# This weeks project



## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Hey Guys, this project was inspired by the nifty corrections Rick did to his AW Goat and Vette, but I'm still too chicken to carve a new body.  I always liked the stance of Bauer's GT-40 limited edition, but couldnt bring myself to pony up. My Bauer wannabe was an Aurora flea bay cull with a busted off rear post, both windshield posts absent, and the rear wells chainsawed. Donor parts/plastic came from another scabby red GT-40 out of my putty box. Finish is garden variety fast dry red bombcan for a base with two fat, wet coats of duplicolor 1400 degree clear for a top coat after the details were brushed in. The windsheild was repolished then undercoated with BBQ black bomb can. Chassis is another one of my maxed out rear drop axles, with AFX blue arm, mags and pickups. Not sure about the AFX stocker mags, but they were in stock! Sorta' been thinkin' about some Vincent slot dish rims. Does anybody make an HO scale Halibrand? I'm still a computer moron.  If the pics dont work, there's a couple in the photo album.


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## videojimmy (Jan 12, 2006)

wow, that's nice!


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## coach61 (Sep 6, 2004)

Wow nice restore Bill...who needs the bauer now? 


Coach


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## roadrner (Jul 21, 1999)

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: rr


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## gear buster (Dec 1, 2005)

*nice..*

I like the new look...Nice Car and Excellent work. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:


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## Mike(^RacerX^) (Mar 15, 2003)

Nice job Bill.Looks great.

Yeah,that Baur GT 40 has been on my list for a long time now.I just cant fork over that kinda dough tho,for a car that I would want to run and beat up.

Mike


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## 22tall (Jul 28, 2002)

Excellent job and the wheels and tires are a very nice touch.


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## scratch (May 16, 2005)

Bill,

_Very _ nicely done. Like the wheels, really sets off your nifty ride. 

Cheers,
Jas


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

that came out GREAT! Looks better than any of my old hacked up GT40s...

--rick


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

*Come on Rick! Who you funnin'?*

My "Model Murdering" pales by comparison. I've finally clawed my way through all the papyrus scrolls, and clay tablets in HT's archives. The sheer volume, not to mention quality, and innovation of your body of work is staggering! Not to mention the indepth step by step chronology of your projects :freak: From now on I shall refer to your work as the "Chronicles of Pernundle". I crown you "Dremel Devil", Warlok of the bits! :hat: You were on quite a tear. Few people outside the modeling field realize how much time these projects consume. When I looked at the work of others I cant help but calculate, and admire the hours spent sweating the the details to bring so many beautiful cars to life. I was dissappointed that so many pictures have been returned to the Matrix. Thanks to all for your appreciative comments and good humor. I'm having way to much fun! BH


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## Marty Mangione (Jan 7, 2004)

Can anyone tell me the name of a good slot shop online??


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## Mike(^RacerX^) (Mar 15, 2003)

Marty Mangione said:


> Can anyone tell me the name of a good slot shop online??



Probably.


Mike


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

*That was deadnuts funny*



Mike(^RacerX^) said:


> Probably.
> 
> 
> Mike


 You'll have to forgive us.  Although I'm not authorized to speak for him;  I think what Mike was trying to say is we'll need a little more to go on. Give us some particulars so we know how to direct you. This is definately the place to be. After returining to the hobby a year ago, I've learned more here in a month than I did on my own the whole year prior! BH :thumbsup:


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## boss9 (Apr 19, 2002)

Very nice, Bill!


That cleaned up right nice-
It looks as good to me as any re-cast or other makers cars.

I too, longed for the Bauer Gt 40's- but after reading up on them, they aren't much more than shelf-queens.

I've read where they are extra fragile, scuff and scratch easily, and the tire tampos wear off with th first handling.

