Shadowbox Coupe - Update 4/13

[Fletch]

This is a project that I started last October, the progress has been until now chronicled on the Model Cars Magazine and SABA forums as well as on FaceBook. Brother Wes (Kit Karson) has asked that I post it here on FoCM for the Brothers to follow along with the build.

The inspiration for the build is a photo that I found on the internet, it is classic traditional Hot Rod fare.



I have enlarged the photo as much as possible without loosing the ability to read the license plate, I believe it is an Oregon 'Pacific Wonderland' plate but others believe it is a Michigan plate 'Water Wonderland', either way it's too cool a hot rod not to build it.

What I will do is give you the links to the MCM and SABA forums for the build to date and start updating here on the FoCM anytime there is something new.

MCM Forum:
www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=24390

SABA Forum:
sabanw.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=bench&thread=151&page=1

Here are a couple of photos from the latest update;


Hosted on Fotki

My hopes are to have the coupe ready for the Spring Classic NNL in Coburg, OR on March 13th, with the way the progress has been going the past couple of weeks it is a real possibility.

In Christ
Fletch

[davewahl]

Dave:

That coupe is way cool. Looks like a winner in the makin'.

Dave W.

[Fletch]

Thank you Dave, the Coupe has been a real experience to build. Scratch building the frame and doing the mods to the suspension are all things that are new to this build and are pretty much falling back upon skills I used during my Model RR days.

The only thing with the build that I am not pleased with is the Matte Black color, it is so dead flat that it sucks the color out of the pieces around it. Chance are I'm going to hit it with a couple a coats of HoK Galaxy Grey to tone it down and give the build more life.

[Fletch]

Well after much tossing and turning The body went back to the paint booth this morning for a makeover. The Tamiya Matte Black became the ground coat for the new base coat of HoK Galaxy Grey.





Details such as the corrected body line are now visible, and the main body color doesn't suck the life out of all the other colors. The color is just as it came out of the airbrush no clear coat has been added yet, I plan to gloss clear coat the Dashboard and wheels, not sure about the body at this point.

What do you think of the new color? Thumbs up or Thumbs down? I'd like to hear your thoughts on the change.

A quick commentary on House of Kolor Paints, if you haven't tried HoK paints you're doing yourself a disservice. This paint goes on thin, coverage is fantastic and the price by comparison to that of Testors or Tamiya, HoK wins hands down. The 4oz Airbrush Bottles retail for $19, the jobber I buy from here in Portland gives a discount to any and every customer, the 4oz bottle runs me $14.50. The Airbrush Bottles come ready to use, just dump it into your color cup and fire up the compressor. Back to the build.

Got a couple more tweeks to do with the frame it should be in paint tomorrow afternoon at the latest.

The initial pieces were cut for the floor pans using K&S .005 Aluminum sheet (this is the stuff that comes in rolls) they are ok but I think I'll give it another shot and pick the 2 best for the final assembly.

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That's it for today, what do you think, your comments and critiques are always welcome.

In Christ
Fletch

[Kit Karson]

You go Guy! Here's a BIG Thumbs Up, from the lower right coast!! Be sure to let us know how the folks at the Roadster Show like your period perfect hot rod, please?!. One can almost smell the rubber burning in McMinnville!!! btw Thanks for posting your latest build here on FoCM, Brother!!!! In HIS Holy Name

[demonhunterfan]

Boy that Galaxy Grey looks a little spotty, or spattered to me Dave True, it does reveal more of the lines & details, but after lookin' at the pic of the 1:1 again, I wonder if'n you would've scuffed up the Matte Black maybe you'd got kinda the detail showing up more as well. Might also look more like the real rod in that they probably just threw the primer on and basically forgot about it, and it probably got 'scuffed' up thru normal every day use-- the high speed runs thru town & outa town-- all that friction Maybe a good rubdown with real fine sandpaper or a ScotchBrite sorta pad? Like the 'color' of the 'metal' but......

