New member, new project - my attempt at the Li'l Gypsy Wagon

[leanthraki]

Hi all,

It's been many years since I built a model car of any kind, & having recently returned to building I thought it's about time for something new. So here I go, with an AMT Gypsy Wagon show rod. For some reason this kit caught my eye & I grabbed it at a sale price while visiting a friend in Switzerland. Home again in Greece I started looking around online at other builds, & altho I saw many really cool examples nobody had really 'gone to town' on detailing. One remark that stuck in my mind was about the front end, along the lines of "how would the steering work? Answer, it wouldn't". OK, challenge accepted! Another commented on the lack of engine detail, which set me thinking about stealing a Hemi from another kit. Those would be my main focus points, along with lots of other things to follow.



OK, let's start with that front end & steering. The kit has a fixed straight axle with the wheels at each end, definitely too basic, so I used a short piece of aluminium tube & made U-shaped supports for stub axles. The stub axles themselves are plastic tube uprights with metal rod spindles, attached with pins cut from pop rivets. The kit wheels are chromed & the spokes are quite thick, so I stole wheels from one of the motorcycles in a Monogram 'Off Road Adventure' kit that I've had for ages. They're basically the same size & the spokes are finer, I just sanded off the knobbly tread. To represent disc brakes & callipers I used the backs of the wheels from an old MPC Shelby Charger kit, tiny steering arms cut from scrap plastic, & altho I made the steering link I might replace that later.

So here are the axle parts





And assembled - ignore the texture in the primer, it'll be coming off again when I tidy the whole thing up.





Thinking about a replacement engine, I grabbed this Revell '32 Ford kit because it includes two complete engines, one of which is a hemi. So that's what will end up in my Wagon



Next job is to attach the axle to the forks, so more pics soon.

Thanks for looking!

G

[flounder]

This looks interesting. Carry on and welcome aboard.

[TooOld]

Welcome aboard and really like where you're headed with this , you're idea for the steering is excellent !

[stilljustharley]

Full marks for correcting the steering and under detailed engine!

[DVS]

This is going to be fun, looking forward to seeing your progress.
Welcome to the forum.

[leanthraki]

Many thanks for the replies everyone 

So I finally made a bit of progress with my Gypsy Wagon, starting with attaching the front axle/steering assembly to the forks. To add a bit of strength to what is a very small contact area, I drilled out the ends of the forks & inserted 2 pieces of metal rod, then drilled matching holes on the axle tube before gluing the parts together.





Knowing that I'd be using the hemi from the '32 Ford, which has a full gearbox, I needed to extend the frame & move the rear axle back by about 25mm. First I stripped the chromed parts & assembled the kit frame, & then used offcuts of 'L' section plastic to make the extension piece & attached it, adding some strength will metal pins. The other additions were engine mounts - the kit engine is fixed by a tiny lug on the crossmember but I wouldn't be using that as it blocked the sump of the new engine, so I made my mounts from scrap. There's more sanding & detailing to do but I sprayed the frame black so I can see areas that need filler, & here's a mock-up on its wheels.





You can see the frame extension in this photo, probably I'll make an insert from fine mesh, plastic sheet or even thin wood to make a kind of mini pick-up bed to store the accessories supplied in the kit.



Here you can just make out the engine mounts. I'm also thinking of making some sort of ladder bars between the frame & the rear axle.



And at the front I added extra supports, a piece of metal rod between the uprights on top & a scrap of plastic sheet underneath.



I'm thinking of having the forks, front axle & smaller details chrome, so I just got a Molotow refill for that - I haven't used it before so it'll be an interesting experiment!

Thanks for looking!
G

[TooOld]

Great progress ! It definitely needs some ladder bars to fill those wide open spaces , and I really like the idea of a small pickup type bed !

[leanthraki]

Hey guys,

A bit more progress this weekend, working on the rear axle. I made up some simple ladder bars from scrap plastic, they locate to the chassis with pins into the frame.





The kit shocks aren't terrible but the springs aren't that well defined, so I cut off the tops & bottoms, inserted metal rods with a plastic sleeves, & then used a cut down spring from a old pen to make new versions. Not perfect but I'm quite happy with the way they look now.



This was my first attempt with the Molotow chrome paint - & I love it!

More soon, thanks for looking!
G

[stilljustharley]

Now this is my kind of madness, turning a scale showrod into something which could actually be run (sort of) at full size!

[Dennis M]

Welcome aboard'' amazing work so far.

[farmboy]

Good work! Keep it comin'!

[leanthraki]

Hey guys,

Sorry it's been sooooo long since an update, but here we are at last & my attempt at the Gypsy Wagon is finished - sadly I lost several photos leading up to the completed item but I'll try to fill in details from the following pics...

So in the first two pics you can see the interior, lined with grey felt fabric & fitted with a seat & battery from the scrap box. The seatbelt is masking tape with wire & plastic buckle, & scraps of plastic make up the pedals. I'm not that happy with the heat stains on the exhausts, at some point I'd like redo that. Talking of, I found the kit exhausts to be a complete PITA, so instead used the injectors from the kit engine with a small piece of tubing added to the end of each one. And the two tall intake pipes on the replacement hemi are pieces of brass tube.




Here you can see how I filled/disguised the extended chassis - the fuel tank is straight out of the kit & the toolbox came from the Monogram 'Off Road Adventure' kit.



Among the lost photos were a few of the hemi engine I fitted, but you can just about make out a little of it here - I added spark plug wires, fuel pipes (from guitar string), throttle linkage (wire & plastic) & a tiny return spring. I also added a radiator stolen from another kit with top & bottom hoses, & a pipe from the fuel pump to the gas tank. There's brake pipes too, connected to the master cylinder (with the yellow cap).



Here's an overall shot of the finished Gypsy Wagon. In the end I did use the kit front wheels & added brake pipes & steering tie rods. Instead of the chimney provided in the kit I used the scoop that should sit on top of the injectors, just for a bit of fun.



And finally, a shot from the rear showing the opened doors so some of the interior details is visible. I took this picture before the cab was glued in place, hence the gap you can see inside - there's no gap now everything is glued together.


Overall I'm pleased with how my Wagon turned out, & it was an interesting little project.

Thanks for looking!
G

[stevielewis]

I think it turned out looking fine to me. Nice detail work as well.

[leanthraki]

Nov 6, 2023 12:22:56 GMT -6 stevielewis said:

I think it turned out looking fine to me. Nice detail work as well.

Thanks, much appreciated!

[JoeD]

That turned out really nice 
Love the modifications you and the detail is top notch 

Really nice build 

[leanthraki]

Nov 6, 2023 17:23:14 GMT -6 JoeD said:

That turned out really nice 
Love the modifications you and the detail is top notch 

Really nice build 

Thank you

[stilljustharley]

That turned out really well and, although I'm not sure I'd want to be behind the wheel, it does now look like it could be driven - something you couldn't say about the original!

[leanthraki]

Nov 7, 2023 1:16:13 GMT -6 stilljustharley said:

That turned out really well and, although I'm not sure I'd want to be behind the wheel, it does now look like it could be driven - something you couldn't say about the original!

 Much appreciated - I'm pretty sure it would be a wild ride!

[TooOld]

It turned out great ! Your steering solution and all of the added details make this one fine looking Show Rod , very well done !!

[leanthraki]

Nov 9, 2023 6:37:18 GMT -6 TooOld said:

It turned out great ! Your steering solution and all of the added details make this one fine looking Show Rod , very well done !!

Thank you, much appreciated 

[patw]

Very nice start, neat engineering.