1939 Willys gasser

[busnproplinerfan]

In between working on my F-8s, http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234993879-172-f8u-1-crusader-140444-and-140446/, I started working on a '39 Willys gasser. I thought I'd start this because I thought I'd be waiting a month for some more F-8s that I ordered. Turns out they made it from Korea to Winnipeg in just over a week. Well I want a break from them anyway for a short time. The body of the Willys is resin from an ebay find, he has the '37, '38 and the pickup truck versions. It took a little while to get last year, but worth it. I want to make it as a gasser because these are just cool early race cars. Lots of the '37-39s had the front clips dumped in favor of the more popular '41s. So not many still exist. I'm using the Revell '41 kit as a donor. There are two Revell kits, one (Stone, Woods and Cook version) with a lot of detail, opening doors etc. and one with a lot less, but very different parts. I have both and I'm using the one with the lesser detail (red on box). I'm trying to keep as much of the kit box stock....well was.

Here's the basic '39 body as I got it, minus the black paint.

Here's the frame with resin highboy springs adapted to the kit parts. I had to make a steering box (was none) and new pitman arm. I also had to make a brake cylinder and brake and clutch parts under the floor.

Here I cut out the grille openings, just looks so much better than black paint.

I found out that the hood has a simple short piano hinge at the rear of the hood. I think the Willys army Jeeps are more complex that this. I started out with trying to use small magnets (from the fridge magnet butterfly in the picture) to help hold the hood in place. Worked ok, but not good when up. I saw a picture of the hood laying back against the windshield so it can go any height, but the magnet doesn't work. I tinkered with small brass wires and fake piano hinges on the cowl. When I made and set up the prop rod, the hood wanted to fall over to the left. Which is why I went to using the wires. The wires hold ok and maybe don't need the magnet but won't take them out now. I found out, good side cutters will cut the small magnets, just make to to use tweezers to hold them, they also get weaker as they get smaller. Maybe rare earth magnets would be better? I also made two guides to help hold the hood straight when lowered. There is also a small 2 mm x about 1 mm rod glued to the inside edge of the right fender for the prop rod to sit on with a small round notch drilled into the top. I'm not sure how scale these parts are, but they look like they belong. I also very carefully notched and put small brass rod where the piano hinge would be on the back edge of the hood, it also covers up a bit of messiness from experimenting with the hinge design.

Here's the view from below, you can also see where I ground out the resin behind the grille. found out that with the grille slots painted black you can see how far to grind the backside to the grille without going to far. Worked better than cutting from the front which I did on the first slot I cut.

I'm not sure of the final colour scheme, but picked up Testors Inca gold laquer, figure that out more as I go. I want to keep it with a late '60s theme.

Edited January 16, 2016 by busnproplinerfan

[richellis]

Cool, I do like gassers! Watching this build!

[rs2man]

I agree with Rich - gassers are great . I'll be following this one too .

[busnproplinerfan]

Thanks guys.

[Mumbly]

Sorry for the stupid question, but what is a "gasser"?

Tony

[vontrips]

Sorry for the stupid question, but what is a "gasser"?

Tony

Essentially, they were drag racers during (mainly) the 60s. They were mostly based on full bodied street cars ranging from the 30s to the 70s but were stripped off everything to reduce weight. Normally, they had a high front end to ensure weight transfer to the rear tyres for traction. I think the name came from them using pumped gas, rather than ethanol. Most weren't street legal but some were. Notable (and awesome) British gassers were Roarin Rat ('57 Chevy) and Henry Hirise (Consul). Look them up!

[Mumbly]

Ah! cool. Every day is a school day! Should have known that as my brother used to buy Custom Car magazine, though I only used to look at the pictures

[ptcruiser]

Ah! cool. Every day is a school day! Should have known that as my brother used to buy Custom Car magazine, though I only used to look at the pictures

Shouldn't need to ask which ones Mumbly

[Mumbly]

It was only recent that I realised it had cars in the magazine, I suppose that is a sign of age, then and now.

[busnproplinerfan]

That Henry is cool. While looking at those, saw a video of a light tan Merlin powered wagon. Has a huge long hood.

Edited January 18, 2016 by busnproplinerfan

[richellis]

Have you seen the welderup gasser on sin city motors?

Its about the coolest one I've ever seen!

[vontrips]

That Henry is cool. While looking at those, saw a video of a light tan Merlin powered wagon. Has a huge long hood.

That'll be the work of John Dodd; he built 2 or 3 of them. I think one went up in flames and was rebuilt. He had a legal battle with Rolls Royce, who made him remove their grill and mascot. Legend has it that a German industrialist was passed by it at great speed and only spotted the flying lady...he called RR asking for such a car and they'd never heard of it. The rest is history!

