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Converting a Viper ACR to a ACRX


Peter Lombardo

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I am just as deranged as many of you guys are. I am knee deep in various stages of 7 projects and the last thing I need is another project, but sure enough, that is just what I got myself into.

The other day I was browsing the shelves of one of the hobby shops in my area and I stumbled onto the Revell Viper ACR (American Club Racer) kit. I really found the box top art to be rather “nasty and unattractive†and the price was a little steep at $23.00 bucks, but man that is sure a great car.

Having run a Chrysler Dodge Jeep store from the beginning of the Viper phenomenon in the early 90’s, there has always been a special spot in my soul for the cars. I now represent a number of dealers who have Dodge franchises so I see the cars on a regular basis. Right now one of my dealers has an ACR in his showroom in that really great snakeskin green with white stripes and black wheels….very striking, to say the least.

Now Dodge has produced a very limited run of 25 cars that are designated as ACRX (they say they may do an additional 25 if demand is there). These cars are true race cars that are not street legal.

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They actually do not have a ton of differences from the ACR so I thought with a little work; 4955136155_3107abb37e.jpg

I could convert my ACR into a slightly customized version of the ACRX.

The main difference between the ACR and the ACRX is that the ACRX has an additional 40 Horses due to a free flow exhaust and a new header, a factory installed roll cage, racing seat and fuel cell.

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It has a radio delete along with a/c and heater delete too. There are other small differences, like a non air bag Momo steering wheel, suspension tweaks and some electronic fuel management up grades. All of these changes are pretty easy to complete on a model. But in addition to the factory tweaks, I wanted to incorporate a few of my own. I want to put my “fingerprints†on the build.

The first thing I did was open the two doors. It was actually a little more difficult to do on this kit than it is on most cars. First, the plastic on the sides of the body is rather thick……..thicker than most kits.

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Also because of the way the body in the kit is designed, once the doors were cut free, there is only a very thin strip of styrene (the A pillar) holding the body together. I had to attach the lower kick panel and the recessed quarter panels to the top part of the body to insure there would be enough strength to keep it all together. Once one side was finished and secured, I opened up the other side. Next all of the flanges on the bottom of the doors where the lower kick panel is attached needed to be removed. Then, because the door plastic is so thick, 4955137455_39831091a3.jpg

I had to grind down the leading inner edge of the doors so that when open, they have a realistic looking thickness. While I was at it with the Dremel tool, I also shaved the inside of the rear quarter panel where the door closes to have a realistic appearance. Next, I added the new flanges on the rear and bottom of the door openings so that the closed door will rest in place.

Later I will add the hinges to the door front, and before anyone asks, yes, the door leading edge will open inward. As I have mentioned before, the same hinge will either open the door inward or outward, it just depends on which direction you mount them.

Once the doors were opened, I thought that the car “racing looks†would benefit from a slightly flared wheel well. 4955730116_6d318d4ee2.jpg

I did not want to go crazy with huge wheel flairs as the car doesn’t need them, but I thought a small flair would add a more aggressive menacing look to the stance of the car. I find the wheels and tires a little small looking for the car, but they appear to be very close to scale therefore I thought a small flair will help mask that. While I was adding the wheel flairs……which are very easy to do, I glued a piece of strip styrene to the inside of the wheel opening with Ten-X glue. I allowed the piece to stick out of the wheel well about a quarter of an inch and then I worked in some body putty onto the body above the outstanding styrene.

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Later I took the Dremel tool with a grinding drum on it and grinded down the flair to the point where I was happy. Later, I sanded the putty down smooth to form the flair from the body to the protruding wheel well. Next I opened up the exhaust outlets before the rear tires so that I can use a piece of tubing to make the opening more realistic looking.

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I also opened up the fog lights on the front fascia which will now become air intakes for front brake cooling ducting.

The hood of the ACR and the ACRX has 6 large new louvers. 4955729686_130b3e5e28.jpg

These are filled on the kit, but I opened them up and filled them with aluminum mesh. They will be painted the same color as the hood. The engine does not require much work as the only difference between the ACR and the ACRX visually is the header, which I will have to create….should be a bit of a challenge but not too difficult.

