MGB. The Rubber Bumper Variety

[Spiny]

21 hours ago, TonyW said:

Another useful tool for wheel painting is a cocktail stick. I use them to remove mistakes on aircraft canopies and suchlike. Catch the paint still wet or only just set and the pointed end of the stick removes unwanted paint to very fine tolerances.

 

 

It may not look it from the photo but the cocktail stick has already had extensive use 😬 Trouble is there is one area I need to touch up where I overdid the cocktail stick! As you say, cocktail sticks are very useful tools, I'd even go so far as to say it's the most useful non-specialist modelling tool there is...

[keefr22]

1 hour ago, Spiny said:

I'd even go so far as to say it's the most useful non-specialist modelling tool there is...

 

I'd say it ranks equal with cotton buds!

 

Keith

[Space Ranger]

On 7/30/2021 at 4:03 PM, ElectricLightAndy said:

They never had such a lovely yellow on the MGB, the did have one called Citron which was a green tinged yellow 🤮 I agree, brown is good 👍 although the very last mgb roadsters they did an orange metallic (and pewter on the GTs)

My 1968 US-spec B-GT was Pale Primrose. A lovely car, too, with chrome wire wheels, black leather interior, and electric overdrive. I had forgotten about the three windshield wipers, however.   Thanks for the memory! I wish I still had it, but sold it when I decided to go back to university and get married. If I win the lottery, I’m going to buy another one.

 

Seems like there was a significant change in the 1969 US models, also, but I can’t recall exactly what.

[Noel Smith]

The MGB is a nice looking sports car. Whilst the rubber bumper version is not to my taste as I prefer the look of the chrome bumper version, this model is progressing well and will look most impressive.

I think that besides the rubber bumpers the ground clearance was increased a bit on those cars.

[Spiny]

Yes, I think is was by quite a bit too (maybe as much as 2") to meet the US bumper regulations, same change which brought in the rubber bumpers.

[Paul H]

If the chassis / floorpan is assembled into the body as per the instructions, that is at the rubber bumper ride height.  For the lower chrome bumper ride height, the floorpan can be squeezed into place so that it clips higher up inside the body.  It fits so well, that it seems deliberate, but there is no mention in the instructions of the releases that I have.

[Rookesy]

I have a 1:1 scale 1977 MGB in the garage. The height of the rubber bumper car was raised by 1" over the chrome bumper cars. The US version of the MGB did have 3 wipers and also had indicator repeaters on the wings. The overdrive switch is on the top of the gear stick on the RB cars but on the chromed was on the dash. If you are fancying putting stripes on the car MG did a couple of limited edition models such as the Jubilee version.

[Spiny]

Having a full size one isn't to be sniffed at - not really the right time of year for it at the moment but I hope you enjoy using it in the sunnier months. Good job you mentioned the side indicator too as I was planning on fitting that, your comment about it being for the US got me checking Google Images and that will be omitted now.

 

23 hours ago, Paul H said:

If the chassis / floorpan is assembled into the body as per the instructions, that is at the rubber bumper ride height.  For the lower chrome bumper ride height, the floorpan can be squeezed into place so that it clips higher up inside the body.  It fits so well, that it seems deliberate, but there is no mention in the instructions of the releases that I have.

 

I do remember a build on here which mentioned that you can put the floor above the clips on the body to get a realistic ride height for the chrome bumper version, I'm guessing it was yours in which case you can be assured that quite a bit of what you did stuck in my mind

 

As for the build, I managed to scupper any chance of making good progress this week. Last week I mentioned that the instructions have lots (and lots) of flat black, and the same is true for the rear suspension. But I wanted to see how accurate that was, and Googling found three different colour schemes for the drum brake housing - all black, black with a circular silver bit and black with a silver cross. Initially I was going to do the second one, but my painting was rubbish and the silver circle looked as though it had been painted by a blind pony, so I changed to the silver cross which at least allowed me to follow some edges on the part. The upshot is that I've only just got the drum housing painted, so assembly will have to wait until next weekend, but here's the parts painted and ready to stick together:

