Jump to content
jonboy1

SWB Wild Willy Resto for barney66

Recommended Posts

@barneys66 has very kindly entrusted me with the restoration of his SWB M38 Wild Willys, and we thought it would be a cool one to do a thread on, so here goes:

The box arrived last week - loved the hand drawn glasses :D :

IMG_0748 IMG_0755

had a major craving for skips after opening the box - not sure why.....:P

 

IMG_0757IMG_0759IMG_0762IMG_0766

that arm needs straightening.

IMG_0773IMG_0778

Hmmmm.....

IMG_0785IMG_0775

and there's a face you wouldn't want to wake up next to......

So I got going with the strip down. Lots of glue had been used to stick all the body panels on which was just a tad annoying, but got it all apart in the end and started cleaning.

One thing I noticed was that it looked a little twisted:

IMG_0776

...so I'll attend to that.

Next job was to get the chassis apart - wheels off first:

IMG_0763

Looks simple enough eh?

Nope.

Along with copious amounts of thread locker used on every single threaded item, these wheel nuts had been done up incredibly tightly. As I was telling Barney, I'm not a small chap and am pretty **** strong, but I had to use a bar on the end of the wrench to get these undone! Surely there could be no consequence from that level of tightening?

IMG_0782

Erm....:unsure: "so Barney, funny story right...."

So which came first - the over tightened bolts or the broken pot metal parts?

 

Got the rest of it all taken apart and cleaned, removed the glue, sealant and sticky pads from the chassis. There's a couple of repairs needed and some general tidying and smoothing, but overall, not bad:

IMG_0790IMG_0791

The body is ok, again, it needs a couple of repairs but nothing structural. I managed to use my manly (ch)arms and straighten out that twist B)

There's a couple of areas where it's been painted, which I'll have to investigate.

IMG_0797

 

and some of the intentional painting isn't great, so that'll want removing too.

IMG_0796IMG_0795IMG_0789

My only concern at this stage is the decals. It might sound odd, but with a layer of grime on they looked better. I don't think it is going to be a problem to get the body tidied up without requiring painting (this is in bare plastic at the moment) but the more I look at the decals, the more I think they might detract from the overall finish - that star is off centre (the little damage could be touched in I think) and a lot of the others are slightly wonky. What are your thoughts Barney? 

Having got to this stage I didn't fancy leaving it without doing something, so, despite my imminently being rushed to hospital with chronic manflu, I battled on and started tidying up the metal parts.

Firstly I straightened up that bent arm and a couple of other bits that were a little wonky, then removed any gouges or deep scratches.

Barney (very wisely in my opinion) wanted a brushed finish to the metal work. This is with a first pass at 600grit. 

Look ok to you Barney?

IMG_0788

(I haven't done the little pipe clamps before you make a comment - that applies to anyone!!) :D:P

Next stage is to do some more polishing of the metal parts and cleaning up of the plastics!

  • Like 6
  • Thanks 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hey Jon - certainly didn't expect this !!  Great work thanks, and appreciate you doing it whilst at Death's door :D.

Junk the decals if you think that's best - I can happily live with repops and I'm sure it'll mean a better overall finish as you say.

Brushed metal definitely the way to go B)

Get well soon.

  • Thanks 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So many good build threads on TC right now,  but this one is right up there as one of my favourites 👍

 

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Worked from home yesterday (it winds me up soooooo much when people come into the office with snot pouring out of their noses, coughing and spluttering over everyone complaining about how ill they feel and how they have to be there because they are so busy, despite the fact they spend most of the day complaining to people how ill they feel and not actually doing anything except complaining and updating their facebook status with pathetic looking selfies proving how much of a hero they are) (wow - i feel better for getting that off my chest! :D ) so I felt I deserved a couple of hours in the garage afterwards to de-stress and for being a considerate work mate to my colleagues. 