Next I needed to convert the standard Viper seat into the racing version of the seat. I had a seat from another Viper roadster…same seat, just molded in gray, not white. I added hip bolsters to the sides of the seat and filled in the inside area with putty. Next I fabricated the head and neck restraint unit that is attached to the head rest area of the seat. 4955729372_c7c11d0eeb.jpg

This was filled in with putty and will all be sanded smooth later. I have a photo etched 5 point seat belt that will be attached later. The seat will be covered with a textured look by being covered with embossing material and painted flat black. The radio face on the dash is being removed and filled with a planking plate. There is a small “black box†with a few warning lights mounted on the console, which will be replicated. The passenger seat is deleted. I will fabricate the roll bar from tube styrene to mimic the factory style roll cage.

Edited by Peter Lombardo
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I submerged the face of the chrome wheels in window cleaner to remove the chrome. 4955136311_811eabb6a2.jpg

Later the wheels will be painted….now many of the real ACRX’s that I have seen have black wheels, so naturally I will have white wheels just to be different, and to set off the exterior colors I will have chosen. My plan, as of right now is to do a customized dual stripe beginning at the very front of the nose and going up over the hood and top and then flaring out to the rear quarter panels. The stripes will be pearl white. I will spray the centerline top of the car white and then a coat of pearl white. Once dry, it will be masked off with some computer cut vinyl stripe masks before the top coat is applied. The rear panel will be carbon fiber as will the wing mounted on the trunk. The main color will be very similar to the Viper Snakeskin Green over a base coat of silver; it will be a mix of Jacquard Pearl pigments powders….Duo green yellow mixed with brilliant yellow. These powders are mixed with clear lacquer that is thinned out and sprayed through the airbrush. It is then toped with clear lacquer.

The interior will be black (they are all black interiors on these cars) with a white roll cage and a red sear belt.

I think this will be a rather stunning looking car when complete. After it is done, I want to do a partner for it with a Corvette ZR1….converting it into a mythical ZR1X with similar details only painted in that light pearl blue with pearl white stripes and a big carbon fiber wing on the back.

Let the races begin.

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Well I wasn’t planning posting an update on this car but I thought I would if for no other reason to show the hinges I used and how they can be used to make a door hinge that can either open a door inward (modern) and outward (classic).

For the Viper ACRX, the doors needed to hinge inward. 4960794453_ec8f89c3ed.jpg

To accomplish this, you need to mount the movable end inside the door and the two fixed end rods to the inner front fender. To make the door open outward, just reverse the installation and fix the hinge end to the inside of the fender. 4960793959_c4dd36cf6d.jpg

I use aluminum tubing on the fixed end and permanently attach the tubs to the car and allow the brass hinge rods slide freely in and out of them. 4961388584_59f7943db5.jpg

This way you can remove the doors during the building process to make whatever additions you need. 4961389344_249485aa34.jpg

I my case here, the doors will need to be removed for completion of the inner door wall and to be final painted.

As you can see I finished off the top of the car with appliance white, 4960792201_a850e575d3.jpg

lightly sanded and then topped with pearl white which was then clear coated. 4960792941_495cd01de1.jpg

I did the same for the wheels. I still have to insert the air valve and paint the lug nuts and then mount the wheels on the tires. 4960792431_015449de91.jpg

The tires have a very minimal tread pattern which will be sanded off since the ACRX has slick tires….you know, I will have to look around, I may have a set of slick tires that will fit…we’ll see. Once the top coat of pearl white and clear is completely dry, I will apply the striping masks and then work on the top coat color.

I mixed up a batch of the Viper Snakeskin Green for the top coat. I feel that I hit the color exactly right. I mixed the two pearl powders in with the clear lacquer. First I mixed in a small amount of the yellow in with the clear….it made a nice pearl yellow. 4961389948_8bb5ee2364.jpg

Then I mixed a very small amount of the pale green into the yellow and kept added very small amounts until the color looked right. At the very end I added a tiny amount of a darker green powder just to give it a little more depth. Once I was happy with the color mix I added some lacquer thinner to smooth it out and give it the right consistence for the airbrush.

