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'71 Vega project!!!!


cruz

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Wow, that is coming along nice so far. I cant believe you got those vents open so nice. Well, here is the rendering I did. I think you can see why I thought of it right away.

SureWinVegafinal.jpg

Mike

WOW!! Between you and Dave's suggestions I might just go w/ the yellow!!! I love this forum, thanks guys!!!! :DB)
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I feel like a kid in the middle of Toys"R"us, my Ross Gibson engine came in today and I just can't believe how quick this happened!! Thank you Scaledreams!!!

As promised, I took several pictures of this beauty, needs a little cleaning like any other resin piece but I think it looks very good!! This thing even brought a small sheet of photo-etch, looks like wire looms and throttle linkage material!! It also contains a piece of masking tape and instructions to duplicate the belts at the front. I will be posting the progress on this engine which I will consider it to be a kit in itself so wish me luck. I will consider the advise given to me by my boy Chris Coller, looks like there will be a few fit issues but that's why we are modelers, we have to work around all that stuff.

Now, let me shut up and show you guys the pictures :angry::lol:

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That looks like some pretty cool stuff, Marcos!!

I'm a bit surprised that the transmission came in 2 pieces, given that it's resin...

Please make sure that you take plenty of pics as you go!! I'm interested in these engines, too...but I really don't like working with most resin kits...

Later,

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The variety of aftermarket products that we have available nowadays is phenomenal. Things like Bare Metal Foil,flocking, photo-etch and others are simply things we never thought of obtaining several years ago. In the case of photo-etch, in my humble opinion, we have made improvements when attempting to simulate a lot of the kit parts to make them look even more realistic.

With that said, there are still details that are better to work at with some kits even if they require more work. I decided to work on the grille openigs on the Vega. I thought that the depth of the grille looks a lot more realistic than using a photo-etch one. Like I said, it was tedious but with the right tools it can be achieved.

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These are the tools I used to achive this, it was taking way too long with just the sanding stick!! :unsure: The dremel tool helped a lot of course but I had to be very careful not to sand through. I like the one I own, it's battery operated and it also runs at a very slow speed specially when the battery is a little drained. :D

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In this photo I can see the light!! Of course this is when I have to be very careful not to sand through. At this point I stopped using the dermel tool and concentrated on using the sanding stick to help me finish off the job.

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Once you get to this stage, the plastic just "falls off the bone".

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As I said, I really like the depth that the grille has, definetly superior to it's photo-etch counterpart. Next step is to smooth it out some more with finer grits and later shoot my ALclad onto it. Stay tuned!!!! ;)

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Wow man I'm missing all the fun to this build, geesh, I would go with the pro star wheels, and I cant believe you got that engine from scale resins, man I'm gonna get me one of those soon, great work so far men, its looking awesome.

Edited by unforgiven
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Cruz , that looks like a lot of motor for that little car. If you want to mock up the motor use Elmers white glue. It will be easier to pull apart if you have to make changes. Looking good, that grill had to be time consuming.
Yes Chris, it does look pretty big! Once I mock it up I will try to fit it in the engine bay and see how it will look scalewise. If I don't like it I can always use it in another model. I just hope I can get a nice little engine for the Vega that will look good, the one in the kit kinda sucks.... :unsure:
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Great start on the Vega, I am sure it will turn out great. Yellow is a nice color choice if you go with it or perhaps hugger orange. If that motor is too big, here is a suggestion. My cousin built a Vega a few years back with a turbo charged Buick Grand National V6, wild little car till a drunk hit him and totalled the car.

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Great start on the Vega, I am sure it will turn out great. Yellow is a nice color choice if you go with it or perhaps hugger orange. If that motor is too big, here is a suggestion. My cousin built a Vega a few years back with a turbo charged Buick Grand National V6, wild little car till a drunk hit him and totalled the car.
Again, that's why I love this forum!!! What a great idea Mike, I have about 2 or 3 grand nationals around here, if it all fails I will definetly keep that in mind and since it's a 6 cylinder it will go in there just perfect!!!! :unsure:B) great idea, thanks..... ;)
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Wohooo ! A Cruz missile.......... ;)

What a great project Marcos....the Vega is one of my favs (still to build one... B) ) and I just know this will be awesome mate.

I'm voting for Welds......and the opened vents and grill are superb man.. ;)

Oh yes.......go with yellow. :unsure:;)

cheers mate

Greg

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Okay guys, I have been doing my homework and yes, Chris was right, the engine seems to be a bit too big! I took several pictures of the mocked engine without the headers and transmission and inserted it into the engine bay. I know that in the 1/1 world some guys have put enormous engines on cars but this one just doesn't seem right. I also took pictures of the engine inside the new Revell Nova so that you guys can see what I am talking about. You tell me how it looks, I need all the advice I can get even though I loved the suggestion about the Buick Grand National engine!

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This is the engine held together with 3M white glue, very similar to the Elmers brand. Looks gorgeous and it doesn't even have the headers and the transmission added!!

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In this shot it just has the intake manifold added and just look at how big it looks!!

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Here you can see how much bigger it is with the rest of the upper part of the engine put together.

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And yes, the oil pan is pretty low and knowing how low this car will sit chances are I will have to play around with the height of the engine vs the hood also.

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Here are some comparisons when using the newly released Revell Nova kit, the engine seems more at home on this car!!!

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I even compared it to the engine from my recently completed Starliner and look at how big

it is considering that the Starliner was a pretty big car!!!

