JohnJ Memorial Group Build February 2021

This is the build thread for the JohnJ Memorial Group Build which starts 1st of February

usual rules apply

the GB will be a Memorial one for our late colleague, John and the theme will be American Cars only

the usual GB rules will apply

Group builds will run for a period of three months from the start date.

You can enter a group build at any time during the three month period.

No more entries permitted in a group build once the three month period has expired.

Group builds do not have to be completed in the three month period and finished group builds can still be posted in the appropriate finished thread at any time after this period.

You must post all of your progress only in this Group Build thread.

Please post your finished group build in the appropriate 'Finished Group Builds' thread which will be created later

Part started kits are allowed but must be no more than 20% started.

OK. I guess it seems appropriate that I kick this one off.

Last time I was over in the USA to see John he gave me this kit to come home with. One which I had been wanting for a long time. I got the build started but then my wife died and it got put back in the box along with my mojo.







Now seems like the perfect time to get it done.

This is where it stood at when put back in the box:











It may be a couple of weeks before I make progress as I really must finish the AMR Ford Escort first.

I'll be posting two projects during the John J Memorial Build.

The first is a tribute to Al's visit to the salt flats competition in 2018 while visiting John ... it'll be MPC's 1970 Pontiac Bonneville.





My second build will be my take on a truck John had posted a few years ago on a different forum. Its based on one of Moebius' Ford truck kits,



Mine will be based on parts I had of AMT's mid 70's super long bed Camper Special version. I'll have to come up with a frame, engine, grill, etc, etc ...

Started doing the body modifications and repairs on the Ford

Below you will notice a few things:

-  After stripping most of the paint I filled the Side indentation (following John's design) and sanded the lower trim off.  You can still see the indentation ghosting under my first layer of putty.  I'll work to keep blending the body over multiple putty ... sand ... repeat cycles.  
-  The start of molding a Mustang hood scoop into the Truck's hood.  
-  The beginnings of the new grill based off a Pontiac GTO (Sourced from the "Raiders Coach") and a Jo-Han piece (may be from one of the 60's caddy's kits).  
-  I am doing the canted chop by cutting an angle from the bottom of the C-Pillar; looking at how John did it at the top made re-scribing the door line a pain (and not a strong point for me).  



The bed is way to long so I am cutting 5 mm out the sides.  Here is one cut ... and one waiting for the saw.  Also have to do some plastic repair here ....

Great start Chris.... I like your idea of following John's uncompleted build. Keep at it.

I thought Tamiya XF-4 (Yellow Green) might work better than cream, so I gave them a quick rough and ready coat.............. not so sure now.

hope to make a start myself in the next day or two

been laid low with an infection, on anitbiotics, all ive wanted to do for last few days is sleep

time to make a start, not sure how fast progress will be though

whats in the box?.......lots of sprues!, thats whats in the box!

An update on progress on the truck:

-  Bed assembled and a tailgate form an 80's Ford molded in (along with the tail lights being filled).  
-  The curvature for the original grill was squared-off.
-  The Pontiac beak was eliminated from the GTO grill, it was flattened by sanding from the rear until it was flat (about 1 mm removed). it was widened by adding plastic strips and then molded in with Milliput.  
-  The front wheel wells were of different depths.  The in-dent on the passenger side was cut out and a new piece made from scrap plastic.  
-  The top chop is mocked up to get an idea of the finished look of the truck.  

I like the direction you are taking this one Chris. Great execution too. Stick with it.

Paul, that is a pretty nice kit and goes together well IIRC. I built it a few years ago:



How are you going to build yours?

Not progress as such but I was unhappy with the colour of the wheels and on reflection I think even cream wouldn't go with the green bodywork................ THEN I found this on the web:



It's a 32 Chevy, their equivalent to the 32 Ford and thought the bright green wheels went well with the very similar green to my model. So now off to the paint booth.

Al. wrote:

How are you going to build yours?

.

well, i did want to do the version like yours with the fenders but ive been doing a lot of dry fitting and im not impressed how they fit to the body, think they might be a little warped so im going to do it as a high boy.....im looking through my spares, think i moght have found some alternative wheels/tyres for it......bigger ones for the back, smaller for the front

aiming for this sort of look....roughly......will see what happens as it goes together



thing is ive not felt well enough recently to do much, hopefully over the weekend i can get stuck in

Thanks for the encouragement and looking forward to watching your builds as they take shape.  I like the green Al.  

