Revell 56 Ford F-100-COMPLETED PHOTOS!! 01/23

Wow O Wow, thats some kind of tricked out chassie, an motor, an calipers, an......

So fun to watch,  so many notes already taken to use in my far future.  

Thanks Steve!! I've re-worked the newer firewall/ forward cab area both inside and out starting with the removal of , you guessed it, ejector pin marks on the cab side of the floor area. I moved next to the firewall and removed all of the molded in wiring and component detail so I could install separate components and use real wire instead of the molded detail for a more realistic approach under the hood. I've still gotta fabricate brake and clutch pedals to make all that stuff work underneath.

Firewall with molded detail:



and the newer piece without the molded detail:

Although the picture doesn't depict the exact shade here ( just short of a blood red actually) ...something tells me that I'm really gonna like this paint ! It is the exact shade of red I was after.

I had initially sanded the FORD hood emblem from the front of the hood to present a more smooth look but didn't like the way it looked without it the longer I looked at it. Soooooo.........

I've got two more hoods if I need 'em so I got this bright idea to use one. I cut the area containing the hood emblem out of one of my two usable spares:



and sanded the area down on the backside until I had my emblem back.



a little closer...



and then BMF'd it with the "chrome" stuff.



I was wondering at first how I was going to get through that obstacle and am glad that problem is solved.......
Now..............to the next challenge............

This is fun to watch indeed, Joe. Always good to watch your craftsmanship and creativity.

So glad you posted the pic of the tire on your ad-hoc mandrel. I was so curious how you pulled off the sanding. I never seem to think of simple, common-sense tricks like that.

Thanks Greg! I work with tools and cars all the time so they both go hand in hand with the build. lol. At least now I'm able to move forward with some tangible progress on this build. For a while I was beginning to wonder......

Looking good, looking good!

Thanks Joe!

 was working on the hood and firewall to stall myself long enough for a problem to resolve itself and I think it did. I was looking on my work bench at a broken 1/8" drill bit and was about to toss when I had another thought. I could use the smooth /arbor side of the drill bit for a master cylinder pivot point for the brake input linkage and rods. I cut the drill bit about 9/16" long, drilled a hole in the frame at just about the right point and pushed 'er through. It worked perfectly.....





Something else also crossed my mind when I was doing some of the paint and body work pertaining to return springs. While I liked the idea of the wrist watch band retaining pin spring I was searching for a spring still yet smaller and more to scale. I do like a lot of the scratch work that goes on with home made wound springs but I just wanted something with a little more uniformity in the coils. I think I might have found what I'm looking for. My headlight burned out in my truck yesterday and wouldn't ya know there's a filament that looks like a spring in there? LOL. While a headlight bulb filament is NOT the right scale, a 3157 light bulb...................is! Today I broke a bulb on a spare bulb I had in my spare parts drawer of my box (all you automotive style mechanics out there know the drawer I'm talking about too--spare bolts, nuts , fuses, electrical stuff, and just about everything to put a car together and run with drawer) . Inside there were two filaments: One larger than the other and both more than perfect for what my use for them was.







The next obstacle.............lengthening the driveshaft by about 1/4".

Couldn't you maybe scratchbuild a new driveshaft?

Glad you asked Jim! That's pretty much what I did......

 Here's what the driveshaft looked like before all half hangin' out of the xmsn.



I managed to cut a piece of brass rod just the right length and save the u-joints from the original driveshaft, pin 'em , position/ phase 'em and glue 'em into place



and then a real light coat of flat black with a drop of gloss clear in it shot on at around 30 psi to give it a smooth and metallic look......and we're in business.

Looking good!

Thanks Lee!

This is where I had started on the brake lines. There will be corrective measures posted soon.....

Well looky there, yet another demonstration of your remarkable inginuity and skills. Grand stuff Joe. Keep it comin'.

Why thank you Joe!!

 I didn't like how the brake lines looked being black and all so I removed them and shot them with a coat of aluminum and reinstalled them. Upon reinstallation I got a nasty glue boo-boo on the L/H frame rail so I fabricated an aluminized shield(made from aluminum foil and formed) to go over the lines. It was either this or remove the lines, sand down the frame and repaint it so I chose a route which I thought would do the trick, look decent and still cover the mishap up. I still have to fabricate some stand off clamps holding the lines to the frame but here we are so far...

Ok fellas after 4 days of bending, cursing, re-bending, more cursing and yet more bending and forming(and cursing) I think I've got it. I finally got smart and took a photo of the last "screw up" with it installed and made adjustments based off of the photo. Why I didn't do this sooner is beyond me!!! I ended up having to slightly tweek the other front brake line at the distribution block to get it the two lines to look similar but I think I can move forward now. I still have the front part of the R/H front brake line to go and paint the line but this right here is a break through for me.

Here we go:

Ok I've got the fuel line formed and laid in place. Rear tires are now on as well as front rotor bearing caps.

To recap....

