Johan 1968 Oldsmobile 442 W-30

[goofy62]

Since this build will have a removable and open air cleaner, I've been wracking my brain trying to come up with an acceptable solution for creating a presentable air cleaner element without resorting to a decal.

Originally, I had cut an element from a kit that had an exposed air cleaner element, which would have been fine except for the fact that there was no detail on the inside of the element.

Here's the hair brained scheme that I came up with.

I started by cutting a strip of thin plastic stock and then quickly gave it several liberal coats of liquid cement to soften the plastic.

While the plastic was still soft, I rolled over it with the knurled handle of a pin vice to give it the texture of the knurling.

I performed this operation on both sides of the strip to give texture inside and out.

Next I ground down the inside and outside of a wheel back from the junk box to the size of the ring that I wanted for the top seal of the element and then sanded it down to a thin ring.

Once completed, I cemented the knurled strip around the ring a little bit at a time until secured.

Once the glue is completely set, I will sand down the bottom of the element to the correct thickness to fit the air cleaner.

I likely won't do a bottom seal because by the time it were added, there would be nearly no element detail left.

I'll decide on that later.

Steve

[goofy62]

Finished up the air cleaner element.

Now I'm sufficiently happy. 

Steve

[TooOld]

Mar 5, 2020 17:15:58 GMT -5 goofy62 said:

Finished up the air cleaner element.

Now I'm sufficiently happy. 

Steve

Now that's impressive ! The pattern you achieved is basically the same as the decal I tried (from the Revell Shelby GT350 kit) but yours looks much better all white versus the odd gray color of the decal .

[goofy62]

Thanks Bob!

Actually, I painted the element steel and gave it a wash with some tan acrylic.

I was considering using a darker brown wash.

What's your thought?

Steve

[goofy62]

A few more scratch made parts.

A pair of sun visors and a dome light.

Steve

[goofy62]

Finished the under side of the chassis yesterday.

Steve

[mack2856]

Sweet, fantastic details.

[goofy62]

Thanks everyone!!

I believe I have turned into the home stretch!

I installed the engine a couple of days ago.

Today I added such details as heater hoses, battery cables, radiator and upper and lower radiator hoses.

I also finished up some detail painting on the body and installed the sun visors and dome light.

Next on the agenda will be to install the glass.

Steve

[goofy62]

I've finally moved into the assembly phase and things are moving much more quickly.

The glass, rear view mirror, interior tub, rear bumper and chassis have all been installed in the body.

The front bumper has had modified custom head light buckets from an AMT 1962 Buick kit added, grille installed, and finally head light lenses glued in place.

A steering gear box and wheels will likely be added next, followed by the front bumper and small exterior details like door handles and locks, mirrors, antenna, license plates, etc.

I'm moving into the home stretch!

I hope to have it ready for display within the next week or so.

Headlight buckets and grille.

Interior, firewall and chassis installed, and a photo of what the original kit chassis looked like in comparison.

Head light lenses in place.

Steve

[mack2856]

Beautiful work, I having fun watching this.

[mustang1989]

I simply cannot get over the level of realism that I'm seeing in this build. Learning all the way...….

[goofy62]

Thanks "Mack" and "Mustang"!!

As I approach the final details on this project, there was one glaring issue that I felt needed to be addressed.

The front bumper/grille shapes are different between the '68 and '69 442s, so as the majority of the parts for this build came from the MPC '69 kit, there are exposed surfaces on the top of the '68 grille that aren't particularly pleasing.

I decided that I would add a pair of "plates" above the head light areas flanking either side of the center grille section.

These were painted black and installed as well as a little detail painting on the top of the center section of the grille.

I also finished the detailing of the underside of the hood.

Steve

[sharp]

The detail work on this build is some of the best I ever seen. Great job Steve!

[goofy62]

Thanks so much Sharp!!

Well, that's all folks!

This project is finished!

Say goodbye as it rides off into the sunset.

We will meet again in the near future in the "Completed Models" section.

Steve