98 replies to this topic

[crowe-t]

Jay,

This is an incredible build! You haven't missed any details and turned this NASCAR based kit into a nice General Lee street car. The fender wheel openings look bone stock as they should look. Absolutely beautiful.

I can't wait to see the body painted.

Mike.

Edited by crowe-t, 23 December 2011 - 06:21 PM.

[Rdkingjay]

Its actually sort of a let down. I have been working on this engine and engine bay for several weeks, planning, cutting, test fitting, painting etc. and now its done. I am very happy with it. So just to review, the entire bay/fender wells, radiator support and battery tray are scratchbuilt. You can see the starting point in my first post. The MSD igniton box, spun aluminum ignition coil and plug wire boots are from Charlie at Pro-Tech. The washer bottle and over flow bottle are from a 1/18th UT Caprice and have both been extensively modified. The MSD box, distributor and coil are wired using an actual wiring diagram from MSD that I pulled right from the internet. The coolant over flow, upper and lower radiator hoses and washer bottle hose are all plumbed as well. All the brake lines, hard and rubber, are also present. So its on to the interior, which is just about complete now that the seat belt kit, also from Pro-Tech has arrived. Thanks for looking.

Edited by Rdkingjay, 23 December 2011 - 11:54 AM.

[Mr. Moparman]

I'm drooling now.

[stump]

Jay, this has progressed extremely well my friend.
To me, the front fenders look spot-on, and the details you've added throughout the build are super ! Keep at it mate.

[Romell R]

im enjoying the build looks good my only gripe would be the size of the plug wire they look a bit too big (outta scale). you would do your build alot of justice if you found smaller diameter wire. Thats just my opinion which means little

[Rdkingjay]

Actually, some opinions mean alot, and your is one of them.I have a complete spare engine and have been kicking around that idea, as I agree with you on the size of the supplied kit wires. It woud mean replacing the distributer and valve covers, ( no big deal) and I read somewhere that 20lb test fishing line makes great fuel line. I don't like the size the fuel line coming from the "T" spilt either. Can anyone recommend a solution for the fuel lines going to the carb from the "T" spilt?

[Rdkingjay]

Anyone who was a dedicated Dukes fan in the early 80's or during the CMT re-runs, knows that for the most part, the general had a single hoop roll bar with a diagonal cross bar. The exception being infrequent shots of a full cage during big jumps, such as the opening sequence jump at Oxford College. So after fabbing up my own roll bar from solid aluminum rod for the hoop and a plastic cross bar, the issue was how to mount it, with it falling over, since it really has no significant lateral support. So I drilled two holes at the mounting location and inserted two pieces of aluminum tubing. The drivers side was shorter due to the mounting location of the cross bar. I then epoxyed the roll bar legs in each tube and then epoxoyed the tubes in the holes, flush with the bottom of the underside floor. I then fabbed up two "mounting plates" from sheet styrene and epoxyed then in place. Believe it or not, the roll bar is incredibly strong and has no forward/rearward movement at all. Thanks for looking.

[Mr. Moparman]

That's a wonderful way to do a roll bar! I bet the Dukes didn't think of that!

[Pro Tech]

Jay, build is coming out great. I like your "very clean" building style.

As always thanks for your support!

Charlie
Pro Tech

[Rdkingjay]

Thanks gents for the kind and constructive comments, I certainly appreciate them. The interior may seem to have been done quickly, but I have been picking away at it, while I was doing the engine/chassis. Today the CB components came in and that was the final straw for assembly. So, the scratch-built items are, the entire dash, center console, back seat, roll bar, window cranks and package tray. I replaced the solid spokes on the wheel with ones with holes and added a turn signal lever. The gauges are decals and have a thin piece of clear plastic in front of them to simulate lexan. The radio was cut from the dash of a donor 1/20th kit. Although they are hard to see, the levers for the heater and fan are also present, above the radio. I cut the tops from the front seats to give them a more accurate low-back apperance. The seat belts are from Pro-Tech. The Hot Rod magazine on the passenger seat is a shrunk down image, with pages inserted, of the August 2005 issue that did a full feature on the General Lee, following the recently released full length movie. Although it has its flaws, overall, I am happy with it, but next time I will do a few things differently. Any questions, just ask and thanks for looking.

[crowe-t]

This is how the model should have come in the box. This is now a model of the General Lee most seen on screen with the stock interior and single hoop roll bar.

The scratch building is very well done. The dash is outstanding!

[Rdkingjay]

Thanks again gents. Overall I am happy with the chassis and interior. I wrote down a "hit" list of things to do to the body in prep for paint and it is long. All the door/fender seams have to be scribed out as does the windshield trim. I will attempt to add a thin chrome strip on the rear valence to seperate the black and orange paint and also have an idea on how to add chrome trim around the rear window. I already drilled out the door/trunk locks and got my hands on some pretty decent door handles. The next big fab job, however, will be the push bar, which I will try and mount securly to the front frame cross member and possibly the front bumper.

[Mr. Moparman]

Hey man, that dash looks GREAT!!

[manymodels]

that is very impressive cant wait to see her done

[donkeypuncher76]

i agree, it shoud have come this way, d.o.h general lee had a back seat and although it was a "race car" it was a regular charger with a hemi, if uv watched the show etc.. i was saddened when i opened mine but what a great job uv done im sanding my body on mine after a paint fiasco, had plans 4 a hemi r/t style but my plastic n b/w skills r not up 2 par, so a vulgar g.l it is. nic work again.

[Rdkingjay]

You have already seen the wheel openings corrected, so now I am adding some goodies to spruce up the body just a bit and make it a little easier to detail. I added a strip of chrome around the back window, which it is missing, by bending styrene strips around the window using a little heat. I then attached the strip to the window and BMF'ed it. I also added strips along the top of the doors and a thin strip for the drip rails. This will aid in BMF'ing them since what was there was faint and shallow at best. The doors also got slightly modified donor door handles and door lock holes. I added another thin strip to the rear tail light valance that will also get BMF'ed following paint, as well as a trunk lock hole. The biggest pain right now are the front and rear roll pans, under the bumpers. Neither fits well at all and after extensive work, I discovered that they have to be attached after the body is painted and on the frame. Prior to paint would have been easier and potentially cleaner, but we'll see. Thanks for looking.

[crowe-t]

Great work as always.

Why did you apply the BMF around the rear window before painting?

[road_warrior05]

I love it! It motivates me to finish my 1/25 General Lee

[Rdkingjay]

Crowe-t

The window is just mocked in for the pic. Oddly, after attaching the window trim, it held the window in the opening because it is tight to the body. Thats what I wanted, but I didn't think it would hold the window in place.

[diymirage]

Great work as always.

Why did you apply the BMF around the rear window before painting?

i think he build the frame that had gotten BMFed to the clear glass part so the whole thing will pop out when he's ready to paint the body