1Coroner

Fitted the heater hoses. Used Scotch metallic washi tape for the clamps. Next I'll try making the throttle linkage.

So I experimented with shrink-tube over solder for the small heater hoses and it did not work very well. Unless the shrink-tube is very close to the same diameter as the solder, it tends to get wrinkles. But what it did lead me to discover is that the next larger size of solder is a VERY good method of making hoses with tight right-angle bends. It does not kink but makes a beautiful full-radius curve. Painted with a coat of black Vallejo it makes a very convincing hose. I am now experimenting with the best way to make the hose clamps. More to come .... Meanwhile I had purchased a Molotow chrome pen which I was going to use on the cylinder head dome nuts, but I wasn't sure how I would get access to some of the sides. Instead, I disassembled the pen and dumped the contents into a old Testors bottle and painted the dome nuts with a small brush. The photo does not do it justice. The results are FABULOUS! My Panther with a Jaguar engine is parked in my heated garage about ten feet from my modeling workbench and when I open the hood to compare the real thing with the model they are indistinguishable. Very pleased with how it turned out. And you can airbrush the Molotow as well, which will come in handy later on.

Made the steering column and mounted the battery and heater box. Next will be the hoses that run from the bulkhead to the heater valve and heater box. I'm going to experiment with shrink-tube over solder.

Made the radiator fan motor and fan blade. Yes, it really is that primitive .. no twist or camber. More like a lawn mower blade than a fan. Made the torsion bars and installed. The lower suspension a-arms in the kit actually do have the torsion bar hole, but the bars were not included in the kit. Installed my improved steering rack and improved sway bar. The kit has the dampers installed upside down, so I fixed that. I am not planning on having working front suspension so I glued a lot of the joints.

Heavily modified the heater box. Temporarily fitted it and the heater water valve to the bulkhead. The slot in the bottom of the box is part of the air diversion system when not needed in the cabin.

Added the pedal boxes, brake and clutch cylinders, brake reaction valve and the blanking plates for the opposite toe box. Next up; scratch-build the radiator fan motor and heater valve.

First color coat and added the brake booster/master cylinder, reservac and screen wiper motor. I painted the brake booster brass, then a light mist of gold and a mist of aluminum. Made a pretty reasonable cad plating.

Made the brake booster and master cylinder. And, happily, the end of the cylinder ends up just over the subframe diagonal where it is anchored with a small bracket (not made yet).

The e-type has a cylindrical cannister called a reservac mounted on the left kick panel that store manifold vacuum so you can get two or three boosted brake applications even if the engine dies. It is only accessible from underneath, hence the D-shaped opening in the under panel. Not included in the kit, so I had to make one from wood and plastic.

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement guys! Brandy, are you going to start a thread with your MGB build?

Just about done with subframe and bulkhead modelling. Next a color coat and then start adding things like brake booster and vacuum cannister.

Added the radiator fan motor bracket, the rear engine mount bracket and a bracket on the right firewall that actually isn't used for anything on the USA spec cars. Painted the aluminum parts of the engine. Sump fins turned out pretty convincing.

Once I got all the diagonal subframe stringers placed, it became obvious that the kit did not accurately model the underbody plates (which are removable in the real car, but I will keep them fixed).

Added more detail to the starter, fabricated the clutch slave cylinder and the oil pressure sender. Also the core blanking plate at the back of the block.

Hi Paul .... Thanks for the heads-up. I haven't looked closely at the front of the bonnet yet. But I do plan on adding all the inner panels, so I'll probably hack away at the headlamps as well.

Added the front motor mount brackets, crankshaft cross-drill plugs and remade the distributor mount which was too low and at the wrong angle. Added the flywheel baffle plate in the bell housing and the oil pan drain plug.

Getting ready to make the motor mounts and rear engine stabilizer. Fortunately my real-world Panther uses a Jaguar engine, trans, brake booster and other parts so I can take measurements from it.

Front swaybar, also not included in the kit.

Yes, I'm trying to make it as accurate a copy of my old car as possible. Here is the steering rack.

Added the torsion bar anchor plates and motor mount plates. I'm experimenting with spru-goo to fill in the gaps between the subframe stringers and gusset plates and make it look like weld beads. I'm scratch building a steering rack since the kit never had one.

+Started making the blanking plates for the passenger-side bulkhead/footwell. The little bolt heads were made with the hex punch from UMM-USA.

Back working on the E-type. I made the balsa fixture to hold the engine mounting posts and then, with square and round stock, made the subframe stringers. Next I need to make the gusset plates and add the tiny bolts and capscrews.

Can anyone explain to me how to add an image where I want it, rather than the random placement that seems to happen when I insert image from URL? Ken

I have a couple of thin steel plates and a huge selection of magnets which come in handy to fixture the E-type tub/bulkhead assembly. I temporarily assembled the kit parts to ascertain the correct location for the "picture frame" (part 44) and the "engine mounting posts" (part 36). I'm thinking about using a balsa block the fixture the mounting posts and clamping everything with more magnets. I'll also add small plastic pegs where each of the square and round tubes land on the bulkhead and picture frame for extra strength and to keep the parts in register when I apply the cement.

There's nothing like the first prime to show you where you still have work to do!