AmericanMuscleFan Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 Hello Everyone! Following the requests of some fellow members I'm starting another thread of one of my completed model. This one is less detailed than the ’70 Plymouth GTX and it will be like that for the subsequent posts since they are older builds (you are the judge so I hope you will be indulgent for the flaws). On this thread you will see my drag version of a 1970 Dodge Dart Swinger 1/25 scale. I don’t recall if I had taken many pictures during the build but I can’t find more than what is posted in this thread. I wanted to build this small Dodge pony car for a long time so I bought a resin kit on internet but I wasn’t satisfied with the rendering so I decided to start my own styrene version with extensive scratch building. I recreated the body by using 3 different kits including the recent Revell ’68 Dart Mr Norm, a used MPC ’70 Dart Ramchargers Funny Car body and the remains of a junk MPC ’71 Dodge Demon. The first operation was to cut the body of the ’68 Dart at the door line, keeping the front fenders and at the base of the back top pillars and between the back window and the trunk lid. I made the inverse operation on the ’70 Ramchargers body keeping the doors and back portion of the body. The Ramchargers front fenders were unusable because the wheel openings were enlarged and at the wrong position, close to the front bumper since it was a Funny Car body. I did cut the front fender extensions on the ’71 Demon body and glued them on the ’68 Dart front fenders. I also used the front grille, valance and hood of the ’71 Demon. A lot of operations but the mock-up picture is self explanatory. I did use the ’68 Dart floor pan as well and add large wheels tubs, recreate the trunk floor in order to add the fuel cell, an electric fuel pump, the battery and a fire extinguisher (all scratch built). The interior has been done using the ’68 Dart door panels, modified to represent a drag racing car. The ’68 Dart dash has been modified to receive the round style cluster like the Dodge Demon and instrument faces made on my computer using Adobe Illustrator and printed on negative film at high resolution (same technique as for the ’70 Plymouth GTX). I spent around 800 hours on a 2 years span working on from mid 2011 to May 2013 on this build. Cheers, Francis 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang1989 Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang1989 Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 Un...….friggin' believable!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYLIBUD Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 Cool old school.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 Killer build!! One thing wrong, you have the drive shaft loop at the wrong end, or just add another one just rearward of the front yoke next time .... Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PappyD340 Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 AWESOME!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldnslow Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 Top Notch ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2zwudz Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 (edited) Holy smokes Francis!!!!! You are a hell of a builder. Did you machine the transmission and rear end too? Edited March 3, 2020 by 2zwudz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 Wow ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glen Powers Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 Excellent job Francis. Your ability to "find" parts in a piece of bar stock is stellar. Glen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grodudulle77 Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 Wow, incredible work , perfection is here , great respect !!!??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyjim Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 Amazing work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanMuscleFan Posted March 3, 2020 Author Share Posted March 3, 2020 12 hours ago, mustang1989 said: Un...….friggin' believable!!!!! Thanks Joe! Your kind comments are very appriciated. Cheers, Francis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanMuscleFan Posted March 3, 2020 Author Share Posted March 3, 2020 12 hours ago, NYLIBUD said: Cool old school.. Thanks for the comment Rob! Cheers, Francis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanMuscleFan Posted March 3, 2020 Author Share Posted March 3, 2020 10 hours ago, Alan said: Killer build!! One thing wrong, you have the drive shaft loop at the wrong end, or just add another one just rearward of the front yoke next time .... Alan Alan: Thanks for your kind words! You may be right about the safety loop but I've seen it in different locations (front, middle or back) and I did refer to a '70 Roadrunner under restauration for the Dart build (see pictures attached). Thanks anyway to pointed this! Cheers, Francis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanMuscleFan Posted March 3, 2020 Author Share Posted March 3, 2020 4 hours ago, PappyD340 said: AWESOME!!! Thanks for the comment Larry! 2 hours ago, oldnslow said: Top Notch ! Thanks Robert! 2 hours ago, 2zwudz said: Holy smokes Francis!!!!! You are a hell of a builder. Did you machine the transmission and rear end too? Hello Mark, The transmission and rear end are original styrene parts but I did machined the transmission oil pan. Thanks for your kind comments! Cheers, Francis 2 hours ago, cobraman said: Wow ! Thanks for your visit Ray! