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Fairmont drag car build - Hanging/hinging DS door 8/10/16


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John - I was holding Emilee when I saw your reply, so I smooched her right there on the spot and told her it was from you. She was impressed! LOL Here is a silhouette of her:

hawkeyeandpeparts006.jpg

I'll post something that actually shows her markings and such later.

Thank you, very much, Ron. I appreciate both your kind words about my website and condolences regarding Izzy. She was a lovely kitty and was very mild mannered, except for the occasional "big-eye" as Donilee and I called it. Then you wanted to keep her at arm's reach... She was very much a lap cat and my wife and I loved her dearly. We actually had to "water" Izzy, just as you are with Fluffy. We did it for over two year's I'm guessing. Also, as you say, she never held it against us. She didn't like it, and she always knew when it was time, but she never fought us or anything, for which we were both thankful. It probably gave her an extra year and a half to two years' worth of a contented life.

Thanks Chris!

Edited by futurattraction
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The central frame rail section turned out pretty well and mimics much of the Revell structure. I've added some structural tubing and seat mount tabs under the driver's seat area. Here’s a pic of what it looks like fitted to the bottom of the pan.

pan_underside_ps_side.jpg

I made a bit of progress in getting some of the structural components prepped. I did successfully mold and cast both upper strut tube/tin work pieces and have drilled out the strut mount collar and have done some general cleanup on the tubing. Flash was pretty minimal, which is nice. I added some small alignment nubs to the outboard side of the lower rail so there is something to use as a guide when attaching the main lower control arm PE brackets. The nubs do have to be trimmed to allow for a tighter fit to the rail. This pic shows the passenger side lower bracket attached.

ps_splash_underside.jpg

The driver side panel with the strut piston rod and sample upper mount inserted in the collar. I have PE upper strut mount gussets that will be added, both for strength and aesthetic detail. Pics of those will hopefully come soon, as will some lower PE control arm wishbones. They will tie both lower angles of control arm tubing together as well as offer a fool-proof connection to the bottom strut mount. If nothing else, you'll come to realize that I value solid mounting points when connecting fragile pieces together. LOL One of the trickiest parts of assembling the lower mounts was having them as close to perpendicular to the rail as possible, while also being on the same plane as the rail. I think I pulled that off reasonably well…

splash_pans_ds_strut_rod_up.jpg

One of the many challenges in building and designing as I go, which is basically what's going on at this point, is that portions of the lower tin work will have to be removed for header clearance. I could probably remove some of it now, but I don't want to take out too much. Until I have more of the engine and motor plate assembled, I'm going to have to play it close to the vest. I'm actually toying with the idea of making some true tin work, i.e., PE panels that can be laid in over the top of these panels. IF that is the case, I may be able to remove the central portion of the resin "tin", leaving a perimeter flange, or maybe Dzus plate sized resin tabs. What is anybody's opinion of how that could be done?

More to come...

Edited by futurattraction
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I made a bit of progress last night. I’ve got one side of the front suspension pieced together. The question, now, is whether I can match the driver’s side to the passenger side… LOL

frame-strut-mustang004.jpg

frame-strut-mustang005.jpg

I got the chassis pan and center frame rail section soaked in Bleche White last night. My goal is to get the 4-link chassis-side 4-link brackets attached this weekend. Here’s a pic of the 4-link kit like I’m using.

Revell4-link005.jpg

Getting the brackets installed will allow me to establish the final position for the center frame rail so I can trim the main rails to match up to the forward frame section. I am intending to recycle the 9-inch rear end I originally put together for my previous Fairmont project that ended up stalling. It should work fine for this build.

completed_rear_830_lev.jpg

I’ll probably hop around on various subassemblies in this thread, since that’s the way I seem to work. Not saying that’s the smartest or most efficient, but there’s no point in my fighting myself…

Comments welcome!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am adjusting on the fly to get the front suspension pieces where I want them. Try as I might, the front tires currently set too far outboard to make them have a realistic placement.

In the meantime, I am working on some sub-assemblies. I am using photo etch OEM-style Lenco hand levers. I drew them up them with very small alignment pins on both the detent levers and hand levers but am debating whether I want to remove the pins and add RB Motion rod ends and hardware. The pins make alignment pretty straight-forward, but the hardware detail would be cool too. I added the tiny .050" OD PE buttons to the grip portion of the hand levers to simulate the phenolic grips on the 1:1 levers.

strutschassisEmilee007.jpg

Here is a profile of the Lenco trans with the detent levers attached. The small PE pins will bend, so I can adjust the angle as necessary when attaching the linkage tubes. I am planning to add mounting tabs and slide mount. Just haven’t gotten there yet.

strutschassisEmilee005.jpg

The struts consist of a stainless tube that simulates the piston rod. Attached to the upper end of it is the spring retainer and a small centering disc that attaches to the underside of the retainer.

strutschassisEmilee012.jpg

An .032” drill but is used to enlarge the holes in the retainer and centering disc so the piston rod will slide up through. The small sleeve slides over the stainless tube and attaches to the top of the retainer. The sleeve then will fit inside the collar/mount on the upper strut tube.

strutschassisEmilee009.jpg

Here you can see some of the detail on the chassis-side of the strut. The body itself is resin with an .063” aluminum tube sleeve inside. PE steering arms and resin calipers have yet to be installed and the spring assembly added. I added RB Motion bolt heads to simulate hardware attaching the caliper brackets to the strut.

strutschassisEmilee015-1.jpg

More to come. Comments welcome!

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