The Ultimate GTO

[kitbash]

Funny you should ask. If you're familiar with Fisher Model and Pattern, take a look at the now out-of-production Porsche 917/30 Can-Am car. I hand-carved all the masters for that model; Paul Fisher produced and sold the kit and I got a royalty.

Now that I'm done bragging....

I'm thinking I'll put together a kit of upgrade parts for the Monogram GTO kit, to include all the special engine parts, body upgrades and so on. As long as I don't get overwhelmed with orders (I probably won't) I'd be happy to supply people with my stuff. Look for the kit some time in 2038. (that's a joke)

And thanks for flattering me with the inquiry!!

More to follow.

[rambenna]

Nice job so far

[kitbash]

Thanks rambenna...BTW, your avatar has the cutest butt ever.

[kitbash]

Here we go again. I got into the water pump/timing cover.

Here it is in real life; front and rear of one off a real GTO and then a few shots of a new, accurate reproduction part.





Monogram was kind enough to mold this part as a separate piece in the kit, but it of course lacks adequate detail for an OCD guy like myself.


You can see the water pump molded right onto the timing cover. The two need to be separate pieces, of course....


...and that's because the Ram Air V engine used an unpainted aluminum water pump against a blue timing cover. I resin casted the water pump, now I'll set about modifying another timing cover out of the parts box.

[kitbash]

First on the list is to remove the water pump detail. I'll also get rid of that crank snout.




The part isn't thick enough either. I'll add a backing of sheet styrene to fatten it up a tiny bit. This will aslo make it easier to cast later.




That's a little better. Next, I'll do the lower front flange that engages the oil pan.







Got the flange on there more or less all right...now I'll sprinkle on the little cast-in details and bolt-hole bosses and all the other little bits of junk that make it look like the real part.



That's all I got done on that before I had to go to bed. I'll get back to this later; I'm pretty psyched to get it done.

[kitbash]

Here's some other stuff I did. I wanted to get into the block.

The engine block will be a lot of work. I'm starting with the Catalina block (waste not, want not) but the side-wall detail is wrong. It needs three freeze plugs per side, not two amongst other little issues. But on balance it's one of the best Pontiac blocks out there.

Here it is after I split off the transmission and bell housing (which of course will be sepatrate pieces)

I also cut open the top area in preparation for accepting the scratch built lifter valley cover I'm going to come up with later.





So now I'll set about "erasing" all that side-wall detail so I can re-make it to be accurate to the Ram Air V.


Out comes the Dremel.



So there you go. Now I've got an appropriate canvas to start detailing on.




More to follow.

[klutz_100]

great stuff to fo;;ow and learn from. Thank you

[rollin80s]

hands down some of the best work done. i've been gone for a while and i can't believe how much i missed out on your wip. keep up the great work. i'm waiting to see that firewall and engine when done.

[kitbash]

Okay folks, back in the saddle. hate being away from my bench for so long, but things get stupid-busy during the Holiday Season. I trust everyone had a good one....

Anyway, here we go.

More cylinder head work; I'm damn near finished. I got the casting details added to both ends now and I added the cylinder boss detail to the block/head mating surface.


Still some finishing touches to add there, so I carefully glued on the exhaust flanges.





Pretty soon, like hopefully in the next couple of days, I'll have the bolt heads added and a coat of primer, then I'll make a rubber mold.

[kitbash]

So I took another look at the transmission out of the AMT Catalina I was going to use.


The detail's good, but...it's not a Muncie M-21!

And the Model Car Garage M-21 is only fair in my opinion. I will use the photoetched linkage detail, though...


So after some scrounging, I decided on the Revell '66 GTO transmission. It's a pretty good Muncie, but the tailshaft will need renovation along with a few other things.


I especially like the cast-in wording on the gear case. And the bolt bosses will lend themselves well to attaching the MCG linkage.


So I glued the two halves together, hacked off the tranny portion, trimmed it all up, and there ya go.




Looks okay on the AMT Olds 442 bell housing I'm going to use.

[kitbash]

Meanwihle on the wheel and tire front, I found these keen little cast resin drum brake details.



For the front disks, I'll probably modify these ancient white metal ones, either that or build them all up from scratch.


In any case, I still have the car floating out there in "inspiration land"...I haven't lost the fire; I still love the car!!



More to follow.

[klutz_100]

Originally Posted by kitbash

More to follow.

Looking forward to it!

[cinqster]

Absolutely awesome thread Craig!

I don't think you need any suggestions at all, but I have a tip for mixing small amounts of resin.

I use plastic 35mm film cannisters - local chemists usually gladly give them away, if asked. I do the same idea using a third pot for the mixing but with the cannisters you just put the cap on and shake it like hell - saves an important few seconds before pouring! They are also flexible enough to be able to pull out any excess resin when cured, so they can be re-used.

Good luck with the build mate - looking ace so far.

[kitbash]

I went out in the garage and tried the film cannister method; it worked like a charm. Mixing with a stick can certainly result in a bad mix, sometimes unmixed resin gets into a mold and screws up the works. Shaking is a good way to mix, but I discovered that you have to actually fill the container almost full in order to avoid too many air bubbles. The pressure chamber still squeezes most of them out, but the fewer you start with, the fewer you tend to end up with.

Great tip, cinqster!

[cinqster]

Originally Posted by kitbash

I went out in the garage and tried the film cannister method; it worked like a charm. Mixing with a stick can certainly result in a bad mix, sometimes unmixed resin gets into a mold and screws up the works. Shaking is a good way to mix, but I discovered that you have to actually fill the container almost full in order to avoid too many air bubbles. The pressure chamber still squeezes most of them out, but the fewer you start with, the fewer you tend to end up with.

Great tip, cinqster!

Great news!

Yup, I'm still plagued with the old air bubbles - have been looking for a good vac pump but they cost big bucks over here! My best cheating way of getting rid of the blighters is to use open mould casts as much as possible - you can then have a good poke round in the resin with a stick after pouring it first. Another trick is to lightly drop the mould repeatedly against a work top, or connect it to an old running electric compressor/washing machine etc. and let the vibes knock the bubbles out. Works quite well with resin but really well with silicon moulding products - not had an air bubble in my moulds for ages!

Best of luck