Vipers always have red engine details. I thought I would go a little farther down the road here. I painted the engine block with a Mopar Chili Pepper Red Pearl and the transmission in aluminum. 4961388086_f303b9c503.jpg

The intake plenum is supposed to be aluminum too, but I when for a polished aluminum to give it a little pop (sorry, no picture of it here) actually, it is the same color as the disc brakes here. I painted the brake calibers with Tamiya clear red over the bright aluminum color. I will but a spacer in between the brake disc and the wheel hub to make the wheels stick out a little further since the fenders were extended with the flares. I freed up the front suspension pieces so that the wheels now turn left and right. 4961390220_3e3cfce862.jpg

I used the kit supplied tie rod and just added small brass idler pieces. I think it will look better with the wheel turned inside the flared fender.

Next up I will build the exhaust headers and new exhaust pipes leading to the hole in the lower kick panel just in front of the rear wheel, and the roll cage. I have enough research pictures to get a good idea of how the roll cage looks.

Since this is a personalized custom factory race car, not a straight factory car, I am thinking quite a bit on how I can modify the typical factory paint to give this a different look. Since they call the color Viper Snakeskin Green, I think it may need some scales and a frosted Viper logo in the rear window. I want some custom graphics to make this stand out. Dodge has a few really sharp looking Vipers being run by some private teams, I think I need to dress this one up a bit.

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After I posted this I spent a few minutes looking for a picture of a snake that would be appropriate for this car. This a Pit Viper. This is the perfect pattern for the car.3122521670_bddea432d0.jpg. The green I mixed up will work perfectly with this.

Here is a regular Viper in the Snakeskin Green.

2008-Dodge-Viper-SRT10-Coupe-Snakeskin-Green.jpg

a304_green_pit_viper.jpg

Pretty mean looking guy...don't you think. B)

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Pete,Pete,Pete, Do ya ever just build a model that's NOT a work of art? These are miniature masterpeices!. I shouldn't come as such a suprise to me, with the quality of models you build, but I'm amazed just the same. You An John,an Rom, and now that he's back,Raul, build some of the NICEST models I've ever seen. You guys are an insperation to us all. Please just keep on keepin on(as My freind Tito,would say)(Whatevwer happened to him?)with the pics, I love seein the imaginative work that goes into builds like this! Like I said, it's just an inspiration! THANKSbiggrin.gifwink.gif

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Hey Peter I love it bro! I cant wait for the next installment, are you gonna do a two tone green like the actual pit viper?

First of all guys, thanks, :D I always appreciate the kind words, and if I am going in a crazy direction, I expect you guys to straighten me out. :D

Now Rommell, yes, I am planning to use the green on the top and sides of the body and fade it into the yellow down to the lower sides. I spoke to my brother this morning and reviewed the plan that I have for the snakeskin pattern. My brother is a graphic sign maker and he has the greatest vinyl cutter. We design the pattern in the computer and then cut it out on the vinyl cutter. I "pick out" the area that is un-necessary leaving just the mask pattern. That is transffered to a "pre-mask film" an then applied to the car and the pre-mask "holder" is removed leaving just the mask pattern.

First I drew out the the design for the double white stripe starting at the nose and running back to the tail, just short of the carbon fiber rear end. Next we will design and cut out the painting mask for the snake skin pattern. That will be charcoal gray in between the scales. If it goes to plan, it will be pretty crazy. I will try and document the entire process so you guys can see how it is done.

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I love the work, car and color. My only thing is I like the stripes on a Viper. Are you going to add stripes? If so, what color?

Thanks Clay, and yes, dual pearl white stripes that begin at the nose with a rounded point and run over the center bulge getting a little wider to the rear and stop just short of the carbon fiber rear end. I like how the pearl white stripes will match the pearl white wheels.

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I have completed some work on the Viper ACRX conversion I am working on.

The first thing my brother and I did was create the masks for the dual stripes. I began the process by tracing out the design I wanted on tracing paper directly from the car.

Then my brother scanned the drawing into the computer and “cleaned up†the drawing to tight lines. Next we laid out variations of the basic stripes with different width center gaps. I choose design 2B.

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Here I cut it out and just laid it over the car body to get a feel for the look of it.

