'55 Chevy Bel Air A/GS -Finished!-

[W-409]

Thanks Stan and Dale ! Yep, removing the exhaus and mufflers was a "Must". I did the same in '57 Nomad Street Freak years ago and I remember I could do it back then, but the end result wasn't as smooth as I hoped. Now I wanted to do it better.

Here's a little update for you all. I started working on the roll bar. The one that came with the kit wasn't very good. I thought it was a bit too thick and it was too low as well. Of course it would have been easy to make it a bit taller, but because its' thickness I decided to see if Monogram's '56 Chevy had a better one. And it did, even though it was a bit too tall but it was really easy to lower a little. I also removed the fire extinguisher from the roll bar. Later on it will be installed on the center console.

Here is the original roll bar from '55 Chevy and '56 Chevy's lowered roll bar.

I also put some Bare Metal Foil on the door panels. It wasn't easy and the chrome trim didn't turn out as good as I hoped, but it's not my worst effort, either. I also painted the window cranks and door handles. I've never managed to BMF those so I decided to paint them instead. They'll look a lot cleaner like that. I also glued the seats on, and they pretty much cover the door panel problems. Seats are painted with same colors than the rest of the interior.

I also found a perfect set of rear tires and wheels for this project. They are very old 10,5" Racemasters with Five Spokes. I bought them last year from a long term Finnish model builder who was selling his treasures. He said he didn't remember where were they from, but he said he has had them for a very long time. So we both agreed that they must be very old, and they look like it too. I think those fit perfectly on this.

[DynoMight]

wow, now just find some 5 slot front rims and you'll be good! Is this going to be a gasser-type build or just a whatever, like my Nomad haha

[W-409]

Thanks Glenn! I think I'm shooting for the whatever option. I have a couple of Gassers in progress, too and I thought I don't want to build this as a Gasser. With all of those rules Gas Coupes & Sedans had, this would take forever to get done.

Slots would be good for the front. I'll see if I can find a set.

[W-409]

Another little update. I was working with the roll bar and seat belts today. It took many hours with all of the problems I had (Those dang Photo Etch parts that fly from my tweezers every time!). Anyway I started with the roll bar, which was quite simple. I had to add a cross bar so that the seat belts can be mounted. It had to be made from two parts of course. The real problem was the seat belts. The PE parts that make it possible to build wrap around style belts were a real pain, but other than that everything went well.

Here are a couple of pics:

[rustybill1960]

A very clean interior

And that chassis is ffantastic Niko!

I really like the way You took out those mufflers!

That is one thing about that chassis that I do not like at all

Really like Your work here

looking forward to more

Thank You for sharing

Later

Russ

[1 bad55 stan]

I agree with Russ,nice and clean!

[am73grand]

This is awesome! Looking forward to seeing more!!!

[W-409]

Thanks Russ, Stan and Ron! I highly appreciate your kind comments, they sure mean a lot to me.

Here's a bit more. I got the chassis painted a couple of days ago. Anyway there were some cracks on the paint. I don't know why that happened, but luckily I was able to sand it smooth without sanding through the paint so I just repainted the chassis yesterday. Now it looks alright and I'm going to paint the frame with gloss black soon. I also started working with the engine. I removed old glues as much as I could and put some Bondo to smooth out some areas. It's still far away from being ready for Primer, but I'm hoping to do some more work with it today.

[DynoMight]

Looks good!

[W-409]

Thanks Glenn!

I was going to post an update yesterday, but now when the second Finnish Championship Series Drag Race event is starting on Saturday, we were building our car to get it race ready. Vallilan Takomo built a rear sway bar for us and yesterday with dad's workmate and a good friend we were (or actually he was) machining some parts for the sway bar. We were back home at Midnight so I thought I should update this thread in the morning instead, so here we go.

I painted the frame with Humbrol Gloss Black. It turned out pretty good, but I still need to paint the fuel tank mounts silver. Anyway I mocked up the engine and noticed that the kit doesn't have a frame crossmember where the transmission would be mounted. First I was looking for one from my parts boxes, but I couldn't find one that fit, so I thought it's easier to scratchbuild one. It's still in very rough stages, more sanding and a bit of putty will be needed. I also need to add a couple of details, but before that I must paint the crossmember. I hope it'll look alright when it's "fine tuned" a bit.

