TOPIC:

More progress - sanded down the wheel outer:






& the curved repair section for the inner:





That had a notch cut in it, a new partial spoke test fitted:






New spoke glued in & dremmelled for the wheel screw - it's not supposed to look perfect, in use it won't be seen, it's just enough for the nut to have something to stop against.





Sanded back the bonnet, it looks ok but still feels a little high ... I guess the guide coat of primer will reveal all...




Tailgate repair also looks good:




Have also repaired the wiper:




These fartarse little repairs are hugely disproportionate in terms of the time they take, but are worth doing ...

The front bumper on the other hand was a complete waste of time - it looked good after filling & sanding:



but drilling those holes old caused the glue joint to fail completely & all at once ... shame really, I thought I was on to something with this UHU Hart ...




I've also tried liquid poly, Evostick Impact, and superglue - none of them work

I have a cunning plan though, I've ordered some aluminium "U" channel + 12 & 10mm aluminium bar & plan to make my own, shiny "replica". I also looked at the cost of small lathes again ... looks like I'll be doing a lot of drilling & turning down the hard way

How are the wheel repairs holding up, I always had the idea they are they same kind of plastic as the bumper (Nylon?) and near too impossible to glue together, as are the rest of the parts in the front section.

keep up the good work

btw how are the gears of your Willy, the one I opened up this weekend had such shiny pionters on the aluminium gears that even a shark would have been scared.

waterbok wrote:

How are the wheel repairs holding up, I always had the idea they are they same kind of plastic as the bumper (Nylon?) and near too impossible to glue together, as are the rest of the parts in the front section.

keep up the good work

btw how are the gears of your Willy, the one I opened up this weekend had such shiny pionters on the aluminium gears that even a shark would have been scared.

I'm pretty sure the wheels are styrene - at least, they melt a little with liquid poly glue, so hopefully by using styrene as repair sections, the two will "weld" together & stay stuck. THe only other wheels I've repaired like this were on my 1st Cheetah, I've yet to run that so I can't say how well repaired wheels will hold up in rough use.

The gears look ok - both the set on the car to start with & the ones on the "spare" gearbox ... apart from the pinion gear - which was loose (i.e not attached to the motor, because there wasn't a motor) & looked like it have been removed by grabbing the teeth with pliers. The previous owner did report that the car was not wheelying - that could have been down to any number of things - pinion spinning on the motor, worn out motor, worn out clutch, poor batteries (possibly in the wrong place) ... I'll see if I can work out which of the two clutches is best, otherwise I don't forsee a problem

More progress:

HAve been busy priming bodywork bits...




... and my helmet is a lot smoother after filling, rubbing down & priming:





First attempt at the blue for the bodywork was far too light...




Second attempt was better ...




... but "cockpit green" on the spare wheel and jerrycan just look wrong, as do my attempts on Willy himself - "buff" overalls & a _very_ light brown on the gloves.




"Khaki" looks better on the tailgate accesories, "khaki drab" on Willy's overalls & buff on the gloves also look better, although now he looks far more 1968 US Marine Corps rather that 1942 US Navy flier... for the 2nd base coat on the overalls I'll try lightening the colour a bit & also adding some "flat base" to make it a bit more matt. I also broke my own rule about using gloss colours on driver figures (on the boots), so I'll also correct that.

I'm meant to be form filling, but they are sucking my will to live - I really need some light relief ATM ....



Attempting to separate the rad from the old grille ...




... was much easier with a Dremel




There are some alignment issues with the new grille - note the left light lower light (right in the pic) ...





... but the holes are totally obscured by the brackets any way. Note the stainless cap head screws - evidently I was organised enough to buy the fasteners I needed for rebuilding my Willy while I still had a pot to whizz in




After carving the lights off the rad, it can be fitted too high ...


... or on the badword slant ...



... so notching it is a better idea:





I sawed the back off the lights, so they also fit:

Tyres had a long soak in glycerine - which I never cleaned off entirely, so they've been sitting in it in a bag for months - they're not going to get any softer now

Wheels have had two coats of Audi "Silver" & one of clear:




Foam inserts go in first ...



... followed by the unseen plastic inners ...



... and the newly painted outers, with new fasteners:





Lots of the body sub-assembly done:



... and finished, apart from finding a screw long enough for the spare wheel, which is just held on with luck ATM..






I don't know, I'm not feeling overly inspired by this one ... I think a couple of USAF roundels will help, I did wonder about a roof too:

Really nice job, again, Jonny.
For some reason, the blue color goes really well on the Willy, I assume it must be because it's flat, and just the correct color.

As usual lovely detail work, but I am sure the overall look of Willy would improve even more if you did some more details around/in the eyes. Some brown for eyelashes, a blue iris, and maybe even a dot of white for sparkle in the black pupil would finish him off

-Lars

Made some "decals" for the bonnet (hood) & spare wheel ...



The red dot _is_ correct for USN / USAAC planes of the period I have in mind, it was phased out in 1942.





Almost totally unrelated, I have two extra Willys - one still on the sprue, this one I kept after getting rid of the RC10 gold tub/Ascot sprint car I'd put him in as it just wasn't working for me ... paint is based on the "Stunt Car Racer" game ... maybe I need to make a one off car for him

Some nicely machined & tapped aluminium bits arrived in the post today, thanks to eddrick:






I just have to cut, file, drill & polish the U-section