Got the rest of the metal bits I'd left to soak out from their restorative bath and set about cleaning and polishing them up. Long story short, they are all finished now and looking suitably, not shiny as they are brushed, but "moody" I think. Of course, that may have been because of the failing light, which is why I haven't got any photo's of them. Unless it's the death cloud descending upon me?! Why is it so cold and dark still!? If I don't make it through the day tell my mum I love her! :D

Next step - make the chassis look nice.

  • Like 2
  • Haha 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hey Jon it should look stunning when finished with the amount of detail your going into. It is a nice straight wild willy with minimal damage. It is annoying when all the screws and treaded parts are lock tightened together I have done a fair few vintage Tamiya restorations myself and know the feeling well. If you need any parts sourcing for the wild willy I can look into it for you. I cant wait to see what the chassis looks like.:) Hope you feel better soon.

  • Thanks 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

just a very quick update - decided it was in fact the light that was fading and not the death shadow from the manflu, so went over a couple of the bits and gave everything a nice wipe and clean with an oily rag.

IMG_0799

So, all the metal and plastic ancillaries are done bar the rear axle (which should arrive today) meaning I really ought to get going on the chassis tub so I can get it all back together!

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wasn't a great weekend for getting stuff done unfortunately. Absolutely appalling weather, sheet rain, 2degC (35F) lots of motorway driving and visiting family did not an enjoyable weekend make.

I'd hoped in the small amount of time I did find to do some painting of Richards Clod, but it was just far too cold. Thankfully it's warmed up a bit now, so maybe tonight. This did mean though that I had a bit of time to do some more on the M38! 

The replacement rear axle assembly arrived and I soon realised it was not a SWB version. Thankfully the only parts I needed were the shafts, so I pulled the whole thing apart, cleaned, repaired and sanded the shafts and reassembled to the original housings and internals. There was a little damage to the bottom of the housings, so I attended to that and rebuilt the whole rear assembly.

IMG_0802IMG_0801IMG_0800

Might have another go over the bottom of the housing - it shows up more that I thought.

Next step after that is attaching it to the chassis and building the motor/diff assembly!

  • Like 6
  • Thanks 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Only had about half an hour spare last night so not enough time to do painting for Richard (sorry!) so I did a little more on the M38.

This week, I av been mostly building - transmissions.

IMG_0805IMG_0803

I'm going to tidy up the wires a bit more - just ran out of time, plus I think they could do with re-soldering.

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've never looked at one of these in detail before, but your photos are great because they show some similarities between the WW axle/suspension and the Clod axle/suspension.  The design lineage is interesting to see.  Nice job on the restoration so far; the metal bits look great!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Welcome back everyone! :P

things have been ticking along steadily on this and the Clod whilst I've been off so time for an update.

When we left our hero last time the gearbox,diff and rear axle assemblies were done and ready for bolting to the chassis. However, before I could assemble it I needed to repair it. There was a lot of general pitting and scuffs all over which weren't too bad but took a surprising amount of effort to get looking nice. Anyway, once that was finished up the main issue was straightening out the bent and broken rib on the underside next to the servo mount hole. You can hopefully see what I'm talking about in this pic:

IMG_0791

Obviously I didn't want to use filler as it would just crack and drop out as soon as it got any jolt and anything I did really had to be invisible in itself as painting the chassis just wasn't an option. So I ended up doing some plastic surgery on it and after a lot of work, followed by sanding, smoothing, then a bit more sanding and polishing, and a bit more sanding and polishing because I still wasn't happy with it, we finally got somewhere decent. Once the chassis was finished bolting everything to it was very straightforward. The biggest issue I had was trying to make sure all the flats on the screw heads lined up :P My mum always said I was special :blink:

Once I'd pulled all the silicone sealant and dodgy wiring out of the cover it wasn't as bad as it first appeared, so some light repair to a couple of areas and a jolly good polishing session and it looked pretty good. All assembled and looking good I suddenly noticed one of the pillar mounts for the cover had taken some serious damage and split, so that received the same plastic surgery the rib got and following some more sanding and polishing it all looks ok.

IMG_0819IMG_0821IMG_0820

If your wondering, I've left the screw out of the steering arm to remind me I need to check the tracking once I've got some wheels on it.

