426-Hemi

So to carry on, I got the spindles in the front A frames, they're painted semi-gloss black to look a little different then the rest of the frame with the under coating treatment I did..... They are also "free-swiveling"..... So they can be positioned AFTER the wheels and tires are installed! Also, BOTH manifolds can be seen well here, one for the fuel supply and return line, that will connect to the mechanical fuel pump on the engine when its in place, that will be a hose. Then the master cylinder brake manifold that will be connected to the master cylinder, and the front brake lines through the frame rails. Because of the way I changed the engine type, and having the rear of the brake line in place, I HAD to do the rear most exhaust pipes. The mufflers are thee only stock kit parts for the exhaust, As I had to make the pipe work match in diameter of that I custom bent from Aluminum wire, as it was a bit different in diameter from the kit supplied exhaust pipe. I also made my own mounts to go right where the stock location was as well. Little bit better view, also seen here is the brake line "end" that will connect to the rear differential for the rear brakes! On its mount, and fittings to it, installed. I sat the frame a side as well with the engine to get into the rear differential so that it could go into place as I had to do as much "frame work" as I could as the engine itself, remember is different from that came with the kit, changing the drive shaft length, and so, I got the exhaust in place, to be able to add the rear axle to the frame as all that pipe work for the fuel lines, the rear brake lines as well as the exhaust ALL lead under the rear differential! SO, ALL of that had to be placed first, and the rear axle, last..... I did not get pictures of the rear while detailing it, BUT had a serious mishap with its assembly, the glue puddled up on one side of the axle, and basically melted it in such a way that I had to cut it off the rear pumpkin, and turn a new one from scrap plastic and replace it. Fit well looks the part, and is solid, as well as fits the stock wheel backs! It then got its treatment of details, brake line across with fittings, as well as once on the model the rear brake line was connected to the brake line on the axle. What a fun task that was (sarcasm)...... Stay tuned, More to come!

So, as I mentioned, I had to sit the engine aside for a bit, got to be a bit much on the hands but I wasn't willing to just "stop" either..... I began on the frame to the car! A little less intense, and a lot less stress on the hands to do the tiny things the engine was needing. Kinda setting it down to get more dexterity before I proceeded on the engine. Front suspension in place, and all painted, with a flat black paint job to look or represent undercoating, and a clear coat of Matte "Semi-Flat" to give it an even look and a little texture as the real undercoating would look. This "spray is done with a spray can. Now, let me tell ya, it was a trick in itself to hold a spray can, with a bad hand, and be able to spray, and I used my THUMB on my right hand to push the nozzle in, holding the can with the rest of my hand...... Interesting way of doing it, BUT It worked and the frame turned out well! I was a bit weary on doing it that way but it taught me a little of what you can do when things aren't what they should be and compromise..... Needless to say, it wasn't to bad doing the fuel lines, as you can see, they are simple bends in copper wire and painted Aluminum with a brush. BUT, that little valve body, for the supply and return line was a fun one to make with what I had to work with for hands! BUT, I fought through and did it! AND it looks good! Long view of the fuel line plumbing. Mounted pretty good too and look good! When I painted the frame before ANY of the plumbing was done, I painted the fuel tank as tho it was treated too. The old metal fuel tanks a lot of times were painted with a glossy black "Epoxy paint" to prevent road grime from rusting them up.... Which looked a bit different then the undercoating on the frame and floor pan! The fuel tank treatment took almost an entire night to do! REALLY! I had to work with tape to get it around the tank, and then burnish it down BEFORE cutting it around the take to get that clean sharp edge from one color of black to the other BUT also to prevent runs and bleed-under..... With my hands at the time, it was something, and gave me something to do, and I'm just the type if I'm gonna do it, might as well do it right the first time no matter what that might take...... -as frustrating as that might sound, I seen it through and the result is seen here! Now a closer shot of the fuel tank and treatment. I am gonna point out here a flaw............. The fuel lines...... where they both enter the tank, should have "fittings" little brass colored parts, kinda like spark plug boots, that I fought to try and do for 2 DAYS, I just could NOT get the danged things to go over the wire, without bending it badly, and had to just settle for the wire fuel line entering the tank and call it "good". Took a bit to swallow that but, I had too or the frame, well still wouldn't be done! Remember, this whole build for what you can see, was done with a partly working right hand, with only 2 working fingers! A thumb, and pointer finger! -So you might say, I was limited! I'm over it now..... We really are our own worst critics when it comes to our work! Notice the front suspension, the axle "spindles" are missing, I did NOT add them at this time! And you'll see why in a bit! Seen here in the picture there is a "white" block. thats the mount for the rear brake lines that are to come! This will be seen painted semi-gloss black, to look and stand out just a tad. Then you have the other side! I had to make the brake line that goes to the rear axle/differential. Much the same as the fuel lines, BUT a single line, one, and two, a bit different color of silver, and mounting ever-so-slightly different then the fuel lines! Brake line triple valve/manifold that is supplied brake fluid from the master cylinder that is almost directly above, on the firewall. More to come..... Stay tuned!

