A couple of small projects to clear my bench for new year

[jbwelda]

I decided to start the new year with a clean(er) work bench, and part of that is doing up a couple of little projects I had off to the side. One being the Schwinn Stingray bicycle that came in the AMT woody of some year, 34 maybe. The second is a (I think) Aurora 1/32 hot rod, unsure of the name they used, gluebomb that I got from ebay.

The bicycle, if any of you have ever attempted it, is a fiddley little thing that doesn't really align properly when putting the two halves of the frame together. Part of the problem is that the banana seat and sissy bar are molded as part of the frame, as are the chain drive and pedals, and the asymmetry between the two pieces comes out in the seat. So I glued the two halves up good, filled in the seat with super glue, and let it dry. Heres a quick photo of it along with the molded clear wheels with some O ring tires...the tires that came with the kit were missing. I have to mask off the front fork from the handlebars and paint them lime green to match the frame.




The other project, Aurora Ford hot rod, began as a glue bomb I rescued on ebay. Shortly after I won it and the seller sent it to me, he emailed me that he had found some other parts for it and if I wanted them he would send them to me free. I thought this was quite nice of him, so when they showed up (the Rolls Royce style grille and radiator shell with hood ornament, the windshield, and the fourth of the mag wheel inserts which had been missing in the auction listing), I decided to do this one up better than I had originally thought I would.

As I did not take any "before" photos, here is the photo from the auction:




First I disassembled the body from the frame, but the engine and front axle were firmly gluebombed onto the chassis, so I left all that together. The body was coated in multiple layers of paint so into the purple stuff it went. The black stripped quick, but under it lurked some kind of nasty permanent (like burned into the plastic permanent) paint, gold and red, on top of the red plastic. So it soaked for a week or so and then I did some quick smoothing and sanding to get the body sort of smooth. The body is three or more pieces, center, two sides, looks like a piece in the rear, and the firewall but it was all glued up pretty well on the inside. The interior is molded in with the body which is kind of a drag.

The chassis and engine were kind of a mess too. The engine is all one nasty silver color with a lot of damage to the plastic from corrosive paint, and the whole engine and frame up front is painted with the stuff. So I just went over the frame, with a brush, in flat black and let it be. The engine I did some paint detailing, mostly with a Molotow pen on the valve covers and the air cleaners. Its amazing how well that stuff works. Then I painted the headers (again, glue bombed something fierce) flat white with the ends done in flat black.

So here it is, ready for assembly, painted in some Rustoleum Paprika I think it might be called, followed by a couple coats of Tamiya Pearl Clear, then a few more of normal Tamiya Clear. I quickly painted the interior with some water based stuff I have been using lately. Probably get this one up on the shelf later this week.




I haven't take a pic of the chassis but will post one of it when done. Thanks for looking and any comments appreciated!

jb






I forgot to take any photos of it as I got it

[mack2856]

I believe that's an Aurora Scat Cat, a bit of a rare duck, or cat. Looking good in paprika.

[mack2856]

By the way, my avitar is the Beatnik Box from the same line of show rods, which I built some years back

[fordrodnkustom]

[mack2856]

[jbwelda]

yeah the Scat Cat, I wish I had a box for it. Your build of it is very nice too. The roller grille kinda kills it for me though, I am building it the way its designed to be, but I would love to put a Tweedy Pie chopped down deuce shell on it!


These are fun little projects, I have done a couple in the past. Here is another Aurora roadster, don't know the name it was marketed under. I cleaned it up a bit, repainted the tires and did some detailing, but the body was already looking good so I just mostly washed it off and gave it a quick once over with Novus. Wish I had a box for this one too.








Here is one I picked up recently that was kind of a mess, falling apart but what was there had formerly been glue bombed to some extent, decals all dirty and obvious it must have sat on a shelf for decades, collecting dust. So after a good washing (which did not remove the decals so I decided to live with them) and some reassembly, it looks reasonably good for an oddball something. Peppermint Fuzz I think its called, some kinda cutesy pie paddy wagon deal, but I believe this kit had its origins in another that was a fairly well done replica of an actual kustom car. The front grille and headlamp assembly gives it away for me, I know I have seen that somewhere. Anyway the pink and the whole cutesy kitsch is pretty lame, but overall it makes a neat shelf sitter. I do need to find the little motorcycle that fits onto the right side fender unit...have been looking but no luck so far. Any leads appreciated. I have found that this model sells for way more than I would care to put on it, I managed to get this for around ten bucks if I remember right.




I don't know what the deal is with the rear tires...some kind of studs in the tread? Weird.




Then I got into collecting the Monogram 1/32 scale drag race cars, buildups if possible, and boxes if possible. These featured bodies split right up the center, so its quite common amongst buildups that the two halves are horribly mismatched. Some, though, show signs of some sophistication and the two sides are, if not blended together, at least fitted with some care and reasonably smooth at the join lines. Anyway, they are small, simple kits whose biggest attraction for me is the really bad azz box art. They were reissued later with just photos of the models on the box, but these earlier issues feature some really nice boxes.







Of those two, the Screamer is the cruder, with the body seam right up the center and not really bothered with at all. The Willys features a fully smoothed body I found separately on ebay, as the original I had was really rough in the seam area so the orange one is a real upgrade, big decals and all.

Then I have the Hemi Fiat in as yet unbuild condition. But would like to find a decent built up one to display with the other two. Usually just takes patience.




Looking at these boxes though, it occurs to me that only the Screamer might be original issue; the later looking Monogram logo on the other two boxes looks later. Just a guess though.

Anyone else want to throw something down, feel free to do it here!

jb

[mack2856]

Cool collection there JB . The Peppermint Fuzz is the second release of that kit , originally called 32 Skidoo, a take off of Dave Stuckles's Lil, Coffin before hack job,
Don't get me wrong I think the Lil, Coffin is iconic. The rod with the 34 shaped grill shell is from the Lindbergh line and those kits hold there own up against the Aurora kits.

[fordrodnkustom]

[jbwelda]

Thanks for the info mack, yeah now I recall that it was the original unmolested Lil Coffin that this base car became. I always liked this series because of the fact they were derived from real autos. I have a bunch of these out in my tool shed, looking like antiques with all the dust on them. my favorite being the one that was of the Deuce used on the beach boys little deuce coupe cover...but this one that became the lil coffin is right up there too.

and it totally makes sense that the other one I showed is Lindberg, not Aurora, on looking at the two side by side there is hardly anything similar, even the scale seems different, with the Lindberg one being smaller (1/35?)...and the Peppermint Fuzz looking more like 1/30 if you judge the Aurora example here as true 1/32, and it does look closest if you use the Monogram models as a further standard of true scale.

Got it done by the way and will post some completed pics later this evening.

thanks again
jb

[jbwelda]

And here we have it, just a quick job of it...











now its on to the Sting Ray!


jb