Talking of which, they got repaired:

IMG_0822

I know they look rough, but they're straight and that's the main thing! 

So, pending some radio gear, that's about as far as I could go on the chassis for now. So next job was the body. First up, as I had my plastic surgeon gloves on, the roll bar, which had taken some damage to the corners:

IMG_0828IMG_0826

these show how much material has been ground off (makes me cry just thinking about it)

and after surgery:

IMG_0830IMG_0831

I went back over the left-hand side after taking this pic as I realised there was a bit of a bump - so that's now gone. These will be painted so I'm not going to get them shiny.

Next up was the grill:

IMG_0824IMG_0823

I could have sworn I took some pics of this repaired, but I must've missed it somehow :huh:

Anyway, I've made new rib parts and mounting plates for the winch, and a new screw mount for the back side where it joins to the inner wing. I'll take some pics tonight.

The body wasn't too bad - it turned out there was a burn mark hiding under the paint on the bit next to the drivers seat, so that has been repaired properly along with a few other little bits here and there. Unfortunately this does mean there's no way to get around painting it, which is a bit of a shame, but it will mean the overall finish is far better, so hopefully Barney will be happy in the end! 

Last up, as the next stage was painting the body and I'd run out of primer I started up on Willy himself:

IMG_0839IMG_0837IMG_0834

He's far from finished - this is just a first pass to get some colours on him. I forgot to ask what colour harness you'd like for him @barneys66? And don't worry - I'm going to repair the mounting plate for him too.

Think that's it for now - next step - paint!!!!

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Nice work buddy, I've enjoyed reading through all the posts. I didn't realise you were taking on projects now..  :) 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
22 hours ago, SRB Bloke said:

Nice work buddy, I've enjoyed reading through all the posts. I didn't realise you were taking on projects now..  :) 

Cheers mate, I very much appreciate that. ;) 

Yeah, you know, in for a penny in for a nervous breakdown! :D I was saying to Barney that there's something humbling about melting, cutting and sanding something that costs hundreds of pounds, has rarity factor and isn't yours! Plus, at least this way they actually get finished, which is more than I can say for any of mine! :P

  • Haha 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I was planning on getting Richards Clod close to completion this weekend but as I was suffering a paint shortage Barneys M38 progressed instead.

Long story short, all the body bits were sanded, cleaned, primered, flatted, cleaned and painted 3 times each and will probably go through the flatting and painting process again. It's not far off as it is, but there are a couple of little blemishes need removing before I'm ready to go on to the next stage. The grill ribs need tweaking slightly as well, they aren't quite as crisp as I'd like. 

Willy got new harnesses, swapped his nice new boots and gloves for some weather beaten ones and got the beginnings of a face! My eyes were going a bit blurry once I'd got to this stage so I thought it best to stop and let them recuperate before going any further ;) 

Anyway - here are the progress pics:

IMG_0840IMG_0841IMG_0842IMG_0844IMG_0845IMG_0846IMG_0847

The eagle eyed of you will notice my "photo studio" has moved from the hallway to the kitchen for 2019 :) 

Oh, and you can kinda see the back I put on the jerry can.

  • Like 5

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

A very brief update - had a hectic week which was followed by a migraine on Sunday so have only got a bit done. However, every step forward helps! :) 

So, decals are all cut out and ready to go - would have got them on had it not been for the fact I had the final page of the manual missing for some reason so didn't want to risk putting anything in the wrong place. :rolleyes: Paint is flatted back and masked up for the arches and seat to be painted.

The jerry can and winch are painted, Willy has a gloss white helmet ready for masking and his crotch harness is fixed and the rear wheel cover is filled, sanded and ready for painting.

Mechanically, the Acoms radio gear is installed and trimmed up and I need to un-hide my solder so I can connect up the motor :ph34r:

Finally I need to find a replacement spade connector for the resistor, so I have an evening of rummaging ahead tonight!

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So it was another hectic week, but a few more things have happened than the previous week - yay!! :P

Firstly, @Richardrpm Clod got finished, so I can now just focus on Barneys M38. It still feels like I've achieved nothing on this but I think it must just be one of those stages where not much visually changes but lots of work has still gone into it.