This is what the kit boxing has for the chassis....



and here's where I'm at right now.





With rear tire/ wheels installed and fronts test fitted into place....





Still gotta install the exhaust system and a few other things on the underside but we're getting closer.

I then started on the exhaust system yesterday and chose solder as the piping. The mufflers I got from a LHS in San Antonio in June that I like to frequent when I'm up there.

One of my lighting fixtures went kaput on me so I only had one light for the time being so the picture quality isn't what I like but this was the result............

Well, There you go again, whipping out that wild A detail. Absolutely stellar work, Joe. Impressive does not even begin to describe what your pulling off there.

'Preciate it Joe!

 I got the passengers side exhaust lead pipe formed, the front of it pinned so it would fit into the exhaust manifold and then got the length trimmed off so that the muffler would sit nicely beside the other one. All I've got to do now is drill into the muffler so I can pin it to the lead pipe then I'll see about how I want to go about with the tail pipes. If I do tail pipes I'll most likely make them same side exits with chrome tips. If not , it'll be turn downs. We'll see..............

Your attention to detail is magnificent!  I love the way you're putting this kit together.  Great job sir.

Toshi

Thanks Toshi!!

Progress on this thing is super slow due to my not wanting to get ahead of myself and have fit issues. For instance, I glued the exhaust into place yesterday and I found a small glitch this morning when test fitting the cab onto the chassis. The rear of the cab contacted the mufflers so I had to trim the cab to fit onto the chassis correctly. So far it's coming along ok. I'm going to run the exhaust straight out the back and am going to start looking for some either AM exhaust tips or I'm going to fabricate my own . Anyways here are the beginnings of the tailpipes.......



The stance is dead on so far in regards to how I wanted this to look overall. I keep getting closer and closer to having this thing done in time for the Austin show in October...............

Looking nice and mean with those big meaty slicks in the back!

That is shaping up to be one really mean machine!  Looking forward to more pics!

Really outstanding detailing Joe. The tail pipes and mufflers look awesome. You'll certainly be unique at the show as you will be the only one displaying their model upside down in order to get that "WOW" factor.

Thanks James, Allan and Joe for the comments!!!

Well I've got the beginnings of the tail pipe routings and ended up routing them out with the idea of one on each side. Initially I thought of making a dual exit on one side but stuck to my guns with the former idea.

and then started work on the exhaust tips which I scratch built from 1/8" aluminum tube stock from Hobby Lobby.



Here's how it looks right out of the package..



So I cut a section and chucked it up in the Makita drill, grabbed some steel wool and went to town...........



After the steel wool treatment I grabbed some Novus #2 and a polishing cloth. I dabbed some Novus on the polishing cloth and spun the drill up again on a low/ medium speed to polish the "tips" up. Here we are now with some nice exhaust tips. You can see the contrast between the side that was chucked up in the drill and the polished part. I'm happy!

I got one tail pipe formed and the exhaust tip mounted up this morning. Will be working on the other side tomorrow morning. After that I'll get everything secured in place and from there it's on to more engine detail. (The rear bumper is only temporarily installed to reference the exhaust exit location. It's coming back off to get rid of that excess flash and that nasty part # right in the middle! Wow! )

Hi Mustang,

I tried to PM you again and don't know if it did. For some reason it didn't seem like it did. If it worked, good and well, if it didn't you will have to email me. I don't want you to think I am ignoring you. Cheers.

Mick

I was so concentrated on the finish and length of the exhaust tips that I completely overlooked the scale thickness of the wall exhaust tip! I corrected that by drilling it out. I've also got the other side cut and drilled out to scale thickness. I applied a future coating over the outsides to retain the polished look over time.

At this point I was still trying to get the correct angles to match it up perfectly with the R/H side but was makin' progress.....

 I wrapped up the L/H tail pipe after 3 remakes. I've got it coming out equally on both sides and at the correct lengths. I had to do some minor tweeking on the exhaust pipe going over the differential on the L/H side due to the bed fitting a little crooked but that got handled.

Here's how that turned out with a test fitting of the bed.

WOW is that out of Detroit ! 

Thanks Crown!!

 I've gotta say that the last couple of days have been trying on my patience and my eyes. I painted the carburetors a mix of chrome silver and gold and then toned them down with a light wash of Tamiya Smoke which brought out the detail a little better as well. After that I fabricated the fuel lines out of pins and solder. At first I had installed the fuel lines facing the wrong way so I had to start over and install the fuel lines with the inlets facing the passengers side instead of the drivers side where all my throttle linkage is supposed to be. Lastly I started to work on the throttle linkage. Jeez what a night mare! I paid for that one with a small headache from working under visor for too long without a break. I cut out all the PE for it and set it all aside last night and started to work on it pretty heavy this morning.
Anyways here's where I'm at so far just for a little progress report............



I inserted the stretched sprue for the common linkage pivot rod so I've still got some work to do here like install the arms off of the rod and the linkage from the arms to each carburetor but you get the picture....