50's Inspired Hover Car

[PFJN]

Hi,

Since the Rules indicates that this GB started a couple days ago I decided to start mocking up my idea for a build.  The kit I bought is a little rough, with some flash here and there.  Most of it is fairly thin, but in one or two places its a bit thick.  In addition to that some of the sprue gates are a bit thick and there are some protruding spots that I think were where the plastic was injected.  Fortunately most of those are insude the model, but some could probably still use some sanding and fileing. 

The kist contains parts for a stock and custom build long with a couple additional parts that don't seem to be used for either option.  I'm guessing that either there was once a third option or that this kits maybe shared parts with another kit.

For my build I've decided to use a "fastback" roof piece that was provided as part of the custom build option and a broad hood scoop that doesn't appear to have been called out for either option, as shown below.  In addition I'm also thinking of maybe trying to build up the tail fins a little and maybe add some sort of "side pipes" (or at least something that looks like side pipes).  I am also in the process of cutting off the lips around the wheel wells so that I can fill them in smooth with the rest of the body.  And I also instend to cover over the bottom of the car with a smooth cover and some landing skids.

Regards

Pat

[raafif]

Interesting, nice start

[PFJN]

Hi,
Thanks.  Here's an image where I've started trying to fill in the wheel wells and fair in the hood scope.

Pat

[Kerick]

Very interesting!
I tried something like this once and ended up tossing it as it did not work out. You have a great start.

[PFJN]

Hi,
I've tried something along these lines before as well and never completed them, but this time I'm hopeful 

[LemonJello]

I think 50s-era cars make the best flying cars.  This one is off to a good start.

[Buzzbomb]

Ok, this looks to be heading in an interesting direction

[PFJN]

Hi,
I.ve been continueing to clean up closing off the wheel wells, but still have a couple flat spots on un way of where the back tires used to be that require a bit more work.  In addition to that I've also started to try and extend the tail fins just a little.

 

[Dr. YoKai]

Looks like a promising start-I sure don't envy you the sanding!

[PFJN]

Hi,
I think I'm almost done with the main body mods and have started moving along to attaching the roof and modifying the interior, as shown below.




I'm thinking of maybe calling it either the "Preatorian" or the "Proconsul".  In addition to maybe either "sidepipes" (or something that looks similar) I have also been thinking of mayb e trying to add some trim along that crease near the top of the door leading aft from the side vent forward, that would maybe look a bit like a Roman Spear or Javelin or something similar, as shown below.  Other than that I also want to modify the grille somehow, but haven't fully figured that out yet.



 

[Frank3k]

I'm thinking of maybe calling it either the "Preatorian" or the "Proconsul

Nicknamed the Prostitute, since it would have no visible means of support? Or call it the Atlatl or Amentum if you want to go with a spear theme.

You could add a chrome trim going from the base of the fins along the transition from top to sides and ending in two spear points over the front lights.

[Kerick]

This is looking like a “lead sled” to me! Lead sled was an old hot rodding term for a car chopped and lowered with the body welded back together and filled with lead instead of a synthetic filler. It’s a complimentary term.

[Buzzbomb]

Swift work and looking like what I thought it might look like.

Doors going back into the same locations ?

Etherium is my punt at a model name.

[finsrin]

As a 1/1 car guy with various 50s & 60s cars must say 'is looking good' 

[perttime]

Will it have some visible means of propulsion and/or flotation?

The sidepipe in the picture looks massive. When there are no wheels, should a sidepipe be sunk into the body?

[PFJN]

Hi,
Good questions.  I haven't got everything thought out yet, but people here have some really good suggestions  .

I may need to play around with the side pipe sizes.

I'm also thinking of a three tone paint, with maybe a gloss white roof, a gloss black upper body, and a medium gray lower body.

Regards

Pat

[Kerick]

There is always the gloss black and flat black combo. IIRC it’s usually flat black on the hood/bonnet and gloss on the sides. There are many variations on that I’m sure.

[perttime]

Massive can be good or bad. Depends 
Perhaps side pipes can be turned into a means of propulsion or hovering?

[PFJN]

Hi,
Thats kind of along the lines of what I've been thinking when I referred tio them as "side pipes" or "something similar", assuming that they may actually just be some part of the hover systm hanging off the side that look kind of like 1950s era side pipes.

Meanwhile, I started doing some painting.  I started with the interior, and ended up with reddish brown ("leather") seats with a dark chrome and very dark gray (almost black) dash, as shown below.  The metallic paint is called "Metallic Zinc" (I think) while the very dark gray is called "Wrought Iron", though it ended up being so close toblack that I don't notice much difference.  I also painted the carpeting "dark brown", though I may end up changing it to either black or wrought iron as well.