Later and God bless

[Fletch]

Mar 7, 2010 3:55:44 GMT -8 demonhunterfan said:

Boy that Galaxy Grey looks a little spotty, or spattered to me Dave

Later and God bless

Brother John, it's funny what the camera picks up and the human eye doesn't. if you look at the body from the same angle and elevation you don't even begin to see the separations between the metal flake, but the camera sure does. However, if you do the right eye/left eye thing you can see it, but when looking at it with both eyes open the effect is not there.

It's a strange and kind a funny situation, but the camera doesn't lie but our eyes can sure deceive us. Sound familiar? Somehow, I do believe that there is a lesson in this for us that God wants us to take note of. Something about what you see is not always what you get. I guess the O'Jays were wrong. ;D

[demonhunterfan]

;D "...I do believe that there is a lesson in this for us that God wants us to take note of."

Where else would we gearheads get such lessons, eh Brother? ;D Praise God! Very kool reminder from our wonderful Father in Heaven!

Hard to imagine HIM never inspiring Henry to design such a cool starting point in those old coupes ! Looking forward to more progress on this one. Carry on Brother Dave

Later and God bless

[Fletch]

Made some more progress on the Shadowbox Coupe, it seems things like the daily driver breaking down and needing repaired took precedence over model building. Anyway the 1:1 is back on the road and I get to go back and play at the bench.

Since we last visited the frame has gotten a couple of coats of Krylon Semi-Flat Black (about the only color from Krylon worth using anymore). Tire and wheel assemblies are now epoxied to the brake drums. The interior pans are in place, they need a final trim so the trans and drive shaft tunnels can be built.



Beings there is so much of this coupe that we don't know about from the single photo a bit of artistic license is coming into play. I have no idea how the steering linkage attaches to the steering column then out to the steering arm. The solution I came up with is to make it cowl steering, using a bit of brass rod, the bell arm from the '31 Sedan I was able to fashion the linkage to the cowl and still have it functional. I'll use brass rod and tubing to build the steering arm during final assembly.




The other bit of artistic license that I chose to take is with the Grille and Surround. Instead of converting the '37 Pickup grille and shell to work with an AMT '34 Ford grille I've chosen to shorten the '37 Grille and Surround and do the necessary detail painting to make it work for the build.


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The valve covers are awaiting a coat of AlcladII chrome then they will go on the heads the we'll get to the wiring. The bicycle fenders are being fashioned out of the spare tire cover from the '37 Pickup, both of them and the grille surround should be ready for paint later today or Thursday morning.

That's it for now, the finish line is in sight.

In Christ

[demonhunterfan]

Looks good, and sounds good Dave! Too bad it couldn't be 24 or 25 times bigger! and made of metal!

Later and God bless

[sigmaman]

Very nice!

[alfa]

Thats so cool looking ,traditional rods are so cool. ;D

[Fletch]

Spent the major part of the day getting the headers for the Coupe together. It was one of those should have been simple tasks that took hours. I knew in my minds eye what I wanted to accomplish but just couldn't quite figure it out. It also helped that every time I attempted to bend the K&S or Evergreen tubing it either broke at the bend or collapsed. Finally, after exhausting the supply of aluminum and styrene tubing I went searching and found a piece of sprue that was the right diameter, heated it up to the bend that I wanted, cooled it off in cold water, a couple of cuts and sanding later and the header tips were finished.

The headers are a mix of parts from different kits with the exhaust flanges coming from the Revell '32 5 Window Coupe. The headers themselves from the AMT Phantom Vicky, and header flanges from Detail Master.


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Perfect they are not, but they will serve the purpose, they'll get a trip through the paint booth for some Model Masters Metalizer and be ready for final assembly.

More to come soon, the PNW Model Fest is 1 week away.

[Kit Karson]

Headers can be, in themselves, a tedious task at best... your effort on these shows the patients of Job, Brother. Well done!

[demonhunterfan]

8-)Good job on them headers Dave-- looks like they'll just add to the attitude of this here ride

Later and God bless