Bill Newcomer
The rear has kind of a mid sixtys Chrysler Imperial look to it.

Bill Newcomer
Lots of body work I see.

Nigel Chapman Autor
Sorry Bill, missed your comments due to wrong settings.
Just been looking at Chrysler Imperial rear pictures, and your right there is a sort of similarity. It's something I never considered. Bodywork has been fun and a good learning curve

Nigel Chapman Autor
Catching up with this build so got the interior completed after some mods to the dashboard and steering column. Rear bed is made up of drink stirrers painted then sanded for the worn look.

Danny Meer
Looking good allready 👍

Nigel Chapman Autor
Thanks Danny. So near yet so far. Not happy with the fit of some components so rebuilt the prop shaft and modified the radiator. This is slow going

Danny Meer
Everything to keep us busy during the cold winter days😉

Nigel Chapman Autor
Thanks for the thumbs ups guys.
Your right Danny. What would I have been doing if not modelling ??

István Szücs
A really "woww-build"! Great idea! Congrats!

Nigel Chapman Autor
Thanks

Nigel Chapman Autor
Prop-shaft problems with a bad fit so lengthened it and cut out the middle of chassis for extra depth then bridging the gap with scrap plasticard.

Nigel Chapman Autor
Mated the chassis to body but not happy with end result. The wheel/tyre combo looks strange and the front end is not low enough.
So put on back burner while I look for another suitable chassis and some low profile tyres.

Nigel Chapman Autor
Right plan B using 1:24 Revell MK1 Golf GTI chassis, engine and running gear.
Actual layout is not far off so hopefully minimal cutting will be required.

Nigel Chapman Autor
Spent the afternoon cutting and trimming with the Dremel to get the chassis to fit. I have to say this is working really well (so far!). Middle section will need further adjustment to fit flush.

Nigel Chapman Autor
More grinding and cutting and the chassis fits just fine.
The entire front clip and engine bay looks spot on. Why didn't I think of this earlier?

Brandon H
Very cool. I like your style, Nigel!

Nigel Chapman Autor
Thanks Brandon. I'm even contemplating a change of colour

Christian W
What sanding, cutting, cementing, modelling, sanding, sanding, sandig 😄
Very cool idea and ralization- The bed looks fantastic.

Nigel Chapman Autor
Thanks Christian, you missed another sanding!
Real pleased with the bed - very simple to do. It reminds me those old wooden speedboats.

Christian W
Totally. That came into my mind too. The interior is also great. Like one piece. Well done.

Dominik Weitzer
what a heck of work! i'm very interested of the finish.

Nigel Chapman Autor
Me too!! Not sure about the wheel base. I think I may have to narrow the front and rears chassis parts so the wheels fit in the body. Even with the VW wheels and tyres it's a tight fit.
Some research is required before any surgery takes place.

Nigel Chapman Autor
Bought a Dremel flexible shaft which has proved invaluable for this project. I've had to grind material from the inner body and interior tub to achieve the stance I'm looking for and to get a good fit the chassis parts.
So far the VW tyres/wheels will fit on the front using kit parts.

Nigel Chapman Autor
More chassis mods and tweaks. Rear end narrowed and spare wheel area removed. Black piece is from an AMT Ford van floor

Nigel Chapman Autor
Slow but steady progress. Front end is now done after more grinding to ensure a proper fit for the front clip.
Material removed from the front roll bar mounting area so it now fitts flush within the chassis.
Rear end parts narrowed slightly. Fuel tank had to be narrowed to fit the rear roll bar which now has a nice snug fit for the lowered look.
Hopefully the car will now sit nice and low at an equal height all round!

Chaz Gordon
The flex shaft is my number 1 dremel attachment. To really make the most of it, get yourself a footswitch. I got a £10 industrial one from ebay and wired it in the middle of an extension lead. My dremel is always ready for action now.

Nigel Chapman Autor
Ah, brillant idea. I never thought about doing that. I'll se what I can find

Chaz Gordon
This is the one I Got. Needed to use a connector strip to connect the Neutrals and earths together, but loads of space inside to hold it all in there.
https://ebay.co.uk/itm/22283..pid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A2334524

Nigel Chapman Autor
Brilliant, thanks.

Nigel Chapman Autor
Slow but steady progress. Chassis now ready for paint.
Paint stripped from body using Isopropyl alcohol.

Brandon H
Hmmm, so you did decide to change up the body color. What are you thinking instead?

Nigel Chapman Autor
Yep, the Gold just didn't do it for me so now I've got some Rover Pageant Mid Blue

Brandon H
Nice!

Nigel Chapman Autor
Managed to finish painting all the suspension and engine parts. It seemed to take forever!