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So as you guys can see this engine is no joke, it will however go just right with bigger bodied cars. It is beautiful and I will definetly use it in another project but I think I will be deciding on a different engine for this kit. Up to now, I will keep Mike's advice about the Grand National engine in the back of my head but please feel free to give me some ideas!! Thanks for taking your time and seeing my project fellas!!!

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Hey Cruz!

Not trying to steal your thread here, but I thought I would share what I did to a Vega back in 2003.

VegaEngine1-vi.jpg

I used the SBC from an MPC Chevy Monza kit with intake and front accessories from an AMT 1997 Camaro LT1 motor. Even the headers were from the Monza kit. This motor fits like a glove in the Vega since the Vega and Monza were cousins under the sheet metal.

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I plumbed the headers into the Vega chassis and made a two-into-one-into-two exhaust system using the molded in components of the chassis.

VegaEngine2-vi.jpg

egaFrontQtrwithspoilerfinished-vi.jpg

I used Pegasus IROK's for rolling stock. The fronts were narrowed to fit Revell Acura Tuner tires. I hope this helps a little and feel free to PM me with any questions. There are more pics in my Fotki, just click the link in my sig.

Marc

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Hey Cruz!

Not trying to steal your thread here, but I thought I would share what I did to a Vega back in 2003.

VegaEngine1-vi.jpg

I used the SBC from an MPC Chevy Monza kit with intake and front accessories from an AMT 1997 Camaro LT1 motor. Even the headers were from the Monza kit. This motor fits like a glove in the Vega since the Vega and Monza were cousins under the sheet metal.

VegaExhaustSystem-vi.jpg

I plumbed the headers into the Vega chassis and made a two-into-one-into-two exhaust system using the molded in components of the chassis.

VegaEngine2-vi.jpg

egaFrontQtrwithspoilerfinished-vi.jpg

I used Pegasus IROK's for rolling stock. The fronts were narrowed to fit Revell Acura Tuner tires. I hope this helps a little and feel free to PM me with any questions. There are more pics in my Fotki, just click the link in my sig.

Marc

WOW!! Nice Marc, your'e not stealing threads here, your'e helping. Great idea and you used the actual kit chassis which is what I want to do! I will keep that in mind, I should have that engine in my spare kits or at the least something similar!! Nice job on your Vega!!! :lol:;)
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Cruz, if you really want to pysche 'em out, stick an RX-7 rotary in there! ;)

I thought I read somewhere that the Vega was originally supposed to get a rotary, but Chevy decided on the 4 banger instead, as the rotary wasn't quite efficient enough for GM in those days.

Just a thought! :lol:

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To be honest with you Marcos, that engine DOES look kinda big for 25th scale. Looks more BB size than SB. There's also a neet v-6 in the Monogram El Camino that has a nice look to it when complete.I'm talking about the Bass Fishing set. But I think the other versions had one too. I got a couple, let me know if ya need one, I got 2 GNX turbo motors too.Let me know an they're yours. :lol:

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To be honest with you Marcos, that engine DOES look kinda big for 25th scale. Looks more BB size than SB. There's also a neet v-6 in the Monogram El Camino that has a nice look to it when complete.I'm talking about the Bass Fishing set. But I think the other versions had one too. I got a couple, let me know if ya need one, I got 2 GNX turbo motors too.Let me know an they're yours. ;)
Thanks George, very thoughtful of you. Let me see what I come up with at home because the guys are also suggesting a rotary engine which I have a few of and I know I also have a few other engines to look through to finally decide.... :lol:;)
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Thanks George, very thoughtful of you. Let me see what I come up with at home because the guys are also suggesting a rotary engine which I have a few of and I know I also have a few other engines to look through to finally decide.... :D;)

Marcos,

It seems to me that the Ross Gibson engines are 1/24 scale in most cases. Every one I've had has been larger than the comparable engine in the kit, but thay have very nice detail, and will build up beautifully. I like the direction you are taking with the Vega. Which ever color you choose, the result should be georgeous. I have a two Vegas, one I intend to do as a Cosworth, and one which will be done as "Grumpy's Toy", as soon as I finish the research on them. B)

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Went searching for some models up in my attic to help me with this project and found a few ideas on the way. Once I saw the Grand National engine, that pretty much sealed the deal for the project. The size is perfect either way you look at it. Looks a lot more to scale for this project so I have to thank Mike for his suggestion!! I am using the new Revell "donk" Grand National kit for this.

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I know, I know, it's a horrible site with them big as%# tires and rims but that's not why I'm using this kit!! :rolleyes:

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Even the height is just perfect since the front rake will be pretty low, I don't want my oil pan hitting the speed bumps around the streets in my 'hood!!

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I even like the fact that the engine will go nicely with the kit's engine bay and I still have the option to put a smaller transmission to make final installment much easier!!

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Here's a size comparison shot for visual purposes, pretty much this says it all, that Ross Gibson engine is quite big. The GN engine will look a lot "busier" once I add the rest of the parts to it. It's funny, the Ross Gibson engine uses the exact transmission found in this GN kit so now we know where they got it from!!!!

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SCARY :rolleyes: if this was a real car.

A buddy has an '86 GN that I've driven, and even at 4500#, it's a shear rocket with the turbo charger and inter-cooler.

On a real car you'd need wheelie bars to keep the front end down - seriously.

This would be a serious street machine if it were a real car.

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