So, all the decals are on the body. I then painted the arches, the seat, fuel cell and the little clips for the bonnet and hood, detailed the dash and painted the windscreen wiper arm. The jerry can is detailed, the headlights are painted as is the winch and the roll bars, so bar a little more work I need to do on the wheel cover and Willys helmet all the paint is pretty much done.

After checking with the man himself, I'm going to redo the winch in semi gloss to match the roll cage - a thousand apologies for my ignorance oh master :P

I have successfully un-hidden my solder, so I can now sort out the electrics too. I was very good at hiding it - I impressed myself with my ingenuity and lateral thinking. :blink:

Oh, I also got the wheels built back up and ready for lettering (I've noticed they have been very absent from photo updates - no idea why that has happened, but I can assure you all they are safe and well. :) 

So, I think there's a little flatting back and a few more coats of clear to go on, some trim still to do (windscreen rubber completely escaped my attention) and the indicators, finish off the wheel cover, extinguisher and nitro bottles, electrics....then i think it'll be final assembly!

Some gratuitous photo studio shots:

 

IMG_0869

 

IMG_0870IMG_0872IMG_0873IMG_0871IMG_0874

 

  • Like 5

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
6 hours ago, jonboy1 said:

I have successfully un-hidden my solder, so I can now sort out the electrics too. I was very good at hiding it - I impressed myself with my ingenuity and lateral thinking. :blink:

Seems to be lots of this on TamiyaClub :lol: My ingenuity and lateral thinking has had me looking for my styrene stock for a few weeks now!

Those gratuitous studio photos really are a service to the rest of us, for it is a beautiful restoration job you are undertaking.

  • Thanks 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This weekend started off with much the same theme as last week - lots of work going into things but little progress seeming to be made.

Got the detail bits finished on the body - windscreen surround painted, indicators and rear lights done (forgot the rear side markers though - rookie mistake) extinguisher and spot light fronts painted, NOS bottle painted, rear wheel cover painted, decal added and cleared, another couple of coats of clear on the body (after fixing a couple of small issues) wiper blade painted, bolts for the rear boot painted, holes drilled in the grill for the winch, windscreen arms stripped and sanded, screen polished, repainted Willys helmet in white as wasn't happy with the finish and I'm pretty sure there were a couple of other things I did  - oh yeah and I cleaned and polished several nuts and bolts.

However, I still seemed to have a bench full of bits at the end of this, but wait..... I don't have anything left to paint for the body....... Can I...could it be that time.......can I........ rebuild it????

:P

IMG_0880IMG_0879IMG_0878IMG_0877IMG_0876IMG_0881

Still a bit more to do - I ran out of bolts to screw the NOS tank in, so I'm going to have to scavenge some from one of my kits, rear side markers as I mentioned, fit the screen and one or two little touches here and there. Plus of course, I really should give Willy his arms and head.

Have to say, I couldn't help myself but I popped the body on the chassis and I think I squealed a little! :P:wub:

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, jonboy1 said:

Oh, and apologies to @barneys66 as I PM'd him telling him I'd spent all weekend repainting everything gloss :P

I'll get you back JJ.. :ph34r:

But for now, OMF'ingG - looks frickin amazing !!

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It looks absolutely amazing jonboy.

Barney has got a superb WW now 👍

Great thread and photography too. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
38 minutes ago, Grumpy pants said:

It looks absolutely amazing jonboy.

Barney has got a superb WW now 👍

Great thread and photography too. 

Well, he hasn't got his fickle little hands on it yet, and one more "critique" about things being too shiny and it might get frozen in highly polished carbonite. ;)

  • Haha 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
9 hours ago, jonboy1 said:

Well, he hasn't got his fickle little hands on it yet, and one more "critique" about things being too shiny and it might get frozen in highly polished carbonite. ;)

Now you come to mention it, it would look good in metalflake stars and stripes..

 

 

..with a shiny winch.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...