At last, a TopCat for Dan!

[sheriff]

After recently buying a Topcat, I really enjoyed reading this thread Dan. Just need one or 2 parts for mine before the rebuild starts.

Yours is looking superb though, and that MG Orange Dot is a peach, would like to get hold of one of those, especially in that condition.

[DerbyDan]

Ok... Stuff is happening on this as I type, although seems I'm going backwards to go forwards, I've so far stripped down the rear shocks & swapped all the (new) seals into another set of shock bodies that are the non-plated type that I've also polished up, i've also masked up my shell in the blue & yellow scheme of Phil Davies' car in the photos that Luke kindly posted up on the previous page of this thread. I'm currently just stripping down my gearbox and replacing the oilite bearings with some NIP ballraces.....

I'm taking pics as i go & I would post them up here but for some reason my USB connection is playing up

[DerbyDan]

So I'm back at work & able to upload my progress pictures on this project to Photobucket & thusly on this forum;

Finally over the Christmas holiday (in-between the visiting family & eating too much) I was able to get some spannering time on this on-going project. Basically I had got to a stage where I had prepared all the original plastic parts (cleaned & trimmed) & collected a few choice NIP parts - also de-burred The shocks & gearbox had been built, so it was just a case of carefully assembling all these parts to complete the build.... well that was the theory anyway!

The first step was to dissmantle my plated rear shocks & swap all the seal parts across to a pair of the correct natural aluminium that I had already polished-up, these shocks came fitted on a LWB Mardave Meteor that I brought off ebay during last year & although in good condition they will be the most 'well-used' parts on the car.





Next up was to dissmantle the gearbox/transmission & replace the oilite bearings with some new ballraces, included in the packet are the aluminium collers required to make up the difference between the layshaft dia & the internal dia of the bearings.



So I was back to where I had started - with completed shocks & a freshly ballraced gearbox I then turned my attention to the assembly of TopCat's fabled/flawed front suspension.

I had previously put in an order to modelfixings.com which supplied some of the correct screws/nuts etc that where missing from the car when I originally recieved it. The car's original bumber had been secured with some oversize woodscrews/self tappers



Hubs, front arms & steering levers assembled;



Front end complete with shocks fitted - the front bumper & upper plate are NIP parts



With the front end secured to chassis, I added the battery holder & a pair of servo mounts - the latter items along with the bent-wire steering linkage are parts I found in an old parts box & I believe they came from my original TopCat!

[jamin]

Youve been a busy boy Dan! Good work. Love all the shiny shiny parts

[DerbyDan]

Thanks Ben I find the Christmas period a bit frustrating - I always have lots of plans for things to do/projects to complete - but with Xmas preparation & then all the visiting that is expected around this time of the year means than little time is left

Onto the rear end & there's a few new parts being used here as well;



This included some new rose joint rod ends for the upper camber link - which when you compare them to the original items (which display some plier marks) seem a little bigger and have a textured appearance to the plastic - I'm presuming these are later produced items? It turns out that these 'new' rose joints are very tight restricting the free movement of the suspension - so I am going to replace them back to the originals.



Rear end assembly complete - which includes ballrace bearings in the hubs courtesy of CAT2K I think? & wing mounts from DennisM





This is where I'm up to now.... I have partially sprayed up the bodyshell but i'm not 100% happy with how that is going - It should be such a straight forward job but i'm being plagued with paint not behaving how I would expect.... i'm going to blame the damp atmosphere & cold air temp at this time of the year

The rear tyres are going to come off again for a scrub to remove the release agent 'dust' & i'm going to replace those aforementioned rear rose joints to free up the suspension movement. I did have to also re-visit all the shocks which started leaking from their caps - I fitted some other (more rubbery feeling) diaphrams which seem to have (touch wood) solved the problem.



MG Orange Dot stocker fitted!




U/Side view;

[urpaldan]

That's stunning! All those shiny bits are lovely I just scrubbed up a set of tires like those. Using a hairdryer prior to scrubbing really worked a treat.

[Coelacanth]

Love the polished tub. It's so bright, you need shades.

[DennisM]

That´s one clean Top Cat - Well done.

[CAT3K]

Fantastic job so far Dan

I use this : http://www.amazon.co.uk/CarPlan-Flash-Dash-Dashboard-Shine/dp/B00B03YY80 to clean up my tyres. Dash flash has a sponge inside and it's quick n easy to clean the release agent of those tyres. It's also makes a great job of plastic parts, and for an added bonus it makes your freshly restored buggy smell lemony

Paul.

[jeroen206]

Fantastic Topcat Dan , real mirror finished chassis.

[DerbyDan]

Quick pic of the shell I finished painting yesterday...



Just need to cut it out & add my original TopCat decals

Must admit i'm not 100% with how this came out, its a simple design & so should be straight forward paint job... but by the same token any slight imperfections stand out. I had real trouble getting the pink & green colours to spray well from my airbrush, they are both waterbased Createx colours & I think the damp conditions where I paint my shells (in a shed with a little fan heater to try & bring the temp up) didn't help

[Coelacanth]

I like that midnight blue color, Dan. That's pretty much the color I was aiming for, for my OptiMutt body...but perhaps like your pink & green, it didn't quite end up being the color I was hoping for.

[DennisM]

That paint job embraces my idea of a TopCat. Long slim front - low and fast.
The partitions at the back takes away the "wide" from the rear end, which in my opinion is a good thing.

Back then, mine had a fading black-grey-white scheme, which made it look like it was flattend with a foot. Kinda shapeless, like the TRX1 body.

Well done.

[DerbyDan]

I like that midnight blue color, Dan. That's pretty much the color I was aiming for, for my OptiMutt body...but perhaps like your pink & green, it didn't quite end up being the color I was hoping for.

The blue colour is a more 'mid-blue' in real life - the Iphone image doesn't recreate the true colours too well

I can't take any credit for the colour scheme.... i've tried to copy the shell depicted in the photos that Luke Burley posted on the previous page of this thread, as that of the late Phil Davies.... different to that of his ProCat & Cougar later on. Phil Davies' shell had a cartoon Garfield depicted in the yellow on the front... my painting skill levels don't extent to doing cartoon characters & in any case i'm not sure I actually want Garfield on the front of my car

[Synchrocnc]

Well Dan I know it's been said before but that's one amazing looking Topcat, well done.