I'd take one of your over theirs any day! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:


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## T-jetjim (Sep 12, 2005)

Bill - very nice detail. My caffeine induced brush strokes could not get the windshield wiper and gas caps detailed as well as you did. But honestly, the detail on that car would show up better if you turned the lights when you are taking pictures! Also, are you planning to burn this one up too (reference to your first thread post)? That would explain the high temp paints! LOL

Jim


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

*Thanks Boss and Jim*

"Jim", I appreciate the camera tip. For the record; the light was on, but nobody was home.  At this point my pics can only get better! :freak: LOL. On the arson watch, I do still use the gentle flame trick for removing stress marks on Aurora bodies and have a little giggle every time. I'm much better now! "Boss", after reading the review in HO World, I too was a bit put off by Bauer's "bruisable" GT 40 offering. Sounds more delicate than a moths wings! It's very pretty; better be! for the amount of cabbage required to ante up, Zoiks! My little red pile was built from leavin's that reside in my crap box. AKA very little cabbage required. "Dont take it out of the package" is a foreign language to me. "Dumb Krauts!", I can say that cuz I are one.  Thanks for the kind words. BH


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## grungerockjeepe (Jan 8, 2007)

Nice! sounds like you didnt have much to start with but it looks good now. I love the mags on that...but then, I like old school mag wheels on everything, so there's that.


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

[/INDENT]


grungerockjeepe said:


> ........ I love the mags on that...but then, I like old school mag wheels on everything, so there's that.


 :wave: Hi Grunge, I just realized your right down the road. I'm wavin' out the south window at you. :tongue: I'm in Shelton, just up from Oly on 101. I had a long day in 1:1 land and I'm still pretty wound up. I always really liked the standard AFX wheel, be they satin or mag. They're sylish without being too pimpy, light weight, run fairly true, and are pretty tough to split. Some times I repaintem' plain silver, other times I black out (actually charcoal gray) the center and resilver (brush touch) the rim for the old school "Keystone" look. I guess they call those Torquethrusters now. I ended up with quite a few mags from some parts bonaza purchases from flea bay. I narrowem', shave the hub, drillem out, whatever it takes to get the look/fit I'm after. The red GT-40 has the hubs shaved front and rear. Rear tires are 490's. Bigger hides are manditory on my drop axle setups or they drag butt. I think the fronts are Tyco 440 fronts that I snipped with my surgical scissors. The fronts are a bit hard for my liking and will get changed, it was all I had in a workable profile. I've used most all of my standard AFX mags. Lucky for me Tubtrack's gottem' by the pound - LOL. I whack up the specialty mags too and lovem'. I use HO Reproductions for my stock restos. The finish is awesome bar none. You gotta reamem' just right or they'll split. Doh! For my customs, I'm pretty bored with what's out there. Polished AJ's? nice but heavy, and the axle fit never was that great. Probably my porked out chassis, but then why do standard axles fit correctly? Dont need a Mic to figure that one out. Sloperama! 3R has some great styles, and variety. A little too flashy for an old fart like me. For me there is a difference between shine and luster. Cant explain it though. I also have trouble getting them to run true. I was all geeked up and tried six sets. I got two sets that ran true. I'm sure it's nuthin' on Phil. No doubt operator error on my part, but I ream and fit crap used wheels all the time like fallin' off a log ???!!!!! Love his bodies chrome and glass, I'm a little gun shy on the wheels now. MEV's now carrying Vincent rims, a whole new blood line for a variety starved section of our hobby. I think some Euro fare would look good on my european bodied stock t-jets. Just look at Claus' and other Euro builders stuff. Everybody has cool cars, but they've got different rims. Just gotta pony up the dough. I'll probably farg the Vincents up too - LOL! How could anything be worse than Lil' t-jet stocker' wheels or the the four lug Volks dimple? Funny that at the time, VeeDubYa's were a wide five lug, and later switched to the goofus four lug that was the remeniscent of Aurora' four lug dimple wheel. BTW you might see my liver lyin' around in Portland. I lost it down there about twenty years ago. Just drop it in the mail postage due! If you have occasion to come north drop me a line. Bill


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## clausheupel (Jan 27, 2005)

*Superb restoration!*

Hi Bill,

you really did a great job on that GT40!!! Looks so much better than a stock T-Jet - how did you get the body THAT low? Is it only the A/FX wheels?

Regarding those Bauer GT40´s: Hmm, I have 3 of them sitting on a throne (=> shelf queens) and only opened one package some time ago - resulting in the partial loss of 3 of the 4 tire decals. These cars are really looking sharp, but I HATE to have cars you can´t at least take some cruising laps to relax! I didn´t dare to give them a shot with automotive clearcoat yet as I don´t know if it will hurt their "factory" finish (and of course they´d lose their collectability...). :-|

BTW: Thanks for your detailed description of restoring bodies from scratch bodies and styrene cement in another post. I applied this technique myself a couple of times - but seldom with really satisfying results... ;-) Now I know what to keep in mind for the future (patience, patience and again: patience...)! 

