2nd of 2 new projects: Revell/Matchbox Austin Healey 100-6

[jbwelda]

Well, I have been looking around for a half-appropriate subject to use some really kool 3D printed Borrani wire wheels for some time, and at some point I noticed this old Matchbox release of the downright ancient Revell Austin Healey 100-6. The multipiece (and I do mean MULTI piece) body has put me off before but this time I tried fitting some of it together with Tamiya tape and was surprised to see that it actually lined up pretty well. And it has opening hood (bonnet) and trunk (boot) as well as a fairly well detailed AH engine. But I decided that as much as the Borrani's outclassed the AH, maybe they would make more sense if I put something a little more exotic, or at least with a better power/weight ratio, into it. So digging around, what makes more sense than a small block Chevy (snore) or, ok, how about a Buick nailhead, rather in abundance in the scale world, and even with some pedigree re: licensing a similar motor to Rover at a later point in time.





Anyone else remember this turkey of an issue from the dread dark days of the hobby? I bought it 20 years ago and it has sat at the bottom of one of my storage containers, unloved and unremembered. The small pieces are so flashed over it is difficult to tell where the tie rod, for instance, ends and the flash begins. And as soon as you start to sand that flash off, you find the plastic is in this sort of soft, pliable state that defies smooth sanding. To add to that, there are ejector pin marks like the surface of the moon, all over everything. I forgot to take a pic of it but I marked about 15 pin marks on the bottom of the chassis, a few in places that are going to be hard to repair.


This is going to be interesting.


The body: I said it was multi piece. Let us count the ways (and I am doing this from memory, increasingly in short supply): main center body piece, two front side pieces, two rear side pieces, boot lid, bonnet lid, lower front pan, lower rear pan. That's nine pieces and I think I might be forgetting one or two. Today, that is pretty daunting, but back when this mess was originally released, the alternative was handing you a block of balsa wood and a side profile drawing and telling you to get with it. So this was pretty sophisticated stuff in those days. And really, it pretty much holds up in the detail department: very nicely appointed interior, well done body insignias and badges, that more than decent engine that I will not be using and the general detailing of the engine compartment had to be way ahead of their time. Still, a nine piece body...but like I said it fit together surprisingly well. Still needs work in the smoothing department.


So lets check out some pics:




I decided to use the Nailhead out of the Revell 29 Ford Model A as a base block. Not sure about the induction but it will have to be fairly low profile. As we probably know, that engine comes with a lame automatic transmission that won't really make the grade here, so I grafted on a Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland 4 speed they make for the SBC that comes with the similar 30 Ford coupe. I know its not right but it actually matches up at the bolts pretty well and its going to be able to fit up into the trans tunnel which the auto wasn't doing.

Here it is posed in the engine compartment. Almost perfect fit, biggest problem are the bulkheads on either side of the heads. They will have to be trimmed back and rebuilt I guess, I haven't really tackled the physical reality of doing that yet.




Another one straight on and you can see the interference better, the engine needs to move back as far as possible, 1/2" would not be too much and with this narrow transmission, it ought to be able to be made to happen. Wouldn't want to change the spark plugs though.







Here are a couple more of the body at this stage, still needs a bit of work but it more or less fits the chassis and floorboard ok.







So now back to the real reason for this build: the wheels. I met Randy from Model Builders' Warehouse at the NNL a few years ago and he was nice enough to gift me with a set of his then-new 3D printed Borrani wire wheels. I took them home and tried to think of something appropriate to use them on but since I don't build many Ferrari classics, which is what they truly are correct for, cars 10X the value of this (then) quite modest consumer sports car, I wasn't really coming up with a subject I wanted to use. In the meantime, Randy improved his wheels by making them one piece with a molded in three ear knockoff and some other tweaks to the design and print quality, so next time I saw him, I bought a set of his new wheels. So now I have two sets to choose from.

First set, these have been shot with Tamiya fine white primer to reveal surface flaws typical with 3D printing:




and the second set, this time one piece in raw resin with the molded in three-ear knockoff:






So, this little project may have some challenges, but I hope to end up with a decent replica of a car I have always wanted to own, with some real bling wheels and of course the brute horsepower of an American V8 under the hood and otherwise pretty stock looking.

Thanks for looking and all comments appreciated!

jb

[fordrodnkustom]

[jbwelda]

Well its been a riot around here so to speak but I have managed to get the firewall bulkheads relieved enough to fit the nailhead in there. Here is a photo of the piece with the left side (right side in the photo) cut away.





you can see I am relieving a good 1/8", that should give me room for spark plug wires and hopefully an exhaust header.


here is the finished job, with both sides cut and side panels rebuilt.




a view from above:




and from the passenger side, the dashboard sits rearward of the firewall about 1/4" or so, so you don't really see down there very well but just to keep the breeze from up the ladies' dress.





next major deal is making engine mounts and also seeing to it the front wheels fit under the fenders.

As always, thanks for looking!

jb

[mack2856]

Thems is nice wires!

[patw]

Different again jb, the wheels are bright and a V8 instead of a straight four or six. A late friend had a kit car of the 3000 with a V8. Hairy driving, so much grunt, frightening!

[jbwelda]

Thats one of the good things about building models: you don't have to drive them!

I may have mentioned the extreme ejector pin marks on this model, here is what I mean, puttying the marks on the chassis bottom.



Just so we agree i am not imagining this!  

