Muncie

cool chop - looks good! I would have looked at all those curved surfaces and said no way for me - but you made it look easy.

#11 blades for most utility work - count me in with a preference for the Excel brand. I like the U.S. made thing and X-acto seems to have gone downhill gradually over the last few years Excel are sharper and last longer. The Testors Model Master blades are the sharpest #11 that I've used but cost a bit more and are harder to find locally so I save them for fine work. I tried the scalpel blades and they are brutally sharp. I will probably get a better handle and spend some time practicing before I get to the next foil project. That's a good idea in the post above to use scalpel blades for trimming soft goods - I'm going to try it

For those looking for wedge dragster history and information, Phil Burgess at NHRA has a weekly blog and it's all archived. On the right side of the page in a archive index. Click on 2009 and go to April and May for the series on wedge dragsters. The index will take you the rest of the way. Also check out his series on ramp tucks in July to August - it's equally entertaining. Who will be the first to build a model of a wedge dragster on a ramp truck? http://www.nhra.com/blog/dragster-insider/

Looking forward to this one and the future variations - I have a couple of incomplete builders in the stack but it will be much better to start with the new kit with the new injector hat and tires - plus all of the parts... I worked at an auto parts warehouse with a guy that was crew for Steve McGee's dragster, they bought it from Kenny Goodell, The Action Man, iron hemi from my buddy's 1967 GTX - I never saw it race but heard about the weekends on Monday morning. They couldn't completely get rid of Goodell's purple color scheme, too many anodized and painted parts to change on the engine and chassis - McGee's cars were usually black - that's the story behind the black with purple flames on the Black Beauty (never heard them call it that...) The wedge deal didn't work for them so it was quickly dropped and the car was converted to a conventional rear engine dragster. Slixx had'/has the decals for the Kenny Goodell wedge - I can see a purple wedge dragster in my future Tim, thank you again for another great review

SC could be Sleeper Cab... but I like the idea that it's a typo and both the day cab single drive and sleeper cab dual drive parts are in the same box. Also curious about the significance of the "75th" in the kit name. It's about the right timing for Freightliner's 75th anniversary but I can't see Daimler Trucks allowing that on a kit with a competitor's name.

I don't have anything definitive on the Dyno Don car but I'm also going with Poppy Red, etc. Poppy Red has a lot of orange in it when you get close in person but it usually photographs and prints as red.

incredible work - this is amazing and keeps getting better is it possible to go all out on the FED chassis and print a box around it - something that ties into the chassis and can be trimmed away?

that's a cool set of pictures - thanks for posting them

Mike, I'm with you on that - paint or primer - a couple of light coats, let them get tacky and gradually apply wetter coats so the paint smooths out. Even with my favorite Plasti-Kote T-235 sandable gray primer and older kits plastic, I could get light crazing if the first coats were too wet. Plasti-Kote has a lot of texture so I want to try some Duplicolor primer-sealer but will take it slow. There are a couple of kits that will make donations to the learning experience.

for anybody considering this - so... drill falls out of the vise - it will happen because a hand drill is not made to go in a vise - it's still running and bouncing around on the floor... had it happen... try to catch drill, hit head on vise... wasn't worth it The rotating part catches the sharp end of the tool and pitches it at a fairly good speed - who knows where - hopefully away from the operator - and gravity still works so it's going to land someplace after it's hits a couple of things - unless it's sticking in something. Even with a lathe, something like a hand held file can hit one of the jaws on the chuck when it's turning and throw the pointy handle end back at whoever is holding it - always use a handle on a file... it won't hurt as much. Plenty of good resources mentioned above - Reconsider proper tools, learning how to use them, and proper safety procedures around sharp tools and moving parts

I don't mean to be too critical, but that sounds way too scary... A drill in a vise with a chisel - too much opportunity for an injury when things go badly. That is some experience speaking... It sounds like you have the basics of a wood shop lathe (minus a place to rest the tool) but are trying to do machine work which would be done on a metal lathe. Neither the vise holding the drill or holding the tools in your hand will offer the stability that you need to accomplish acceptable results. The chuck on metal lathe tightens down on the part the part and the cutting tool is securely fastened in the tool holder - so the machining can be controlled and nothing comes loose. First place to look is at some you tube videos on metal turning - everything should be available from miniature machining to stuff for battleships. Consider a community college course if that's available, or check in with a local machinist or hobbyist that can get things started.

good to know the differences - I'm OK with the MPC wheels but good to know there are other options available.

