DaytonaTim Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 Well, I decided to end the Allison build up thread and start a new thread for this trike buildup. I figured this would be the best thing to do because I will be working on all the mechanical parts at the same time. My plan here is to build a trike that is constructed completely of parts from TDR Innovations. The engine, tranny, 11 inch rear, and tires/wheels are all available now at "TDRcatalog.com". If any new parts are created that might be of use to others I will upload them to the catalog too. The basic theme for this build is to build a trike that uses as many P51 Mustang parts as possible. The Allison is a given but I will also try and use the P51 landing gear struts as the front forks and I want to find a way to work in a small belley tank or two. Maybe in the form of fenders. I also plan on using some cockpit items too. The stick to steer with and the seat are very likely items. I also want to use some of the front fuselage skin too, as a front fairing and certainly the front propeller spinner. If I can find a way to work the nose of the plane into the fairing I have got to come up with some nose art too. Maybe something like a biker chick striking a clasic noseart pose with the words "Surplus Sally" underneath. All the parts finished out well. I kept the heads and cylinder sleeves a little on the rough side to increase the realism some, and keep with the "Rat Rod" look too. I am really impressed with the details that came out in the heads, they really have a lot of features in them. I finished out the oilpan and valvecovers to a high degree. I wanted these three items to shine a lot. Anyway, I have some parts finished out and I thought I would include them here because the pictures say it better than I can with words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadetree Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 DT, Sounds pretty ambitious. Best of luck. Looking good so far. Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 This Trike sounds like great fun! TDR is making some very special parts. Hope to try some soon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaytonaTim Posted December 6, 2009 Author Share Posted December 6, 2009 This Trike sounds like great fun! TDR is making some very special parts. Hope to try some soon... Thanks IRA. We are just a bunch of modelers making models of things that excite us and that we think others will like too. Well, I finally found a little time today to work on the Allison trike. I finished out the block for the Allison but thought I would try something a little different. I wanted to see if I could get that "machined surface" look on part of the block where the cylinder jugs mate up to the block. So I pulled out the ole aluminium furnace tape, that a poor mans bare metal foil I guess, and applied it to the final surface. You wont see a lot of this surface when the cylinders are on, but the little that you do see should provide a good contrast of surface texture and I hope it spices it up a little. Here a few pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixties Sam Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 Those are amazing pieces! If it weren't for the dime in the photos, I would swear they were full size castings! The trike sounds like it will be an incredible model! Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaytonaTim Posted December 23, 2009 Author Share Posted December 23, 2009 Thanks Sam. I am trying something a little different.....for me that is. I am shooting the model with ModelMasters aluminium paint and then hitting it with flat clear. I think it really make the surface have that cast aluminium look. Well, I finally got a few hours in to work on the Allison Trike this weekend. That is what 9 inches of snow will do for you. I got some sparkplugs from Dan, at SMC, to put in the Allison. I decided to use the ones for the 1950's cars since they were the longest ones. Boy, I was really impressed with the fine detail that was captured in them. The really worked out well. Don't forget, you need 24 plugs for the Allison since it is 2 plugs per cylinder. I am going the cheap route on this one in using the heads of stickpins to simulate the smaller bolts and using tacks that I grid the flats on to simulate the larger bolts. My eyes can hardly see the differance.....that may change if I ever get around to getting that pair of glasses that I need. The white styrene rods you see on the heads are my attempt to scratch build the tubing that carries the ignition wire for the inside sparkplugs. I will have to build another set for the wires for the outside cylinders too. The nut you see in one or two of the pics is a test to see if it would be the right size for the attachment nut for the rod.....I think it is a little too big. I may have to visit the hardware store again. I am going to try and assemble each head completely before attaching it to the block. I think it will be easier to work on it this way because once the cylinders and heads are attached to the block the whole assembly become quite top heavy and unstable. The one thing I am going to have to look at, before putting the cylinder/head assembly on the block, is how all this is going to work with the drive shaft for the cams. I will be sure and leave the valve covers unattached so if I have to grind away part of distributor mount I can. This would allow me to slip the cam driveshaft down through the top of the head and into the receiver on the blower housing assembly. This is all necessary because the angle of the cam driveshaft is different than the assembly angle of the head/cylinder assembly, which is 30 degrees. So if anybody is working on their Allison right now just be aware of this and if you need a better explanation of it just PM me. Also, I have started working on the 11 inch rearend that I will be using for the trike. One word of warning on the 11 inch rear. The disk brake setup is just too big to fit inside the TDR 16 inch rims. I will soon have to work up some 18 inch rims and tires to work with this rear. Well.....enough with the talk here are some pics of where I am right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaytonaTim Posted February 22, 2010 Author Share Posted February 22, 2010 It has been a while since I have posted, so I figure I had better update the pictures. I have the Alison finished now. All I can say is WOW. It