discussion MG Magnette Converted

[rtfoe]

Hi Guys and Gals,
Lately the sweet shop has been flooded with military heavy posts by refugees from a long gone site. Many have hidden affections for non military subjects so much so we sometimes camouflage our builds for that ex-site associating it with a connection to a war movie. I'm happy Scale models site supports any genre. Now the Battle of Britain gave me a chance to model something civilian without infringing on the ex-sites rules. This came in the form of the MG Magnette or whatever that car was that I had to convert as close as possible with and available Airfix kit shown here...

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To this...

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It all starts from opening the box and surveying what needed to be cut and replaced. So let the modifications begin...

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The kit although old was quite nice but shallow in detail at certain areas. I noticed the dash board was at an angle for this model of MG and had to be straightened for the movie version.

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The spoked wheels were really good with no flash to clean up at all. I drew some directional lines for cutting and added extentions to the back...

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You can clearly see the amount of cut I had to do for the dash board and it's not even to be straight but with two humps as you will see in the next accompanying photos.

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Here you see the back extention made up from plastic card and thick shims so I could sand the corners round.

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I extended the top also by using a small strip of the existing lip to save on restoring detail.

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The dash board as you can see is a major modification. I traced out the unique hump shape on a 1mm card strip.

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The strip was attached with some added dials and switches

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I've run out of image space so more will come later in the next post.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[PaulTRose]

nice work so far

 

[rtfoe]

Thanks Paul. I don't do shiny stuff much and this was really a challenge to keep it squeekly clean. I don't think it's even accurately modified. Just touch and go and for the fun of it.

The actual movie car isn't even WW2 vintage but a model that came out in 1948.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Steve Jones]

Richard
Terrific work my friend. I would also like to know how you manage to post your photos in that way. A lot better than large photos one after the other
Steve

 

[rtfoe]

Thanks Steve,

The images are smaller than usual. You will have to adjust the image size in Photoshop. These are 576 x 432. They can go smaller to fit three to five images in a row. It's trial and error.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Steve Jones]

Cheers mate:thumb2:

 

[rtfoe]

Hi, while the dashboard facing cured i tackled the side louvre that was for the exhaust.

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I then added a lip to the dash board which acted as leather trim and I changed the head for the driver with an appropriate resin one from my stash.

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I replaced thick pla card to the side board edging that was cut away from the modification. Two part putty was used for the dash front and louvre detailing done ala zimmerit with a flat screw driver.

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Extra leftover putty weas spread over the back tarpaulin cover. The louvres aren't exactly state of the art but I was happy with it.

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Lots of puttying and alignment adjustments ahead, something that is expected from an old kit. Such things don't need chucking into the bin 'cos it doesn't align. :smiling4:

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While the putty cured I moved onto the next phase of the build.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Marcello]

Hi Richard,
very nice work so far. I am always very impressed with modifications, and this is no exception

 

[Jim R]

Hi Richard
A fun build. Great.
Jim

 

[Ian M]

An interesting little build this. Not sure if you have seen this but it might be of help. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-Bader-s-MG-sports-car-goes-sale-80-000.html
Quite a few good photos of the actual car he owned.

 

[Snowman]

Cool conversion!

 

[rtfoe]

Thanks Marcello, Jimbo, Ian and Gavin,

Seriously a fun build is when it's straight out of the box and finished within the weekend. But these days sometimes the expectations demand a certain level of completeness coupled with wanting to better the next build can be tiresome. Fun for me is if it's scary enough and making the attempt. Just looked at the link...so Douglas did have one of these...cool. Thanks

Cheers,
Richard

 

[rtfoe]

Hi,

We're now giving attention to the back which was extaended sanded and smoothed down.
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The side doors were given the right contuors and extentions were prepared to make the running boards. Judging by the ink work there was a lot of calculating to be done before bending and cutting the size correctly.

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The pieces were joined and gaps filled up. Meanwhile the doors shapes were scored. Black primer was sprayed in areas to check on blemishes.

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The othe running board was duplicated making sure that it was similar

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Puttying with two part putty made up the rest of the shape of the running board especially towards the front mudguard using my finger and water to smoothen it out.

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Wet sanding and polishing sticks did the rest. Looks crude at this stage but with primer on would look better.

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Thanks for looking in...C & C welcomed.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Jim R]

Hi Richard
Impressive stuff :thumb2:
Jim

 

[Guest]

You’ve got some impressive scratch building modifications going on there, superb stuff :thumb2:

 

[rtfoe]

Thanks Jimbo and Norman,
Surprised you've not seen this Jimbo. If it wasn't for the GB that I was building this for, Norman, I wouldn't have scratch built and left it as an OOB build. The original kit itself is a classic.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[scottie3158]

Richard,
Very nice work indeed showing excellent skills.
Scottie

 

[rtfoe]

Thanks Scottie, my skills are just passable compared to some modellers I've seen...here's the primed body work...

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It' shows a lot of wee places to fill and correct.

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After sanding plus hinges to the door added and one more coat of primer to smooth things out. The wheel spokes and tyres were also painted.

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Cheers,
Richard

 

[Jim R]

Hi Richard
I sort of remember the car as a finished model but I've not seen the progress shots.
Jim

 

[Steve Jones]

Richard

Just had a good catch up on this one. Some wonderful additions and detailing. How many builds do you have on the go at the moment?

Steve