So a bit more to this build, as you all know, I went between this model assembly, build to machining out parts for molding in resin, one of them is the seen above air cleaner. This is the only known Roadrunner air cleaner, I have seen made to be used on the single 4 barrel carburetor. Among other parts I've made, in between times, BUT this engine you see thats going in this car, has taken about 1 and half weeks to get it together and about 2 weeks to get it to a somewhat of a standard from my own way of building things. So, with 2 weeks in, building this, I did let it set awhile in between times. Those times is when I did the machine work as well as see the doctors for my hands. ANYWAY after the last pictures were posted and you see whats been done, I seen the doctor to have the broken finger "pins" removed..... THIS opened up a whole new advantage for me. I BEGAN detailing again! SPARK PLUG WIRES on it, with my style distributor, but NOT "in-place" as to being cut to length, and tidied up to look as tho it was in a car, and have the wires placed naturally. I turned out a TON of distributors during those machine times I wasn't fighting to work on the model so I'll have a supply of them for when I'm back to full force modeling again. Just a bit better shot of the distributor! One side, showing how the wires look loosely "placed"..... I also painted the oil fill cap in the valve cover as well prior to adding the wires! Same thing, other side! A view showing the distributor "Drive stem" that mounts into the engine. This is an all one piece turning from scrap plastic........ I make all of them this way as it uses up a bit of scraps to keep the pile down to a minimum, BUT gives me parts to use as I build! A little extra/further detail......adding wire looms (Thanks to a friend, Dale, for the idea! I LOVE IT!) Starting to take shape for the "John's regular added details" and being able to do it without a lot of trouble..... The hands, having a broken finger on each hand, and have both of them have pins to hold the bones secure was a real issue, trying to do things, even the most common thing, modeling or everyday life was a challenge! BUT once the pins were removed, I gained a lot of control in dexterity, AND alleviated a bunch of pain I was in as the pins were creating pressure points that made things hurt and be sore. Once removed, that part of it was ended. That whole one "first" surgery, opened up a bit more being able to do detail work! A bit more, the single wire "up-in-the-air" is for the coil, ALWAYS the center wire, and ALWAYS the longest when I make my distributors..... Makes placement easier to do..... Stay tuned, More to come! I at the point this was, had to sit the motor down a bit, and do something a bit elsewhere as it got to be a little much on the engine, so I took and began the frame!

I got to ask, whered the valve covers on the Hemi come from? Those look REALLY good "finned"!!!!! Nice work on the engine too! GAWD that dash and gauage, as well as the body exterior the whole build looks GREAT!!!!!!!

-Better yet, DONE "playin" with explosives!!!! Better then just in my pockets..... As for being gone, yes, I got a bit of updating to do, you look I got the '68 Roadrunner posted, BUT got more to add to it yet. Plus, I got to look and see if there is a place for the bits and pieces I've machined out for molding purposes as well. YEAH, I KNOW, I got some catchin up to do!

I'll be watchin' I want to do something the same to a '70 Coronet..... Make it into a 2 door wagon, kinda a Mopar version of the Chevy Nomad..... The sides of the "wagon" area, just cut and fitted plastic sheet?

Dale I had to ask as I wasn't sure....... I got the kit, or one like it..... I just couldn't remember whats in mine as I said, I got it packed away to take away temptation to start another one...... LOL LOOKS GREAT tho! Nice job!

WOW what a job done to that Rambler! I can't believe thee sheer amount of paint on that puppy when ya got it! GREAT color choice on the re-paint..... GREAT looking over all too, nicely detailed exterior! What ya do for a engine?

