'41 Plymouth Gasser Barn Find - Updated 2-07

[Bernard Kron]

This is new territory for me. I've never done a rusted model before. The upcoming NNL West in early March has Rat Rods as one of their featured categories and I thought I'd build something for that. But this model is not it! I started this AMT '41 Plymouth to gain experience with weathering powders and the table salt corrosion technique.

I'm building it as a "barn find" 60's gasser. The motor is the kit inline 6 with a finned aluminum head courtesy of The Parts Box (believe it or not such a part exists...). I'll be building a 3-carb manifold and straight exhausts. The tires are AMT kit tires woith hand painted whitewalls. The front axle is the gasser piece from the AMT '32 Ford Phaeton. Virtually all the other parts come from the kit. The car will have weathered grill, lights and bumpers to gain experience weathering chrome. The full-on Rat Rod I'll be building for the NNL West will use what I've learned from doing this one. It will be a pretty "classic" Rat od, if such a thing exists - Buick Straight 8, '29 Ford RPU bucket, Kelsey Hayes wire wheels, super low z'd frame, etc.

I did the rust job after researching weathering techniques on line and on YouTube. In particular I found the military modelers quite helpful, as well as the excellent videos produced by Virgil Suárez (Dr. Cranky). In his videos the good Doctor points out that you will probably put down too much rust in your first attempt but to not let that worry you. It's how you learn the limits and extent of the techniques. I found this very much to be the case.

The corrosion of the bodywork was done using a blend of table salt, coarse salt and baking powder applied to the damp body after panting it with Duplicolor red primer. After applying the salt and letting it dry overnight I sprayed the body with Duplicolor Hampsted Green Metallic. This is the basic body color. Once the body color was dry I removed the salt using a stiff tooth brush. Then I applied weathering powders using two shades of rust (light and dark) and a light grey "dirt" as well. The owders were given to me several years ago by a friend so I don’t have the original packaging. However, I believe they are Bragdon Enterprises powders. They are excellent.

Once done I sealed everything with Testors DullCote. While I really like the overall effect I hope to be able to do a less rusty car with my next project.

Thanx for lookin,
B.

[dogfish7]

Great first attempt Bernard! You're definitely on target. Can't wait to see it with the engine in and other details.

[Bernard Kron]

Thanx Bruce!

I’ve completed the interior and have the chassis mostly assembled, only missing some steering bits, front shocks and drive shaft, all of which have been painted. Both the chassis and the interior have been weathered as well. I think they’ve benefitted from the initial experience of doing the body. I was able to more accurately place the rust where I wanted it and to moderate the rust effects when I wanted to. The interior is more dirty and stained than rusty, too.

The motor is half built and should be done soon. It requires its own approach to weathering since it has some aluminum hop up parts and the Chrysler Corp. engine block paint was an aluminum silver metallic, which would act as a partial barrier to rust.

This is all very interesting!

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

[hillbilly]

Great job. Haven't ventured into weathering yet. I know if I figure out how to weather, I'm never gonna have shiney paint again. But with the way I paint that might be a good thin . Lol

[Mr.409]

This looks great so far! I haven't tried much weathering either, but to be honest sometimes I have thought about building somekind of an old Drag Car that has been sitting in a barn for decades. Never got around building one though. Your start looks very good! The body has pretty much rust but it looks realistic anyway. That interior is very nicely done too.

Interesting engine choice! I'm building one of these too as a Gasser. It has a Hilborn Injected Ford Flathead and I thought that was something different. Yours is much more unique and it should be very cool engine setup when finished.

Keep it coming, I'll be following with a great interest.

[dogfish7]

That looks great! Very nice weathering! I'd like to see more of these kind of builds. From experience, it is easy to do.

[Bernard Kron]

Thanx everyone! This is turning into a more eleabrate project than I had anticipated. But that often seems to be the case...

This is a small update. I’m making good progress and close to final assembly. The window glass was weathered and installed. I included door glass since otherwise the car would have been rusted through and through. With full weathered glass the car looks even more far gone! I also installed the grill and headlights. The motor parts are completed. I scratch built a ribbed cast log-style manifold to hold three Stromberg 97’s. The exhaust manifold is adapted from the kit’s wedge-head Plymouth V8. Still to do is installation of the engine accessories and magneto ignition and, of course, the weathering, which has actually been started but does show up in the low-light workbenc h pictures.

I hope to have this completed by the weekend.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

[Bernard Kron]

I got the engine finished and weathered. The triple Stromberg 97’s are from my stash of resin pieces by the late Ron Royston at Early Years Resin. The “doghouse” over them is a strip of styrene finished in Testors Metalizer paint and the pre-wired resin magneto is by Morgan Automotive Detail, adapted to fit the molded in kit distributor drive. For those who are curious, the Chrysler Corp. P series flathead sixes had the inner 4 exhaust ports siamesed in pairs which makes the exhaust layout look like a 4 banger. The intake ports were siamesed in pairs which explains the carburetor layout. As mentioned earlier the intake manifold is scratch built and the exhaust manifold is from the kit. It’s one side of the wedge V8 pair, bent to fit the six’s exhaust layout.

I’m on the home stretch now and should be done soon…

Thanx for lookin;,
B.

[dogfish7]

Engine looks awesome B!

[Bernard Kron]

Thanx Bruce!

I thought I’d snap some pictures of the chassis before it got covered up. I’m happy with how the front of the end and the engine compartment came out. Much of it will disappear under the bodywork unfortunately. I should be able to do a formal shoot of the completed car in the next day or two.

Thanx to you all for following along and for your interest and comments.
B.

[dogfish7]

Over the top B!