is a model by it's self. I never counted all the bolts in this baby but I know it has to be pushing 400 bolts though. This thing is not your average american V8, there are a lot of parts in this engine and they all fold back and interweave around each other. I have posted up some assembly instruction pictures in the TDRcatalog.com Allison listing if anybody is interested in seeing how this thing goes together. Well enough talk, here are some pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandpaMcGurk Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 If Lindy ever comes out with their 1/8th comp bodied dragster I'll just have to put one of these monsters in it. Oh, yeah! Can you imagine how big your quad Al would be with 4 of these puppies? You'd need a trailer to take it to model shows...LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaytonaTim Posted February 27, 2010 Author Share Posted February 27, 2010 LOL....an 1/8 scale Quad Al would need its own zipcode!!!! But it sure would be nice. Well, we got about 6 inches of snow today and it is still putting it down......looks like I may get some more modeling in this weekend!!! I may get the drive train finished, if I am lucky. I will just have to try and duck all the Honey-do-jobs!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbwelda Posted February 27, 2010 Share Posted February 27, 2010 this motor is going into a trike? wow i cant even imagine what that would be like in real life. was there a real life prototype for it? super looking engine, thats for sure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjordan2 Posted February 27, 2010 Share Posted February 27, 2010 That's all resin? Wow. That's some of the most impressive metal finishing work I've ever seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaytonaTim Posted February 28, 2010 Author Share Posted February 28, 2010 (edited) I have never seen an Allison in a real trike, but I did see a picture of an allison in a motorcycle once!!!!! It was an old black and white pic and it looked like it might have been right after the war. No, this trike thing will be all my design. I am trying to approach it as if someone hit the lottery and bought out an army surplus store or something like that. We will see, ideas change all the time. SJordan, there is nothing fancy about the finish. Most of it is Walmart chrome paint and clear coats. I found that the clearcoat is what really makes the difference. To get that "cast metal" finish I just shot the parts with chrome paint then hit it with a flat clearcoat. If I wanted the part to be shiny then I used the gloss clear coat. I did use ModelMasters metalizer paints for the darker shades of metal though but I used the same WallyWorld clear coats on them to get the cast finish. Oh, I did use some BMF on the distributor covers. Well sort of, I used some furnace aluminium tape. Kind of the poor mans BMF for 1/8th scale stuff. It worked great, for $10 you can buy a life times supply at Walmart. Tim Edited March 1, 2010 by DaytonaTim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake Rogers Posted March 1, 2010 Share Posted March 1, 2010 whoa is all i can say lol man i cant wait to see this one done man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaytonaTim Posted March 6, 2010 Author Share Posted March 6, 2010 (edited) Hey Moparfan, I like your avitar. I had a friend of mine that had a superbird back in the early 80's. I will never forget what he said one day, he commented that "It is amazing how many people stop street racing at 130 MPH......" That was one fast car!! Hey, has anybody ever used those aluminium brazing rods. The reason I ask is that I was thinking of building the frame for the allison trike out of alluminium rod and polishing it out. Does anybody have any experiance with these rods??? If I could get a polished alluminium frame for this thing it would really look sweet. Edited March 6, 2010 by DaytonaTim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaytonaTim Posted September 26, 2010 Author Share Posted September 26, 2010 Boy...... I knew it was quite a while since I last posted to this thread, but I did not know it had been 7 months!!!! Well, I have been making a big push to get this beast finished in time for the Toledo model show, on Oct 9. The competition theme this year is "bikes and trikes" and my friend Gary Kulchock has been pushing me to get it done. I got it to the point that I can atleast enter it. I still have some things that I want to do to it but I have to stop and get the TDR 427 Roadster ready for the show too........Nothing like waiting till the last moment. I wanted to make something that reminded you of "Mad Max......1946". Imagine some Mustang ace that just could not give it up, once the war was over...... Well here are some pics. Sorry for the quality of the pics, I will try and get some more tomorrow when I can use the sunlight for lighting Please let me know what you think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comp1839 Posted September 27, 2010 Share Posted September 27, 2010 that's really wild tim! completely outrageous!!!!!! can't wait to see it in person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaytonaTim Posted September 27, 2010 Author Share Posted September 27, 2010 Thanks Dave. Hey take a close look at the steering wheel.......does it look familiar? My first attempt at that Butterfly steering wheel. Still have some bugs to shake out of it but it will do for this model Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandpaMcGurk Posted September 27, 2010 Share Posted September 27, 2010 Totally off the chart Tim....... That's what working at TDR does to ya after a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gkulchock Posted September 27, 2010 Share Posted September 27, 2010 Looks great Tim. I'm glad to see it finished in time for the show, and I have no regrets pushing you to get it finished. I wonder what you can get together for next years theme....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comp1839 Posted September 27, 2010 Share Posted September 27, 2010 (edited) i do now, tim! looks great in there. i have a surprise for you then. they finally fixed the printer at work. Edited September 27, 2010 by comp1839 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPIKE426 Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Jim lytte allison trike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.