Monogram Don Edmunds Supermodified

[Straightliner59]

Here's another project that's been  sitting around here, for a couple of decades. Interestingly, it's yet another Monogram model, as well! I gave consideration to redoing the California Street Vette,  once the Mack was completed, but decided to go into the current quarterly "Bring Out Your Dead" thread, with this, instead.

This was begun probably before the turn of the century--although I don't recall when, exactly. Since I took it back out of the box in pieces, I have done some work to the chassis. I added bottom frame tubes, and rebuilt the side bars in the cockpit, along with the fuel tank support/brackets. I'm not completely decided, as far as wheels. I like the dished Halibrands (I think that's what they are), but the two-piece wheels look cool, as well; Those, however, will need to be narrowed. I've made molds, in case I choose that direction, since I only have the pair, as well.

I had already selected a set of nice Corvette valve covers for the car, so  I will use them. Hilborn fuel injection. Quick-change rear from a Monogram sprint car. Although it's too small, I am using a steering box from one of the old MPC funny cars. It's not all that visible, anyway, and it fits! I removed the kit firewall and replaced it with aluminum flashing. I also removed the hood. I want to make it from flashing, as well. It's curvier than any sheet work I have done, before, so it will be a nice challenge! If that goes well, I may attempt the nose, as well. I'm unsure of the origin of the rear tires. I think they may be from an AMT Lotus or the Willard battery car. The fronts look like AMT's from the early '70s--they look like the tires from my original Pepper Shaker--and they may well be! I started work on a new front spring and axle. The headers will need to be redone, between the ports and the dumps. Since these photos, I have notched the lower firewall to clear the lower chassis tubes, removed the nose from the hood, and filled that hole on the right rear cage upright with acrylic nail resin.

Speaking of the spring assembly: I've known this for a couple of years, now, and have mentioned it before, but it bears repeating--in bold Italics!: There is no better way to precisely apply liquid plastic cement (NOT superglue--MEK, etc.) than an insulin syringe. None! Don't tell me "I like this", or "I prefer that". There is absolutely no debate! 😉 Using the plunger, you can push out the tiniest drop of cement. Just touch the joint with that, and you're done. Need another tiny drop? Just squeeze out another, and go. No mess. No excess. Need to flood it on? Hey! That syringe has you covered. Anyhoo, without further ado...

As always, questions, critiques and comments are welcomed and appreciated! Thanks for looking.

 

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by Straightliner59

[afx]

Great looking project Daniel, I'll be following.

[Straightliner59]

18 hours ago, afx said:

Great looking project Daniel, I'll be following.

Thank you, JC. I appreciate that! I'll try not to disappoint! ☺️

[Straightliner59]

I made this mold, so that I could have some of these sprint car wheels to whack on. As they are, they are too wide for my application--by quite a lot. I now know that I can make them narrow enough to fit my tires! I like it, too! Going with these on all four corners...

[Straightliner59]

Yeah! I like these! I still need to cast another pair, but, these are narrowed. As with anything I post, questions, comments and critiques are always welcome. Thanks fer lookin'!

[alan barton]

These are cool kits and I have built four so far with another two to do.  You do have to pack 10 pounds of potatoes into a five pound bag but that is part of the appeal. I like where you are heading.

For anyone who is interested, those rims originally came from the Tommy Ivo FED.

Cheers

Alan

[Straightliner59]

On 5/4/2021 at 3:34 AM, alan barton said:

These are cool kits and I have built four so far with another two to do.  You do have to pack 10 pounds of potatoes into a five pound bag but that is part of the appeal. I like where you are heading.

For anyone who is interested, those rims originally came from the Tommy Ivo FED.

Cheers

Alan

Thanks,Alan. Yes, indeed, that's exactly where they're from! I've made some changes. First, I found some photos, circa '73-'74 of some of these with speedway tires, as opposed to the more commonly seen dirt tires. I found some tires that have the proper look to them, but, will need to have sidewall lettering removed, and possibly replaced with something more appropriate for the time. The kit's rear axle is molded with the top open. Replacing it with one from Monograms '80s sprint cars require removal/replacement of the rear chassis bar. I've begun work on the front spring and axle assembly. Note the different heights of the handrail stanchion spring mounts, Ala the kit piece. I really like the look of this tire/wheel combo. As always, comments, questions and critiques are welcome! Thanks fer lookin'!

[CabDriver]

Ohh, this is a really cool project!  I like the axle that you made!  I’ll be watching!!

[Straightliner59]

4 hours ago, CabDriver said:

Ohh, this is a really cool project!  I like the axle that you made!  I’ll be watching!!

Thank you,  Jim! I think I might finally have the wheels and tires sorted out, as to how they'll fit together. I am hoping to get the suspension worked out, over the weekend.

[AmericanMuscleFan]

I am glad to see you back on another project Daniel and it looks very cool, we can see small pieces of brass, I love it!!!

