Ad Astra model club 1950's group build ('55 Ford Custom)

[Brian Conn]

...Even though we here in Topeka have been given stay at home orders due to the china virus, I still haven't done a whole lot with the build.  Still keeping busy at work being an essential employee of an essential business due to our U.S.D.A related accounts.  Fortunately, I stocked up heavy on Evergreen plastic and paints in late Dec. so I have enough to get me thru till the brick and mortar stores start opening back up...soon I hope.




  Channeled the body aprox. 4 mm.  Fingers crossed that the hood will clear the oil breathers with out much hassle....that 429 hogged up a bunch of space under the hood

     

[Brian Conn]

  Got the main 6 point cage bent, adjusted and attached.  Started weathering on the cage by applying some flat Black...will dulcote this part and paint the rest a shade or two brighter Black then do some Black wash with some earth tone pastel chalks.


  Still got some more bars to add to the mix including the front hoop

[john2]

Looking good there.

[TarheelRick]

Not sure how I missed this one, bu glad I found it this morning.  I really like the route you are taking with this one.  Reminds me of the Trantham (spelling?) brothers from days of old at Hickory Speedway.  They and one or two more were the only ones running Fords against the likes of Jack Ingram, Ned Setzer, Benny Kurley and others.  Of course they were running small blocks as opposed to "the Boss".  Looking forward to more updates.

[Brian Conn]

  Thank you John and Rick..... .
  Don't know if I will have this completely done by the club's May meeting (5-14-20) as I just haven't spent a whole lot of time at the work table.....seems that spare time in the hobby room just wasn't in the cards for me.  I will keep at it til its done as its been a fun build to do.
   

[Brian Conn]

   I had all intentions of having this build done by the May meeting (May 14th) but time for building just hasn't presented it self much the last 2 or 3 months.  I have made some progress none the less.

  I figured that I would have fitment issues with the hood after I channeled the body aprox. 4 scale inches with the 429 power plant in place...sure enough, the oil breathers and distributor would not allow it to come all the way down....so I came up with this solution.


  The first thing I did was to cut the center section out of the hood and then open up a hole in the piece that I cut out for the air cleaner.
  I then closed the other part of the hood down (the part with the center section cut out) and then placed the cut out center section over the air cleaner, centered the piece and glued it in place in a couple of spots.  The center section is sitting on top of the oil breathers and distributor.

 
  Filled in the gaps with Evergreen strips, sanded the filling pieces down to match the hood contour and applied a skim coat of Bondo then sanded smooth. Also filled the indent area for the hood ornament.


  After the first light coat of Tamiya fine surface primer.....still a couple of spots needing some attention....over all I am pleased with the way it turned out, the raised center section is hardly noticeable

     

[Dirtman]

Looking real good Brian!

Rett

[sentsat71]

Comin' along quite nicely!!

[Brian Conn]

   THANKS Rett,Steven and Councilman Ed
Got the interior portion of the roll cage done, seat mounted, weathering...etc.etc.


  Installed after market foot shaped pedal




  Used the kit supplied seat and belts...added length to the belts w/ Black ribbon. Built a seat frame and connected the lap belts to it.  Scratch built cage, pastel chalk weathering.

 

[Bob P.]

Looking real good Brian, I can tell a lot of hours have already gone into this build.
Keep us posted on your progress. This may be your best build.

Bob

[john2]

This is a mean looking thing. 

[Brian Conn]

  Except for figuring out were to mount the ignition coil the engine is done.....


  Dug an old down flow radiator out of the stash for a big block Ford cross flow conversion.


  Cut the down flow radiator down to the proper size needed and added the side tanks and fan shroud.

[Brian Conn]

  Just about done with this one....all that's left is shooting some paint on the body and some decals




Aftermarket goodies:
Pre-wired distributor from Teds Modeling Marketplace
Holley carb,oil breathers,Accel Super Coil, brake master cylinder,wheel backs, rotors w/ disk brakes

Plumbed brake lines from master cylinder to the calipers (front,rear brake lines end @ the fire wall)  Wired coil to distributor (-) and resistor (+).....scratched a steering shaft and steering gear box.  Wired gauges and tach back to the engine.  Expanded metal in front of radiator and mud screen in front of driver.  Weathered the fire wall with a combination of earth tone color paints and pastel chalk

[RandB11]

Love this build,can't wait to see it with paint and decals!
Rick

[Brian Conn]

.....Finally got some color on the ol' 55


    Figured I should take some pictures before I got too deep in weathering the body....it seems somewhat counterproductive to deliberately mess up a decent paint job.  Shot  Krylon Gloss Sun Yellow color master paint+primer from a rattle can and Spaz Stix High Gloss Black from the air brush.  Before I started dulling the body paint down, the High Gloss Black was almost mirror reflective with just one light coat and one regular coat.  I really like the way the Spaz Stix goes down with an air brush.