Do dremels come with a saftey nowdays? This is an attempt to realize some sort of satisfaction from a fleabay shellacing I recently received. So the fun began. I initially relieved my frustrations with "Danger Dan Dremel". I already had an Olive XKE in not much better condition than the supposed "mint condition" XKE I just got burned on.................I had seen a nifty XKE roadster on the Bay a while back. This roadster was beautifully executed and stuck in my mind. I could've restored my Cowpie Coupe with a minimum of fuss; but so what, I already have a couple of nice coupes. Boring! :rolleyes: ...................................I began by sectioning the required parts, to be used later, from my original cull body. After the glass was removed from Cowpie, the roof was sliced horizontally leaving the windshield frame intact. A line was scribed along what will be the trunk line for the roadster, as the coupe was a hatchback and the lines dont relate. The scribe was cut deeper until the entire remaining roof section could be smooshed down. Of course hindsight forced the removal of the rear screw post as it hit the rear bumper support when the roof was rolled down. A few flicks of the bic allowed the roof to roll in without cracking or stress marking. The roof section was secured from underneath with an initial skim of styrene goo, and floated out............. The following day, after a 24 hr cure, the top seam got it's first skim, floated out, and left to cure. Tonight a little wet sanding to find out where I'm at, and a fill of what was once the rear window of the coupe...............I've also got some bumper (abuse) treatments in the works. The later style XKE bumpers were bulbous contraptions better suited to a 50's Buick. The top sections of the front and rear body from my cull were removed and inverted to provide a nice wrap around rear and a proper looking oval grill similar to the D types. They're already made and fit. I gotta leavem' aside for now......................... The cockpit area will be filled with the complete roof section from the cull, mounted in the inverted position. It's a near perfect fit with no mods required. I'm still contemplating the interior and would like something similar to the butt hugger buckets on the original XKE's. Anybody got some ideas? As a last resort I'll carve them out off a Mustang carcass......................Stay tuned for more mayhem.

You want ideas?

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/511/medium/vintage_races_10-06_093.jpg

I would love to see a well done e type. With or without detachable parasol....

As soon as I figure out how your pics match your description, Bill, I am sure I will love it,eh? Sounds good so far! :thumbsup:

Joe, Thats a green blob, with green tape! I figured I couldnt lose. It's still kind of a mystery to me as well! I'm doing the play by play on this. It's really not fair for y'all not to suffer along with me. The suspense is killin me. Yarrrgh!

Well here's what I got so far. The first pic shows the coupe's sectioned roof, now a trunk roughed out in 600 wet, and the remaining large panels to complete the car................. Pic 2 shows the rear window filled with a left over chunk of the sectioned roof that protruded well into the passenger compartment. Note the forward trunk apron installed at the rear of the passenger compartment. The apron was created from a rocker panel of the donor car.....................Pic 3 Shows the beginnings of the front bumper delete. The upper half of the donor car nose/grill was inverted and installed. Since the pics it has been roughed shaped in 320/600. The front seam will get it's first skim of "Vita-Goo" tonite.....................The rear valence is a bit narrow top to bottom and will require a pie wedge to compliment the rocker panel line. It's still in the works, maybe tonite........................Now the question. Split Poster threw me a curve ball with that awsome E Type pic. Thanks Split! I think? I originally had planned a standard XKE roadster with windshield. It's still there, thin and scary. :rolleyes: I've been keeping it mummified in tape. It'll be plenty secure once the glass is mounted. I've still got a ways to go, but the crossroad is approaching. The remaining donor roof panel will create the cockpit filler. However, I'm in a quandry. Do I mount the panel convex down creating the passenger compartment, and leave the car a standard convertible; or do I mount the panel convex up as a tonneau or hard charapice and delete the windshield, maybe add a shorty windscreen like a detrimmed vintage SCCA racer? The solution may come regardless, as the stock windshield frame is very thin. It's survived so far, but once the compartment panel is installed I'm committed. I probably should be committed anyway. LOL. I would appreciate some input from the gang regarding this question. Thanks, BH