Best regards and greetings from Germany,

Claus


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

*Vielen dank, Claus*



clausheupel said:


> Hi Bill,
> 
> ....... how did you get the body THAT low? Is it only the A/FX wheels?
> 
> Hi Claus, Good eye!  It's a rear drop axle similar in theory to what Dr. Synth uses in his axle relocations see: HT photo archives. It's radically more invasive but simple to execute. I chose to revisit the chassis. The tecnique allows me to save cars with butcherd wells. It requires "no" screw post, or plate rail shaving, unless you want too! The whole thing allows me to use a larger profile wheel or tire, and maintain an air gap that you need a feeler guage to measure. No fancy tools required, just the basics. About 75% of the job is done with a sharp #2 blade. Takes a couple two hours or so depending on your skill level. As with all things the time goes down after you do a couple. I use a simple to make bone head jig. The jig can be used front or rear depending on what your after. I'm a semi retired 1:1 mechanic and have always had a thing for the over all ride height and stance of any car. Most aurora type slot bodies dont have a lot of room to move up, and very little margin for error! :freak: This trick works first time every time with very little grey area other than wheel and tire size and profile, which I always plan ahead for anyway. The car is lower, lighter, faster, quieter, and handles like a train on rails! It's really just the AFX-ication (please forgive my idium) of the venerable T-jet. I picked up where others left off. Certainly illegal in most all organized racing, and for obvious reasons, it works great! For me it's been about saving hammered bodies, and bringing chassis back into service that have worn out rear axle holes or some other minor cosmetic flaw making them unsuitable for my collector cars. It' really been a win win situation. I'm kinda holding out on the actual details of the trick, as I'm trying to create a decent how to on the subject that the guys wont laugh at. :tongue: Take a look at the Blue Elva in the contest. It will get some narrowed AFX specialty mags when my latest order arrives. It's one of a half dozen or so I've built along this theme. The gruesome AJ's were all I had at the time, so close one eye and picture the car with deep slot dish mags.  How would you like to preview/critique my how to when completed? I would be honored! :hat: Regards - Bill


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## RacerDave (Mar 28, 2006)

Nice restore job Bill. Love the GT's.


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## T-jetjim (Sep 12, 2005)

Bill - Looking forward to your AFX ication details on the axle relocation. Do you end up using the top hole on the front axles or do you do more Xacto#2 drilling?
Jim


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

*Either Or !*

Hi Jim, LOL I do use the blade quite a bit, but not for the axle holes. I wish I could whittle a perfectly concentric 1/16 hole. 'Ole #2 provides more control than "Danger Dan", aka my dremel. I've aquired quite a bit of experience/respect through my automotive career for any ("Wizzer") die grinder. I consider myself fortunate to know when to put one away; for the most part anyway..."Whoops, Zing, Sh#t. I still have my moments.  As to the front axle position, it depends on the damage and original wheel base of the body to be used. I like the truck axle hole, not only cuz I'm lazy but it provides some leveling to the chassis. The rear axle location is way higher, so generally the obligatory smaller profile front tires provide a nice leveling effect when the truck hole is used. The jig to index the rear positions works on the front just as easy so you can use a raised front axle position in the long or short wheelbase positions. It's squeeky tight up front, but works fine. It's depends on what I got for a body and where I think I'm going. Plan ahead ! :freak: ................................If you look close at the red GT-40 you'll notice that the front wells were radiused to fit the truck hole position. I mount the wheel and tire on a long axle and push it up to the body and scribe around the tire and then swap and scribe the other side. I rub a little pencil into the scribe to highlight the new radius line. The dremel is used to hog out the bulk within a 1mm of the mark. Then I put the dremel away and gently finish with the knife. At that point the tire should slide through but bind a bit. To complete the radius, I use my trusty round pencil wrapped with sticky back 180 paper to clearance the well and tire. I probably should mention that I mount and de-mount the chassis with the front axle what seems like 20 times as the final shaping is completed. The wells are completed during the finish sanding process down the road.................................I'll get some pics up for you, the ones I currently have are to huge so I gotta rework them to post. Wish I could just dremel them down!


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