Bill Newcomer
Suspension parts usually do not get many colors. I paint them all near the beginning of the build so I can get to the 1+1 gluing stage.

Nigel Chapman Autor
Moving onto the bodywork. A couple of coats of primer to highlight the needy areas. More filler applied and slowly but surely I'm getting a decent base for the topcoat.

Nigel Chapman Autor
Wow! Just over a year and I'm resurrecting this project. Bodywork has been much improved over the last month with more filling and sanding. I've bought a pack of various graded wet n dry paper up to 1500 which has helped big time. Still not perfect and a learning curve but I am happy with the result.
Second round of painting using the new paint booth.

Nigel Chapman Autor
Resurrected this project [again] as it had been lying around for 2 years and the body was still not right in places the longer I kept looking at it.
24 hrs in brake fluid and paint was stripped for a second time (!), the photos show the end result.
It's not as bad as it looks and some areas could do with some extra work.
I have been looking at bodywork techniques so bought some Holts Cataloy knifing putty from Halfords for £2.99.
Applying it is an art form as it sets quickly so good practice on this body. Small amounts and one pass with the spatula seems best.
After sanding I've decided to refine the bodywork particularly the bumpers and rear.
So it is a restoration, remodel or build? 🤪

Nigel Chapman Autor
Engine now 99% complete. There were some fiddly bits - issues with fitting the air intake, having to modify parts to fit. The drive shafts should have been attached from underneath once engine was fitted in the bay, you live and learn.
The kit distributor was removed and replaced with a pre wired aluminium one from Hiroboy.
It is a nice little engine that fits well in the Subaru engine bay.

Nigel Chapman Autor
At last ready for another paint job!
New rear lights fabricated from clear sprue with red car headlamp tint stuck to the rear.
Thin strips of styrene glued to the bumpers to give a more defined profile.
Additional styrene strip added around the internal edges to give better edging and to hide the warped interior tub sides.
The roof hoop has also been reinforced with styrene to give a better definition.
New cockpit rear panel fitted and strengthened which also hides the rough edges of the wood bed.
Lastly repainted the interior parts with Humbrol Matt white to get a clean look - I couldn't believe how dirty the white parts actually were.

Nigel Chapman Autor
Body now ready for its third paint job after spending the week filling and sanding. It's looking a lot better after some graft and has been a good lesson in body prep, not bad when considering it's around 45 years old.
Managed to drop it on the kitchen floor breaking the roof hoop so got a repair done and will attempt top coats tomorrow.

Bill Newcomer
Dude! You're not supposed to be dropping months of hard work! Be careful especially right after you paint.

Nigel Chapman Autor
Memo to self don't carry too much at one times.
I didn't realise at the time but the photo shows a split between the grill and front wing so more repairs.
Luckily it's only primer.

Nigel Chapman Autor
Back to where I started.
Final assembly has begun, with everything fitting together fairly well. There were some odd tweaks to get the interior tub into the correct position.
In hindsight I should have modified the front subframe to enable the front suspension to sit lower. As it was already glued in place, I have adjusted the whole front suspension to fit as I want (photos to follow). Memo to self check the stance is right first before gluing 🤪!

Nigel Chapman Autor
Stance is a low as I can easily get.
The front was bit of a cheat removing the tops of the tyres and front shocks. The steering arm can then be attached to the top of the wheel assembly instead of below.
I had more room to drop the rear end but still ended up having to remove quite a bit of the wheel arches to get a proper fit and correct height.
Also discovered the fire wall as it was too high for the bonnet to fit so some very careful emergency Dremel work was required.

Nigel Chapman Autor
Finally finished! Think this will be a Marmite model - love it or hate it.
The VW Golf GTI chassis/running gear was a master stroke and looks almost factory stock.
Still got some quality control issues with the paint which I had run out of toward the end (A couple of spots need a retouch)
The graphics were a bit of an afterthought but serve a twofold solution, covering some of the paint issues and to break up the blue.
I used some old Decal Trim self adhesive stripes cut to size with a pair of scissors which only took around an hour to apply.
The bonnet intakes suffered a Molotow pen leak so had to be repainted hence a new pen set and the white outline.
In the end I achieved what I wanted - A 60's style show rod using a 1978 Subaru Brat body with a 68 Camaro bonnet, various 50's GM interior parts (I think😅) and 81 Mk1 Golf GTI chassis and running gear.

Brandon H
Love the graphics!

Bill Newcomer
Glad to see it finished. Good thing it a show car. Driving it a speed into a swarm of insects would be no fun. 🙂

Nigel Chapman Autor
Thanks Brandon
You can't beat flies in the teeth