I can already see your magic touch working, it's promising... and I can promise to be a loyal visitor!!! 😊

[Straightliner59]

12 hours ago, AmericanMuscleFan said:

I am glad to see you back on another project Daniel and it looks very cool, we can see small pieces of brass, I love it!!!

I can already see your magic touch working, it's promising... and I can promise to be a loyal visitor!!! 😊

Glad to see you, my friend! As you can see, I had a devil, getting my wheels and tires sorted out--even as to overall look. I'm sure there will be at least a few more brass pieces to come. Thanks for your comments, Francis!

[Straightliner59]

This thing seems to be taking a circuitous route to everything! I think I finally have the wheels/tires ironed out. Here's hoping, anyway! In the tutorial I recently posted about distributor caps, I mentioned some mold putty, and how handy it is to have around. Here are two quickie molds I made for brake calipers, and knock-offs. I only had one good knock-off. I needed four. Thanks to that stuff, I have all I need, now! Also got the front axle mostly built. I still need to add mounting points for radius rods and shocks. Anyway, here's what progress I have made. As always, questions, comments and critiques are welcome. Thanks for looking!

[Straightliner59]

More work on the front suspension. I turned a set of hubs/rotors, and made a set of spring shackles. Next up, I'll add the needed hardware for the radius rods and shocks and get it mounted. Your comments are always welcome, be they complimentary, or realistic! 😃 Thanks for lookin'!...Dan

[DustyMojave]

I'm lovin' this work on the spring,spindles and such.

Just so you know, the full scale vintage circle track cars like sprints and midgets and super modifieds that have a transverse leaf spring on the front axle, only have a shackle on 1 side. With 2 shackles, the  axle can and will move sideways in relation to the frame. Makes for a squirrelly handling car. It should have a simple perch on one side.

Lots of dirt racers would have no right front brake so that when the driver touches the brakes, the car automatically pulls to the left setting the slide around the turn. Winged cars typically use 2 front brakes as they don't want the car to slide sideways so much as a non winged car. And again, pavement cars are more likely to have both front brakes than a dirt car, not so sideways as a dirt Sprint or Super.

But most of this is great work.

Those "Safety wheels" are friggin' HEAVY bastards. Used to be way popular, A friend of mine has some from his old days in the 70s and I've had to move them around the shop and when he moved his shop. Much heavier than a plain steel spoke wheel with 1/4" thick center.

[Straightliner59]

3 hours ago, DustyMojave said:

Just so you know, the full scale vintage circle track cars like sprints and midgets and super modifieds that have a transverse leaf spring on the front axle, only have a shackle on 1 side. With 2 shackles, the  axle can and will move sideways in relation to the frame. Makes for a squirrelly handling car. It should have a simple perch on one side.

I was wondering about that. The way the kit's part is molded, it resembled a short, laid-down shackle. I need to find more photos, so  can fix it! Thanks, Richard. I was in the process of hanging the axle, and it was fighting me. It should be much easier to only actually have to hang one side.

I'm surprised those safety wheels are so heavy. They look cool. You may have just convinced me to go with the wing.  I was debating that, but, I like the dual front brakes, and speedway tires. Thanks for your advice!

[afx]

A modern (midget?) setup.

Edited May 18, 2021 by afx

[Straightliner59]

3 hours ago, afx said:

A modern (midget?) setup.

 

Looks like it could be. It's not a transverse leaf, though. I think I got it figured out. Once Richard explained it, I could tell what I was looking at, with the kit piece. This s what I came up with. Next, on to the radius rods. I need them to keep that axle pushed forward! It's rolling, back under the chassis, right now. I have the first idea of how it will sit--especially up front! The rear will be slightly higher. There's  a lot of work in the front suspension. It ain't done, yet! As always, critiques, questions, comments and requests for clarification, are welcome! Thanks fer lookin'!

Edited May 18, 2021 by Straightliner59

[afx]

My bad, for some reason I was thinking radius rods in lieu of spring shackles.  Front axle looks great so far. 

[Straightliner59]

8 hours ago, afx said:

My bad, for some reason I was thinking radius rods in lieu of spring shackles.  Front axle looks great so far. 

No problem.  I appreciate the effort! Thank you,  JC.

[Straightliner59]

I was attempting to make radius rods for this supermodified, from 3/64" (.048") brass tubing. By inserting a length of wire into the tubing, I was hoping to keep it from crushing at the bend. It seemed not to crush, but it kept breaking. That tubing isn't particularly cheap. I quit after two attempts.

I have quite a lot of 3/64" brass rod, I kept coming back to the dilemma of attaching the heim joints/eyebolts (I use HO scale handrail stanchions) to the ends. The chassis mount end is easy enough--solder a length of 3/64" tube onto the hairpin. The axle end is a different story. The rods need to be open-ended, so that the stanchions can insert into the ends.

