_SalD_

I wanted to show you another "chrome" paint. This one is manufactured by AK and called Super Chrome. The bottle calls it an ink, not paint. It likes to be sprayed on in a heavy coat, not light mist coats as you might do with Alclad chrome/metallic paints. Very easy to apply. Does not require a base coat but needs a smooth surface. I applied a much reduced Mr Surfacer 1500 black base under my parts which goes down very smooth.
 
The part on the left was painted with AK Xtreme Metal aluminum. The two valve covers painted with the Super Chrome ink. To me, it's a very convincing chrome finish and much better than the funky chrome plating that was on the parts originally.
 
In the background is my body shell painted in Mr Surfacer 1500 primer. The body will be painted with Mr. Color super silver, then clear coated with lacquer, decals, then more lacquer over the decals.

I'm in.   Brings pack memories of some great times...both the models and the real deals at the track.

Big improvement over the old base, well done.

A blast from the past.  I'm pulling up a seat an reminiscing. 

Big improvement over the old base, well done.

A blast from the past.  I'm pulling up a seat an reminiscing. 

A blast from the past.  I'm pulling up a seat an reminiscing. 

A blast from the past.  I'm pulling up a seat an reminiscing. 

A blast from the past.  I'm pulling up a seat an reminiscing. 

A blast from the past.  I'm pulling up a seat an reminiscing. 

This nostalgic kit comes all the way back from an original release by Revell in 1963, the Tony Nancy 22Jr Roadster and Dragster kit. Two complete kits in one box. My particular kit copy was re-released in the late 90's or early 2000's.
When you open the box you find some very flash-filled and crude parts by today's standards but nevertheless, the kits can be built into a very reasonable facsimile of the original racers.
I spent some time today cutting parts off the sprue trees and cleaning them up by sanding filling and sanding some more. Lots and lots of flash and parting lines on these old kits. If you get a chassis frame that's not warped, it's a miracle. These early dragster kits were notorious for having warped chassis but this can all be worked out reasonably well with a little persuasion and care.
To start, I am building the AA gas dragster kit first. I don't intend to spend a lot of time on these kits but will add a few extras here and there to modernize them a tiny bit. Will try to get a good paint finish on both. You'll notice I almost always start by stripping all the chrome from the plated parts as they are so full of flash, once they are cleaned up the plating is rendered useless. Priming and painting them with metallic lacquers will do a more than adequate job of giving the appearance of shiny metal.
Follow along and feel free to share comments as we travel down a nostalgic path that many of us took while building these kits in our youth. I sure did.

The body shell is intended to come apart in order to reveal the entire chassis assembly later on. Mine won’t be removable. In order to get a smooth body shell, I temporarily glue the panels together using acrylic glue. After sanding, the panels can easily be taken apart to fit the chassis inside. The glue is water solvable.

Shrouds and deadeyes:
I have a small serving machine so I decided I would serve the center of the shrouds where they wrap around the mast heads.

Served shroud pairs

I made a little jig, made up of twisted wire, that held the upper deadeye in position while the shroud was tied around it. 

After tying the first shroud I decided that I did not like the looks of the thread (rope) that was provided with the kit.  Fortunately I had extra rope left over from a previous build that I was able to use.  I served these lines and placed then around the mast heads.  Four pairs around the fore mast head,

and two pair and a single around the main mast head.

After tying all the deadeyes into position the lanyards were threaded through them.  I used a lighter thread for the lanyards to distinguish the standing rigging from the running rigging.

Completed fore mast deadeyes

Completed main mast deadeyes

 
Personal opinion:  I don’t know how much more this kit would have cost if a little better cordage was provided but imo it would have been worth it.

Drawing the waterline:
In order to level the ship so I could draw the waterline, I improvised a little bit by clamping the ships keel in between two spare floor tiles I had.  The hull was leveled and taped down and the waterline was marked out.  Fortunately the dinning room table was also level. 

The rudder:
The leading edge of the rudder was rounded per the instructions along with tapering its sides. The dowel for the rudders shaft was fitted and glued on.

The hole in the hull was drilled and the rudder assemble was dry fitted.

Thanks for all the likes and for following along.
 

