1/16 Scale Army Vega Funny Car - Finished 10/14/2018

[brett]

Chris I took these pics of a reasonably historically correct (safety updated mainly) BBC Nitro car last year. Looks to me they bolt to the front of the block

hope this helps bud, your parts look great

[comp1839]

here is the plate in the background. i took this while measuring the fuel pump. the idler/ tensioner mount usually bolts directly on top of this. it is only exposed because this car is under construction.

don't know if this will help or not. here is the front bolt pattern on a Keith Black block.

if there is anything else you need .....just ask.

[Mooneyzs]

Brett.... Thank you for the pics.

Dave... Thanks for the reference pics. They are a big help. If I think of anything else I need to details to I will ask you.

Thanks agains guy's I appreciate all of your help. I have a few pics of my progress from last night I will post....

[Mooneyzs]

So I was able to make some more progress last night and here are the pics...

 

Here is the back motor mount plate that attaches to the back of the engine block and what the bell housing mounts too. I decided to scratch build it since it was a little different shape than what comes with the kit. I first made a template from a 3x5 card and then transferred to sheet plastic and cut it out:

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the mounting tabs that will be glued to the chassis. Only 4 of them will be used. I had made an extra set since I wasn't happy with the first set...lol :

 

 

 

 

Added the top portion to the engine mount plate:

 

Edited July 24, 2017 by Mooneyzs

[Mooneyzs]

Here is the engine mount plate with a flange that I added to that top portion, I should get a better pic from the other direction so you can see what I was talking about:

 

 

 

 

 

In this pic I added the rear Engine Mounts to the chassis. Glued them with Weld-On #3 and let sit over night:

 

 

 

 

 

I placed the motor mount plate in place to see how it lined up with the engine mounts. I now need to transfer drill the holes for the bolts to go thru as well as I am thinking of making brackets and gluing toward the bottom of the plate/Chassis and having mounts there too:

 

Edited July 24, 2017 by Mooneyzs

[tyrone]

Nice work Chris....

[Mooneyzs]

Thanks Tyrone!

[Mister Twister]

And the details just continue......Keep at it!

[gasser59]

Nicely done Chris. Looking amazing as usual.

[Paul S]

Looking GREAT. Any idea when you will be ready to fire it up?? Oh Wait....

[kitbash1]

This is one over the top build my friend, keep up the most excelent work. but I have one question for you. The rubber plate that you got from Lowe's, which department would I find this plate in ?

[Mooneyzs]

Darryl... thanks buddy... I am sitting down tonight and doing a little more work to this gonna redo the front brackets out of brass or aluminum and with getting them done I sould be able to get the front motor mount brackets glued to the chassis.

Brad... thanks buddy. I should have worked more on it today but have been a little lazy watching football and nascar... gonnna turn on the NHRA drags on my dvr here and start watching the last race of the season. I am sad there is no more races til next year.....

Paul... I am waiting on a few more parts to come in before I can fire it up ... who am I kidding haha. I just wanna get some of this in primer.

Douglas.... Thanks for the compliments my friend. You are talking about the rubber block that I used when I was making my beads in the thin aluminum plate right?? I have to be honest, I have had that in my my model tool box for quite some time. I belive I took that piece from my dad years ago but besides using it for what I did with it I used to cut it up in smaller pieces and use as sanding blocks. Here is a link to McMaster-Carr. They have a ton of different stuff there and sell rubber in sheets and strips. You can get it in different durometers (hardness) and thickness. If I make it to lowes here soon. I will double check and let you know which department they carry it in. Sorry that I don't know off the top of my head. Here is a link to McMaster page for Rubber sheets

http://www.mcmaster.com/#rubber/=ex802c

[Prostreet]

Looking good Chris.

[Mooneyzs]

Thanks Joe

 

 

So I did a little more tonight. I got the front motor mount tabs glued to the chassis and made some new motor mount brackets out of thinner plastic. Once the tabs that I glued to the chassis are fully cured I will go back and sand them down to make them fit the tubes a little better.Here are a couple pics. Sorry that they quality of pics aren't as good but I was kind of rushing since I need to head to bed.

 

Here is the front motor mount tabs glued to the chassis:

 

 

 

 

Side view of the tabs:

 

 

 

 

Some what of a side view of the new brackets:

 

 

 

 

Front view of the new brackets made from .020" thick plastic, which I still need to finish shaping the ends just a little. But after going back and using a thinner plastic, it looks much better in my opinion. I am still debating on possibly remaking these out of brass or aluminum:

 

Edited July 24, 2017 by Mooneyzs

[W-409]

Wow, those tabs look great. And that engine looks very good, actually it looks better without paint etc. than my completed engines! This build is simply amazing, can't wait to see more work.

[hansb57]

I've been following this thread from the beginning. The 1/16 Prudhomme FC was the first 1/16 kit I got my hand on in 1977 (??) in England.

It got me started on 1/16 scale models as they became available in Holland (where I live)

This is without any doubt one of the most enjoying 1/16 builts I followed.

Thank you very much, you are an inspiration as I still have some Revell kits on the workbench.

What a pleasure to read this.