One problem I often end up with on builds like this is that I don't always think things through all that well initially, and sometimes end up with a situation like for this build's interior where I glued some parts together before painting them, making it more difficult than it had to be to paint them later 

For the interior I also cut way the "transmission tunnel" that was in the original kit, since I figured it probably wouldn't be needed for a hover car.  Other than that I am still working on the steering wheel, and any other controls that may seem like a good idea to put into the interior.  I was hoping to maybe cutaway part of the steering wheel to make it look more like a control yoke and then also add something on the floor (where the shifter was in the original kit) that could maybe be something like a "collective" from a helicopter or something similar.

For the exterior I blackened in the grille with some panel line marker stuff and am pretty much happy with the results, as shown below.



Initially I tried painting the exterior Black, White and Gray like I mantioned in a previous post, but noticed the car was begining to look a little bit like a Black and White Police car, so I decided to a dark gray and a light gray in place of the black and white.  It turns out the colors that I picked (from my existing collection of paints) are flat paints, whereas I was initially intending to make the exterior glossy, but after seeing the build with flat colors I kind of like it, so I'm not fully sure if I should leave the exterior flat or not. 

I still have to mask off the line between the light and dark gray aft and I am also still considering adding some additional bits to the forward grille, but things are moving along.

Regards

Pat 

[PFJN]

Oops, another change of plan.

After removing the tape separating the upper body from the lower body I began to think that maybe the color I was using for the roof might be too close to the color I was planing to use for the bottom of the build.  And as I tried to mark off the dematkation line between the roof and the rest of the car I began to think that it also made the planned paint scheme look a little weird.  As such, I dug up some paint from my collection called "Titanium White" which is kind of a very bright white and decided to use that for the roof instead. 

However instead of painting the entire "fastback" all white I decided to only paint the section of the roof forward of the rear window white, with the rest of it painted the same dark gray as the top of the car body, as shown below.  Because I figured that the white will probably take several coats, with drying time and maybe a bit of light sanding/polishing in between coats, I haven't taped off the demarkation between the white and dark gray yet as I want to make sure that the white looks good and ready to go before finalizing everything. 

I am liking the new look though, and it made everything easier for me since I was able to paint the underside of the roof and the aft "deck" under the back of the "fastback" roof all the same color as the rest of the top of the car body. 




PS.  I also put the demarkation line between the upper and lower parts of the main car body to line up with the front and back bumper, and I am thinking of maybe putting the "Javelin/Spear" chrome accessory along that line instead of along the knckle in the body shape that I mentioned previously.

[Buzzbomb]

Still looking great though

[Frank3k]

I like the color demarcation along the body.

[apophenia]

I like the color demarcation along the body.

Me too. And moving your "Javelin/Spear" chrome down to that demarcation line is a good choice 

[PFJN]

Hi,
I've been progressing on this build but have been slowed by a couple small issues with fit and alignment.

The first problem I encountered was with my alignment of the interior with the rest of the car body.  In this kit the interior consists mainly of two pieces,

• a bottom "bucket" that includes the seats, flooer, lower side walls, and lower front wall,
• and a "U shaped" piece that includes the dashboard which curves around on both sides to also include the upper door parts

When I first put this together it looked good, but once I installed it I found that the two pieces were just out of alignement enough that if the back end of the interior (which is part of the lower, bucket piece) was in correct alignment with the rest of the car body, then the dashboard was just a slight bit angled to the left, which made putting the windscreen in difficult.  And in additiom I had trouble getting the "doors" to fit correctlyinto the opening in the car body.  As such, I ended up having to pull the interior out, and pull the two pieces apart and fir them separately into the body, rather than gluing them togethr first.  This allowed me to better make sure that the dash/U-shaped piece fit in correctly, with any smal gaps btween the two pieces just appearing to be part of the "door" joint, as shown below.  It also allowed me to repaint the interior a little better, where I decided to do it mostly in shades of brown instead of the brown and black that I was using previously.




Next I found out that I had "mislocated" the roof piece on the car by just a very small amount, leaving a small gap between the forward roof line and the windscreen frame.  In addition to it being just a bit too far aft, the roof piece was offcenter by just a small amount making the gap slightly wider on one side than the other.  As such I pulled the roof off and resanded and repainted the back end of the car body, as shown in the images above.  I can now correctly align it with the windsheild frame, though on one build that I have seen online of the parent model kit, that builder didn't glue his roof in place, allowing him to swap it out with the normal hardtop shape or even leave it off all together so that the car was an opentop convertible.  I'm considereing doing the same as shown below.




Two other issues remaining are that the "clear" windsheild piece provided in the kit is slightly bigger than the windscreen frame meaning that I may need to carefully trim the clear piece to make everything fit.  And, I've currently painted over the windscreen frame when I installed it, so that I will need to either try and "rechrome" it somehow or repaint it.

 

[Kerick]

There is always foil. Or the various paint pens.