I think you should go with the parasol,eh?! hehehe....looks great so far!
I love the look of a single seat. :thumbsup:

Bill- awesome work. Very smooth cuts. Great job lowering the rear roof to become the rear deck. I did a Shaguar in a prior post, but I just cut and filled the rear deck. Yours looks much smoother.
Jim

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/attachment.php?attachmentid=23125
Here's the picture.
Jim

Hey Bill,

I guess it would be obvious that I am a single seat fan. I watched the last XKE to win an SCCA national championship on TV in 81 or 82 (WTBS covered it at the dawn of time), and have been a 1:1 road race driver/worker/crew/paddock slouch ever since.

The factory sponsored jags as pictured previously have that tonneau, here are pics of another car without one. The curves are so good the picture should be rated PG.

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/511/medium/vintage_races_10-06_203.jpg

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/511/medium/vintage_races_10-06_204.jpg

BTW, for pure fun on a $25 ticket and maxing out memory cards nothing beats a good vintage race weekend.

Jeff

This is really interesting to watch Bill thanks for doing it.. car is really starting to take shape...


Dave

Looking good Bill

Roger Corrie

Bill.. looks good !!!! cant wait to see it done. :)

:thumbsup:

Wes

All I can say is WOW, always thought it looked like that roof would fit, just never had/took the time...this is looking great!

Keep this one stock, and I'll send you two more Jag bodies so you can convert them into SCCA racers.......one for you, and one for me. LMK where to send them!


-------------------------
www.SlotCarJohnnies.com

So far so good! The hard part is gonna be that umbrella. :devil: rr

........................The hard part is gonna be that umbrella. :devil: rr
:p Funny you should say that. It was one of the first things I thought about when Jeff posted that shaded E-type! Then it came to me! Can you say Mai Tai? Pin Colada? Or maybe I'll snitch a proper "Barbie umbrella" from my Grandaughter. (Insert diabolical laughter) :devil:

Thanks for all the kind words. Here's the results of last nites "Vita-Gooing". Pic 1 shows the rear bumper delete. Looks a bit like an AC Cobra. The bulbous curvature will be sharpened during finish sanding........................................... ... Pic 2 shows the front bumper delete with the complete oval mouth, unlike the original. As you can see I like to leave extra material. It's easier than having to blend a spot repair later if you come up short. One continuous float of goo also maintains a better color match if you choose not to paint later.......................Pic 3 shows the rough profile of what I had in mind. You can barely make out the pie wedges used to roll down the rear valence. The left one shifted out a little so it's visible. It'll vanish when I rough the clods off with 320 wet. For the interem, I'll finish the wheel wells stock. Lurking in the background is the chassis with some narrowed AFX specialty slots. I'd like to do the car with some flares like Jeff's pics but I'm running out of donor plastic. I'll probably just find a way to tuckem' under the stock skin............................To SCJ: The hard reality of this conversion is that it takes two fairly solid cars to complete. There is not much left over. The olive scrap pile is down to bits. It's gonna be close! So I'll need four bodies! LOL. Lets see how this one turns out before you commit. ...........................And now it's time to run away, There's still alot of hot cement in those skims. So I'm gonna set it aside for a coupla days. BH

Really nice play by play, this is going to be one nice looking car. If I had any marginal Jags I'd send them along too. I don't cast or do radical customs, and wouldn't expect to approach this kind of skill level for a long time if I had started. But it's funny that I can buy a C type or D type, and easily convert a tjet XK 140 roadster to race trim. But no E type roadsters? They arguably have the best lines of any of them.

I'm always glad to share the pictures.

