'63 Chrysler Turbine Car Update----Final Update!-6/23/07

[Guest zebm1]

Thanks for tha trip down Memory Lane Bill. When I was much younger, as in 16 yrs, I used to hang out at Jack Dillion's Phillips Gas Station in Tampa, FL. There was this Dr.'s son who had traded his 62 Vette plus a lota cash for a '63 250 GT SWB, deep burgandy red. And there was only one mechanic in town, Red, at Dillion's that could keep that monster in tune. Otherwise he had to drive it to Miami, where tha Dealer was, for a Tune-up. :roll: His was left-hand drive. :wink:

Very nice model Bill, very nice. Excellent paint job!

Zeb :twisted:

ps; I saw Stirling Moss, Phil Hill, Dan Gurney, Jimmy Clark and others at tha 1961 Monza F1 race. That waz tha race that killed von Tripps.

[Daniel Peterson]

...this one won't have roll up windows (haven't figured out power windows yet)...

Great. Another half-hearted effort, eh Bill? When are you going to finally get serious about this hobby?

[MrObsessive]

Now that the main bodywork is out of the way, I can now focus on the floorpan. I want to make some changes to the chassis/floorpan before I start to paint it, or build up any suspension pieces.

As I mentioned in my last update, the rockers needed to be "widened" and "straightened". This particular mold of this kit left the body very slightly warped.................unfortunately not uncommon as the years progressed and the subsequent reissues of this model. Here I used Tamiya putty to smooth out the transition from the square plastic rod that was added to the rockers.

This looks better than before where there was a significant gap without the added plastic. As I'm holding this I'm squeezing the body sides ever so slightly-------when I get to final assembly, I may add a bead of epoxy or superglue to keep the tension permanent.

Before:

After:

Tsk, Tsk, Tsk!! :roll: Look at how "empty" this rear area looks around the wheelwells and trunk area! While to the novice this may not be a big deal...............but I'll be adding fuel and brake lines down the road and this empty look just won't do.

Meanwhile, I took a look at the interior to see how well it mates up with the door jamb/hinge support. It's a little off here, so I took a pencil and marked off what'll be filed away.

Okay, I got some sheet plastic and crafted an extension of the wheelwell and trunk area. Later, I'll spot primer these sections and get out the Dynatron Putty and smooth this out better. At least it doesn't look so empty anymore!

There's a significant gap where the floor needs to meet the lower door sill. This is a very early example of "platform" building where there is no interior tub. 1:1 cars have no interior tub as the seats are bolted directly to the floor pan. I'll need to add some plastic here to close the gaps and then shape it a bit to conform to the size of the door jamb.

What's neat here is that like the 1:1's there will be a "step down" that most cars of that era (even today) have. Chrysler was sort of the pioneer (save for Studebaker with the '53 Starliner) for this type of engineering. They intro'd this type of design starting with their '57 models by lowering the floor and raising the transmission tunnel, yielding the "longer, lower, wider" look.

That's pretty much all I can do at this point as I go to work tonight and have to get to bed in a couple hours or so. Throughout the week I'll finish up those wheelwells, then make a couple little clamp thingies for the fuel and brake lines and drill the holes for their placement.

I'm pretty much wingin' it for the chassis details as I've never seen the bottom of the Turbine Car, just some drawings. So I'll have to take some "artistic license" as to how the chassis may have been done circa 1963.

More to come later! :mrgreen:

[Guest zebm1]

Hey Bill, I have been organizing my Favorites Folder and came across this website photo essay of underhood details for tha '63 Turbine car. So just in case yu might not have it, here's tha link http://www.turbinecar.com/images/U-Hood/detail.htm

and this is tha main page http://www.turbinecar.com/

yu probably already have it Bill, but just in case, fowarded it to yu

Zeb :twisted:

ps; all of yu MOPAR guys might like to visit this website too, as this guy is a Certified MOPAR fanatic....whose family actually participated in tha Turbine Car Test Program, car number 991232. Lots of really neat MOPAR stuff, pics, information, etc.

[MrObsessive]

Thanks Zeb!

I had some of those pics but not all of them............and I didn't have that site bookmarked.

One interesting tidbit about that site is that there is a 2­­½ minute video of the Turbine Car driven by a family circa 1964. It's neat to see the other cars on the road that were common in '64.

Click here to check it out or save it to your hard drive.

The guy who created that site is very knowledgable about the Turbine Car as his family was able to have one for 3 months back in '65. He says that '67 Chrysler Turbine Bronze paint is very close if not exact for the paint used on them.

I'll have to check it out and compare it to the Sunset Orange paint I have. :?