Thanks druxey and thanks for all the likes.
 
No workshop but at least I have a nice view while sanding.

Big improvement over the old base, well done.

I've always been a 'hammer and chisel' guy, so it was high time I made a better stand for the restoration - the 'as-is' stand being rather crude.  A piece of mahogany was scrounged that looked about the right length ... the width ? ... well it seemed OK, and no use 'designing' something that would require buying a new piece.  The thickness is 3/4" (standard), and the ends can be trimmed with a table saw, but first the edges needed planing.  My favorite low-angle plane set to a light cut (and the blade is kept very sharp) made nice thin curls, once some of the roughness was removed.  Its not a proper jointer, but the idea was to remove just a little since the width is on the narrow side - ending up at about 3 1/2".

 
   After the ends were table sawn I thought I'd rout a nice recessed quarter-round - inspired by the nice bases that come in the vintage Scientific clipper kits.  The photo below is self-explanatory (having avoided the metal pieces pinching the board), and the piece was simply shifted a little laterally to complete the milling.

 
   The location of the cradles was judged by eye, then the same measurement was made from each end.  My old mitre box was used to hand-cut pairs of limiting lines carefully figured so the cradles should drop into rabbits with a snug fit.  Yeah, it might be easier (and more contemporary) to get a right-sized router bit, set up a stop and just make a single pass for each rabbit ... but (being an old-school guy - and having an afternoon to putz over something) using hand tools gives one a lot of satisfaction ... until something gets screwed up.
 
 

 
  Next up, a small hand router ... given the grain orientation of the base, it seemed wise to set the bit to 1/3 of the needed depth and work 'with the grain' on either side of the margins.  The picture below is actually the 2nd pass at 2/3rd the required depth.
 

 
 
  Once the edges have been shaved, the orientation of the cutter is made 90 degrees to the grain - which shaves off OK since the sides were done first.
 

 
 
  BTW, those checking this project from time to time will realize my pace is quite slow, with lots of 'thinking' in between steps.  No sense rushing, as I'm often quite absorbed doing things, then going off to do something else (many time seasonally influenced or otherwise mandated), then coming back and getting lost 'in the weeds' again.  'Suits me just fine.  Below is a full-depth rabbit.
 

 
   'Turns out the width is nice and snug - one can always trim or sand a tiny bit if needed, as opposed to trying to put wood back on.  There's one spot on the edge of the base that didn't quite clean up when edge planing, but I didn't want to take off the additional 1/16" just to smooth that spot.  A little sanding can help.  I also dropped the base and a small chip came off one corner - but no matter.
 

 
  The truly inspiring scratch build of the Mary Rose gave me the idea to get a profile (contour) gauge.  This will transfer the hull shape to the respective cradles before jig-sawing out the waste.  I realized that the hull lines constantly change, and that the cradles are about 1/2" thick,  so the hull profile of the forward cradle was taken from where the front face of the cradle goes - and the profile on the rear cradle is taken from the stern face.  I did mark the pieces lightly in pencil so I'd keep track of how everything needs to go together.   Note that the keel is pinned to the solid hull, and the applied trim on the hull is also pinned - a previously noted advantage of a solid-hull model.
 

 
  After cutting the waste from the cradles, a rotary tool was used (with numerous trial fits) to carve the cradle to fit more closely against the hull on the face opposite the one that the profile gauge marked.  Then some sandpaper (gripping reverse side paper would have been batter) was placed on the hull so the final sanding was done on the cradles where they are supposed to go.
 

 
 
  So far, so good ... but a trial fit of the assembly had the hull higher at the bow than it should be.  I noted that the deck in the raised stern section curves up, and the deck forward of the main mast curves up going forward (dead rise at the bow).  The picture below indicates that the bow cradle needs material removed from its base, and (after measuring) that cradle was removed and pieces of wood stacked to support the bow - adjusted so that the level was level just behind the main mast.  I judged how things looked by eye, and was satisfied with how it sat.  Re-measuring told me how much to cut from the forward cradle - which was done on a band saw with a guide.
 
  Below are the old and new bases side-by-side, and there is a marked improvement.  The cradles will be glued, then a pair of screws will be fitted from below as mechanical strengthening.
 
