RazorHog512

That's about the decision i've reached, it was either a 02-05 ish Duallie like and F350 or Chevy 3500HD (very popular at the race track, but for which there are no kits available that i've seen) or try to find the f650. I forgot that i'm not using a stacker trailer, so a 18wheeler-based toterhome might look a little ungainly coming up so high over the cab of the truck with a relatively low trailer.

if i can find one i may go that route, would be really interesting to go this route with that truck http://www.randyayersmodeling.com/modelingforum/viewtopic.php?p=121060&sid=3e56951cd80a3418cbde9f9a182df2a2 if you guys have any other suggestions (i'm open to regular duallie pickups without living quarters as well, trailer can have quarters built in after all...) please, throw them at me! what i've mentioned are the possible routes i've discovered, i know yall have more knowledge on these than me!

new thought-- would a dump truck chassis work? already long enough.... but doesn't have the 5th wheel. the greatest of intentions... darn

Hey yall-- It's been a while since i've been on here, but finally home for the summer and looking to finish a project I started for my dad. I scratch built/ cannibalized a porsche 911 gt1 to make him a Formula Vee like the one he used to race. Just ordered a Galaxie Unlimited trailer tonight ( stumbled on the 21' Tag-along version at my LHS back in the dusty old stacks about 6 years ago and someone snatched it since... go figure. it's taken me til now to find out who made it!), i'm going with 38' 5th wheel version, it's where i'm SUUUURE we'd have ended up in real life if i'd have been given control of the checkbook ))) Next issue to conquer is what to haul it with. I've searched ALL OVER for a 1/24 late model duallie pickup (f350, etc) and no one has one. All i can find is a 1995 f250 and the duallie version of it from revell. Which would work. buuuut the older yr model trucks are not quite fancy enough. This is a dream rig after all! So, I've stumbled on the idea of a toterhome. The rich guys all had them at the track. Most were purpose built as living quarters and designed to bumper-pull a 28' or shorter trailer. However, that doesn't fly with my new trailer. So i was curious if anybody had done one? I know they exist in full scale! haha Basically, I imagine it would entail lengthening the frame of XYZ semi truck to put the living quarter behind the cab and still having 5th wheel function. Also, heard mention of a f650 kit in 1/24 but havent seen it all on the wonderful google. That would make a great toterhome cab and chassis beginning as well. Any assistance would be great! PS is cross posting of forums frowned upon? this is the idea i'm going for, but i don't have the supplies to scratch build. Need suggestions on good starting kit to pilfer haha http://hankstruckforum.com/htforum/index.php?topic=48626.0 Casey

Here she is, "black Betty" in all her glory!....minus tires, wheels and some bodywork what a fun project! Dad hasn't seen it yet, i'll show him tomorrow. But the wheels, Tires and body are probably going to be set up in a garage diorama, like up against the wall, so i can show off my handi-work. PLus, gives me time to figure out what the h3ll i'm going to do! WHo'da thunk-- an FV in two weeks out of a Revell Porsch 911 gt1.... i'm proud of this one!!

midnight tonight should mark the end of the build for the chassis!!!!!!! have to glue on the halfshafts again after paint and then VOILA! Stay Tuned!!

New year, new progress! the rest of the crash bars are finished, floorpan/firewalls are installed, and all that's left is paint and final assembly! (the easy part haha) making a run to our local hobby shop tomorrow for paint, then a day of assembly.... the body is gonna go on the back burner for a while, too proud of the fram to hide it just yet! (Wild Bill's in Irving, tx-- old hole in the wall joint that any of yall in the area need to check it out. modeler's paradise. if you name it they have two!)

Pat, its nice to know I am staying in dimensions (mostly ) i measured just a tenth wider up front and the engine is just about a dead ringer once i finish trimming. An that vee looks great!!! Any particular make you are copying? my first guess is Beach or Zink... Gregg, i think you know where i'm coming from then that da volkswagen gets in the blood? we haven't had our race cars for a few years now and i'm dreaming on ways to get my hands on a 1:1 air cooled tinkerer's dream. i'd love to see a pic if you can find one! UPDATE TIME main chassis rails are done, main hoops are done, working on some crash bars now. I bit the bullet and decided to just build my own beam, mostly eyeballing it based on the porsche tie rod length and the pivot point for the hub. and it worked out!!! the old throttle bodies are PERFECT for brake and cluthc fluid cylinders. i wanted to mount up the bottom arm of the suspension, so i had to loosely attach the upparm, wasn't what i wanted, but it let me get the bottom in the right place tonight i used the porsche front shock and made up the front shcok set up, this is the point that that tamiya beam is looking reeeeallll attractive. i'm letting the one side dry then "test firing", see if i'm happy. the little braces in the rear are the mounts for the rear shock, vintage cars ran the z-bar torsion bar suspension, modern run one rear shock (i can feel how long it's been since i used all the lingo-- believe it's a pushrod rear suspenion but that might be the wrong term haha) crash bars next, then paint, then final assembly with all the goo-gahs and gizmos i pilfered from the porsche. i don't even want to THINK about how i am going to make the body (although any suggestion there would be helpful. i'm feeling lexan or styrene sheets...) also exhaust? maybe some thin brass tubing after all? requires some serious (!) bend and i want it to pop (dad's was chromed out)

oh yeah! if you could tell me the dimensions on the front beam (hubs included) i'd appreciate it! i figure if that matches then the engine works too

on second thought, i found a set of really detailed build pics of the tamiya beetle... for correctness sake, i'm officially starting the hunt for one. while i may be too far along with the dimensions on this one to swap in those parts (hopefully it really is 1/24 scale like i think my math worked out too, but you never knwo haha), that engine and the Front Beam suspenion are too good to pass up for a future build. i'll totally finish this one as is. but the next one will be done right.