The front and rear continue to take shape.  

At the rear I will be molding in a bumper  from the parts box:



Up next on the front was molding in that Johan part:



After attaching the lower valance, I thought it needed a separation (the transition was too abrupt) so I found this Monogram Cuda item.  



Here is the bumper mocked in place with my attempt to tuck it into the front end (slathered on some mulliput and pushed the bumper into it to create a "mold")

That's going to look cool Chris.... nice work.

The interior of this one is virtually unseen when in the body and the window winders etc so poorly rendered thet I haven' bothered to do much too it.



Mock up with body. Believe it or not the wheels are GLOSS green. I also gave the roof its fabric texture using wide Tamiya type masking tape, sprayed satin matt black. The front fenders are high at the moment but will be correct height when glued to the chassis.

Nice, old kit, It's tricky in places,

Seats look lovely.

Shaping up nicely Al.  


An update on the Ford.  

With the canted chop I had widened the roof vertically by about 2mm, but not horizontally.  This caused the C-Pillar to not line up with the back of the cab.  



Instead of slicing the roof, I decided to add a filler piece of plastic stock.  



Then sand to shape.  Still have to do something now with the door lines that no longer line up.  



Another modification needed was to take care of the gap between the stock hood and my modified GTO grill.



Kind of mirroring the roof, I cut a diagonal slice out of the hood's sides.  In this shot you can also see the underside of the molded in Shelby hood scoop.  



And with this minor modification the gap was tightened up.  

V8 together but cant attach the headers til its in the frame, scratched a dizzy since its all going to be on view





and its going red.......still needs another coat yet

Good to see a proper Rod from you Paul.

Paul, great start with the 32 and love the color choice.  

Back to the Ford, I had always planned on a bed cover and on impulse decided to add a spoiler to it.  

I wanted it to look integrated into the cover and have a concave rear opening .... here is what I started with:  



Here is an in-progress shot.  



The quarter round styrene stock is the same grade as athe plastic sheet an was glued to the outer edge to give a tapered look.
With the exception of finish sanding down to 2000 grit (to remove the stubborn sanding scars), I am calling the body work complete.  

so engine is in the frame along with the axles........insides ready to go in the shell

cant wait to get it on its wheels

might have to leave the hood off in true High Boy style since ive got a slight shade mismatch, even though everything got painted at the same time, and all got the same number of coats, but its no big deal

Paul, you Deuce is shaping up nicely. Great color choice.

With the Ford, I had no frame to start with. I had a bag-o-mustang that had chassis and interior parts from Monogram's 70 kit.



Because of the length of the truck, two Mustang frames were used.



The new frame tucks up nicely into the truck, but there were a lot of gaps. I resolved this issue by creating subframe extensions so they are not dangling in space, boxed the frame, added a few pieces of scrap plastic to form part of the bed floor (the top of the bed is covered) with some styling clues which also help hide the gaps.

The engine was sourced from AMT's 69 Cougar kit in my spares box. After a tear down and repaint I added a few details.



Spark plug looms made from scrap plastic and added to the valve covers.



I wanted to add spark plug boots made from from some random round stock I had that looked in scale. Also visible is the fuel line I ran.

Up on wheels ... this is the time when you say to yourself "Oh Yea" or "Oh no." I'm going with the oh yea!

Up next is cutting a new windshield to accommodate the chop top. A spare found in the parts box was sourced that matched the curvature of the opening.



It was not only cut to size but also thinned. I am trying (for the first time) to go with a flushed fit look.



Major sub assemblies are complete and once the window is polished out it will be ready for final assembly.

One last detail needed to be addressed.  The modified grill from the GTO still carried that brand.  To cover it up, I found a grill from a diecast truck in the parts bin and harvested its emblem.  



After cutting it off the surround, I thinned it down quite a it.

With the Truck completed and on the shelf its time to turn my attention to the Bonneville. It will be a mostly "box stock build."

These fender skirts have to go (never cared for them on cars)



I will be filling this cut line inside the body so it does not cause a discoloration in the paint (it will be painted white)



I am removing the band of plastic connecting the visors to the windshield.

Out the paint booth, Tamiya Pure White and Krylon Gold. Still have to clear it. I am building the Bonneville as a factious "Hurst Pontiac" edition.