MD528

Mechanical designer 20+yrs (HVAC and piping systems) and mechanical engineering student for a second time around so I can actually finish! Never chased my automotive engineering dreams fully and now is the time, life is short. Performance engineering/tuning/fabrication is where I'd like to be someday, but until then model building keeps me in that dreamy state!

Hey Mike, welcome to the forum! Good to see you're local, I'm in Aurora! Like you, I used to build models all the time as a kid, in the past 15 years been trying to get back into it and get some stashed models completed but it's just so hard to find the time. Now at 44, it's still a challenge but I will soon figure out how to fit it in! I don't know any other local modelers yet but I'm sure there are plenty and the content on this site is very informative and absolutely top-notch!!! Again, welcome!!

Hey guys, I'm back! It's been a good while since my last post, I apologize to any and everyone who was following my post. With school and both jobs, my hobby table hasn't seen much action until a few weeks ago. There's been a little progress, mostly working on shaving the engine bay and the trunk area, getting the decklid, bumper, and tailight sections worked out. The more and more I work on these areas make me realize how much the body was messed up during all the transformations and/or storage periods. But I'll do my best to push on!! Had to cut the rear bumper in half and shorten a bit, it was sticking out from the rear quarters a bit. I also sanded off all the old primer and cleaned up the body a little bit. The arch in the bottom of the picture will become the new wheel arches. In previous builds, I was going with a larger wheel/tire combo and fender flares and enlarged them too much. In an effort to bring the arch radius back to original, these pieces will be added and flared tastefully. As for the engine, had a tough time using aluminum tube for the turbo piping, a lot of tight bends, the glue wouldn't hold past my handling, and marring the piping here and there during fabrication frustrated me too much and decided I need to just start making progress so I can get this car built! So, I used plastic tubing, a combo of 45's and 90's and straights, I came up with this. It's not equal length like I really wanted but it came out ok so far. Need to do some finish sanding and add weld marks but it should be ok I guess. You may notice the cam gears gone, decided to remake them. So much more work, one day at a time!!!! Thanks for watching!

Thanks for all the words of encouragement, I appreciate it! Progress has been slower than expected but here is a little more work done

Thanks for the comments! I was able to get a little more work done this weekend with the engine bay and frame. Didn't get a chance to throw the pics on the computer but I will try to get some posted tonight. No slicks up front on this one, that was the plan years ago however in the future I may build a drag hatch. The doors, thanks but I'm going to change them to swing them outwards as normal!

Well my friend, I managed to post my Civic. It's nowhere near your level yet, I have a long way to go, but you've provided inspiration for me to get it in gear! Nice to see another import fan:)

Some more pics, the B16... this is as it sits now but I have taken off the cam gears and attempting to make better ones. Thankfully I didn't destroy the engine bay and was able to reattach it. It's still in the process of being shaved, and I'm adding some frame, radiator support, and wheelwell work. The drag racing route.. Thanks to the awesome build from Jamiko and his Civic EK hatch, it's inspired me to stop slackin' and take the quality of this build up a notch or two!!!

Hey Modelers, I managed to successfully post pics again and thought I'd share my WIP. Some of you may have seen this about 6 months ago before I accidentally deleted everything, so I won't into a lengthy history again. Basically, I've been at this Civic for about 9 years, off and on, building it one way, taking a break, building it another way, break, etc. About 2 years ago I decided to try and dedicate more time to the hobby and get it done as I have a number of other kits waiting for some attention. The car started out mild, then unfortunately took a "Fast N Furious" style turn, which led to an import 1/4 mile drag build, when then led to it sitting in the box for about 4 years. Now I've challenged myself to resurrect the mess I've made into a JDM style clean build with a few custom touches. A challenge it is as I've made the front/rear suspension, and front sub-frame un-useable. But that's okay as it leaves room for aftermarket go-fast goodies! The first four pics are from the beginning to about 2 years ago. The past 4 or 5 months I've been able to begin the restoration back to stock, starting with the trunk area. I'm getting rid of the Altezza lights and putting the OEM's back in. Over the years I broke the part of the body below the rear window, so I had to replace that and began the trunk detailing.

It is crazy the "mess" that I made with my Civic over the years, I was recently contemplating buying a new coupe kit and starting over. The front and rear suspension is unsalvageable as is the front subframe/engine cradle so all of that will be scratchbuilt. I'm probably halfway with the shaved bay and was just starting work on the front-end chassis rails, framework, and wheel wells. It's a lot of work no doubt! And now that I destroyed the kit engine subframe, I plan on building Hasport or similar type engine mounnts with hopes that I can have it realistic enough and sitting in the proper location without a ton of cursing! I admire your patience working with your K swap! That's awesome! I will add some more pics to my computer of the tiny amount of work I've been able to do so far this year and try again to get a post going. So how far are you away from completion?

Lookin nice! Love the story as it matches mine too! I've been "working on" a detailed Si Coupe for about 8+ years, going from one interation to another and back again, seems to never get done! I thought about swapping in the K from the RSX kit that I also have, but decided to keep the b18 and slap a turbo on it. I had WIP pics up but with some of the forum changes, they're gone and I wasn't able to post again so I gave up. I'll have to try again soon. I'm really diggin your exhaust piping, came out really nice! Is it painted with Alcad or is it just aluminum tubing? I'm currently having a difficult time routing my alum. piping the way I want and keeping it one piece. I'm now fabbing up various elbows and straights with the welded together look to see if that comes out ok. You've done an outstanding job so far, gotta step my game up now!