Jeff

[QUOTE=SplitPoster].......................... I don't cast or do radical customs, and wouldn't expect to approach this kind of skill level for a long time if I had started.................................
Truthfully I had'nt touched a slot car in 35 years until last January. I've always been a mechanic. My second vocation, which I continued over all the years and jobs was in a custom body shop that specialized in 911 conversions. We also saw a lot of Ferraris, Lambos, BMTrouble You's and Merciless Benzes. Jags were common, but the E type, like always, was a rarity. I had the honor of working on a retired vintage E-type coupe SCCA racer. She was a thing of beauty. She had all the goodies and then some, slammed, flared, smoothed and lightened, finished in a half mile of red lacquer, with fat, perfect original knock off mags. The proverbial red rocket. It ruined me for all Jags, for ever! Your pics brought back some fond memories. I had all but forgotten her. I guess my moonlight job was actually my true career. Flares, deletes or fills, and frenches were my natural calling, all in metal of course. I do belly pans and structural as well, but any good sheetmetal guy can handle the meat and potatoes. None of that flat rate panel hacking for me. Yucky! I had the privilege of working on many beautiful, exotic automobiles..............I guess my point is that styrene sculpting was a new world to me 10 months ago when returned to slots. I created a GTO swamp thing blob from two culls. It was horrible and I keep that goat front and center on the slot bench to inspire me. Whacking up 1:1 cars comes naturally but the process for reassembling the slot cars I've butchered was uncharted territory. Plastics, composites, urethanes, or fiber glass were not my forte. Sure, I'm adequate, but I still get twitchy any time I've got a spreader full of goo no matter what it is. ................. So Jeff, there's no time like the present. Pull a slot cull out of the junk box and have at it. The skills are nothing special. It's just plain old repetition that hones them. My new motto is that this body couldn't get any worse. It was a runner when I got it, and it will always be a runner. Plastic cement and sandpaper are cheap. Although the prices seem to be rising, junk bodies are still fairly cheap and plentiful. No matter how this E-type turns out, what's important to me is the lessons learned to apply to my next victim. Go for it! :thumbsup: Bill

Bill, PM or email me. May have a few other photos you'd like to reference.

I am self-loaded with 1:1 project work, if either victim was as exotic as a Jag I wouldn't have ignored it for the better part of a year.

Jeff

Thanks for all the great pics on this thread! :thumbsup:

We'll be looking forward to your progress with this one, Bill- ;)



Cheers..

Well that wispy windshield frame developed a stress crack at the base of one of the A pillars. So I snifed it with my blade. My reinforcement tape got mooshy during wet sanding. Operator error. I usually change it frequently but lost track in my sanding fervor. Doh! :freak: Pic 1: shows the wrap around valences more in tune with what an XKE really looks like underneath. Pic 2: shows the windshield frame, wiper delete and carapace mounted from underneath. The scrap roof section for the charapace was tickled with my bic and flattened a bit for a tighter install. After install it was still kinda crowned. The final profile was shaped during 600 wet. Pic 3: Shows the reworked nose and headlight delete. Unfortunately the Aurora version was rather blunted, high, and uncontoured in this area. It was rough profiled in 600. The final "meet" line was created by using 3M fine line tape as a stop/marker, and then sanding the valence up to the line. The tape is repositioned and adjusted again for straight. Then the nose is sanded down to the valence line. The grill opening was contoured at this point also. Pic 4: shows the body roughed out in 1200. It actually sits lower in front, but there's a screw in the front post while a repair cures. The door handles were shaved as the last delete. The rocker panels were rolled under to match the front and rear valence curvature, by sanding the bejeezus out of them. They just hung funny. There's an excessive amount of material in the rocker area so it was easier to reshape them rather than reposition them. The rear wheel wells were just tightly rounded when the rear valence pie wedges (shims ) were blended. The Aurora wells are incorrect. 1:1 XKE's have a tricky ellipsoid shape. I'll start shaping them when the screw post repairs are completed and I can get the chassis mounted. The front wells will get a little forward roll into the valence also. Over all the entire body was carefully reshaped/crowned on a horizontal line to remove the flat sided appearance of Aurora's original, without removing to much of the panel seam detail. If you lose a seam just drag a dull blade through it until the depth returns. Again thanks to Jeff for the great pics. They really helped!