[Mooneyzs]

Niko... thanks bud! I don't know about this engine looking better than your completed engine. I know you do some great work. Was hoping to get some more updates for you guys this week. I want to finish up these motor mount tabs as well as get a little more work done on the front axle's

Hans.... Thanks for following along since the beginning. Thank you for the kind words. I would love to see some of your 1/16th builds too. I have found that building these 1/16ths are a lot of fun to work on. This is actually my 3rd one I have built.(I remember doing one many years ago as a kid before I really got into the hobby and then my 1/16th FED which is posted on here, I had started that right before I went to college 14 years ago and now this Army Car) and I have many more to come down the road.

[Beavis]

out of this world, love it! the detail is just, speechless

[Mooneyzs]

Thanks Vince!

Well little update for everyone. I bieve I should be getting my rims and hubs from Jim today or tomorrow sice they were mailed out early this week. So i am stoked to be getting some of the rear end details buttoned up.

Then the next order of business is going to be making some changes on the chassis one again. I have talked with Mike aka. Magic Photos the past couple of nights and helped me clairify a few things and brought to my attention some things i over looked. I cant say enough great things about him for taking the time to go over this with me.

From our conversations he had me go back and look at some of my reference pics and i.had noticed that i had over looked a few things. I noticed that I.have that radius rods too long and will be shortening them as well as moving the tabs forward probably 1/4". I also started looking at the placement of the engine and Mike filled me in that Revell did a bad job when it came to placing the engine where they did. Well i spend a little time looking and placing the engine in the chassis and it looks like i will have to move the engine forward 1/2" which ends up being 8 scale inches. Which means that i will have to mod the chassis and change the anle of the top tube of the chassis around the driver area of the roll cage. As well as to sone of the support tubes. That also means i will have to make new tins for the chassis and add the bead rolls in them again.

I have a lot of work ahead of me but its something that i feel needs to be done to make it correct. And i know that i will be much happier in the long run with this build fixing this now. Again thanks for following along on this build and waiting patiently. Hoping to have some updaes for you soon.

Edited November 17, 2011 by Mooneyzs

[Prostreet]

Nice Job on the Brackets Chris, This build makes me want to do a 1/16th funny car or FED next.

[Mooneyzs]

Alright so a quick update. I received my Hubs and Rims that Jim redid for me and man did they turn out great. Jim another Big Thank You for getting these done for me. So excited to open my mailbox and they were in there. The only thing I am bummed about is my order from Micro Mark didn't get here. I am waiting on that package since it has my new tap for these hubs in it. last time I tapped the other hubs, the very last hole I rushed it and damaged the tap. Maybe it will get here tomorrow. Any way had to show you you a couple of pics from tonight:

Here are the new Hub and Rims packaged from Jim aka Micro Nitro: 

 

Here I had to take the hub and put it to the disk brake and set on the axle:

Here is the new position of the motor that I will be moving it to, along with making new motor mount tabs and having to reglue them as well as shorting my radius rods:

 

Here is an up-close pic of the distance I need to move it. It will be moved 1/2" forward which is 8 scale inches:

 

Edited July 25, 2017 by Mooneyzs

[highway]

Nice, can't wait to see more.

[gasser59]

Jim sure does some nice work. So by moving the engine forward, how does this affect how it mates up with the body features like the hole in the hood and the areas where the exhaust comes out. Will the blower hat sit right at the leading edge of the windscreen? What does this do to the fitting of your interior tins? Your also going to have a considerable amount of extra space ahead of the driver. How will this be utilized? The engine will also need to be raised in the front some since the top frame rail slopes down in the front. It just appears to me to be a big adjustment to move the engine that far forward.

Edited November 18, 2011 by gasser59

[comp1839]

i have a quick question for you chris. what will be the 1:1 distance from the center of the rear axle to the mid plate when you are done? thanks.

Edited November 18, 2011 by comp1839

[Mooneyzs]

Jim sure does some nice work. So by moving the engine forward, how does this affect how it mates up with the body features like the hole in the hood and the areas where the exhaust comes out. Will the blower hat sit right at the leading edge of the windscreen? What does this do to the fitting of your interior tins? Your also going to have a considerable amount of extra space ahead of the driver. How will this be utilized? The engine will also need to be raised in the front some since the top frame rail slopes down in the front. It just appears to me to be a big adjustment to move the engine that far forward.

Brad currently the way the Revell kit is, the engine actually sits to far back compared to the pics that i have of this car. The actuall car has the injector hat and injector fuel distribution block sitting outside just past the windshield. Where as in the kit it is sitting back in the dog house of the interior tin.

The interior tin will have to be adjusted quite a bt as well. It will need to be shorten up to match the fire wall (vertical secion) and the sides be lengthend. Also where the engine is sitting currently, the front of the headers lines up with the wondow pillar where as in the pics I have the rear of the headers lines up with the windshield pillar. When i went back and really stared looking at my reference pics of the Army car i staryed noticing details that I overlooked.

I will get some pics to show you the side view of the real car and will post a few of the model with the body in place to show the diference in locations. You are right that it is a big adjustment and lot of work to fix this. As as utilizing the area in front of the driver i was going to try and do a mock up of the steering wheel and steering shaft as well as the fire extinguisher to figire out the placement of it. Which probably means.that i will make adjustments to where the steering shaft box mounts to the chassis.