I cut two lengths of 3/64" rod, and cleaned up the ends with a file. I mounted it in the lathe chuck and put a .0325" PC board bit in a Jacobs chuck in the tailstock. To my utter amazement, and great joy, the PC board bit ran straight and true, not even requiring center-drilling! The math says that's a .00775" wall thickness! Yeah. That was cool!

[DustyMojave]

On 5/18/2021 at 6:32 AM, Straightliner59 said:

Looks like it could be. It's not a transverse leaf, though. I think I got it figured out. Once Richard explained it, I could tell what I was looking at, with the kit piece. This s what I came up with. Next, on to the radius rods. I need them to keep that axle pushed forward! It's rolling, back under the chassis, right now. I have the first idea of how it will sit--especially up front! The rear will be slightly higher. There's  a lot of work in the front suspension. It ain't done, yet! As always, critiques, questions, comments and requests for clarification, are welcome! Thanks fer lookin'!

Good job! The final detail to that would be a plate gusset connecting the front tab to the back tab and down to the axle tube. But not covering the spring end much, just extended to about the center line of the spring eye.

You did pretty well on the spindles, even got the kingpin inclination. Not that it matters here, but just for those who MIGHT be interested, the spindles typically used on such race cars in the day were from Ford F100 pickups, the ones with a solid axle, like 1953 to 1964. The axle, hubs, springs, brakes, etc were all race car parts. But the spindles themselves were wrecking yard parts from a mass production vehicle. I had thoughts of putting a set of sprint car hubs and disc brakes on my 61 F100 (which has a 428 Cobra Jet Engine). I had the Halibrand parts for all around at one point, disc brakes, hubs, calipers, 3-bar spinners, etc., but sold them to a guy restoring a 70s sprint car. Ah well, the brakes probably would have been grabby and hard and a PITA on the street or towing my offroad race car on a trailer. Woulda been cool though!

That's my F100 with a customer's sprint car on the trailer. The big wing is in the bed of the truck. The sign was actually there, it showed a 90° turn and "10 mph" as there is a street corner by the gray house in the background. A friend altered the picture for me. Some years later, the County Road Department came around the town and removed all of those warning signs. The nose wing off the sprint car is now a decoration in my garage. The owner of the car sold the big wing for scrap later.😲

[Straightliner59]

On 5/21/2021 at 12:38 AM, DustyMojave said:

Good job! The final detail to that would be a plate gusset connecting the front tab to the back tab and down to the axle tube. But not covering the spring end much, just extended to about the center line of the spring eye.

You did pretty well on the spindles, even got the kingpin inclination. Not that it matters here, but just for those who MIGHT be interested, the spindles typically used on such race cars in the day were from Ford F100 pickups, the ones with a solid axle, like 1953 to 1964. The axle, hubs, springs, brakes, etc were all race car parts. But the spindles themselves were wrecking yard parts from a mass production vehicle. I had thoughts of putting a set of sprint car hubs and disc brakes on my 61 F100 (which has a 428 Cobra Jet Engine). I had the Halibrand parts for all around at one point, disc brakes, hubs, calipers, 3-bar spinners, etc., but sold them to a guy restoring a 70s sprint car. Ah well, the brakes probably would have been grabby and hard and a PITA on the street or towing my offroad race car on a trailer. Woulda been cool though!

 

That's my F100 with a customer's sprint car on the trailer. The big wing is in the bed of the truck. The sign was actually there, it showed a 90° turn and "10 mph" as there is a street corner by the gray house in the background. A friend altered the picture for me. Some years later, the County Road Department came around the town and removed all of those warning signs. The nose wing off the sprint car is now a decoration in my garage. The owner of the car sold the big wing for scrap later.😲

That gusset will be the next addition! I love subtle little details, like that. I just went with my go-to, for spindles--rectangular tube stock, split. I can alter things like steering arms, etc, to change the overall appearance of them, or for clearance. I've been using a lot more heat-swaging, recently. I mushroomed the ends of the axles, and inserted them from the inside. Then, I cemented them. I'm pretty happy with the way it's looking. I really appreciate your knowledge, and sharing it with me! Thanks, Richard,

That truck looks great. The road lights are a nice touch. Those five-slot wheels were always my favorites. Thanks again, sir!

[Straightliner59]

I got my radius rods built. The rod bent very nicely, once annealed! Before that, I added the plate gusset Richard mentioned. Of course, I forgot to take a clear photo of it while I had the camera out. It will still be there, next time! Since the photos, I've added a tube from the upper to the lower chassis rails, so that I will have a solid mounting point for the radius rods. Thanks for looking! As always, questions comments and critiques are welcome.

[Straightliner59]

A quick update. Hairpin mounts installed. Rear ride height mocked up. Front end is on the wheels!

[afx]

Nice work on the radius rods.