I wish they would... but that's a pretty small minority...

They are also in the new '79 TransAm

Oh yeah! nicely done! paint turned out great Love it, One of the big hitters in Northwest funny car racing in the 70's - ran just as good as it looked.

Tim, thanks for the tips on the roof - it looks good - I have to agree it captures the "look" correctly and that's what I would go for also. A C4 behind a flathead is perfectly acceptable - been around since the '80's when the flatheads started coming back- see Flat-O-Matic http://www.flat-o.com/carproducts/flatomatic.htm. They also have a kit for an S10 5-sped with a flathead. The finished model is in the way cool class for sure.

Round 2 is doing a great job on the reissues that I've seen, I like them and I'm not looking for a high level of detail when I buy one. It is unlikely that the kit manufacturers in the 60's expected the product to last 50 years - but it's good that they have. Would any new kit last that long? With the resources that the kit manufacturers have available, more reissues in the current style and a couple of new kits would be good for me.

Mark, This is way cool and I really enjoyed your WIP. I had forgotten about these big Monte Carlos in NASCAR and learned a lot from your build thread. These cars are huge! The local museum has one in Petty colors so you got me thinking...

agreed - definitely a must see - I left wishing I had two days instead of two hours... first time thru was more like a chance to find out what to see on the next trip. great pics, thanks for the photo tour

Gerry, that brought back a lot of memories - thank you for the good trip through the time machine - lot more cars than my last stop there - it is in an old Montana state prison and used to be the original Towe Ford Museum.

I also noticed, you had a good lead, but didn't Revell have more then one GTO out there... I seem to remember the Monogram '69 in a Revell box... but I also think the Rochester tri-power has been in several other recent Revell kits that escape me at the moment. anyway, back to the topic

The Rochester 2 barrels are in the tri-power set in several recent Revell kits - the best GM 2 barrel out there in a kit - the Merc comes to mind and the 1959 Chevrolet as noted above, possibly the 66 GTO? - Da - da duh - drama note - they seem to be missing the base plate on the bottom of the carb unless you count the raised area on the manifold... easy enough the fabricate the missing base plate, but be aware

Quote - I'm building the chanelled version of the kit. I was surprised when I went to attach the interior floor on to the chassis. I thought the floor would sit flush with the frame rails. They do not. The parts look correct, yet the floor pan sits just slightly above the flame rails. Test fitting everything in to the body she still looks correct. Is this the way it should be? Or did I goof up and glue in the wrong center frame member? I suspect I used the right one because how the two pieces come together in the rear mounts too. The molded in rear mounts also make it impossible to mount the floor pan flush with the frame rails. R Scott, Yes,, that's the way the kit builds with the floor spaced above the frame rails...to me, the interior also looks a little shallow because the floorpan is too high in the body in my project on the bench, I cut the tops off the ladder bar mounts on the transmission crossmember flush with the top of the frame so the floor pan would sit on the frame. I added a small square of sheet plastic to box in the top of the ladder bar mounts and give the ladder bars something to attach to. The same modification could be made on the rear mounts but I just enlarged the hole in the floorpan so it fit over the pins on the chassis. These are one way to do it and "don't look too close" Engineering fixes. Now I will add a strip of material to the bottom of the interior panels. Once everything is flush with the top of the frame, it opens up possibilities for other Model A bodies... In the real world, the floorpan sits on the top of the frame rails with a piece webbing or strips of leather to separate the fame and body for noise isolation. It gets trickier because the model A floorpan is flat and the top of a '32 frame has a slight curve. Several solutions - one, cut a wood spacer, flat on top, curved on the bottom tapering to zero thickness on the ends. two, use the '32 floorpan in the Model A body. three, Brookville (and probably others) make a fabricated '32 hot rod frame with a flat top for the model A floorpan - or you can get your Brookville body with a '32 floorpan already installed. Hope this helps, S/P

There is a sort on the left of the screen after you hit new content where the list of topics should be - click the filters you want and should be good to go. I've fumbled fingered and errantly changed the preferences - yeah, right in front of me but took a while to find it...just had to reset.

that's good news! - remember reading your articles and glad you are back