WOW that blue is SOME DEEP..... Nicely done too love the body mods Dale, you did this one just, BUT I bet it was a bit "more" then you were expecting LOL to get into AND handle....... Motor is killer too! VERY impressive for large scale!

WELL.... you know I've been gone awhile. this one was just getting started..... AND I come back and BOOM it hits me like a ton-a-bricks! That cross-ram Hemi ought to motivate the roll back, and its cargo around the city pretty dang fast! And then a cross-ram on the loaded one too !???? NICE Work man!

NICE '69 Charger 500 made from an R/T!!!!!! AWESOME 426 under the hood too!

HOLY SMOKES Dale!!!!!! I've been gone WAAAAAY to long LOL NICE man! Thats some bright red you got goin' there!

So, as all can see, I had gotten the engine assembled, heads on, intake on, oil pan on, valve covers on, and then painted, with a lot of trouble but had to get something "going" that well, I wasn't all to too worried about ruining, and so forth. (I wasn't willing to RUIN anything I had already started) PLUS, having said that, the fact remained my hands were NOT the greatest, so starting yet one more model, well, this would allow me to heal building ALL of ONE model, not combining a model with prior work, with the lack possibly there-of the new work from mangled hands to show "differences" from one to the other, that could be well seen, between the 2 different possibilities. This will allow me to "work" not in fear of ruining, or seen differences from one to the other, as well as show my hands from not so good, to almost healed, in ONE model from my accident so its building a "history" into this one model. Once I'm able, to use my air brush, I plan to go back and finish the 2 trucks under my "Father & Son" build..... They will be DONE when I'm confident in my work and use of both my hands.... So..... Exhaust manifolds in place, and painted by brush. As well as Carburetor picked out, was chrome, dullcoted and also in place! I also went as far as to remove the kit part "oil filter" and replaced with one I had made some time ago, and also painted. Just the other side, and I went as far to paint the little mechanical fuel pump, silver! I also added a aluminum turning I made on the Unimat for a valve cover breather! Got a glue bomb starter, touched it up a bit and added it, simple painting of semi-gloss black, NO WIRES as I normally would have done! I wasn't going to try and press my luck doing/adding them, enough is enough at times when your not at 100%, and thats a hard pill I had to swallow...... BUT, shows a bit of what I am or was able to do when I was atthe worst part of this! THEN, it hit me...... REMEMBER this model was made to have the 426 Hemi in it!!!!! The issue with that is about to come, the 426 Hemi has two 4 barrel carburetors on it, and the 383 had a single 4 barrel carburetor on it. Problem here? I had to come up with something OTHER then kit supplied air cleaner! SO, went looking through my extra parts organizerfor a suitable air cleaner. Sadly, NOTHING I had looked the part to that found on a real Roadrunner engine with a single 4 barrel carburetor air cleaner! -to the Unimat I went..... Seen here turned, but unpainted! Was made from a slab of plexiglass I had laying around, and was EASY to get it into the lathe for turning! Seeing it, in real life to whats seen here is difficult to tell BUT, it has ALL the dimensions of a real one, angles and all as well as ridges to be painted up to look the part! And I'll add here, it sits quite nicely too, as the real ones sit on the carburetor kinda like a "top hat" and was a high sitting air cleaner (wasn't till '69 that they were lower sitting on the engine!) -For good reason tho, in '68 the power bulges on the hood were ornamental only. they really did not pull in fresh air from the top of the hood! In '69, they were operational and did just that with duct work UNDER the hood, to make them functional, and that required a lower stance to fit the duct-work to the underside of the hood! '70 brought along the "Air Grabber" hood scoop! ENJOY........ More to follow...... (I actually did get a ways on this model!)

I'm guilty as charged too. And I'm the one that had a fun time going through it all! LOL but yes, you'd be right we all take for granted when things work right.... And even now over 3 months later, I'm still not 100%!!!!! -Was a pretty bad accident to say the least!