The thumbnails posted in reverse order, sorry!

Incredible work Bill. You are putting in a lot of time on this and it looks great. The seams are invisible or where the factory would put them. The interior (roof in place) is an incredible fit.
How do you get the sandpaper in the tight spots?
Jim

Thanks Jim, Most of the time is spent prepping the parts and waiting for the glue to cure. :rolleyes: I try to finish sand all parts prior to assembly for straight clean joints. Assembly only takes seconds! I always cut stuff a little long with the blade and flat finish the butt joints with 600 then 1200 till they're as smooth and close as possible. Both edges of the joint are thoroughly prewet and left to cook for a couple of seconds and then assembled with a minimum of cement. The styrene will soften a bit on the edges and automatically draw up and fill minor imperfections. I keep it clamped in my fingers, count 30 secs, and then lightly float/brush the joint with cement; several times if necessary, until the seam smooths out. You've got to keep it fluid to get it to float out evenly. Once that is tacked up, the under seam is filled/reinforced from behind or underneath with the Vitagoo and floated out as well. The joints aren't really sanded after assembly. They are chemically smoothed with the cement and brush. I use a lot of fine line tape. Both as a guide and as a dam to keep the cement from over running the area I'm working in and making a mess. Testor's likes to get away! The tonneau insert was a bit of planning and a lot of luck! By gently heating it with my bic and squishing it, the roof driprail edges created a nice horizontal edge. It was a perfect fit, except at the rear butt joint along the trunk apron. The butt joint was completed first. Before it was fully cured the underside was lightly cemented (so it wouldn't run out topside), and the underseam was filled with Vitagoo and floated out smooth. Again the top seam was carefully and repeatedly smoothed with cement. If i do have to sand a seam or an edge I keep the paper fresh, tightly folded and dry. The work area is kept wet. When the paper starts to mush up, I change it immediately! For the tiny lines I use a dull blade and very small amount of cement to help the blade glide and to help roll the excess material up and out of the seam/line. Once the debris is topside, it can be sanded away later, when the cement has dried. Seam lines have to cure before you clean the area up or you'll just drag debris back into the softened area and lose the crisp edge. Honestly Jim, most all of the tight spots are presanded before gluing if possible. All the annoyingly tight areas are chemically sanded with cement! Over all the bulk areas are blocked in the traditional fashion. I do take the time to mask the micro details the would be cut away during blocking. Take one of your scrap styrene bodies and scuff a spot with 1200. Try smoothing it out with some liquid cement. Your brush should glide. If it sticks add some more cement. You'll see chemical magic happen. :thumbsup:

Bill, I find the descriptions of your tecniques very clear. It is like I am watching you work on the project, eh. I really appreciate (and I am sure everyone else does) the time and effort you put into your descriptions. You could write a book on how to build customs, yeah? I bet it would be a best seller! Many thanks, eh! :thumbsup:

[QUOTE= The upper half of the donor car nose/grill was inverted and installed. Since the pics it has been roughed shaped in 320/600. The front seam will get it's first skim of "Vita-Goo" tonite.....................The rear valence is a bit narrow top to bottom and will require a pie wedge to compliment the rocker panel line. It's still in the works, maybe tonite............[/QUOTE]

Glad to see some great creativity from you Bill !I did A Jag like that years ago with plastic wood in the 70's but it did not come quite as good as yours & stil needs more work+w/s & interior. Like you I did the same thing to make valence panels for my "BadAss Benz" & Bentley Intimidator prototypes.I needed to lower the bodies to fit right over the chassis & provide the proper look.I simply cast partial sections from the stock molds,inverted them & glued them on the bottom of the rear body.