Edit: As the race is on the weekend I'm not able to work on this then. But on the next week I'll get some more work done with this. Currently I'm on the third place at Finnish Championship points, which is a huge surprise. I hope I could run a new ET record now with the sway bar.

Edited June 26, 2014 by W-409

[slusher]

Some real fine work your doing to this old kit. Keep up the good work..

[Pete L.]

Niko,

Very nice work, I'm especially impressed with the chassis renovations you performed...I've got a similar build on my "long term table" that is being "seasoned" if you will.

I'll be watching your progress with great interest !!!

[DynoMight]

Good luck for your racing!

[W-409]

Thanks Guys, I appreciate the comments!

It was a nice Qualifying day on Saturday. We were able to run five rounds, which is pretty good as there were lots of racers. My runs were very consistent and I did a new 60 FT record, too. A complete Race Report can be found Here.

Anyway I haven't had time to work on this after the race. Only thing I did was painting the engine. It's painted with old Revell's #31 red, but it's a lot darker than the new bottles of the same red. I believe this is a Custom Mix by my dad when he was building in his childhood before getting back into modeling a few years ago. Someone might wonder the cylinder heads. Yep, they are a bit rough, but it will be all covered so that roughness won't matter on finished engine.

The reason I'm updating now is that tomorrow I'm going again full throttle at Alastaro Raceway. It's time for the Nitro Nationals: European Championship Drag Race Event and there should be a good number of Stockers & Super Stockers too! I can't wait!

Of course it's The Go Getters playing in the background.

I'm living at my relatives' on these days between the races... My "Bench" here is not a Hi Tech model.

Once this red is dry, I'll paint the transmission, starter, water pump etc and start assembling the powerplant together.

But now I'll concentrate on hammering the throttle on 1/4 Mile... Loud Pipes & Lead Feet! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xYH1G0rBQI

[DynoMight]

Can't wait to see the results from your races! Congrats on the record, too! That red would look awesome on a 1970 Mustang... To bad they changed the formula so its a different shade..

[slusher]

It may be me but I think Testors has change several colors. Sometimes I think its me but been doing the Testors paint since I was a kid. Good luck at the track, I love drag racing...

[W-409]

Thanks Guys! Yep I'm pretty sure that Testors has something that is pretty close than the one I had. Testors has lots of paints and they are great quality.

The racing went well. I did a new 60FT record again and I ran a 12.2 ET which is a good number for that car. It wasn't a new record, but it was really close. On the first Elimination Round I red lighted by .052 so I lost to Arto Sulopuisto in his B/S Pontiac Firebird, but overall the weekend went so well that it didn't matter too much.

Anyway just a little progress on the '55 as well. I did some sanding and smoothing to the transmission crossmember that I scratchbuilt earlier and it looked like no putty was really needed, so I painted it with Revell Gloss Black. When the paint was dry, I glued the crossmember on its place and added bolts on it. They were made from hex styrene tubing.

[am73grand]

That cross member looks great the bolt heads really set it off!!!

[Dragfreak]

That cross member looks great the bolt heads really set it off!!!

I can't help but agree with Ron, the chassis looks very nice and the bolt heads are a nice touch. That sucks that you red lit, I've done that plenty of times. In fact, I went to the final round in an NHRA sanctioned wally race and wen .005 red, I have 5 Wally's but I'll never forget that race. You'll get it another day

Edited July 9, 2014 by Dragfreak

[W-409]

Thanks Guys! I appreciate the kind words!

Jason: Yep it doesn't feel good to take a red light and I would have liked to have a tight race so that the winner would be found on the finishing line. I bet that kind of a very little red light feels even worse, as it was really close to perfect light. I knew I had to take a good light or I would lose. Anyway I'm really happy I saw my red light immediately when the car launched, so I could run full throttle to the finishing line. I ran 12.330 on 12.37 dial in and as my plan was to hit the brakes before the finishing line, I guess my dial in was pretty much correct. And that's what I'm really happy about.