 

 

On the theme of moving away from things being all the same black, I mentioned last week that I was going to paint the engine and transmission which are all moulded into the chassis, and just called out as flat black. That did get completed this weekend, so here it is waiting for parts to be stuck to it:

 

 

And finally, those Rostyle wheels. I've almost got the first two finished now (the second one just needs the nuts painting) but the first one is completed and has the tyre added now. I do need to sand down the tread still, but thought I'd let the paint get fully hardened first. As the male part of the join for the wheel is on the hub I'm thinking this could be a good opportunity to dry putting in the drill and turning the wheel against sandpaper - much less effort than sanding the tyre down manually. But here's how the first turned out - the second one looks as though it may end up marginally better.

 

 

And that's it for this week. Thanks for looking.

 

[Windy37]

Good job on the Rostyle . I know people who had them on cars back in the day and after every winter they used to repaint them . Not with a cocktail stick though 😕 

 Gary  . 

[keefr22]

That's really tidy work on the wheel, very neat!

 

Keith

[JeroenS]

That is one neat rim indeed. 

[Spiny]

Thanks everyone, glad to know that the time spent on the wheels is looking as though it's worthwhile

 

23 hours ago, Windy37 said:

Good job on the Rostyle . I know people who had them on cars back in the day and after every winter they used to repaint them . Not with a cocktail stick though 😕 

 Gary  . 

 

What about a Tamiya Ultra-Fine brush? I don't think the cocktail stick is fine enough for anything other than scraping off where I overlapped with the paint!

[Brandy]

I had a '72 B Roadster with Rostyles and only repainted them once - with smoothrite (as opposed to Hammerite). It was used daily, roof down even in winter. Damn I miss it.....

 

Ian

[Toftdale]

Great job on the wheels, I definitely would have not got a result as neat as that without masking.   - Andy 

[Spiny]

All it needs is lots of magnification, a very fine brush, holding your breath until you almost pass out and most important of all a cocktail stick to clean up at the end where you've painted bits you shouldn't have...

[Spiny]

One of those weekends this time where you seem to spend ages not achieving very much. But here goes...

 

First job was assembling all the rear axle parts I painted last weekend. Happily this was one job which went very smoothly.

 

 

Unfortunately things then took a distinct turn for the worse when I moved onto the shock absorbers. The right hand side one was fine, but I managed to snap the left hand side getting it off the sprue. Then to make matters worse, I snapped it again while filing off the attachment stub on the damper itself

 

 

That set me back a bit as I had to fix the three pieces back together, firstly the two parts of the lever action arranged on inverted masking tape then a bit of Tamiya Extra Thin applied to the break. Once that had set, I could then use the chassis as a jig to hold the now-two parts in place before gluing together with more Tamiya Extra Thin. The part was then painted with the paint providing a bit more strength - one of those examples of structural paintwork😄. And just now I got that bit installed on the chassis - it's the one in the foreground. The only other bits added were the other rear damper, gear selector linkage and front ARB, all on the next pic if you look carefully!
 

 

Other than that, I've tried out sanding the tread on the first wheel by fixing to the front of an electric drill and turning against 400 grit sandpaper - much easier than doing that by hand! I've also got three wheels painted now, just one more to go. And the exhaust has been assembled, glued together and the join on the silencer has had filler applied. Next week that'll get sanded down and I'm hoping there will be much more visible progress as believe it or not the chassis is almost done. This is a much simpler kit than the XJS was!

 

Thanks for looking.

[Spiny]

A bit more progress this weekend, most obviously that the chassis is finished. No real dramas to this, just sanding back filler on the exhaust, painting that and the fuel tank then sticking those and the front and rear suspension onto the chassis.

