Beer Wagon Progress, Part 2

More progress on the Beer Wagon:

I built the bed frame using 2.4mm angle beams from Plastruct. I cut the gas tank supports (the yellow rectangular parts) from the kit’s plastic bed, filed off the excess, and mounted them to the frame.

I carefully cut, filed, and sanded the indentions into the posts adjoining the wooden side panels. One slip would have meant creating a new post from scratch!

I notched the ends of the bed support beams to accept the thickness of the frame. Since the frontmost beam sits flush with the bed, I also notched the length of the beam.

I did some further work on the damaged front hood by scribing cracks with a hobby knife as well as adding trimmed jute to simulate the exposed glass fibers. I bent the front of the frame by heating it with a heat gun and pressing the handle of the hobby knife into the softened plastic.

I opened up the ends of the louvers on the hood using the BMC scriber. Here is a photo of the BMC scriber since I keep mentioning it. They are only sold in Japan (as far as I know). I purchased mine from Hobby Search.

I sanded off the kit’s molded-in skid plates and cut new ones from 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper.

I made new taillight supports from a .81mm brass rod. After drilling a hole partway through the taillight, I attached the support with super glue (Gorilla) and filled the original hole with solvent-softened kit sprue.

I have some more work done but haven’t taken photos yet. Stay tuned!

Beer Wagon Progress, Part 1

Work on the Beer Wagon has been crawling along. Since I'm just getting back into building models, I need to acquire all the tools and supplies again. I had a few things here and there, but for the most part I'm starting over from scratch. Anyway, here is the some of the progress I've made so far:

The tires have been scuffed with a coarse sanding stick and scarred along the edges and side wall with a hobby knife. The Goodyear logos and blue lines on the slicks will be painted with Gelly Roll pens.

I added valve stems to the wheels using wrapping wire (purchased from Radio Shack). Caps are indicated by scoring the insulation with a hobby knife. The valve stem on the far left wheel is missing a cap! This was done simply by stripping the insulation off the wire.

The kit bed will be replaced with this basswood bed. I created the cracked varnish effect by using Ranger’s Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint tinted with Burnt Sienna gouache. I also applied various washes to bring out the effect as well as adding water damage. I marked and chiseled out the holes using a sharpened jeweler’s flathead screwdriver. I made basswood support beams using the same weathered varnish technique.

I also used basswood for the bed side panels and posts, which I stained using Burnt Sienna gouache and India Ink. These will be painted yellow using the Mustard Seed Distress Crackle Paint.

I glued the cab back, roof, and sides together and filled the gaps with putty. The round red dot in the upper left corner is putty filling an ejection pin mark. I also sanded away the manufacturer’s mark from the interior of the cab roof.

I separated the hood from the cab using a BMC 0.15mm scriber purchased from Japan. I used a drill press to drill the hole in the front. This cracked the front when the drill snagged, but since I intend to have the Beer Wagon front-ended into a pole, this works to my advantage!

I removed the side grill using the BMC scriber. (I still have the other one left to do!) I intend to install new grills using fine mesh wire cloth.

The frame was a little warped, so I used a heat gun (on low, about 250 degrees) to straighten it. I opened up the areas between the frame and the engine bottom and transmission by drilling numerous holes and then filing and sanding. The red lines on the sides of the frame are putty.

I carved out the front lights to make them hollow and cut the kit’s molded springs off, leaving the tops and bottoms. I made new springs from .73 steel wire wrapped around a drill bit. After ensuring proper spacing between the coils, I cut them to length. I used part of the kit’s sprue to create the inner shafts.

I drilled out the intake stacks using a pin vice and thinned out the tops using a roto-tool cutter held in the hand. A few areas were so thin that they broke through, so I applied some kit styrene softened with solvent glue. After hardening, I filed and sanded the filled areas back into shape.

The taillights got the same hollowing-out treatment as the headlights. I’ll need to make lenses, but I’m still unsure how I will do these.

The rest of the parts all had their seam and ejection pin marks removed. That’s it for now!

Watching Michael Model

Hello everyone! My name is Michael, and I'm a guest blogger here at Watching Me Model. I'm just getting back into model building after being away for twenty years. Before that, I built models for an equal number of years, beginning at the age of six. The first models I built were all those far-out show cars designed by Tom Daniel, and I'm getting back into this wonderful hobby by building them once again. This time, however, I have something a little different in mind—a series of dioramas showing the fate of these cars over forty years later! And since I'm such a big fan of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone, I'll make sure each once has a nice ironic twist.

First up, the Beer Wagon, Tom Daniel's first design for Monogram, back in 1967!

m i c h a e l

Hobby Expo Announcement

As they say, there is good news and bad news.  Which do you want to hear first?  The good news coming out of the Hobby Expo that began on October 20th in Chicago was that Revell/Monogram will be re-releasing TD’s “Bad Medicine.”  The bad news is that it is the only TD kit that will be re-issued in the near future.  Frankly, I expected more from the model kit giant.  In an e-mail exchange with Ed Sexton of Revell/Monogram, Ed indicated there were several under consideration (see e-mail copied below) which led me to believe that there would be more than a single re-release.  If you have a moment, contact Ed and let him know there is a large fan base out there that wants more re-releases on hobby shop shelves.

Dear Mr. Builteman,

Your attached email was sent to me since I am responsible for scheduling our new kit releases. Your comments about Tom are very true and we have a rich history with him over the years. In fact we have 7 of Tom’s kits in our line right now. For 2 of these models we actually had to recreate the molds to make these models. Compared to other subject matter areas, this is a very strong representation.

Now we will not continue keep all of these TD models in our line, but rather cycle in new ones. A number of the ones you have suggested are under consideration.

Our next new kit announcements will be at the hobby show here in October. Please check our website at this time to see what we have chosen.

Thank you for your interest in Revell-Monogram.

Regards,
Ed Sexton
Revell Inc.
1850 Howard St.
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007

Ed Sexton <ESexton@revell.com>

Direct: 847 758 3211

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"Kit Bashing"

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