 
 
 

Thanks Jack and for the likes.  This is the first kit that I've purchased that the cordage is not up to par and to top it off there really isn't that much of it required.  I don't know if Model Shipways is tying to cut costs but even the eyebolts they supplied with this kit are inferior to the ones they use to provide.  Personally, like I've mentioned before, I like to try and use the material that comes with the kit since these kits are not cheap and I am.😁

Shrouds and deadeyes:
I have a small serving machine so I decided I would serve the center of the shrouds where they wrap around the mast heads.

Served shroud pairs

I made a little jig, made up of twisted wire, that held the upper deadeye in position while the shroud was tied around it. 

After tying the first shroud I decided that I did not like the looks of the thread (rope) that was provided with the kit.  Fortunately I had extra rope left over from a previous build that I was able to use.  I served these lines and placed then around the mast heads.  Four pairs around the fore mast head,

and two pair and a single around the main mast head.

After tying all the deadeyes into position the lanyards were threaded through them.  I used a lighter thread for the lanyards to distinguish the standing rigging from the running rigging.

Completed fore mast deadeyes

Completed main mast deadeyes

 
Personal opinion:  I don’t know how much more this kit would have cost if a little better cordage was provided but imo it would have been worth it.

Thanks Jack and for the likes.  This is the first kit that I've purchased that the cordage is not up to par and to top it off there really isn't that much of it required.  I don't know if Model Shipways is tying to cut costs but even the eyebolts they supplied with this kit are inferior to the ones they use to provide.  Personally, like I've mentioned before, I like to try and use the material that comes with the kit since these kits are not cheap and I am.😁

Shrouds and deadeyes:
I have a small serving machine so I decided I would serve the center of the shrouds where they wrap around the mast heads.

Served shroud pairs

I made a little jig, made up of twisted wire, that held the upper deadeye in position while the shroud was tied around it. 

After tying the first shroud I decided that I did not like the looks of the thread (rope) that was provided with the kit.  Fortunately I had extra rope left over from a previous build that I was able to use.  I served these lines and placed then around the mast heads.  Four pairs around the fore mast head,

and two pair and a single around the main mast head.

After tying all the deadeyes into position the lanyards were threaded through them.  I used a lighter thread for the lanyards to distinguish the standing rigging from the running rigging.

Completed fore mast deadeyes

Completed main mast deadeyes

 
Personal opinion:  I don’t know how much more this kit would have cost if a little better cordage was provided but imo it would have been worth it.

Thanks Jack and for the likes.  This is the first kit that I've purchased that the cordage is not up to par and to top it off there really isn't that much of it required.  I don't know if Model Shipways is tying to cut costs but even the eyebolts they supplied with this kit are inferior to the ones they use to provide.  Personally, like I've mentioned before, I like to try and use the material that comes with the kit since these kits are not cheap and I am.😁

Shrouds and deadeyes:
I have a small serving machine so I decided I would serve the center of the shrouds where they wrap around the mast heads.

Served shroud pairs

I made a little jig, made up of twisted wire, that held the upper deadeye in position while the shroud was tied around it. 

After tying the first shroud I decided that I did not like the looks of the thread (rope) that was provided with the kit.  Fortunately I had extra rope left over from a previous build that I was able to use.  I served these lines and placed then around the mast heads.  Four pairs around the fore mast head,

and two pair and a single around the main mast head.

After tying all the deadeyes into position the lanyards were threaded through them.  I used a lighter thread for the lanyards to distinguish the standing rigging from the running rigging.

Completed fore mast deadeyes

Completed main mast deadeyes

 
Personal opinion:  I don’t know how much more this kit would have cost if a little better cordage was provided but imo it would have been worth it.

Thanks Jack and for the likes.  This is the first kit that I've purchased that the cordage is not up to par and to top it off there really isn't that much of it required.  I don't know if Model Shipways is tying to cut costs but even the eyebolts they supplied with this kit are inferior to the ones they use to provide.  Personally, like I've mentioned before, I like to try and use the material that comes with the kit since these kits are not cheap and I am.😁

I throw out the kit supplied cordage and replace it with Chuck's (SYREN) rope, likewise the blocks.
 
Looks good Sal.