the 1932 Chevrolet Cabriolet and a 1932 Ford Victoria Coupe to come up with this beauty...





The first day was the easy work with the Dremel. The plan is to use the back half and the hood vents from the Ford, and the rest of the Chevy. The roof had to be cut into thirds, so the rear could be narrowed about 3mm. The middle section will have to be fabricated. In some of the views I have posed it with my already completed '32 Cabriolet frame, but that is just for the first set of pictures. I have not decided on the final colours yet. Although I really like Bill's car, I may go with different colours, as my '32 kit is already blue with cream wheels. I also may go without the side mounts... not sure yet.

The two bodies before cutting...


After cutting...


Glued together...

Today I cut the roof and narrowed it....

Very cool.... looks like fun!

All the Best, Chip

I admire you model builders. Takes some patience and good eyesight to make them resemble original vehicles. Now to ask a question how do you propose to put the unique indention in the back bottom of the body? Or don't you know that it is in there? If not maybe you can get Bill to take a couple of shots of the back of his car.

Great work,can't wait to see the finished product!!

Yeah... I saw that! That's why I'm thinking of not going with the side mounts. Hide it with a spare! The cabriolet kit comes with a trunk rack and box, so I may be able to hide it with that as well. The good thing about the kit is that the fenders come with the wells unopened, so I can decide it later, based on how I screw it up! I have one picture showing it, but I may have to talk Bill into some other pictures. He displayed it with the B posts out, so I don't know what they look like.

Too bad that doofus is in the picture!

Just occurred to me the rack may not have been available because the car has a trunk... is that right?

Actually there were special spacers so the Coupe, Cabriolet trunk rack could be used on the Landau Phaeton. It just moved the rack back so it would not interfere with the body. Also the indention allowed the standard tire rack and barely enough space to access the gas cap as the body extended further back than the other bodies.

The luggage rack was a victim of lack of time. It'll probably be installed later this year.
...along with the Potter trunk. (!!!?!!)

Here's five photos that might help you. They've all been resized to load quickly.

So here's where the whole patience thing comes into play! I racked my brain on how or if I was going to do this rear indent. I came up with using a gas tank from a 1936 Ford to cover all of the interior curves of the indent. The luggage rack fits snug to either end of the indent, so I used the rack in the Chevy kit to measure it. Here it is roughed in, I just need to fill, sand and prime it. I have a few more body mods to make before I get to primer though... Thankfully I have 4+ years to work it all out!

The '36 Ford gas tank:


How it's going to fit:


The fit:


With the trunk rack:

I pieced together the top last night. The centre section came from a 1927 Ford model T touring. I have to fill all of the gaps and do some straightening, but here's the rough fit. One problem is that there is one less top bow in the rear section of the roof than what there seems to be on the car, but I don't think I'll have a fix for it. I'm thinking of doing the side glass, B posts and window frames as a combined piece, glued to the top so that it all detaches with the removable top. The next set of pictures will be a while coming... Now comes the hard part of making it all smooth and fit together right!

Again, this is displayed on my completed '32 cabriolet frame...

The model T roof:


The grey/blue piece is the T section in the roof.






Let me know what you guys think... I'm really open to constructive criticism, as I want to get it as accurate as I can.

I decided to stay inside and enjoy the air conditioning today, so headed to the hobby room. I made the hood sides using the Ford Louvers and the Chevy hood. This way it still all fits right, and retains the latches and handle. I filled it with putty, and will try to smooth it out after it dries.

Here I cut away the '32 ports with the Dremal...



The Ford louvers...



After the putty... A lot of sanding and filling to do yet!

Looks like Bill's car....er, I mean your car is coming right along...! You gonna paint it blue, too...?

I'm still not sure on the colour... I have a ways to go before I need to be decided on it though!

Wow, I almost feel your pain. !!!?!?!?

You are going through some of the same steps that I went through with the full-size car!! You've got a great start. I really like the fact that you can see the entire car. It really took shape quickly.

When you're done maybe you can take some of those fancy photographs that makes the model appear to be full size. :-)

--Bill Barker

Last night I worked on the fenders. I took off the shaped beading at the fronts and rears of all four fenders...

Here the left is '32, while the right is the newly trimmed '31.

Tonight I tackled the hardest part. I really figured that if the grille didn't pan out, the whole thing would go in the scrap heap. (...and believe me, I have a huge plastic scrap heap!) I think I have it roughed out okay, so the project is still a go. At first I was going to try and scratch build a grille, but after looking at some pictures I decided that I really only have to hide the 1932 grille with a 1931 stone shield. I used a stone shield from a Jo-han 1931 Cadillac kit. Looking at the Caddy grille, it was the first time in 25 years of building two different 1932 Cabriolet kits that I realized they forgot to add the crank hole cover in the 1932 grille! I used the '32 grille as a template to cut down the Caddy guard, then used some .010 x .030 styrene strip to make a new frame. I still have to chrome foil it, and will add a photo reduced '31 emblem.

L to R... A 1931 Cadillac grille and guard, the cut down stone shield, and the kits '32 grille



New guard with strip frame



and grille on the car...

Brewster, what kind of putty do you use? I have a similar project in mind and the putties I have used in the past were hard to work with.

The putty I'm using so far on this project is by Tamiya. I have used Testors before, but switched after finding the Tamiya stuff easier to use, and keeps longer after I open a tube. I have built a Hubley metal model as well, that I used automotive Bondo on, and it worked really well. I'm not sure how well that would transfer to plastic, however... a two stage deal that I use a respirator with, and seems a lot of work for this little kit! For the Tamiya, the secret is to apply it, then leave it overnight before trying to sand or work with it. You pretty much have to go to a hobby store to find the stuff... but worth the trip if they carry Tamiya's line of spray paints as well.

I've built a few models (about 75) over the years, for the grill on a Revival '53 Ferrari I used fine wire mesh from a hobby shop, and it looked perfect, and you could see through it, to rad core which was real cool. You may want to consider it.

Great idea... but I'm trying to hide the '32 rad here! I've used MCW photo etch as well on my tri-fives. It looks much more accurate than the kit grilles...

Working on the hood and body tonight. Realized I almost have a '31 Cabriolet!

A little more body work tonight. I trimmed off the double belt lines and will redo them after the panels are all smooth. I'm on my second set of putty/sand/prime, and will have one or two more to do. Then it will be to scribe in new doors, and redo the belt line...

I LOVE these two pictures together... You're AWESOME!!!

--Bill Barker

The evenings are starting to get longer up here, with the sun setting around 7pm now. That means I start to spend a little more time in the hobby room. I've been going at the body, smoothing out the joints from the two kits. I etched in new doors and started gluing the belt line mouldings back on using .010 x .030 styrene strip. I took some up close photos of Mike Paradis' 1932 to get the rear top area right.





Smoothing the body has been several evenings of filling, sanding, priming and repeat... I hate waiting for drying time!

Another thing I noticed was that the top was about 2mm too long, and it forced the windshield to sit too vertical. I recut it and also worked on the fit of where the roof meets the body. I still have some work to do there...

Before recutting...



and after...