9 replies to this topic

[CB]

Got an idea (really a demand from MR SKWIRLS-- the demented squirrel type I'm doing a build for) and needed a fan. Initially thought of scratchbuilding one, but remembered I have the Big T and a slightly built up Big Deuce, so I went looking for to grab a fan outa one of them. SURPRISE!!!
There aint no fan.......in either of them!

After looking thru the box for a nice big 1/8 scale fan, and not finding one, I figured I'd check the instruction booklet. Not a fan to be found-- in the box, or on the instuctions.


Even on the photo of the built up Big T on the box art, it aint got no freakin' fan! I don't know that much about rods, but I figured if'n ya gots a radiator.........ya gots a fan, too! Do anybody know if'n some of the 1:1 rods, especially with the exposed engines, like this here one, don't run a fan? That was the only thing that made any sense to me, but I had to check see if'n the Big Deuce had one, since it could have an enclosed engine department.......
...aand-- nope! it aint gots one either! Couldn't check the box art for the Deuce, coz it got trashed.

Just the instruction manual, and just like the Biggie T-- no fan. I don't know if'n I'm missin' something here or if some rodders run their engines with a radiator, cooling system, etc, but with no fan? I looked again, thinkin' maybe there was an electic fan molded into the radiator, but again-- nothing! I gots to keep the dememted MR SKWIRLS happy, so I'll be scracthin' a fan, but sure would appreciate if'n anybody can shed some lites on this here ....Thanks.

[Harry P.]

I'm no expert, but it seems to me that a car without a fan isn't going to run too long without a major problem!

Maybe it's a "Monogram thing" because the Monogram 1/8 Jaguar doesn't have one either! I had to scratchbuild one out of sheet aluminum.

[CB]

Gee, sorry to hear that Harry -- a Jag without a fan? Thanks, at least I don't feel that stupid now. Why on earth would they do that? Just too totally weird. I've had cars, worked on cars, etc-- even had a Mopar that the thermostat stuck shut on, and the poor 318 barely wanted to run-- and that was in the winter time.

Just re-read the cover page of the instruction booklet and see where the original Big T model was produced by Monogram in 1962. Says the CEOs were so pleased with the model shots that they commissioned Darryl Starbird to build a 1:1 version of the model Big T, using the model for reference. Says the 1:1 was a big hit, touring shopping malls in the Midwest and helped sell a lot of the model kits.

Also says that 'Predator Performance' of Dubois, Pa made 2 full size 1:1 Big T's, again, using the model for reference. They gave one to Darryl Starbird for his 'National Rod and Custom Car Hall of Fame Museum', and the other one went to a radio station in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Wonder if Darryl, and the Predator Performance guys built the 1:1s without fans ?

Mayhaps I'll try and contact either Predator Performance and/or Mr Starbird to see if'n they made the 1:1s without a fan. As for those Jags, I aint sure who you'd hafta call

Totally ridiculous

[george 53]

John, WAZZAMATTA YOU???? You KNOW if'n ya got no fan you gonna heat up, you thank it AIN'T gon happen ta da skwerril??? Them Monogram guys probly din't put one in there caz they KNEW ya want gonna drive it nowhere! Jus get you some scissers an cut you up some plastic an have at it!!! Ain't gonna letta lil ol thang likea fan keep the skwerrilly from motervatein,iz ya???

[Michigan Madman]

John, WAZZAMATTA YOU???? You KNOW if'n ya got no fan you gonna heat up, you thank it AIN'T gon happen ta da skwerril??? Them Monogram guys probly din't put one in there caz they KNEW ya want gonna drive it nowhere! Jus get you some scissers an cut you up some plastic an have at it!!! Ain't gonna letta lil ol thang likea fan keep the skwerrilly from motervatein,iz ya???

T-buckets are pretty easy to keep cool- if you just keep them moving at a good steady clip! Who needs a fan when you have an endless wall of atmosphere you're pushing through at a hundred miles an hour?! Keep it out of any 1/8 scale MickeyD's drive-thrus you may encounter and you'll do fine!

(NOTE: In the preceding text, many entire sentences were actually true.)

[CB]

Thanks Chuck. I believe I have seen some 1:1 rods with uncovered engines that had no fan, but they were few & far between, and I assume they don't actually drive 'em much.

Before I checked the Big Deuce for a fan, being that it could have the engine enclosed, I was thinking maybe that's what some peeps think-- that whattaya need a fan for when your engine is totally exposed and yer toolin' along thru all that fresh air? But still.........it just aint right


As fer that 'preceding text'-- whenever I read a post by George, I read it by lookin' at it inna mirror
and it makes perfick sanse!

[Art Anderson]

I'm no expert, but it seems to me that a car without a fan isn't going to run too long without a major problem!

Maybe it's a "Monogram thing" because the Monogram 1/8 Jaguar doesn't have one either! I had to scratchbuild one out of sheet aluminum.

Check me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the E-type one of the very first cars to get an electric fan, due to its low hood line and long nose shape?

As for Big T, Big Deuce, cars like those tended not to be driven either far, nor often, and certainly not in heavy city traffic--as if they did, they would have boiled their engines rather quickly. There's a whale of a difference between a Model T 4-banger and its primitive, if very workable "Thermosyphon" cooling principle, and any V8. which Ford and Ford buyers learned to their frequent frustration with boilovers of their 21-stud flatheads.

If one looks closely at vintage pics of rods that were primarily show cars back in the late 50's/early 60's, you won't see many cooling fans either. The way those OHV V8's were mounted didn't allow for much space for the belt-driven fans of the era, and the modern thermostatically controlled electric radiator-mounted fans were still in the future. Remember, even the flathead Ford V8 had its fan mounted high up, almost above the block, as in a 30's Ford, the engine was buried far below the level of the hood, so this arrangement was needed in order to get the fan into the middle of the radiator core vertically. The same was true of inline 4's, 6's and 8's of the era as well.

In the case of a T-bucket, the relatively small radiator which was often chopped to get it down to the lines of a channeled body shell, left very little room for an effective belt-driven stamped steel fan, due to clearances for the upper and lower radiator hoses, and even a Deuce Highboy could have that problem as well, with a modern (for the time) V8, as most OHV V8's of the 50'and 60's have their fans mounted so low that the arc of the blade would be well below the front crossember of the hot rod chassis.

Art

[Harry P.]

Check me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the E-type one of the very first cars to get an electric fan, due to its low hood line and long nose shape?
Art

The kit has no fan at all, either electric or mechanical.

I scratchbuilt an electric fan based on reference photos I found online. You can see it here (barely):

[CB]

.....In the case of a T-bucket, the relatively small radiator which was often chopped to get it down to the lines of a channeled body shell, left very little room for an effective belt-driven stamped steel fan, due to clearances for the upper and lower radiator hoses, and even a Deuce Highboy could have that problem as well, with a modern (for the time) V8, as most OHV V8's of the 50'and 60's have their fans mounted so low that the arc of the blade would be well below the front crossember of the hot rod chassis.

Art

Huh......never thought of that aspect, Art. Guess if'n it had been me, I probably woulda chopped the fan blades too-- probably then be about as effective as no fan anyhow Thanks.



On your Jag, Harry-- did you scratchbuild the shroud, etc, for the fan, or did the kit have it?
Looks good

[Harry P.]

On your Jag, Harry-- did you scratchbuild the shroud, etc, for the fan, or did the kit have it?
Looks good

It's pretty weird... the shroud is in the kit, but the fan isn't!