Just a little update.

I masked off and detailed the back of the car. There are no decals for this section and almost all of the Gremlin X models had this section of the back end trimmed in Black/Red/Blue/White. It depended on your main color and trim package.

I painstakingly detailed the AMC logo and Gremlin Gas Cap, then finished off with painting the license plate lights. The Macro makes these look poorly done and makes the paint still look "gritty" but I've gone over all of it with a 12000 grit sanding pad. It's smooth as I can get it without removing the paint lol.

Well, here is "the ugly" that is a Macro shot of the back of the car.

I may have to get a little closer to those plate lights and trim them up a little better. This picture makes them look hideous lol.

Mike, that is an excellent job trimming all that out. I think it looks tight at this macro level. I don't think its hideous at all. Nice job sir!

Steve

Thanks, Steve. It looks a lot better in life. I'm actually quite happy with most of it. But Macro is a cruel mistress lol.

Mike, I hear you. Macro sees all the things that the human eye doesn't, at that level. Along with that, it is really hard to photograph the model and catch all the subtle color  nuances. I have seriously struggled with that on a ship build that I am doing. You try to build something that looks good to the human eye, but it really gets lost in translation in a photo. The camera just can't capture the tonal detail. This is why I know what you are saying is true. It always looks better in real life. 

Looking good sir!

Well I guess I'm doing a pretty good job. My Mom had to ask if it was a real car lol!

So a little further detail added to the gas cap and I trimmed up the Gremlin Hood emblem while I was at it.

And an extreme close-up that looks seriously gritty.

And now I'm seeing some weird anomaly in the gremlin's head? WTH is that? Gotta go fix that real quick.  :/  (Edit: it was some odd bit of shine from somewhere. Its fixed now)

Mike: Looks snazzy! 

Hmm, the engine colour looks almost aotake! And did you try buffing the silver? Dunno if it would help any or not. 

The hood emblem looks great. And so do the rear emblems. Really nice work. That really pulls it together.

Oh My ;

 Now that's an interesting looking glue Bomb . Are those Revell Hood scoops on there ? LOL,LOL. Yeah , it can be fun .  T.B.

Hmmm.

    If I didn't know better I'd say you like American Motors stuff . I am correct ain't I ?  T.B.

Aotake... a little bit lol. Almost the same formula I would mix for Aotake. But now that you mention it, it does resemble Aotake.

Thanks, Steve. That's as close to the actual emblems as I can get. :)

The hood scoops on the 1:1? Yeah, back yard Revell lol! Yes, we've been an AMC family for decades. Ever since my Grandfather bought his first Rambler. Dad had 7 of them in the yard at one point, but sold them all off. Even his multiple trophy winning '70 Rebel SST. That was a hard one to see go. Its been the only thing I've ever wanted to inherit lol.

I've been working on the engine all morning long, since about 6am. I've scratch built a MSD-like distributor because the orriginal part looks nothing like the real thing and this was definitely a sweet upgrade part when we could get our hands on one for a good price. I'll make up the MSD coil for the firewall later.

So other than that I'm detailing the air cleaner a bit so it looks like the real ones more, but everything else is stock parts.

Its a WORK IN PROGRESS and needs some touch-ups and more love to finish it off. I'm definitely going to give it a wash of diluted Tamiya Smoke later.  :)

The heart of the beast. Is it a 304ci, 360ci, or a 401ci? No idea. There are no decals provided for the sticker that goes on the air cleaner that would boast about what kind of power plant this is and the only way to know on the actual engine would be a stamp cast into the block, the firewall sticker, of the sticker that goes on the air cleaner. Since none of these have been provided I suppose we'll just have to guess lol.

Annnnnd... Done.

Everything is the right color and it looks like an AMC engine. Including the ever rusty and never clean exhaust manifolds. It just wouldn't look right with those in clean cast iron lol. I've never seen an AMC with fresh exhaust manifolds so this is an accurate depiction lol.

Okay, so the only thing left to do is to add the Tamiya Smoke wash and its all finished.

^ The only thing that is not accurate here is the AMC logo on the air filter. There should be a chrome-like silver sicker that goes around the circumference of the lid that tells you its AMC (with logo) and what cubic inch the motor is. So this is inaccurate, but the best I could come up with.

