Current Project: Dirt Track Truck, Bash Between AMT 1941 Chevy Pickup and AMT NASCAR

[jean-lloyd]

First post for me on this forum! Was happy to find this community.

I'm working on building a fictional concept dirt track race truck that combines the power/speed of a NASCAR chassis and the idea of a "full-sized dwarf sprint" car.

Starting with the basic AMT NASCAR Thunderbird (I think this is a mid 90's Bill Elliot Coors Light kit), I've been working on bashing an AMT '41 Chevy Pickup kit onto it. 

Thus far, all I've done to the NASCAR frame/tub is to clip the front radiator shroud and trimmed down the firewall to fit/work with the '41 Chevy cab/engine well. 

Most of the time, when I do NASCAR->Real Car builds, I do a lot of heavy altering to the race frame and such, so this one has been a little different for me. 

The first major modification to the stock truck body that I've done is to section the cab/hood down about (what I think is) 6 inches. I left the fenders full size so far, because I like the look of the big, sexy and aged swells that they give to the vehicle.

I thought about chopping the top a little bit, but I think I'm going to keep it stock, because it gives the whole thing that great look that dwarf sprints give with all of the old-timey scaling that you see on them.

Regarding the back fenders, I'm working to extending the bottom forward portion down to match the same height as the front fenders, and then building the connecting, pared-down running boards out between the front/rear fenders.

By using the NASCAR tubbed chassis on the back end, I'm widening the bed-stretch about 12" from wheel to wheel between fenders to allow for the NASCAR rear-end and wheels/tires to be used. I still haven't decided whether I'm going to extend the insides of the fenders and use the stock bed width, or stretch the bed out to the wider fender stretch.

Any thoughts or input would be welcomed!

Here's a few pics of my frankenstrosity mocked up with the NASCAR wheels (still working on getting the sectioned hood/cowl into plane...the pencil is holding up the chassis to show how the wheels should look after the suspension is put in):

 

Edited July 11, 2018 by jean-lloyd

[jean-lloyd]

WHOOPS! I just noticed that I should have posted this in the "Workbench" channel, sorry about that! Any mods available, please transplant me over there.

Friggin' noobs...I'm why we can't have nice things...

[jean-lloyd]

Next stage:

Hood/front clip sectioning milled into plane, initial coat sanding complete. I'm happy with the overall lines/flow, need to do a good bit of putty work, filling in door lines, body trim, then faring everything off for external painting.

Since I spread the rear fenders to fit around the NASCAR t-bird chassis, I'm planning to back fill the insides of the fenders, and then scribe the rear bed panels down to fit low enough while covering the tubbed rear. 

Also need to extend the forward side of the rear fenders down to the bottom of the chassis and work in something that replicates the running boards while still being practical for go-fast-turn-left racing.

Still haven't figured out what to do with the headlights on the front fenders, whether to plane them off and make the curve smooth, or to incorporate them into the design as is. There's also the option of nipping off the upper running light/blinker structure from the full headlight round.

Thoughts/input appreciated.

 

 

 

Edited July 13, 2018 by jean-lloyd

[espo]

I like how your build is going. You mentioned wanting ideas on the Headlights. With the slick body design you have the Headlights starting to make it look like a "Bug Eye' Sprit. Consider removing the Headlights and then sinking them into the Fenders so they are in the stock location but not such a prominent feature. I was thinking of suggesting quad headlights because of the smaller diameter, but that may start to look like a late '50's Kustom.   The running boards are going to have to be hide as the body and chassis sits now. You could use some Plastruct sheet plastic with the Dimond pattern if that is a look you would like.

[jean-lloyd]

On 7/13/2018 at 8:40 AM, espo said:

I like how your build is going. You mentioned wanting ideas on the Headlights. With the slick body design you have the Headlights starting to make it look like a "Bug Eye' Sprit. Consider removing the Headlights and then sinking them into the Fenders so they are in the stock location but not such a prominent feature. I was thinking of suggesting quad headlights because of the smaller diameter, but that may start to look like a late '50's Kustom.   The running boards are going to have to be hide as the body and chassis sits now. You could use some Plastruct sheet plastic with the Dimond pattern if that is a look you would like.

Thanks for the input, espo! I was thinking along the same lines as you, to more I trimmed down the body, the bigger the stock headlight assemblies looked. I tried nipping off the turn signal torpedoes and shortening the front of the mounts, but I still didn't like overall look. I wish I'd have taken pictures at that point, though, because it would have looked great on a custom street build.

Instead, I just took the headlights all the way down into plane with the curve of the fenders. Since it's a dedicated race build, rather than French in the headlights, I just put in a backing on the holes and panel-filled. I think it's about ready to start sanding/fairing down, but I'm going to let it sit for a few more hours before I start. I used PPP to fill, and I like to let that dry completely before I start working it since it's not very good at structural integrity, and I have a couple of points where it's a little more than 1/16" thick.

Here's a picture as the build sits right now, after some more priming/sanding and my "Bondo" pass on the door seams and trim lines: