GTmike400

Hey Gregg, thanks for posting the pictures. As usual it was great hospitality with you and the scenery at dinner! Thanks for all of the pictures. Hope your back feels better man! PS Spaten > Guinness

Are you building these engines? Because it is illegal to sell reproduced copies of kit parts. Just an FYI before get a letter from somebody's lawyers.

I eagerly await more progress. The Hot Wheels almost makes 1/24 look like 1/8!

I've finally had some time to focus on this project and start cutting open the the doors. I have also opened up the rear wheel wells. I had to open up the rear wheel wells before opening the rear doors to help with alignment. After opening the front door I began work on the door frame which is built out of styrene. Some brass rod was used to aid in strength, particularly the b-pillar. Window frame sills were also added around the upper door frame on the body. The rest of the door frame is currently separate from the body and the frame, but will be glued to the frame later. Also note that the exhaust cutouts havent been made in the door frame yet. I was curious to see what it looked like mocked up with a wheel and tire in the middle of progress. Note, I will not be using this wheel as it is too large, but the outer diameter of the tire is correct. Enjoy!

Dingo, no offense taken. It's a rather simple answer though. "Why not use the kit roll bar and improve it?" because that wouldn't be any fun!!

Thanks for the kind remarks! As some of you know I am a perfectionist, this can be seen in redoing the wheel arches. I removed the bead rolling and then I actually trimmed the wheel arches to make them a little smaller. I then resoldered everything and added some .020" rod to simulate the bead roll. It still didn't look right. I then removed the .020" rod, and then soldered some .015 rod which did the trick. I also went from three bead rolls to two. Here I've laid the original wheel arch with .032" bead rolls to the new wheel arch with .015" rod. I have also completed a majority of the work on the frame. All the brass work on the main part of the frame is done. I really need to start doing a lot of styrene work to fit the body to the frame before I can finish the front end mounting for the bumper and headlights. As you can see I've removed the hood using photoetch saws. The front portion of the body sits up on the wheel wells just resting on it. This will soon be taken care of by notching the fenders to get the body to sit flush with the frame to start the rest of the fabrication. Also note the markings for the new wheel arches. I really like this picture, it looks mean with those massive wheel arches. Enjoy.

Thanks for the tips Dirk! Just a quick update of tonight's progress. I've started working on the wheel wells. I used .015 brass strip for the wheel wells. I annealed some .032" Diameter rod to simulate bead rolling. You'll notice that the insides of the well are missing a giant square chunk. This will be filled styrene since it needs to have holes for the control arms and suspension components to poke through, styrene is just a lot easier to cut to that level of detail instead of brass. I do need your input though. I'm not sure if the bead rolling is out of scale. I keep think its too big because I know mathematically it is too big and I am extremely tempted to redo it. Here it is apart of the frame, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

I've spent some time designing the front suspension geometry, which I have of course overcomplicated. Instead of the standard vertical strut in the front I am going to build a double wishbone push-rod suspension typical of F1 and LMP cars. I spent a lot of time planning on paper and drawing in 3D SolidWorks before doing anything on the front. Now I need to machine 4 more of those control arm mounts. I have also done some extensive work on the cabin/rollcage area. The roof structure maybe be familiar to those of you into WRC. I have used some smaller diameter tubing for a lot of the secondary supports similar to the what I'd do on the 1:1 Cages I've built. I also started the floor pan using .015" Brass sheet. One thing that I've found quite amazing is I have used 13ft. (4meters) of brass tubing so far, and yes, it is 1/24 scale. Enjoy! Hey David, thanks for the kind remarks. I'm using a Bernz-o-Matic torch that works fabulously for the work I'm doing. Forget the soldering iron now! Can't wait until November!

I spent a lot of time today working on the rear end and started the roll cage. I'm approaching a bump in the road as I haven't figured out how I want to do the front suspension yet. (I suppose its time to look up some racecar reference!) The rear end is almost complete. I still need to build the wheel wells and add a few more tubes. The cabin area is just being started. Somebody had asked how I jig my parts up. Most stuff is held in place by fit, some of it is held by reverse action tweezers. This is a more complex jig setup to hold the control arm bulkheads. I used a 1/32" drill bit (solder doesn't stick to tool steel, drill bits are cheap, and I had one laying around) through both bulkheads to insure they were lined up correctly, then the tweezers are holding the bulkhead in place ready to be soldered. More pics of where the project currently stands. The body fits the chassis like a glove. Couldn't ask for a better fit. Thanks for looking, hope you enjoy!

Thanks Mark! We need to catch up sometime! I'm using a small butane pencil torch. Controlling the heat is difficult. The torch really helps over a regular iron because the heat is more focused and precise. Since the heat is more focused it doesn't take as much time to bring the area to be soldered up to temperature as a normal iron, therefore the heat doesn't seem to wick away to the other joints causing them to come lose. I've also tried to make as many joints as possible a snug fit so even if the joint begins to remelt it doesn't fall apart as the piece is held captive by a pressure fit. I'm sure the further I get along the more difficult it will become to keep joints together. Hope that helps!

I've been tinkering around with models again and I've had this kit sitting in the closet waiting to be built since the Southern NNL Nationals this past November. Finally decided to have a go at it. This is the first model I havent completely planned out ahead of time, sort of coming up with it as I go. The overall plan is for this to be one of those crazy Japanese time-attack/circuit racers that you see in the unlimited classes with completely redone suspension and drivetrains. I'm starting off with the tube chassis out of brass, the skeleton of it all. So lets get to the pictures. After building the main hoop I had to machine some control arm mounts for the rear. I'll be incorporating a double wishbone rear suspension similar to that in the LMP cars. Here you see one finished "bulkhead" and one thats been machined. I decided to use files to perfect the final shape. Several hours and lots of filing later... This is my first time ever doing any major soldering, let alone a tube chassis. My hat is off to those of you building brass chassis, or doing any brass work. This is frustrating! I started to build the floor framework. On the passenger side I made a raised tunnel for the exhaust. Here is the framework for the raised tunnel. I used angle brass to aid in securing the brass sheet. Enjoy!

Gregg, as usual, it was great seeing you again! Especially with the typical politically incorrect jokes!

I've said it once, I'll say it again. Absolutely amazing Dirk. I hope to build half as good as you some day. I was honored to see this model being finished up Friday night in the hotel room. What many of you can't see is all the detail under the body, the pics dont do it justice. He even has rubber grommits for the MSD box, which are completely covered up by the body! Its the little details you cant see that set Dirk apart from the rest. Congrats again on the Augie. You definitely deserved it! Thanks for sharing your knowledge with me as well.

Thanks for coming guys! It was great having all of you here!

Thanks, its actually a design of my own. Being a BMW enthusiast, a BMW powerplant will probably be the source to spin the wheels. I unfortunately have not had any time what so ever to work any further on this build as much I would like. Thanks for the interest. Maybe the race this weekend will kick up some inspiration for the project!

BMW E36 328is...with lots of goodies.

This is going to have to be a battle to the death. He and Mark are already having an affair. David said he loved me, so I'm a little upset that he went behind my back. Now Gregg wants him... Next, Bob D is going to want him...you know why Gregg? Because remember what kind of whistles he likes.

Try talking to Gregg in person or on the phone it's even worse...he uses all sorts of Hawaiianese words, followed by a moment of silence, and then "WHAT?", which is followed by laughter.

I built a 1/6 scale frame out of 4130 Chromoly years ago.

Leave it to Mark to be the model example of bad puns...

Why was Jairus so close to another man in one of those pics?

Thats my trademark!!!

Where do I start? About 6 weeks ago I started planning out an Le Mans Prototype. These cars have always interested me. I carefully studied the engineering and the ACO Rules for these cars so it would be built to spec. It will be powered by a BMW 6.0 V10, when I get around to building it at somepoint. Now Im sure somebody is asking what about the other scratch build, the street rod. It's on hold for awhile. Sometimes we just need a change of pace. I'll work on that one when I'm frustrated or bored with this one, and so on. Lets get to it shall we! First thing I built was a rear bulkhead for the engine to mount to. Since its key structural component I built it out of brass. Then I started off carefully designing the front suspension, and since it relies on the strength of the monocoque I built the front section out of brass. First I made a template. After carefully bending the piece, like you would photoetch, I soldered a square tube frame on the inside for more strength. And heres the monocoque thus far. As you can see the roll hoops were built out of brass. I have seperate pics of that somewhere around here. Enjoy!

So Gregg, tell us who really is building that model you're posting up.

Best thinner for acryl-lacquer in my book period.