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1/16th Dukes Charger * 3/28/15* Update, **DAISY DUKE AUTOGRAPH**


Rdkingjay

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This is the re-issue kit. Built the original one 30 years ago and quickly discovered it did not have the same durability as the tv versions always seemed to have. Ahh, to be young and stupid again... Anyway, since there is really no wrong way to build these cars unless you are targeting a specific episode, I have decided to build it to a more streetable level, then its Nascar underpinnings will allow. So I bought a big piece of sheet styrene that is the same gauge as the car and the cutting and sanding has begun. I have mocked in rough wheel house inserts for the front fenders and have started cutting and shaping an actual engine bay that will also include only part of the engine cage, simply to house the dual shocks. More to follow.

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Edited by Rdkingjay
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  • 4 weeks later...

Jay, the engine bay and fender openings look great so far!

Keep up the great work.

I started building one of these many years ago but unfortunately never finished it. I remember I liked that the rear window was correct(compared to the 1/25 General Lee kit). However the fenders' wheel openings looked strange and it was more of a NASCAR then street car. Both the 1/25 and 1/16 General Lees weren't correct out of box. One of these days I'll get around to building one of my Revell '69 Chargers as a General Lee.

Edited by crowe-t
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Got the chassis painted. Decided that since this is a "custom" built car, I would paint the whole under-carriage, rotary style, as opposed to just fogging the color in, like it would appear from the factory. I then airbrushed in the black "undercoating" that a builder of a real car might do. The orange is real EV-2 Dupont Hemi orange.

The rear axle has my first attempt at a chalk mark, a scratch built sway bar and brake lines going to both sides with a proportioning valve in the middle. All the suspension components are painted and ready to be assembled, this was the last piece. Once assembled, I'll set the ride height and look for clearance issues with the new engine bay. Hopefully, there won't be any. Thanks for looking.

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Edited by Rdkingjay
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  • 3 weeks later...

Front suspension is complete, except for the shocks, which will be mounted later when the modified engine cage/shock towers are painted and installed. No big surprises with the front end. The upper "A" arms were painted in an aluminum shade to give them an aftermarket appearence and the rest of the suspension either got satin black with a light coat of gloss or a shade of raw cast. The front wheels will be poseable and the suspension has some up and downward play. The thin steel line coming up from the drivers side is the rear brake line that has yet to be trimmed and bent and mounted to the brake booster. Thanks for looking.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Fabbed up an exhaust system. The header collectors are styrene tubing that I stretched out on the header side, to get around the headers, leaving the tip with a tapered appearence. The pipes are stainless tubes, as are the tips and the pipes around the rear end are actually made from the thickest pipe sweating solder I could find. The mufflers are made from aluminun tubing that was actually shaped like an airplane wing, so they required a little re-shaping. I then added styrene ends and drilled holes for the pipes. The whole system still needs to be cleaned up, painted etc. But I will attempt to polish the tips.

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Aside from a few touch ups from handling it while building and adding detail, the engine is complete. I added, fittings to the fuel lines at the carb and a fuel filter, as well as supply and return lines at the pump with fittings. The block is painted in Testors Chyrsler Engine Red. I de-chromed a number of items, including the oil pan, timing chain cover, oil filter and mount, as well as the ignition and coolant over flow can, which are not pictured. Hoses/wires left dangling and yet to be attached are the red positive cable going to the starter, upper and lower cooling hoses, ignition wire and supply return fuel lines. This is the big key to finishing the chassis. Once mounted, I can then mount the new exhaust, hard fuel lines to the tank, and rear suspension.

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  • 2 months later...

Well alot has happened since my last post, so I won't mince words here. Added a sway bar by bending a piece of styrene tubing. Added supply and return fuel lines that join up with the fuel pump. Full length exhaust. Pipes are aluminum tubing. Mufflers are oval metal stock. Pipes going over axle are actually solder and tail pipes are also aluminum tubing. Tank straps are brass stock, painted flat black. Any questions, just ask.

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Edited by Rdkingjay
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In an effort to continue to bring you all up to date, here are pics of the scratchbuilt dash and rear seat. I used the kits, 70's style nascar dash as a frame for the new one. In another day or two, I will share pics of the almost complete interior that also has a scratchbuilt roll bar and center console, followed by completed shots of the corrected front fender wheel openings. Thanks for looking.

