Polar Lights Tommy Grove funny car?

[MitchP]

I'm pretty sure it's a Round 2 reissue, but I found a Tommy Grove Mustang funny car on sale at my hobby store for $14.95. It's got a Logghe style multipiece frame and a Hemi with a choice of blower hat fixtures. I'd like to know what would help me put this style build together as all my prior funny car builds (3) have been one piece chassis. Do you have to build or buy some sort of jig or to keep the frame square?

From the rather brief instructions, I can see that it appears there are some typical and some unique aspects of the build such as basic fuel system pieces, but it also comes with dual remote oil filters & fittings, separate blower belt and a nicely detailed Ford engine.

[gtx6970]

All the Polar Lights funnycar kits chassis are the same . That said they are pretty straight forward just pay close attention to the instructions.

As far as keeping it straight , I use a metal sliding ruler with 2 sliders on it to keep everything straight and true side to side.

Sorry, I don't have any in process pictures of any I've built

Edited June 25, 2014 by gtx6970

[Pete L.]

Fellas,

I wonder if anyone has designed and or built a jig to help in the assembly of these chassis...if so maybe a few pics would go a long way to help some of these builds along.

[MitchP]

I've seen pics somewhere of a jig. It looked like a thin metal sheet with measured scribe marks on it's sides. Add a couple of 90 deg angles with magnets attached and you could ensure a square build area. I'm also going to check with a couple of scratch pro mod builders to see how they keep everything straight.

[mnwildpunk]

I use a sheet of simple cheap plate glass and some plained pieces of scrap wood with double sided tape to affix to the glass I would also invest in a square just to double check everything

[Brett Barrow]

Revell's new-tool Hawaiian has a one-piece Logghe chassis. Might be a viable alternative if the multipiece frame gives anyone problems. I've never tried to kitbash the two, though, I'm only assuming it'll work. Those Polar Lights funnies are tricky from what I've read.

Edited June 26, 2014 by Brett Barrow

[Daddyfink]

^{I just used a piece of glass for a flat surface and used paint bottles to hold it up while the glue dried. If you do it in stages you should be fine.}

[DaveM]

I used a sheet of glass and some dice that had one side sprayed with a spray adhesive that remained slightly tacky. (3M, IIRC) These are the old Polar Lights funny cars, and they are nice kits with lots of great parts. They are a bit of a booger to get together, though. The paint bottles are a great idea. You can also put some graph paper under the glass to keep things straighter. (Crooked parts really stand out against a nice square background) Revell's Hawaiian works pretty well as a donor for the Mopars, with the Revell Motors, but I am not sure how the Polar Lights Ford motor would fit into the Revell frame. It looks like it should, but I have never tried it.

Good luck, and post some pics. I always like to look at the old funny cars.

Dave

[MitchP]

Thanks for the ideas folks. Odd thing though, the reason I mentioned re-issue is that I picked it up at a local hobby store and I've seen kits with the same artwork in other local stores recently. I know I heard Polar Lights was doing a 2nd release, but when I look at their strange parts tree illustrations on the bottom of the kit, it darn sure looks like the frame is split into two sides! Oh well, I've got lots in the queue before I get there, so maybe more experience will help by then.