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, AmericanMuscleFan said: Alan: Thanks for your kind words! You may be right about the safety loop but I've seen it in different locations (front, middle or back) and I did refer to a '70 Roadrunner under restauration for the Dart build (see pictures attached). Thanks anyway to pointed this! Cheers, Francis Most welcome! Please don't get me wrong, your work is most impressive just some friendly info. The reason why it must be on forward yoke is to prevent the car front pole vaulting the car. Keep posting your builds my friend! Alan Edited March 3, 2020 by Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bainford Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 There is some very impressive work, here. I am interested to know more about the gauge faces. How were they done? The image looks much more crisp than a decal or photo.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanMuscleFan Posted March 3, 2020 Author Share Posted March 3, 2020 3 hours ago, Glen Powers said: Excellent job Francis. Your ability to "find" parts in a piece of bar stock is stellar. Glen Thanks for the comments Glen! I think that every piece of aluminum or brass hide a part, just have to dig a little bit to find them... Cheers, Francis 3 hours ago, grodudulle77 said: Wow, incredible work , perfection is here , great respect !!!??? 3 hours ago, crazyjim said: Amazing work. Thanks Jim, Not as extreme in details as for the GTX but I'm still proud of it for a model that I started 9 years ago! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanMuscleFan Posted March 3, 2020 Author Share Posted March 3, 2020 33 minutes ago, Alan said: Most welcome! Please don't get me wrong, your work is most impressive just some friendly info. The reason why it must be on forward yoke is to prevent the car front pole vaulting the car. Keep posting your builds my friend! Alan Don't worry Alan, I can accept advice from other members and your info from the NHRA are greatly appreciated! This build is a little bit outdated (from 2011) and I don't know if the rules were like that back then and I haven't check to be honest with you. I would be more careful on the details for a tribute car but mine are all done for the pleasure of the subject and the passion for muscle cars. Welcome anytime! Cheers, Francis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanMuscleFan Posted March 3, 2020 Author Share Posted March 3, 2020 36 minutes ago, Bainford said: There is some very impressive work, here. I am interested to know more about the gauge faces. How were they done? The image looks much more crisp than a decal or photo.. Hello Trevor and thanks for your interest on my build! These gauge faces are custom made by me on a computer using professional drawing software (Adobe Illustrator). I used a picture of the real gauge that I found online a did use that picture as a template to recreate them in Adobe Illustrator. I scale down the drawing at 1/25 scale and printed the electronic file on negative film. The output device was an AGFA imagesetter for platemaking (print industry) and printed at 2400 lpi (line per inch). I worked 32 years as a graphic designer and had access to those devices back then but I'm no longer in this market. I don't think you can find something more accurate than this since I had even use the exact same typefaces for the numbers (the odometer read 24034). I know It's very technical but I hope it's helpful! Cheers, Francis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott8950 Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 WOW!!! Some serious skills my friend.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvadrag Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 First, let me say that I am very impressed by your scratch building model skills. You build very clean, finely detailed models. You also run a very mean machining operation for these models. Outstanding! As far as drive line loops, I added one to my 1966 Chevy II (12.8 @ 108 mph) in 1987 so I could drag race it at my local track and the rules were then 6" from the front u-joint. And yes, I did see cars "pole vault" from failed u-joints when the track allowed "nostalgia" cars to run that were slower than 13.99 seconds in the quarter. I have the rule books from back then, but here is the current version: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nazz Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 Are you kidding me! Wow , another amazing build! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bainford Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 6 hours ago, AmericanMuscleFan said: Hello Trevor and thanks for your interest on my build! These gauge faces are custom made by me on a computer using professional drawing software (Adobe Illustrator). I used a picture of the real gauge that I found online a did use that picture as a template to recreate them in Adobe Illustrator. I scale down the drawing at 1/25 scale and printed the electronic file on negative film. The output device was an AGFA imagesetter for platemaking (print industry) and printed at 2400 lpi (line per inch). I worked 32 years as a graphic designer and had access to those devices back then but I'm no longer in this market. I don't think you can find something more accurate than this since I had even use the exact same typefaces for the numbers (the odometer read 24034). I know It's very technical but I hope it's helpful! Cheers, Francis It is indeed helpful. Thank you for the detailed explanation, Francis. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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