Here are my runs from the Nitro Nationals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3hmiPJynqs

And here is the Stock & Super Stock Final Round.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOLwgKWg8wE

[Dragfreak]

I have red lighted -.001 before in a test and tune run, I can't even count how many -.005 red lights I've had, I had a perfect light in 2010 when I raced the junior dragster, it was during one of the dial in runs at the start of the season and its the only one I've ever had

that wasn't the fastest it went, the next year I ran an 8.38 at 80 mph in the 1/8th which was pushing it since it was a very heavy mild steel chassis. The newer dragsters were Chromoly and very light. the engine on my junior would run 7.90's in the 1/8th on a chromoly car at around 85 mph. that's on route to probably a mid to low 12 second run in the quarter. that's all from a single cylinder briggs and Stratton based 5 horse. All the outside dimensions were the same as a stock lawnmower briggs but they had a forged crank, forged rod, forged piston, 3.14 inch bore it was pretty bad, mine made 79 horse power and there's more that made more

When I raced it I would hold about a tenth of a second back to wheel race someone, I would dial it say 8.55 when it would actually run a .45 and then tap the brakes a little right before the line and let the other person break out. Drag racing becomes a big game when you approach the finish line, I watched the video of you, have you figured out why the car is creeping forward once you're staged? Also is it an automatic, turbo hydro 350/400? Btw I subscribed to you YouTube

Edited July 9, 2014 by Dragfreak

[W-409]

Ouch. Red lighting by -.001 really sucks, but of course these things happen when we are trying to get a good light. Nice job with the perfect light, it must feel good to see that on your time slip! I guess my best RT so far is something like .020, but of course I've driven only a little compared to you.

I didn't even know that Junior Dragsters have Chromoly frames... But now when you said it, I believe it's quite common that these Jr. Dragsters have Chromoly frames? Those engines sure are a pieces of art. A friend just bought a Methanol burning Junior Dragster for his daughter from the USA and by watching the things he does at the pits, I've seen that the engines are nice pieces of machinery.

I think dialing the car that way is a good idea, I've used it too. Much better than if your dial in is a bit too tight (For example 8.25 and you run 8.35). On my run I had 12.37 and I knew the car would go a bit faster. It went 12.330 so with a little braking I guess I would have been quite close.

I believe the reason why the car creeped forward was that I pushed the Two Step switch instead of the brake pedal. The switch is on the top of the brake pedal so I guess that might be the reason. When I concentrated on pushing the pedal more, I had no problems so I guess that was the reason. Now I just have to remember that in the next race.

New tires are now ordered, now let's see how Mickey Thompsons work for me.

Oh, and thanks for subscribing!

[W-409]

Just a minor update on this project. I scratchbuilt a Holley fuel pump from sheet styrene and styrene tubing. The mount is made of beer can aluminum. The pump is actually very simple, but on a finished model, I guess it is a neat little detail that can't be seen too well. The fuel line is made out of Pro Tech's Braided Line (The best there is!) and my plan was that it goes inside the frame. The connectors are made of hex styrene tubing.

Here is a picture of the kit's rear axle. As you can see the driveshaft is molded as one piece with the rear axle. The driveshaft has no couplers (?) and it's a bit thick, too. Well, the only solution was to cut the driveshaft away, I'll use or make another one when I get the rear axle on place and I can mock up the engine.

[MitchP]

Hi: Just got to this build and several things stand out: first you're doing one heck of a job, two, the streetburners I've build (or seen) that were focused on a pro sportsman build never had these many problems, and I have 3 Hemi top fuel engines I would have given you one for your build!

Seriously, you're work is great. I never realized anyone made hex styrene rod and I spend overspend my budget on RB Motion and Detail Masters aluminum fittings, which I paint with Tamiya clear red and blue acrylic. Is the hex rod Evergreen brand and what diameters do they come in?

Can't wait to see the finished work as you never gave up. One tip a friend gave me on roll bars/cages: use some solder inside the body to bend and conform to the approx. height you want the bar. Then, get some styrene rod and a candle (or other safe heat source) and slowly heat the rod to match the solder shape. Once you have the hoop done, you can add other bars as needed and if you want a pro-style cage, you can use the heating trick to avoid the sharp looking angles on the cage. BTW, your detailing is nice too. I think I saw a strap down for the fuel tank in one of the pics; a much missed detail that really adds a 1:1 touch.

Good luck and cut some lights!

[10thumbs]

Hey Niko,

I checked out your YouTube vids! Excellent, a K Stocker pulling the wheels at green! I love it. Very healthy sounding, too. Good stuff.

I think 12.20 is quick for the car. As a teenager back in the mid 60's, a buddy had a 55 Chevy that ran mid 13's, a very quick street machine back in the day. A thrill to ride in too.

The bolts on models do make quite a difference in appearance.

Michael