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! 
...................................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.
...................................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.