Neal :dude:

Hey Neal, I'm itching to try my hand at casting. Everyone is making so many cool things I can hardly stand it. I'd like to build another jag roadster with flares and attempt to cast a few. Got some high wood for the Bauer 911 RSR too, I'd like to build the complete set of early Porsche Iroc cars. The AFX version looks like a batting helmet, and the ante on a full set of Bauers - who am I kiddin'? Even if I had that kind of cabbage, they really wouldnt be mine! As I understand the process you've got to kill one to make some? Right? I have no clue where to begin with casting. So I'm just learning what I can from watching the gang. Thanks to you, and everyone else for the kind words on my Jag project. As of tonight she's a runner, but the camera's dead. Doh! :rolleyes:

You do not rally need to "kill" the original to make copies.I preserved an original by making an exact casting & then using the casting as the prototype.

Pic 1: shows the completed valences and post repairs. Unapparent in this pic, the wheel wells were shaped and internally hogged at this time. Pic2: is just a comparo for reference. I took a little off the posts one slice at a time using a modeling clay wad on the gearplate. Some more front rake would have been cool, but to tuck the rear tires and dump the nose would have bound the gearplate. So I left her level. Pic3: 3/4 frontal view shows the final reshape of the nose and and trademark XKE mouth. I'd like to have seen it flatter and more defined; but I cut through the lower valence, created from another upper nose section, while sanding. Strangely the area behind the headlights is rather thin on this otherwise thick clunker body!? So I chickened out on shaping more nose definition after having to repair the front valence. In hind sight I probably should have seen that one coming, but got a little greedy. :rolleyes: Pic4: 3/4 rear view shows the reworked rear valence properly kicked up and wrapped down and around. It's my favorite viewing angle for the XKE's. The grandcanyon trunk seam was a dissappointment, on future versions I'll try another technique. Pic5: shows what's left of two mediocre olive XKE coupes. I cut the raw materials inventory pretty close. I was lucky not to have any major screwups that required more stock! :p I knocked out a front and rear drop axle chassis Saturday afternoon, but fidgeted the whole evening away redrilling then narrowing a set of AFX specialty mags, as well as cutting and trueing a set of low pro silicones to fit. I finally managed to get it all packed under the stock width fenders. Unfortunately there are some shadows and color variations in the mile of Vitagoo I spread on this car. It'll have to be painted to pass close muster.

Bill castinbg is quite easy. And you do not hurt the original For example to make a mold of the JAG you have so far you have to fill the inside of the body with clay and bring it down below the edges of the body around a 1/8th to a 1/6th of an inch. I then scuplt the clay back from the edges 1/6th using a jewlers screw driver. One it is clayed up yo need to put it in a molding box. A lot of guys use legos to build uo a box around the body. I use a nplastic molding box where I have cut out the bottom of the box. I pace the body on a piece of card board that is larger then the molding box placed upside down ie flange side down on the card board. I cover the card board with doublesided carpet tape first. I then place the body in the center of the cardboard. Now I take a cotton polishing wheel and polish all the surfaces of the body then place the molding box top side down. The flanges of the box stick to the tape and make a seal. Then you mix up the silicone and pour it over the body and let it cure. demold and you have an outside mold.

These links will show a little more. I no longer use as much clay below the body edge and I run my vents vetically out the side instead of straight up and use a pour hole in the center and a small funnel when casting my bodies

http://www.vabeachho.com/Modeling/CastingClinic/Casting%20Clinic-001.doc
http://www.vabeachho.com/Modeling/CastingClinic/PT2/CastingClincPart2.htm

Roger Corrie

Greatly appreciated Roger! So far so good on making a mold. I might actually be able to pull that off. A few good pics are always worth a thousand words. I would love some insight on the actual casting process as well. Do you make an insert as well? Where does one shop for the required bulk silicone, resin, and catylists? It sort of looks like the stuff my dentist uses to take impressions. Thank you for taking the time.

