RancheroSteve

Big Howlin' Wolf fan here, but I didn't know about this car. Great idea for a build, and fine execution!

AMT and Monogram Indy Car (CART) cars (late 80s - early 90s) have twin cam V8s. Two for the price of one!

Well, I've got about three partials, and I'm still in the middle of restoring a glue bomb XR-6, so I can't say I need another one. I wouldn't mind seeing it back, although from what's been said before, the tool is long lost so it would have to be reverse engineered. Don't hold your breath.

Excellent so far!

First coat of paint is on the body: Paint is a very dark gray metallic lacquer, from a quart can of paint without any identifying marks that I found somewhere years ago. The hood is a very thin casting - quite nice actually - but I noticed that I'm getting some ghosting of the underhood bracing, and also there was a pair of sink marks where the hood hinges attach, so I've sanded the hood down again, applied a thin coat of putty and will have to re-prime.

A small update - I rewired the coil after Mike's suggestion. Not going to go crazy here adding every wire, but wanted it to look close enough: Based on this reference photo I found: Also realized I hadn't put the trans mount on: So I think I can now turn my attention to painting the body and maybe one day finishing this up. Just gotta say, one great thing about a forum like this is people that care enough to point these things out in a helpful way - much better than finding out way down the road.

No worries, Mike - and thanks again for the info. I generally try to do my research and get things close to right, so I'll figure out a way to fix this!

Thanks for the info, Mike. I looked a photos of 5.0 Mustang to try to figure out where the coil went - found a lot of shots where it was mounted on the inner fender, so I fabricated a modern type coil and put it there. But now that I'm looking at that square thing on top of the P.S bracket, I can see what you mean. Maybe I'll have to change it, arggh.

I haven't given up! Finally some progress to show. An early incarnation of the engine, before I went with a more modern front dress: And a few shots of the engine installed. I added the serpentine belt and accessories from a 5.0 Mustang, then couldn't get the engine as low as it should be (header clearance issues), so I had make a new cowl to shock tower brace to clear the intake plenum. All not too unlike the real world! Undercarriage is done, too: Thanks for looking.

No news or info to add, but very sorry to hear. Even though I wasn't a small scale/diecast guy I always enjoyed his columns. Years ago when I was getting back into the hobby I bought a bunch of Scale Auto Enthusiast back issues from him - great guy to deal with. Rest in peace.

That came out great, JC! Really enjoyed following along on this one.

Wow, I had those on my Ranchero when I bought it in '81. After I had my next engine built, I think I put them on our '65 Comet because they wouldn't fit over the roller rocker arms - need a tall cover for that.

Cool, that's the one I modeled: Lots of good reference at the Hemmings and the auction house links! Wish I'd had some of that when I was building, but looks like I got most of it reasonably close.

Slightly off-topic maybe, but I happened across one in the wild a few days ago:

Mine arrived in the mail today. A fine issue with a bunch of varied stuff, plus it's always exciting to see one of my own models in print!