Here is where it is at right now. Still needs a bit of work. I made panels to cover the worst ones but only after an attempt at smoothing them. There is at least one other on the chassis still that needs something like this done.





Then there is the upper chassis, floorboard, firewall and transmission tunnel. I made some front engine mounts, and one for the transmission also, but that one is hidden by the transmission tunnel on the floorboard. Engine looks to be a slam dunk at this point, except for the rear header pipes and maybe induction clearance under the hood.






I also attacked the underside of the bonnet and boot lids, which both had massive ejector pin marks visible. Here they are in primer, again, in need of finishing.






Then I started working on the inner panels which run all the way from the inside of the boot in the rear to the inside of the engine compartment in the front. Again some massive circles to eradicate, but a couple of them will not be seen. The deep ones near the interior door cutout are seen however, and still not sure how to handle them...i will kill the detail if i attempt to fill them, so i am thinking about drilling them and some other holes and just call it customizing.





Got another thing done too and will put that in my next post.

Thanks again for looking and all comments appreciated!

jb

[Deleted]

Interesting build! I have fond memories of building that AH as a kid in the 70s, when Revell reissued it. It is indeed a challenge, & was the 3rd model with a multi-piece body I tackled then, (1st 2 were Revell's 59 Ford Skyliner & 57 Ranchero), & by then I'd gotten used to them. Plus, as you said, the AH body parts do fit together nicely.

I like the Nailhead a lot, but, if you really wanted to go the Buick/Rover V8 route, the only kit that I know with a representation of that 215 CI aluminum engine is the ancient JoHan Olds F-85 kit.

On the ejector pin depressions by the door cutouts, perhaps covering the detail with tape & filling the depressions with superglue & accelerator, then sanding that once it sets would work? That's become my usual go to for filling those along with sink marks. Sets up faster than putty, & can be sanded smooth in just a few minutes after applying. The tape should preserve the detail.

Either way, this is a very cool build so far!

[jbwelda]

Like this?




They are very close to the same dimensions externally. I have a couple more of these engine kits that I could use but i have an abundance of the Revell nailheads.

jb

[jbwelda]

So I got bored one night and decided to throw together the stock engine that came with the kit. Its actually a fair representation of the real thing, even though some of its parts are kind of blobular and most are covered with flash. But it has a reasonable facsimile of some SU carbs (at least they resemble them from a distance) and the engine block casting looks a lot like the prototype. I made up a quick stand for it which i threw some paint onto; its drying at the moment so the engine is just posed on the bench.















I always like building up engines I am not using in the build I am doing especially if it is something other than the typical American V8.



jb

[Deleted]

Jun 26, 2020 19:25:50 GMT -5 jbwelda said:

Like this?




They are very close to the same dimensions externally. I have a couple more of these engine kits that I could use but i have an abundance of the Revell nailheads.


jb

That's the one! I searched high & low for one to put in my Triumph TR4, (my 1st car), back in the 70s, after reading about such a swap into an MGB in a Petersen book I had on swapping engines.

[jbwelda]

My first car was a 1954 MGTF, and i had high school (more "high" than school I'm afraid) dreams of putting a small block chevy in it. Luckily my financial situation precluded it, so when i got the car back (after giving it to my mom on going away to college) it was still as pristine as an 800$ high school car could be. Would have been nice to have the power but that power probably would have torn the car apart. One of those aluminum block small nailheads would have been perfect though.

But we get to live our dreams out in 1/24 scale now.

jb

[jbwelda]

Here are a couple more photos of the stock engine, this time on the stand I whipped up. This big six cylinder engine weighs a ton...a SBC or especially an aluminum Buick V8 would weigh less. As you pointed out, Mark, this nailhead I am putting in there is a bit of a stretch, on the other hand, it is what would have been available in USA back then. But with some suspension work I bet this would make a great fun car in real life. You would have to decide whether you wanted it to slide or to stick in the corners though.







Now back to some serious work/fun on the rest of it!

jb

[jbwelda]

Started looking at tires to run on the Borrani wires, came across some old SATCO (jeez I wish they were still around) Dunlops that should be perfect. So I fitted them to both sets of wheels, the yellow ones are slightly smaller than the white ones. The yellows needed some tape added along the outside to fit the tires better but they are still a little small for them. But the tires fit the larger white ones much better. So I posed them in the rear wheel well for some photos. I kind of like how the small ones look in the fender opening, but I think the bigger ones look better, more muscular.










I think I will go with the bigger wheels, at least in the back. The front well is much the same size but I am working on lowering the front a good 1/8" (3" scale). Doing so was pretty simple, even if not really correct.




Yep, just chopped off the existing spindle (its still partially there in the photo) and glued a new one on above it! Easy peezy and the wheel and brake is going to cover that whole area.

So with the front end more or less sorted, I checked out the rear. The rear axle is molded with the springs in place, so originally I was thinking about replacing it with a Ford 9" from Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland, and building some leaf spring packs. But I glued together the box supplied rear end, cleaned up some flash and other junk, and it don't look half bad. I am waiting to check the ride height back there to decide if I should just keep it or get involved in a building project you hardly see when finished. Been there and probably gonna be there again.

Thanks again for looking and all comments appreciated!

jb

[mack2856]

Your correct nobody looks underneath, I say make it sit right and move on, so many kits so little time.

[jbwelda]

Ah...but I will look underneath! I am sure you know how that goes!

I am always tempted to just make it sit right and move on though.

Thanks
jb