I saw this car 20 years ago in Battersea Park when the Chelsea Cruise was still going. Dodd's son had just driven it all the way back from Spain and called in on his way home! Marvellous beast, but sounded like a bag of spanners at tickover!

Edited January 18, 2016 by vontrips

[busnproplinerfan]

That'll be the work of John Dodd; he built 2 or 3 of them. I think one went up in flames and was rebuilt. He had a legal battle with Rolls Royce, who made him remove their grill and mascot. Legend has it that a German industrialist was passed by it at great speed and only spotted the flying lady...he called RR asking for such a car and they'd never heard of it. The rest is history!

I saw this car 20 years ago in Battersea Park when the Chelsea Cruise was still going. Dodd's son had just driven it all the way back from Spain and called in on his way home! Marvellous beast, but sounded like a bag of spanners at tickover!

Must be a thirsty engine, but then it's not even working in that car. When I first saw the video racing, I thought it was electric by the sound. Wondered why the hood was so long and then I saw the Merlin.

[busnproplinerfan]

Got a bit further lately. Here's the kit's Hemi. I added and alternator and made a bracket to hold it and the idler pulley in place. There was no alternator and no idler pulley mounting in the kit. The alternator belt is just a piece of black thread wrapped and glued to the bottom of the crank pulley, Not perfect, but it's so burried you'll never know. I thinned down the blower belt and tried to make small cog detail. If this had a flip front I would have got some aftermarket parts. I also added the fuel lines and metering block to the Hilborn injection. Paint is alclad's airframe aluminum over gloss dark sea grey, much nicer than black in my opinion. The green is the older Detroit Diesel green, I have some actual engine laquer paint. I couldn't figure out what colour would look good for it. The exhaust headers had separate bottom tips that I blended in. These are alclad stainless steel, again over dark sea grey. I lightly airbrushed clear red and clear blue to simulate heat discolouring. The red kinda dissappeared.

I made plug wires from twist ties. The ones with the easier to remove paper. I have some small wire with black insulation that I stripped off in short pieces. I fitted that over the metal wire and painted the wire flat black (could use satin for a new look). I knocked out the molded spark plugs on the valve covers and drilled a small hole, the wire now plugs into the hole. The distributor cap has the tips nicely molded and the insulation just fits snug. The hard part was shaping each wire. I roughed in one at a time then put them on the valve covers first. I should have glued them down as I was working on them, but they do stay. I then tweaked them to final fitting on the distributor which did sit nice in place. The coil wire is stretched sprue because the tip on the distributor broke off.

The frame is mostly stock kit as mentioned above. I airbrushed it humbrol gold and then humbrol clear red. The chrome is alclad over gloss dark sea grey, again, much nicer than black, not as dark looking. I added the gas tank mounting plate, made the steering box and steering linkages. I also moved the front shock mounts to the inside of the frame, the linkages would hit the shock when steering, even though it doesn't actually steer.

Edited February 17, 2016 by busnproplinerfan

[busnproplinerfan]

Have you seen the welderup gasser on sin city motors?

Its about the coolest one I've ever seen!

Is that the green 55 Chev? If so that thing looks huge, sits like a truck. Here's a neat old one I saw for sale on classiccarslist.com.

This is a great site for old car reference pictures, lots of unrestored stuff to. Good thing I'm not rich or I'd buy this one.

[richellis]

Yea, that's the one, with the engine ripping through the hood!

[busnproplinerfan]

I now have the frame done. The gas lines are made from metal twist ties, the ones with the easier to remove paper. Made a gas pump and filter and connected them to the tank and metering valve. I had to lowewr the rad into the frame, it wouldm't fit between the fenders for some reason, so I made a new crossmemeber out of channel and new rad hoses. I made the rad hoses look like metal pipes with rubber connectors. This is what many diesels have. I figure it would make for a more reliable for a race engine. Most of the rest is stock from the box. I also moved the rad cap from the rad to the head crossover pipe by the gas lines because the rad sits so low, i'm not sure if it would work in the real world.

Here it is with the body resting on the frame. I removed the magnet I put on the firewall earlier, didn't end up needing it. I penciled on some of the graphics, I hope they work, it'll all be painted. The checker board wall is my bathroom wall, finally have a use for the wall. The car will be called "The North Ender" I'm calling it that because I live in the North End neighborhood of Winnipeg which is known to be a bit of a rougher but more genuine and older immigrant and Native area where the people come first. Quite historical to Winnipeg to, but that's not in any tourist brochure. I get that feel with the Willys, a little polished, a little rough but will get the job done.