[Guest zebm1]

Ya know what Bill, ifn yu e-mail that guy...he might have or at least know of sumone who has pics of tha chassis (tha dirty side down). :wink:

Glad am I that I culd be of assistance in yur project Bill.

Zeb :twisted:

[Guest zebm1]

heya Bill, I have a question about yur Dremel tools. Do yu use tha Diamond coated micro burrs, high speed steel cutters or hi-speed micro cutters, or tha carbide cutting tools :?:

Zeb :twisted:

[MrObsessive]

Zeb, I have no idea what substance they are. When I bought them some time ago, I just picked out what would be suitable for what I needed at the time.

I know one is a cone shaped grinder, another is a square cylindrical shaped one, and a small metal grinder. I also have a set of cutting wheels.............whatever seems suitable enough at the moment is what I use.

The Dremel which I've had for at least 10 years, is a variable speed one and came with a few grinders in the case. I don't use it often, as it can be overpowering in some instances-------my own hands can do the job a lot better sometimes!

[ViperDave]

I know it will look good when you are finished. I have thought about doing one too and have got a lot of pics stored on the computer. I also bought one of the little pamplets that were given out back then. Someone had the pages on line and I have them stored too. I think I have 90+ pictures. If you need a pic of some area let me know and I will see if I have it.

[Whiplash]

Bill, Excellent work on that car :!:

Very clean and good craftsmanship.

[MrObsessive]

Wow! It's been a bit since I did any updates! Work is getting busy again, so the updates will be more few and far between.

I had overtime last week and have to go in during the daytime this week for recertification to train folks so hopefully I can get some more done in the evenings.

Last time I left off I was filling in this section with plastic to get rid of the empty look. Much to my chagrin, my trusty can of Dynatron Putty-Cote has dried up on me after 5 years............sooooo, I went out and bought a tube of Bondo spot putty. While it's not Dynatron, it did the job for the time being.

Meanwhile I ordered another can of Dynatron off eBay, since the place I originally bought it, no longer carries the smaller can. They only had the 5 lb. stuff which is way too much!

Here's the chassis painted with red oxide primer and oversprayed just a bit with Turbine Bronze. I originally was going to use the Sunset Orange paint I used on the 'Vette...............but on closer inspection I decided to go to the local paint jobber and have them mix me up the Chrysler Turbine Bronze which is a '67 color. It is very close if not exact to the original 50 cars' paint.

The body will eventually be primered with a light gray as the red oxide makes the paint appear too dark. I chose the red oxide because in the '60's, this was the typical color used on the undercarriage. Since I have no pics of the underside, and since the fellow who runs the Turbine Car site never got back to me..........I'm simply going to wing it to how I see fit.

I'm simply NOT going to spend 45-50 bucks for a CD for only a couple pics on a kit I may never build again for a very long time! I don't mean to sound curt.......I just want to move on as there is MUCH work to do on it yet! :shock:

I was playing around with the thought of putting in brake and fuel lines...............here's a tiny bracket I made out of brass with a couple HO scale bolts.

I dipped the bracket in some "Blacken It" to get rid of the brass look. The more I think about it though.............the more I'll probably be inclined to simply build the chassis straight out of the box, and move along. I already installed the brackets as can be seen by the pic above......but they're going to be covered up by the super wide exhausts.

One thing I almost forgot about are the windows! Since I don't care for older kit glass.........(too many scratches and distortion) I decided to make my own windshield and backlite out of acetate.

First I laid a piece of 3x5 card over the outside of the windsheild opening and made a tracing.........

Now I need to place a "channel" in the A pillars to hold the "glass" in place.

Okay, if you're really good............ the piece that you cut out for the glass should stay in place on its own due to the channels.

You want to cut the piece just a bit larger than what you traced.

Here's a small square of acetate................I bought several sheets of this (8"x11") at the local Arts and Crafts store. Don't ask for acetate as they'll look at you as if you've got a third eye blinking in the middle of your forehead...............in the aisle it's called "Clear Stencil Sheet". But it's still made of acetate. :?

Now I want to take the paper cut out and transfer it to the acetate. I like to lay clear items (windshields and the like) on chamois cloth that I use for polishing this greatly reduces the chance of scratches while I'm working on it.

Simply take a new exacto blade and trace a fine line around the pattern. Now you can cut around the pattern, and you've got your windshield!

I did a preliminary test fitting of the glass and it fits very well without much trimming. The upper edge of the glass will need tightened up some............but when it comes time to epoxy this in, I'll make sure that the corners particularly are flush with the bodywork and A pillars.