I'm very happy with the way this turned out. Of course its missing all of the throttle controls and the emissions plumbing, but its been a long time since I've had any of that stuff to play with and I don't remember what all goes where lol.

Dang Mike!! That engine looks really good and I like that AMC decal on the air cleaner. It may not be stock but it adds some character to the engine. The only thing that I noticed was the wires normally have a natural droop to them where the go over the rocker covers. I wouldn't worry about doing anything with it this point though as that engine has had alot of good work put into it. Lookin' good so far Mike!

Hey Mike, the engine looks excellent. I am really impressed with your attention to detail. Don't forget to add some oil into the engine before you start it up...

mustang1989

Dang Mike!! That engine looks really good and I like that AMC decal on the air cleaner. It may not be stock but it adds some character to the engine. The only thing that I noticed was the wires normally have a natural droop to them where the go over the rocker covers. I wouldn't worry about doing anything with it this point though as that engine has had alot of good work put into it. Lookin' good so far Mike!

 

Thanks Mustang! Yes I know the spark plug wires naturally droop. I have over 30 years of working on cars lol. But I liked the way those looked, even though now you have me thinking about changing them - that's still an option as they are not glued in. I like how they look on the left side, but they now seem too long on the right side. Dang you (shaking fist comically).

I'm also having second thoughts on the Smoke wash as well. When we had our cars we didn't let the oil and dirt build up on the engine. We also learned that chrome engine parts need a lot of constant polishing lol. Experience from winning car shows taught us that lol (fingerprints are most distracting for photos lol).

So thank you again. I do think the carburator and the transmission could use a little grime. Aluminum tends to keep some dirt and grime even after you wash it off lol.

Bakster

Hey Mike, the engine looks excellent. I am really impressed with your attention to detail. Don't forget to add some oil into the engine before you start it up...

 

 

 

Thanks, Bakster! I've got nothing on the other guys, but I'm picking up ideas like crazy around here lol.

As to adding that oil... I don't think it will get very far without the throttle controls lol!

Thaks for the responses fellas.  :) I'm learning a lot from you all!  :D:D:D

Sorry Mike. lol. Looks like we've got the mechanical background in common. As far as the light wash I think it's still a great idea not so much for the grime but for bringing out some detail. I usually black base my engines so when I paint them I can go from dark to light with the shade instead of the light to dark. Light to dark often leads to way too much paint and the black base helps with the shadowing in crevices and all. This is a black based engine painted with the dark to light method and a light (and I do mean light) wash. As you can see , there's no grime but the details are brought out.

Oh yeah. I totally see what you mean. The shading from dark to light is very subtle but gives the overall impression of a solid color while giving you some tonal variation. Nice.

I also see that your carbs have the look of used, but not dirty aluminum. Those details really stand out. Those headers look brand spanking new and just bolted on a minute ago.

I'm surprised that you didn't fab some exhaust gaskets for that one, lol. I was thinking of doing that to see how it would look. I'm really (for the first time ever) liking the combination of flat and gloss and some gaskets (among other real details like your throttle linkages and fuel lines) really make these little engines into mind blowing little works of art on their own.

Time to admit, I've been watching your builds very closely. Because of the details you add. ;)

I think I've got a more than good chance of finaly finishing a car model. lol

I always get bogged down when it comes to the body paint because I've always had so many problems achieving a smooth glossy surface. Orange peel seems to be what I get unless I use Car touch-up spray cans.

So I've come close, but usually put them back in the box for "someday" when I can fix whatever was wrong, or get the m o j o back.

I think the next time I build a car I'm going to try fabricating all of the brackets so the Alt, Smog pump, PS, and such are not just hanging in mid air. Then there is all of the wiring and linkages... Lots to build, and it seems like a lot of fun.

I carved the belts on this one into "V" belts so they didn't look like blocks and I'm very happy with the way those turned out. Next time I think I will take it a step further and scribe some definition to separate them more.

Lots of ideas rolling around in my head.  :)

M. Brindos

Lots of ideas rolling around in my head. :)

The headers actually have a little shading that's not showing up in photos. I used Alclad on 'em so there's some black under that stuff that shows up in the crevices and cracks.