 

 

I could also have put on the wheels, but they've just had a brush of Microsol so I'd rather wait and let that dry fully rather than risk messing up the hub decals. But they are all painted, tyres worn (by spinning on the end of a handheld drill against 400 grit sandpaper) and decals in the process of being applied. Here's how they all turned out, not too much variation in standard between them so I don't have to work out which one to hide on the side of the car which won't be seen in the display cabinet

 

 

As that was all quite straightforward I also got a chance to start finishing off the paint on the body. It's only had a rub over with 4000 grit Micromesh so far, hence the dull finish, but I've managed to get rid of most of the orange peel with only a couple of bits burnt through, and those have been touched up. Next up a quick rub with finer grades before polishing.

 

 

The keener eyed amongst you will notice that I did burn through on the side strip, but I'm not worried about that as it's going to be chromed anyway,

 

And finally, I made a very small start on the interior. Unlike some Japanese kits Aoshima do provide backs to the seats so I fitted those and took the opportunity to try out Humbrol filler as recommended by @JeroenS. I've not tried sanding it yet, but first impressions are that it doesn't look to have sunk anything like as much as the Vallejo stuff I have been using. I also stuck the dashboard together and am just starting to paint that - the interior will only get started in earnest next time I'm on the bench though. But it does feel as though I'm making rapid (for me) progress on this one, maybe an indication that it's a fairly simple kit.

 

 

Thanks for looking.

[keefr22]

Those wheels look excellent Spiny! And I do love that typical 70's body colour!! 

 

Keith

[Windy37]

The wheels look really good . I usually hide things at the opposite side to the steering wheel , as I usually display steering wheel side up . 

  My dad had a late 70s Maxi 1750 HL in that chocolate brown colour BTW ! 

 Gary . 

[Spiny]

There must have been something about brown cars in the 1970s - my dad had a '78 Datsun 120Y in the Datsun equivalent of that dark brown, although my very young self remembers it being metallic. Looked a lot like this:

 

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRyGJJYGokKJGUmy1c_hZrCNygLj3z_Bq7uhA&usqp=CAU

 

Mind you, my best friend at primary school's dad had a yellowy-green (or greeny-yellow) Toyota Corolla at the time so maybe we got off lucky being ferried around in brown cars.

 

[stevehnz]

Coming on nicely, the Rostyles look great. I've long thought they were a good looking style.

Steve.

[Alan R]

In the very early 1970s, my dad had a Ford Cortina Mk2 in Saluki Bronze (metallic dark Poo colour!). Must have been the time for browns.

 

Cheers,

Alan.

[Spiny]

Back to the bench this weekend, and the first job was the easy task of fitting the wheels to the chassis. No difficulties here, and best of all it looks as though all four wheels touch the ground

 

 

Then it was onto the interior and the first job was to decide what colour it should be. The instructions give a choice of red (doesn't really work with the brown I think) or black, but a bit of looking on Google led me towards Autumn Leaf (i.e. more brown) for the interior. Choice of carpets by the looks of it, and I've gone for the dark brown for contrast with the seats and door cards. The seats had more filling to make sure they were right, although to my eyes the seat cushion is far too narrow, especially compared to the seat back. Still need a 3rd coat on the floor of the interior, but the rear bench gives is how it will look - Revell Leather Brown matt for the carpet and satin Wood Brown for the seats and door cards. Think I may need a 3rd coat for the door cards too, and obviously there is still quite a bit of detailing up to do on both next week.

 

 

I also got some more progress on the dashboard but this too is a work in progress. Gloss black for the appropriate buttons and dials (ready for decalling), with Molotow chrome brushed on for any chrome bits in there. I deliberately overdid the chrome as I plan to paint up to the bezels in particular with more flat black next week so you'll have to excuse the messiness as it stands.

 

 

I still also need to paint the 8-track and speaker, hopefully I can get those done next week although I think I may be struggling with all the colours for the 8-track.

 

However, most of my modelling time on the MGB this weekend has been spent polishing. No picture as I'm only down to 8000 grit, but it does look a lot shinier than in the pic higher up the page. Just the 12,000grit to go of the Micromesh so hoping to be in a position to post up the body next week.

Thanks for looking.

 

[Windy37]

Coming along nicely  , but those Rostyle wheels do look especially good 👍 

  Gary . 

[keefr22]

I agree, those wheels really look the business!

 

Keith