The build still hasn't become a high-tech spitwad, but only because my personality is the "don't tell me I can't do it" type. The first pic shows some of the bumps in the road to where it is now. One of the first things discovered is that the body piece seems to be that for the touring version of the car. The tabs in front of the rear axle don't appear to be used, so I just whacked them off. The white stripes on the outside edge of the forward half of the body appear to be location marks for gluing on full fenders and running boards. I photoshopped them out. Which led to the next fluxup I made. I printed out the parts used for the build directly from the pdf file. To modify the body part, I imported the appropriate page into photoshop and saved/printed as a jpg. Surprise, surprise....the jpg is about 4 percent larger than the printed-from-pdf parts. Of course, I didn't check for this until ready to mate the body to the frame....so, back to photoshop to get everything flying in formation.
The sequence I finally had some success with for the body was to assemble the compound-curved turtledeck (being liberal with painting with superglue to stiffen it and hold it's shape), then attach the body to the turtledeck, starting at the forward edge of the turtledeck and working to the rear of the body. I then attached the rear portion of the body bottom, starting at the rear of the body and working forward. The roughly triangular inner panels for the rear of the body give you the guidance needed for folding and placing the rear bottom piece. I then attached the piece that forms the front of the turtledeck, which reminded me of the old simile involving unnatural acts performed on wildcats using a wet noodle. Location marks showing the centerlines of the parts would have been very useful...When completed, it became apparent that my assembly was a bit off. Well, I said this wasn't going to be particularly pretty. Next step was to glue on the dash board, the inner portion of the firewall/floorboard, and finally the outer portion of the firewall/floorboard. I then attached the gas/brake/clutch pedal cluster to the inside of the body tub, then attached the seat. When the assembly was dry, I then attached the little "fin" pieces to the body that go up over the top of the rear axle.
Finally, I attached the body to the frame. I stupidly assumed the step in the body (where the little slot occurs to allow the frame to penetrate through the body) should align with the end of the white location marker on the outside of the frame rails. WRONG.
Doing that placed the body about 3/32 inch too far forward on the frame....to get the frame to fit, I had to rip off the radiator assembly, and relocate it forward in order to get the hood to fit on. And, for sequence of assembly, insert the end of the hood center-hinge wire into the top of the firewall, then slip the radiator assy onto the other end of the wire, and finally glue in the radiator. If the bottom edge of the hood doesn't perfectly align with the tops of the frame rails, don't worry about it...base on the model A one of my buds had back in high school. that is prototypic for clamshell type hoods. At speed, the driver of such a vehicle is left wondering if just three hold-down pins are enough to keep hood attached to car.
That's all for now...as advertised, it ain't pretty, but hopefully I'm locating the rocks for the rest of you (both of you) to skip across when you try the build.