Before I forget, orange peel aint always a bad thing. Get yourself one of those sanding pad kits that has sanding pads from 3200 grit all the way up to 12000 grit. Start with 3200/3600 and work your way up through the ranges to 12000. You'll see that the "orange peel" dissappears and you'll be left with a decent gloss at that point. After that you break out the Novus 2 polish on the finish to really bring out the shine. Then at the end of the build hit the whole thing with Novus 1 to complete the Bad A shine you'll have after your done. Don't use polishing clothes for your Novus 2 and 1 treatment. Instead go to the automotive isle in the store and get a chamois to polish with. You cant get much softer than cow skin for polishing.

Oh excellent! I have the sanding pads so I just need the Novus and a shammy cloth. Which we probably have around here somewhere, or something like it lol.

But I'll be getting some Novus because you say it works and I don't feel like experimenting with untested polishing compounds. I only have one shot at this after all lol.

I started working on the front grill. The part was over 1/4 inch too deep and stuck out of the front of the car way, way too far. I had to grind it down to get it to sink in enough to be flush with the front of the car. I made a line with Tamiya tape so I wouldn't grind off too much then fiinished off the sanding with a micro file, which made quick work of it.

Then I had to add spacers so it would line up in the middle of the front opening. Which I made to look like the screw placements that are on the real thing.

I gave the front of the grill a wash with AK interactive to get into the deep crevices and then slopped some Vallejo Black in the middle. The grills on these cars are always black so that makes things easy. The acrylic doesn't stick to the chrome plating very well so I can clean up the slop with a tooth pick and get good, clean lines.

Now it's just a game of cleaning up the trim. As you can see I've got the red over the X in the center of the grill. I will clean it up so it has the chrome trim around it too.

Lookin' great Mike! FYI-be verrrry careful sanding around raised detail and on corners. If you don't pay attention you'll be down to the primer and THAT....................SUCKS!!!!!!!!

No worries though. Just be mindful and you'll be A-OK.

Hey Mike, I am smiling over here. That grill looks great! You guys are getting me primed to build a car.

Right on to what Mustang said about about the polishing system. By doing that you never have to worry about dust, clumps, or orange peel. It is really liberating once you get the system down, and the finish is flawless.

I like Mustangs advice about starting dark and going to light. That is a really nice effect. I am taking note of that one.

Great work here guys.

:)

yes, those detail touches are looking realistic.

Thanks! It does look pretty dang close. Normally AMC would finish the grill with a silver inset with chrome trim around it. But we've always prefered the look of these blacked out. It just looks cooler and gets you some attention at a car show. We'll be doing such things with the '74 in the driveway lol.

So now I think I'll have to pay some attention to the frame so we can mount that engine and I can build a Power brake booster. The kit didn't come with one. Power steering, but no power brakes, unfortunately, was quite common with AMC's.

Thanks for the comment!  :)

M. Brindos

 Power steering, but no power brakes, unfortunately, was quite common with AMC's.

 

 

Uh yeah, lol.

I started playing with the stance of the suspension. The fist try was too agressive and made the wheel base a bit too long. Second try is a little high, but the wheel base is ligned up correctly.

The front was lowered by about two scale inches and the back now sits about two scale inches higher than stock.

^ A bit too much heigth.

^ That's a bit better.

This is just gonna look bit$&in! Wow!!! Can't wait to see the final stance because something tells me that it's gonna be perfect.

Well Maybe not perfect, but....

BAM!

I think I got it now, where we would have it on the real car. About a 1 inch lift in back and 2 up front. She's got a good rake going now that doesn't scream "Drag Racer" lol.

Man that thing looks really sharp Mike!!! I love the stance and the wheel / tire set up as it gives it an nice aggressive look. Say, if the tires aren't permanently glued/ adhered on yet I've got a good tip for you in regards to the tread and side walls.

 Grab a cordless drill and shallow 12mm socket (pictured is a deep socket but I learned my lesson due to all the wobble that occurs when using a longer socket) and mount the tire on it like so:

The results:

another thing I did was I painted the tires with a flat coat with one or maybe two drops of gray mixed in for more of a flat / rubbery look.

Here's a before shot without the clear coat.........

and this one with the clear coat applied:

I like what you've done ;

   Now how about this . take the body and cut all the back off behind the door.Straighten the upper door post and fasten the new half to the other .You will basically have a " Pushmi-Pullyou " Gremlin .

  And with a trunk where the hood would be on either end you can carry a heck of a sound system to carshows ! LOL.LOL. Saw one in So.Cal . Last year at a car show . Wish I had gotten a picture . T.B.