Speedfreak

Here's what I've got after putting spacers under the rear springs, moved the front axle forward one leaf, and put spacers on all four wheels. I forgot to take pictures of the wheel spacers,........they're round Here's what I've got: (This is with the body sitting on it's own) Here's closer to what I want: (Front end raised by temporary means). Without making cuts, the only way I see at this point to effectively raise the front is to raise the front spring mounts (?). One last Picture: The front wheels are too far forward, so , I'm going to make a slot on the springs between the kit space, and , the first forward leaf. That only leaves the the front ride height, and , the huge amount of daylight coming through the wheel wells in the rear to deal with, no problem. right. Another glorious day in Model City.

So, did you paint the body outside? That looks like the right silver for this car. I love that silver The winshield looks good too Joe, snug fit.

Joe, Everything's cool man, I kind of thought you were talking to both me and Tim in that sentence, I'm just glad to have you both on board! Ya! I made some spacers for the rear wheels and the spring locations on the sub-frame; So I've got the rear wheels pushed 'out' and the rear portion of the sub-frame lowered a bit. Now I just have to see if what I thought would be about right for sizing on those pieces in fact is. I turned the spacers with my X-Acto lathe One of my cats deciding what to pull off next: I'll post pics of the rear fitment progress once I get done. I'm still contemplating what to do about the axle, I'm seeing a saw blade involved though. Edit 2/18/15: I woke up this morning thinking I'm just gonna do what Tim suggested for the front axle; Put spacers in to push the wheels out, and , move it up/forward on the springs to stretch/push the front wheels forward.

Tim, I'm glad you expounded on your ideas. It very clearly let's me know where I'm at with this. The last few projects I've started have been with the goal of improving my 'basic' skills, but , have strayed from that idea. The only reason it's happened to me on this car is the fact that it's an iconic original kit, (or, at least it was!) and , I've fallen victim to the " I need to make the greatest 'Hemi Hustler' ever! I think I'll stop that now and try and get back to basics and do the best job within reason that I can. Maybe I can live with almost horizontal shocks. I'm going in to dismantle the mock-up and chart a further course. Thanks very much for the input Tim (really) it has helped. Joe, get that paint job done and make sure that window/door is open!

Tim, how did you fix it? Like I said in the last post the only way I know to do it would be cutting it off on each side and adding an extension (3/32? maybe 2/32") piece of round stock pinned, scratch the pin, if it's that short and the right diameter shouldn't have any trouble lining it up right. The trickier part will be moving the front section of the frame forward, I was going to type right here, " but even that shouldn't be that difficult " What? I've never done that before! Still there would only be 'two' pieces to mold in, right? I just looked at the box art for 'The Funnier Farmer' Tempest, holy moly Batman! that track is really narrow! So, I guess I take everything apart and assess the situation, do some consulting.

Thanks Tim and Carl. Tim, I've thought about just glueing the axle forward, but , I also need to fix the distance between the wheel and the brake rotor. I'm using the wheels from the AMT AWB Mustang kit and you get more gap there with them. Man, if I were to use the wheels from Chezooom, or , HUG the wheels being too far inward would be even worse than it is. To correct that I'll need to cut off each end and add some extension, that's the only way I see at this point anyway. So, move the whole front of the frame forward about 3/32" and extend the track in the front on each side by about the same amount, or , just glue the axle forward on the springs. But, I'll still need to correct the width of the track to get the correct stance. I think it might be re-constructive surgery time, I'll have to think about that. What's funny is that the rear wheels are set too far back as well, but , you can't tell with the body on 'cause they line up with the wheel wells, thank you for that. They also need to be widened a bit, but , that will be easy. Here's the sought after stance:

The initial mock-up went well. Not too many issues, the frame goes inside the body without tooooo much trouble, pretty standard really. The ride height needs some tweeking, along with the widening and lengthening of the front axle/frame. I'm basing the stance (not what you see here) on the first Yeakel Plymouth Dealers car, which is the car this kit is 'really' based on. Bare bones: The front end: Waiting for assembly: The Profile: You can see the front axle is too short, also too narrow. Another profile shot: The rear quater: You can see a 'Turquiose' stripe that is naturally occuring (from the refraction/lighting) at the very top of the silver mid-section, that just may end up being the location and color for the pinstripe, hmmmmmmmmmmmm. Front quarter: You can really see plainly the wheel base problem, plus the front tires here (Polar Lights) are slightly too small. The Tamiya 'Maroon' drivers seat is going to work! From the rear: Well that's it for now, thanks for stopping in.

Joe, Where do the fumes from the paint booth go?

Thanks Vince, that's what I did too. It still looks funny to me though, the angle at which the shocks and front axle are. I'm looking at pictures of the 1965 (?) Yeakel Plymouth Dealers Barracuda that Tom McEwen drove, it had a straight front axle and not only is the axle in the center of the spring arc (not angled towards the front like this kits parts do) it appears to have shackles on the back end of the springs. For the set-up on the kit it looks like I'd have to put shackles on the front end of the springs to straighten it up without dropping it too low. I'll wait and see how everything looks when I do the mock-up, which is still moving forward. Thanks for posting Vince!

Looks great JC.

They still sound cool, I'd like to see them 1:1, I have a '66 Penske 'Vet kit that those might look good on.

Does anyone know which way these springs go? I can't tell from the directions which end goes towards the front of the car, and , I'm no expert on springs. Edit: Oh ya, When the springs are in place on the frame, the place on the springs where you're supposed to attach the axle is not directly under the front of the car, it's like the car would be 'pushing' the front axle angle. This can't be right? Here's a picture of the rollbar after I replaced the legs with styrene rod and pinned them, (kit parts were too short). It's in place on the frame now. I wasn't gonna call this an update, so , I'll call it a small update. I Should have a full mock-up, ( as close as I can get anyway) , in a day, or , so. Every time I've given flowers to a woman the relationship ended soon afterwards, happy Valentines day. Comments are welcome! Your support will be well recieved!

I like your version John, nice looking model.

Thanks Carl. I'm in the process of doing the first major mock-up, wish me luck!

It's really hard to tell from the picture of the Firestones, need a better picture.

Looks nice Clark!

Great project Ron, should be way cool!

Carl, thanks. I've been going through some rough spots here lately, I should be back on track in the next couple of days. And yes, I'm finalizing the roll bar now and after I get that done I'm doing some test fit stuff with that and the tub in place. Oh ya.

Wow Jc, you're crossing over into another realm on this one. Very good. Where did you get that oil filter?

Tom, these cars are looking great, the steering wheel on number one is the center piece of the interior, my eye can't get off how good/real that thing looks.

That looks like it could be a Ross Gibson engine it's so good. Nice job Tim!

I haven't seen those tires in anything recent, kit, or , parts-pak. In fact I've never seen them in anything 1/25-1/24 scale. Is what appears to be a thin white line around the outside side-wall really there, or , am I seeing a light refraction or something? Wow, if it is. They may not be accurate Trans-Am tires for this period (?) but they look like they could find homes in many other racing applications. I think they look awsome.

Nice looking machine, not as nice as the car though

JC, what color are you gonna paint the engine? If in fact you are, because that light blue in that one engine photo with the red carb throats etc,.... looks awsome. Looking great man!

Niko work on this one Niko! Keep it up! Niko work? What's that?