4983929970_00899de6fa.jpg Next, we cut the painting masks out on the vinyl cutter that he uses for his sign making business. The vinyl is “picked†which means the unused part of the vinyl is taken away and the remaining pieces are placed under a “pre-mask†film that is used to transfer the vinyl onto the body and than the pre-mask is removed and the vinyl stripe is in place and burnished tight. 4983336085_60e9fc98e5.jpg

Next, I wanted to create a graphic of the Viper Logo for the rear window. The shape of the rear window is very close to the shape of the logo so I figured it would fit “real nice†with a little fudging. The graphic was designed and printed out on paper first. 4983930248_48367b5ec5.jpg

Once it was sized properly, it was cut out of a translucent vinyl that is used to add simulated etching on real glass. I did the same thing here as I did with the stripe vinyl; I cut the un-necessary vinyl away and used the pre-mask to center the graphic on the inside of the rear window. 4983931646_c2b1a25727.jpg

Here the graphic is attacked to the window before the border is painted black. 4983931862_711bd1ba12.jpg

Originally, I had planned on making painting masks for the snake scales I want to add to the body paint, but after thinking about it, I figured it would be too difficult to do because of all of the layers of paint necessary to get the results I wanted.

After I gave this some thought, I decided it would be better to create the scales in the computer and then print them out on decal paper and after the body is painted, apply the dark decal spaces between the scales. Here you can see the first computer generated scales in three different sizes as we were working on getting the scales the right size. 4983930522_cf762ac11f.jpg

Here is the final 8 ½ by 11 inch sheet printed with the snake scales. You can see the area where we created a different look for the stripes. 4983358833_7601aff3e2.jpg

The goal here is to make the stripes look like they were painted directly over the scales. If you painted a white stripe on a snake, the entire area would be white, but you could see the raised area where the scales are. 4983963180_0baee3d6a7.jpg

So here you can see how the stripe area has a much lighter looking scale gap area. This is the actual decal sheet that was printed and coated with clear lacquer and will be later applied to the model. Also if you look closely at the scales, you will see that they are a bit random and have a pattern that changes depending upon where they will go on the car. Also, look even closer and you will see that there is a slight darker drop shadow that will be on the low side of the car pattern depending upon left or right side. Lastly here is the motor with the air intake in place. 4983362747_572e3e0a85.jpg

Yes, before you guys comment on it, I know the “Viper†decal, that was supplied with the kit does not fir the valve covers, but I stuck them on anyway because they look kinda’ cool a little too small for the raised letters.

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Here you can see the body painted with the Viper Snakeskin Green that I blended from the green and yellow pearl pigment powders. 4983365467_fd47b2f8be.jpg

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Here you can see the very faint darker green that is on the top surrounding the white stripes. It is much more noticeable in real life…..the photo does not really show it well, but trust me, it looks great.

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Also, it is not clear in the pictures, but the lower area of the body has a decidedly pearl yellow glow to it like the real snake has. I mixed up a batch of pearl yellow powder and sprayed it on the lower area of the body. So, basically, there are four colors here….the pearl white stripes, medium Snakeskin green mid section, the more yellow lower area and the darker green area around the stripes.

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Here you can see the Viper logo on the rear window with the first coat of the black surround. The inside of the interior under it will be flat black so the logo will stand out very well. And finally, here is the car next to the decal sheet that is drying. 4983962420_9df5174f54.jpg

I have no illusion about how difficult the decaling will be. I will have to cut and trim this sheet to make all of the edges match up, but I have done many carbon fiber jobs without the benefit of templates, so it will be difficult but I expect it to be completely do-able. Also, I like to challenge myself with new techniques and try new approaches. This is the first time I have ever made decals, so this will be a new technique for me to use in the future, and I plan on using it quite a bit. Just like vacuum forming, it opens up a whole new area that I can use to create unique and different models.

Once this Viper is done, I have a Corvette ZR1 that will get the same treatment as this Viper (race car with the full wing, flared wheel wells, racing seat and roll bar and unique paint) and then a race version of the Audi R8 with all of the body modifications and crazy paint.

I want at least 3 of these things to go together. Oh yeah, and then finish the Dual Cowl Art Deco and the Chrysler 300 EX and the rear engined bubble top 3 seat Ferrari concept that I have designed and will build with a vacuum formed body and bubble.

I should be set for the next few months.

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I'm looking forward to seeing the scales decals in place. The color looks like a good one for them to show. I'm assuming you printed them with an ink jet and those inks do not like dark colors ... they are just not opaque enough. Since you mentioned this is your first time printing your own decals, I'd suggest a test over the same paint with another decal sheet.

Those decals DO look awesome! B)

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