I'm gonna use the same technique for the backlite..............this method works very well for "straight" windshields..............but if you've got a wraparound windshield such as most cars out of the '50's early '60's you'll have a tough time as acetate only likes to be bent one way.

I did do this on my '58 Chevy and '57 Corvette.....but they aren't the dual compound curves such as GM's '59-'62 cars, or Chryslers '58-'64 "bubble canopy" windshields. You'd probably have to vacuform those..........or better yet, just order 'em from The Modelhaus! :mrgreen:

I want to say thanks to all of you guys who've been following this so far...............with over 1900 hits to date, I must be doin' something right!

[MonoPed]

Lookin good Bill!!

What did you use for the A pillar channel?

[MrObsessive]

What did you use for the A pillar channel?

Brian, I used a sort of triangular half round rod that Plastruct makes. I don't know the size as I have various types I use laying around.

Whatever looks "in scale" is what'll get put in.

Edit: Okay, I just checked the original packet it came in and it's Quarter Round rod .040" styrene. I like this shape as the inside of the A pillars are somewhat rounded and they'll be BMF'd near the end.

[Guest zebm1]

Yu weren't an under tha horizon contribbutor to tha "Underground Modeler" were yu Bill?

Zeb

[Mike]

Wow! Great workmanship!

[MrObsessive]

Yu weren't an under tha horizon contribbutor to tha "Underground Modeler" were yu Bill?

Nope! :wink:

[JTRACING]

wow! very nice work so far!! 8)

[hogs29]

Now this is one big reason this site is just so cool. I get to see a master builder put together a masterpiece!

Your attention to detail is second to none.

[JAFFA]

wow, bill, ur a heck of a modeller...

I really love this cars design too... it really looks good (yeah i got a bad case of bad taste, so you prolly dun think so....).

This thing made it on the streets, i mean prototypes or so??

Btw speakin of theese experimental-alternative-engines-stuff, anyone

seen that 1958 ford nucleos?? (i think that is somewhat the correct name).

that one was cool...

btw chrysler turbinehistory: http://www.myclassiccar.com/MCCTV/2002Seas...63crysler.shtml

[MrObsessive]

This thing made it on the streets, i mean prototypes or so??

Thanks Jaffa!

Yes, 50 cars were available to the driving public......IIRC, the "tests" were run from October 1963 through January of 1966. 203 people were chosen to test drive the cars, and they were allowed to drive the cars for free for 3 months at a time.

During this time, they kept track of how it was to drive, driveability, fuel economy, etc. I saw one of these cars as a weeeee lad here in Central PA when I was around 4 years old or so.....but was too young to know what it was at the time. The reason I remember it was the whining sound it made when it ran............ It sounded like a miniature jet.

For years I thought it WAS a then new T-Bird as it's lines were similar, but about 25 years ago realized that was the Turbine Car.

A friend who was a bit older were talking cars one day and he also remembered the car, and even knew the family that had it here in the area back then.

And no, you definitely don't have bad taste......everyone I've ever talked to about the car always thought it was sharp looking. It's too bad Chrysler just didn't produce this body style which could have been a "personal car" for them like Ford's T-Bird.

[ViperDave]

http://www.moparstyle.net/history/images/DCP_5013.jpg

[MrObsessive]

Yeah Dave.............I saw that on the Turbine Car site. While it's probably correct for that particular car.................I sure do hate plain black chassis'.

I wanted to give mine some "life" by painting the floorpan with the red oxide primer and then finely dusting on the Turbine Bronze. I figured since this was a unit constructed car.......it just looks better.

It'll give some decent contrast because the exhausts ducts, suspension, front and rear subframes are semi gloss black.

Although 99.9% of the time the car will be sitting right side up! :mrgreen:

[cruz]

You are a mini-engineer man, great work and reference photos, you will always be my idol man :roll:

[jbwelda]

hey bill, one question:

why would you be called "mr obsessive"?

:shock:

nice work on that windshield; ive struggled with trying to figure out just such a kludge as you got going there. im going to have to try that one!

killer work too, dude.

[ViperDave]

Yeah Dave.............I saw that on the Turbine Car site. While it's probably correct for that particular car.................I sure do hate plain black chassis'.

I wanted to give mine some "life" by painting the floorpan with the red oxide primer and then finely dusting on the Turbine Bronze. I figured since this was a unit constructed car.......it just looks better.

It'll give some decent contrast because the exhausts ducts, suspension, front and rear subframes are semi gloss black.

Although 99.9% of the time the car will be sitting right side up! :mrgreen:

I aggree. After all. Thats the it probably suppose to be but they painted theirs black since it was up on the Christmas tree. Great work on the old Palmer snap kit. I can't wait till next week when you get it finished.