Best place to start is www.smooth-on.com (http://www.smooth-on.com)

http://www.smoothonsecure.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=50_294&products_id=576&osCsid=b03d70af1addb12a914970bf2fee0421

This is the best buy when you are starting out. I recommend you buy some cand bottle ot catsup/mustard squueze bottles to pour the resin in as it is much easier to work with than the bottles smooth-on packages it in. I use KleenKlay yo clay up the diecats I buy from Micromark as I use their resin now due to I like the bottles it comes in. Some plastic bathroom cups and either a mold box or legos and you are on your way. Also I use vasoline for mold release when I pour the inside mold you put it on the outside mold everywhere that silicone will hit silicone to keep it from sticking together. I have a part 3 ant home for some resaon the one on my website is afu. I assum by insert you are talking about the inside mold?

Roger Corrie

great info Roger!

Yes Roger that is what I meant. The placement or relationship of the inside mold seems tricky to me. Too deep and the cast will be thin, too high and things get fat in a hurry - right? Looking forward to seeing part three!

I've followed Rogers casting clinics and have created a few cars; you can see a few of mine here: http://routedtrack.hobby-site.com/html/cars.html - hope you get something useful out of it (I'm getting better each one, but still have a few to go before being as good as RC! :) )

That's great stuff Neo, Thanks for taking the time! Seeing is understanding for me. It answered all my questions - for now. LOL, BH

No drama - there are more details in our local forums http://neophytte.mine.nu/forum/ - search for casting or moulding. My frustration was that the 'American' brands don't exist in Australia, so I'm still trying to find the best resin to use over here :)

Cheers

Richard

Bill,

I converted all the Casting Clinic documents intop pdfs that everyone can download

http://www.vabeachho.com/Modeling/CastingClinic/Casting_Clinc_Part_1.pdf
http://www.vabeachho.com/Modeling/CastingClinic/Casting_Clinc_Part_2.pdf
http://www.vabeachho.com/Modeling/CastingClinic/Casting_Clinc_Part_3.pdf
http://www.vabeachho.com/Modeling/CastingClinic/Casting_Clinc_Part_4.pdf

The main difference is I no lobger run my vents verticle I run them out horizontal except for the body posts

Roger Corrie

Greatly appreciated Roger! Thanks for taking the time to educate me/us. I'm looking forward to my first series of blobs! LOL. BH

Just playin' catch-up here, Bill and commenting as I go, so sorry for the belated replies-

I was just checking up on this project of yours as it really intrigues me-
The thing is absolutely brilliant! I cannot believe how nice it came out!

I've read the thread several times now, and still don't have the gist of how you did it, exactly. I was searching for the thread were you explained the swill you mixed up to make the blending process work. I don't know if I should though, because I have quite a few bods' in need of something.

This could easily become habit forming!

Please keep us updated w/pics' once you have a w/screen and possibly a driver?
Thanks again for sharing this great way of re-construction! :thumbsup:


Cheers..

.......I've read the thread several times now, and still don't have the gist of how you did it, exactly. I was searching for the thread were you explained the swill you mixed up to make the blending process work. I don't know if I should though, because I have quite a few bods' in need of something............

Boss, Thank you for all the compliments on my projects. Greatly appreciated for sure. The bar is set awfully high at Hobby Talk. Just trying to keep up my end.

I've been a frustrated modeler since I moved ten years ago and my giant Marklin train layout was disassembled. My re-entry into slots last year, has afforded an outlet for a decade of bottled up modeling.

Specifically, the swill you refer to is Mike Vitale's method. "Restoring Aurora Slot Cars" I believe is the title of his book. It leaves some to the imagination but is a good primer. The gist is scraping up plastic from scrap bodies after wetting it with plastic cement (testors). Then using it like bondo.

Through frustration, as many have experienced, and finally conquering the technique I've managed to develop some insights and tricks along the way. At some point I'd like to do a vid demonstrating the proper technique.

Feel free to email me directly and I'll shoot you my phone #. The guys are probably sick of it. Check out my latest disaster titled "Something new, same old theme" for the latest on my Vitagoo tricks.