Blubaja, my dad and his friends always did say these cars were the most fun you could have with your clothes on..... I got a few track days behind the wheel back in the day (imagine a 14 year old at speed?!?!!?! ) and i've yet anything like it Foxer, that's a great idea! i'd be tempted for the wheels for sure. But, the reason i'm happy with the porsche engine for now is that, while the vintage Vee's built Pre-1972 used the fan shroud for cooling, the modern vees like his deleted the fan for HP gains. so i would only be using the engine block from the beetle anyway. I think for the purposes of this build (round one of probably a few, we did own 4 vees over time after all hahaha) i'll stick with what i got. There's a really neat hobby shop in Irving, just east of dallas, that is one of those places that if you're willing to dig back in the cobwebs you can find anything. I am definitely going to try to find those wheels! good call!

thanks for the tip Rodney, got her figured out now! haha

also would love for someone to help me figure out how to get the pictures to show rather than be external links.

First post, i came across a lot of inspiration on this site, and figured i'd share my first adventure with a bunch of like-minded folks! I've loved models for as long as i can remember and when Christmas rolled around, not only do i need a project to keep me occupied during the long break from university life , but i figured I would surprise my dad with a little custom job for his shelf. (His birthday gift was a custom standing gun rack for the closet, so I have to keep my own standards!) Life got in the way, so this is more of a "before i head back to college in late January" present vs an xmas gift. Up until my sophomore year of high school (all of 3 years ago), our family raced Formula Vee race cars with the SCCA. They are small formula cars that are heavily based on..... the VW beetle from the 50's and 60's. haha What a beast! 1200cc flat 4 Engine, "wonderful" suspension, drum brakes... all those tuned up in a rear engine, RWD, 800 pound bullet. They actually are a very competitive car, and emphasize skill over money and bolt on parts, which is a polar opposite to most other amateur racing venues. dad's car when we got it in 2005, and pics of it with the body off in mid 90's. The unique engine configuration made it hard to even get this project started. I needed a flat 4 cylinder and transmission to make the car look right ( the engine is the majority of this car, so it had to be right). I hopelessly searched around for a Beetle model with a good engine package to salvage parts from... THEN i looked at the shelf in my room. I put together one of Revell's 1/25 Porsche 911 GT1 kits this summer. That car featured a flat six ( can be sanded to look like a 4 easily... or close enough for Dad's eyes! ) and a tranmission mounted in reverse like a Vee. and suddenly the Chop shop opened its doors. I started with this after pulling all the pieces off..... (some serious clean up needed where engine block and tranny meet where i cut off quite a few cross members rather crudely to avoid the halfshafts) I wanted to build this car to look right. and the more i looked at the Porsche, the more parts compatibility i saw. Let's just say there is no turning back now... I looked that the competition rules and figured out the 1/25 scale of the Vee dimensions. came out to 5" overall, 2" track F and R, 3.5" Wheelbase (talk about easy math for me!). originally thought about using the plastic from the parts trees from another kit in the closet to make the chassis. the more i think though.... i just see this getting messy and not quite professional. Opinions on balsa wood? it's a shelf queen that will get picked up occassionally to show off (hopefully ) so is balsa good for this? i figure if i sand and paint the wood (maybe a bondo type approach???) it can look like "smooth metal" to inspection. Since this is my first scratch build, help me out?!? where "black betty" sits right now http://s1211.photobu...nt=DSCN2663.jpg http://s1211.photobu...nt=DSCN2665.jpg http://s1211.photobu...nt=DSCN2687.jpg http://s1211.photobu...nt=DSCN2688.jpg Some notes on things i noticed loading these pics... the black piece leaning against the engine is actually the remains of the intake on the porsche. i'll use it to fab up the fuel cell, bc in these cars, the fuel cell WAS the seat. you rest against what is basically a bomb waiting to happen. It was nuts in the 60's, and the new (US) models follow the same rules. NUTS. and not comfortable. the brake and clutch cylinders behind the pedals are actually the old throttle bodies off the porsche 6 cylinder. just so happens i need three cylinders... MONEY! the wheels are the ones that came with the porsche, i plan to trim the width down significantly until they are the same width as the hub like the race car featured (tires trimmed to match). No HP to handle big tires! THe red disc brakes have to go. Drums on all 4 corners on this beast. I'm shaving them down, ugly now, but with some epoxy/sanding/paint, they should look like the real deal someday! That's as far as i am right now, more details later this week as i continue working! suggestions and comments welcome!