Post by hotrod347 on Jun 28, 2009 22:54:09 GMT -5
i've been in the process of building a 29 ford model A ratrod/gasser/ rod hauler for my 41 plymouth ratrod. i was getting frustrated trying to find some kind of way i could make a set of homemade moon tanks for the front of the truck as well as an extra to strap to the flatbed and one for my first gasser, a 1955 vette.
i've grown a knack for tearing apart old electronics when they die and salvaging the parts for further use in other electronics. 3 days ago i had pulled apart an old sony VCR and was going over the circuit board for extra wiring . this is when it struck me.
you know those cylindrical capacitors that are normally different colors, soldered to the boards. well i found 3 on the board, all different sizes. and i said they'd make a great set of moon tanks for the fronts of my rods. here's what you do.
take a pair of needle nose pliers and yank them carefully from the board. pull out the aluminum thin wire that is in the black bottoms of them and strip the paper off of the cylinders.(remember when your pealing the paper off of the canisters, always be careful with the exacto knife and not cut your fingers off, like i almost did.) now essentially they are already the aluminum color, but on one side you still have that black bottom, so get some silver( aluminum if you like) krylon and spray the canisters that color, all the way around. (be sure you don't get paint in the holes where the flat aluminum wire was in the black bottoms, you'll need that later).
get some masking tape and mask off the areas around the canisters to paint on the look of straps. if you have extra parts laying around for a 30's or 40's era rod build that has a left over gas cap, glue that to the side of the canister between the 2 straps. now find some thin wire,( not sure the gauge, depends on the size of the holes) and glue one end of them into the holes on the bottom of the canisters. those will be your gas lines. now run the other ends of the wires to your carb on your manifold and glue them in place. glue the canister to the front of said rod and your ready for a run down the strip. it's that easy.
now for the other trick i found.
on the same circuit board, i found a set of red and yellow LED's, about 6 of them, 3 each in color. what i have found i can do with these is pull them from the board, the same way you do with the canisters, and use them for non-working tail and turn signal lights. if you are planning on putting a set of tail light and turn signals in the fenders, use a micrometer to measure the width and length of each LED light. take a drill, (not sure the size, again depends on the size of said LED'S your using.), and drill through the fenders. take the LED of choice and line them up via where you want them on said fender, and glue in place. and there you have a set of homemade tail and turn signal lights. now in my case i will be using them on the flatbed on the lower out board base of the deck. so in my case i would drill the board to said size and do the same as you would with the fenders. again it's that easy. happy modeling folks.
i've grown a knack for tearing apart old electronics when they die and salvaging the parts for further use in other electronics. 3 days ago i had pulled apart an old sony VCR and was going over the circuit board for extra wiring . this is when it struck me.
you know those cylindrical capacitors that are normally different colors, soldered to the boards. well i found 3 on the board, all different sizes. and i said they'd make a great set of moon tanks for the fronts of my rods. here's what you do.
take a pair of needle nose pliers and yank them carefully from the board. pull out the aluminum thin wire that is in the black bottoms of them and strip the paper off of the cylinders.(remember when your pealing the paper off of the canisters, always be careful with the exacto knife and not cut your fingers off, like i almost did.) now essentially they are already the aluminum color, but on one side you still have that black bottom, so get some silver( aluminum if you like) krylon and spray the canisters that color, all the way around. (be sure you don't get paint in the holes where the flat aluminum wire was in the black bottoms, you'll need that later).
get some masking tape and mask off the areas around the canisters to paint on the look of straps. if you have extra parts laying around for a 30's or 40's era rod build that has a left over gas cap, glue that to the side of the canister between the 2 straps. now find some thin wire,( not sure the gauge, depends on the size of the holes) and glue one end of them into the holes on the bottom of the canisters. those will be your gas lines. now run the other ends of the wires to your carb on your manifold and glue them in place. glue the canister to the front of said rod and your ready for a run down the strip. it's that easy.
now for the other trick i found.
on the same circuit board, i found a set of red and yellow LED's, about 6 of them, 3 each in color. what i have found i can do with these is pull them from the board, the same way you do with the canisters, and use them for non-working tail and turn signal lights. if you are planning on putting a set of tail light and turn signals in the fenders, use a micrometer to measure the width and length of each LED light. take a drill, (not sure the size, again depends on the size of said LED'S your using.), and drill through the fenders. take the LED of choice and line them up via where you want them on said fender, and glue in place. and there you have a set of homemade tail and turn signal lights. now in my case i will be using them on the flatbed on the lower out board base of the deck. so in my case i would drill the board to said size and do the same as you would with the fenders. again it's that easy. happy modeling folks.