Nice job on the hatch, I'm liking the rims and stance! I am in the process (8 yrs off and on) of building the Si Coupe and hope to get it done by the end of next year. I had the post in the workbench section but it's gone and I'm having problems posting photos. Keep up the good work!!

Simply awesome!

I also have an R8 on the bench with planned detailing that might be a touch over my head and I hope it turns out half as well as yours too! Excellent job on the paint!

Thanks for the welcome everyone, I'll definitely work on my commitment to getting these built, not only do I want some completed models to display but I have an Enzo, (2) 67 Vettes, a 69 Baldwin Motion Camaro, a Cobra, an RSX, and the Mustang that I can't wait to get my mitts on!

Awesome paintwork on the interior and exterior, job well done!!

Hello everyone, As promised in my new member intro, I'm posting a few pics of what I've been able to barely work on over the last few years. First up an 06 Mustang GT that I purchased about 4 years ago. So far I've opened the doors, started on a Cervini-style body kit, fabbed up a hood scoop, and got the engine main assembly done with a scratchbuilt supercharger. I haven't worked on this car in quite a while so it may sit on hold until I get my Civic and R8 completed. The next car that's been a complete mess since 05 is this Civic Si. It's gone through 4 or 5 iterations from a crazy custom to a pro import drag car back to a milder custom. It would be easier for me to purchase a new kit and use this one for parts but I guess I don't have enough challenges in my life! The plans now are to return this Si a little closer to stock with my own take on the JDM theme. I thought about swapping in the K-series engine from my Acura RSX kit but I'll keep the B16 in there with a turbo. The bay will be shaved and tucked, doors and trunk hinged, working suspension (minus steering), and fully plumbed/wired. The body will be worked a little, need further planning with that. Here are some pics of the mess over the years!!! I shaved the wheel arches in preparation of the body kit but now I wish I didn't. I plan to add them back, and they may be slightly bigger depending on the wheel/tire combo I go with, but nothing too crazy and no wild camber, not on this one! Lambo doors, ha ha !!!!!! The beginning of the rebuild, I found the front clip and added it back to the chassis. Also, began shaving and smoothing things out. The B16 years ago, it will be much better some time soon!!! And lastly the R8... the doors are opened, there will be working suspension, a twin-turbo setup similar to the Heffner Performance R8's, and I built the rear structure as close as possible against some cad drawings I found. I would like to build the front framing as well but the drawings I currently have don't show everything I need to see, so I'll keep digging for reference material. Haven't decided on exterior colors yet. Still needs some work.... The undercarriage pan had some pretty bad warpage going on that I couldn't straighten out so I went ahead and cut out the middle left and right sections, leaving just the center section connecting the front and rear. I fabbed up replacement panels but drilling all those holes for the rivets got old real quick! Sorry for the blurry pic but this was a fitment check of the frame structure making sure all the beam locations in relation to the body matched the cad drawings. So far so good. All primered up. Needs some fine tuning, next I will locate the suspension pick-up points. Well, that's about all that is worth showing just to give an idea of what I'm up to. I will break the Civic and R8 into their own WIPs in a few days when I can officially return to the workbench. I hope I can live up to the talent that's showcased in this forum!!!! Thanks for looking!

Thanks for the welcome everyone! I hope to have some pics posted within a day or two.

I am a mechanical designer (facilities HVAC and plumbing systems)at Lockheed Martin, South Denver. Been at it since 89 when I got my first drafting position. The dream is to own an automotive performance biz that designs and engineers parts/systems for diy'ers as well as offer complete builds. Maybe even hybrid performance?...

Hello All, I finally decided to join the forums as I've been looking around at the amazing work here for about a year now. I'm totally impressed with the models, the forum conduct, and wealth of knowledge and talent that's here. Not only do I wish to become a better builder but I hope that by becoming a member, it will force me to dedicate more time to the hobby. I've been building since the age of 7 or so, and yes most were glue bombs back then because I imagined I owned a custom garage and my models would "come in" for an engine swap, raised rear end complete with traction bars and the whole nine or fender flares and rear window louvers! Being a kid, I was too impatient to properly remove all glue before laying down another glob! Over the years, modeling became an on-again off-again type of affair, working 2 jobs, college, life, a son, the hobby would just have to take a back seat all too often. Although still busy with 2 jobs, college, I feel there's time somewhere during the week that I can get some cars built. I need to manage my time a little better I suppose! Also, the hobby serves as a slight distraction to the fact that I want a few 1:1 project cars to build but don't have the time, space or $$ to do so, especially when engagement, marriage, house, more kids are on the priority list. So, at 43 I will live my dreams through plastic for a little while! I hope to get some pics organized and posted soon so you guys can see what I have been working on over the last couple of years (very slowly I might add). On the bench currently is a Civic Si coupe that has seen too many iterations since I bought it in '04. It was originally going to be a mid-range custom, then I wanted it to be a pro-import drag car, and now it will just be a clean,performance coupe. Might be easier to buy a new one and start over, but I enjoy the challenge of undoing all the custom stuff. The other car on the bench is an Audi R8, this one has been in the works slowly for the last 2 years. I have the engine main assembly done and painted, the doors cut and door jambs at 50%. Also because I don't know when to quit, I fabbed the rear aluminum structure. I found some decent reference pics and decided I could do it but I'm not sure if I'll cut the hood of the car and build the aluminum structure up front. I plan to model the R8 after one of the Heffner twin-turbo R8's. Needless to say I have a ton of work in front of me, but I'll take it step by step and do my best! I look forward to meeting new friends!