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Jay,

This is a really cool build! B) I had one of these kits many years ago and never liked it as a General Lee since there were too many nascar parts. And the front wheel openings were just plain wrong for a stock Charger.

However, seeing all your modifications is making me want one of these kits. The dash is beautiful!

Can you post a picture of the kit's 'nascar' dash or rather, what's left of it. That is, if you didn't take any 'before' pictures. I'd like to see how it came in the kit.

BTW, you should make a rubber casting of the dash so you can make resin castings. I'm sure there is a market for a correct 1/16 dash now that this kit's been re-issued. It's just a thought. :D

Mike.

Edited by crowe-t
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Thanks for the kind words. I too had one of the original kits 30 years ago and even then was somewhat dissapointed with all the nascar underpinnings. Even at 12 years old, I knew it was wrong, but I didn't possess the skill to correct them. Unfortunately, I do not have shots of the original dash, but what you see is pretty much intact except for being shaved on the bottom. Flat top, flat face, with a woodgrain pattern on the face. I never thought of casting my dash, because it has its flaws and is not exactly accurate compared to the real thing. I am proud of the almost finished product though. Here are the most current pics. The interior is not complete and is only loosely mocked for the picture. Aside from the dash and backseat, the center console and roll bar are also scratchbuilt. I still have to add some detail paintng, CB, shifter, package tray and maybe window cranks if I can fab them up. I will also be adding seat belts/harnesses from Pro-Tech. In my very first post, you will see the inserts for the wheel wells. The process was actually pretty easy. Epoxyed them in place, skimmed the fenders with bondo, inside and out, blended the lips, sand/prime, sand/prime again and VIOLA! Aside from some minor fine tuning, they look symetric from every angle I can see, so I'm pretty happy with them. Thanks for looking.

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Edited by Rdkingjay
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Well it goes without saying, but feel free to use anything you see here for your own 1/16th generals. I primed the package tray last night and painted the firewall. It will now get the brake booster installed and I will run both solid and rubber front brake lines and complete the engine bay/inner fenders. The body is really all that is left. I found a decent set of wipers and made a pretty good copy of the gas door from a 1/25th ford hub cap. Yeah, you read that right. May be a couple weeks before I have fresh pics.

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Due to the very warm weather we have had in the northeast lately, I was able to paint and complete the firewall very quickly. I used the supplied brake cylinder, drilled it and attached the rear brake line coming up from the chassis, as well as fab up front brake lines, and a "proportioning" valve for the passenger side. I used quotes for that because it is actually an interesting unidentified leftover piece from a 1/24th kit that looked right, so I used it. The blunt ends will have fittings attached, followed by flexible rubber hoses, terminating at the front brake drums. The routing of the brake lines was dictated by the built, but yet to be installed inner engine bay and radiator support. Thanks for looking.

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I have been dreading doing this modification because it required cutting a large circle in the body. This kit does not provide a gas door of any kind, so you are left to your devices with this one. I recently built a 1/25th Ford Styleline kit into a Mass State cruiser. It came with custom tail light bezels, that I thought closely resembled the outer ring of a Charger gas door. The scale difference looked right, so that combined with a 1/25th tachometer housing from the parts box and a 1/43rd '40 Ford hub cap and I was off. First, I dremeled out the tach housing so the hubcap/gas door would fit in it flush. The tach housing was used to raise the gas door slightly above the outer ring, similar to the real thing. After gluing the three pieces together, I painted the gas door black and added a fuel decal from a Nascar detail sheet. After drilling out the mounting hole, I final sanded it at a bit of a taper, so the door housing would not fall through, but sit slightly above the quarter panel, like on the real car. I don't have the hands to add a hinge or lifting tab to the gas door itself, but the finished product is pretty close to the original and I am very happy with it.

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Edited by Rdkingjay
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Short of some final sanding, primer and paint, this is the finished scratchbuilt engine bay. The last time you saw it, was in my initial post. It has gone through several tweaks since then. I based it from pics on line of the real thing and other 1/16th General builders that have built the same car. Obviously it is not exact and I wanted to keep the dual shock set up. So I gave it that "cut out shock tower" look that is often seen on Mustangs and Chevy II's. I have a coolant over flow and wiper bottle ( yes, this car will have wipers too), as well as an ignition coil and MSD box which are coming from Pro-Tech.

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Edited by Rdkingjay
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