Edited February 17, 2016 by busnproplinerfan

[busnproplinerfan]

Got some primer on, well, first I sprayed on "plastic adhesion promoter" I use it on all my resin. It's what bodyshops use, well supposed to use, as the first coat on any bare plastic parts before priming. I want to paint scales. It was a thing they did back in the '60s or so. I found a few videos on youtube, so that's the easiest way to explain it, watch one. I made a pattern on regular paper. Carefully traced out a 3 mm half round from a pen barrel and carefully cut it out. I made it big enough to cover the trunk lid. I had to add a strip of masking tape just behind the pattern for added stiffness. Oh, remember to start from the rear with the pattern going the correct way. My first attempt had me me completely lexdixic, dislexic, whatever(four hours later). I had to respray the silver and start over. The colour is clear green acrylic and silver is testors. I have to get more green and redo the left front fender. Somehow a drop of thinner got on it and I ran out of paint. You can't easily just touch up scales, you will end up with a dark patch. So don't try to do a whole model.It's not perfect, but it's a start. 1:1 is much easier.

Edited February 11, 2016 by busnproplinerfan

[Popeye the Sailor]

very nice work do you like to de-chrome parts before you paint them? I recall back in the old days.......chrome parts galore. now, with all the metallic colors out there, do you think chrome parts have lessened in kits?

[busnproplinerfan]

very nice work do you like to de-chrome parts before you paint them? I recall back in the old days.......chrome parts galore. now, with all the metallic colors out there, do you think chrome parts have lessened in kits?

Thanks. yes the engine parts I dechromed first. I thought of leaving them but didn't want them all to look the same. Plus I wanted an excuse to try dark grey for a base colour. The wheels are the original chrome. I remember the good ol' kits and the tons of extra parts, mostly chrome, you could fill a parts box real fast. Since the last picture was taken I redid the scales two more times, they chip easy and the airbrush doesn't like acrylic paint to much, so it's hard to get an even spray. You can see some darker areas on the trunk. This time I cleared the scales, hopefully I have no surprises with masking. I found to that I had to make a new mask from a thicker paper board for the trunk because of the longer width.

Edited February 17, 2016 by busnproplinerfan

[busnproplinerfan]

A bit more of what has been done thus far. I masked off the scales, the ones that finally work. You can see my note above, turned out this will be the fourth time I redid the scales. The gold is model master inca gold decanted. This will be the outline. I did want to give it a soft edge but I thought it would clash with the sharp edging on the hood and roof. I now just painted it a very light grey, humbrol 129. Next I have to do the door jamb edges with a dark wash and paint a white primer. I just hope the paint doesn't get to thick. Final colour will be model master brilliant orange. I want to get and practice some gold leaf work for the door lettering. Sorry it's a bit grainy, the camera's not the greatest.

Edited February 20, 2016 by busnproplinerfan

[busnproplinerfan]

I made an attempt at doing scale turned aluminum. I tried resizing jpegs found online for making decals. It's not the greatest but could be used. I looked at how 1:1 stuff is made and saw somewhere someone tried this method. What I did was punched a small round piece of sandpaper (120 grit) need something fairly coarse and it's all I had that was coarse. I superglued it as centered as I could to a toothpick end after sanding the tip of the toothpick down to about the size of the cut out paper. I then put it in my motor tool and did my best to keep a straight line while buzzing the plastic. It takes some practice to get the feel and it's not to bad up close, not perfect. I used some black plastic from a food tray because I didn't want to paint the part and loose detail. I ended up putting on a bit of future and then smearing it around to thin it down. It also hide any burrs and gave it a more glossy surface. I then used alclad airframe aluminum on it.

Here's the body painted, just needs a few touch ups. I had no idea how this would look till I unmasked it. I have to paint the green/gold areas with a thick layer of humbrol clear because the orange ended up quite thick.

[Popeye the Sailor]

orange is such a hard paint to work with........I have quite a bit of it on hand. I remember doing a fishing boat with it.......it came out alright, but it needed to be laid on thick, or there would have been a lot of ghosting. you've got a great idea going on there....looks sweet!

[busnproplinerfan]

orange is such a hard paint to work with........I have quite a bit of it on hand. I remember doing a fishing boat with it.......it came out alright, but it needed to be laid on thick, or there would have been a lot of ghosting. you've got a great idea going on there....looks sweet!

Thanks, yes orange is different to paint, well a bit anyway, maybe it's easier to see any flaws on it. I have no idea where this colour scheme was and is going. I looked for some examples of what was done at that time, try to put myself in that mindset. I also have been listening to a lot of fuzz rock and psyche rock that was popular then.

[Popeye the Sailor]

flames......stripes.......probably more abstract stuff. back then, they didn't have half the techniques we know today {well, some of us,anyway}. unless they had sponsors, most numbers were given when they got there, written in paint or marker after registering and paying the entry fee. they also were 'classed' at that time.

some of the best results, come from ideas like this. imagination is good to have......some say I have too much somewhere buried in all the paint, is a concept. you'll find it, I'm sure