So guys, as you all should know, I've been missing in action, due to a bad accident with fire works that I was in. Then had a bit of computer trouble to top it all off as well. Been rough, BUT, to give a bit of an idea, back in July (7-3-15) I was in a bad firework accident that mangled both my hands, took the tip of the pointer finger on my left hand, and blew up the palm on my right, cutting a tendon in my right-hands ring finger making it control-less (it still is as I'm under going intense physical therapy 3 times a week) to get passive movement on the knuckles as it was immobile for almost 3 months, due to healing wounds, and broken bones! Once the knuckles move freely, I'll then be able to have the first of 2 surgeries done to get the tendon working again. WELL, up to about a month ago, maybe a little longer ago, I just could not sustain any longer of doing absolutely nothing, Drove me crazy! (Its a short ride anyway but lets not push it! LOL) Now, I'm gonna get ahead of myself, as I been planning this the whole time while not online. BUT before my accident in July, back in June, I took my completed '57 Chrysler 300C to the local hobby shop for display, only to find they had an up coming model contest! So, I thought, why not? I entered it..... And let the car there on display. Granted, not thinking this accident was going to happen but, that '57 300C, was made to have 2 hoods, both different, one with the car on display, one at home hanging in the shop. So, then July 3rd happens, I'm in the hospital for a week..... A month passes, I finally get to be in the shop talkin with my wife (shes got a craft bench in the shop for us to spend time together) Even tho, I wasn't able to do anything, talking with her and looking at what I all had, was a mind set on how or what I was gonna do to the "mess" in the shop, or a model I may have had her to open up for me. WELL all the times I was in the shop, I kept seeing this "second hood" to my '57 300C.... And then thought over and over "John, you need to go to the hobby shop, John you need to go to the hobby shop" so about a month and a half passes AFTER my accident and I ask the wife to drive me to the hobby shop..... so she agrees to take me the following day! Remember, I was unable to drive from July 3rd till October 15th....... So, anyway, I get to the hobby shop, walk in, and the first thing, ALL employees there look up, and see me and say "HEY you WON!" Regular guy cashier looks at me right after that and goes, WHAT THE H**L HAPPEN man? I look at them and said, O----K, what I win and WHY? (I totally FORGOT about the model contest!) And they reminded me, and then began to say what all was what and so on, WELL, the judging for the contest, was on July 4th....... I was in the hospital! I then went on to explain what you all know, what and why I was in the shape I was in. WELL to continue on, there was 12 judges (was a bit bigger contest then I first had thought) that I got all "1st place" judgments on, which gave me a "Best of Show", as well as a 1st place. Win? 2 models one for each placement! I got a '69 Ford Shelby GT-500, AND a '96 Dodge Dodge Ram VTS Ram. The Ford well.... took a wild ride on the trade-in thought and mindset to bring home a '68 Plymouth Roadrunner, from the shop. Not a bad win I must say! SO, this '68 Roadrunner was gonna be the model, WHEN I was able to, be thee first model to be "tested" on to see what I was able to do when my hands were well enough to work on a model (YES I know, started yet another model John, thats all you needed to do! LOL) BUT all the rest, were already started, one. and two, I didn't want to ruin any of them I already had strong efforts invested into, and three, to show start to finish (if not close to being finished) what my mangled hands were able to do..... On a single model! Ruined, or not...... So like always, I started with the design of the car, what it was gonna have, what the engine was to be, type of transmission, etc. WELL the AMT '68 Roadrunner came with a 426 Hemi. Just. couldn't do it, wasn't feelin' a Hemi in this one! SO, being a Roadrunner, I went the "basic" approach, the 383..... 4 barrel "383 Roadrunner" engine, with a automatic 727 Torqueflite transmission (I went against ALL this model came with!) -Just because, I'm me, and can. I did the following, with 2 fingers only, on my right hand, pointer finger and thumb, Well one finger and one thumb I should have said. That was ALL I had for use on assembling the engine. My entire left hand was wrapped right up only having an exposed thumb on my left hand but wasn't usable for anything as it had massive wounds under it in the palm area, and pressure on the area where the pins were was dang near unbearable at the time. Now something to point out here, notice how the engine is being held? NORMALLY I didn't use my "3rd hand" tool, BUT having less then a full working hand, I made up the difference! I have several of these, and this is one time I'm glad I had all of them, that I do (My wife actually uses them for crafts WAY more then I do! Now the other part of reality is, to get the engine out of my storage containers, took a bit, and then to open up a small zip-lock baggie that held heads, a separate one to hold the valve covers, was then an interesting task..... I won't go into the not-so-graceful way I went about it, and then using a set of tweezers to pull out loose parts in an organizer was fun too, but thats how I got the intake out, and then had to sort through them to see what one best fit the engine, as well as pull it out to use in 2 halves..... I got that all sorted and out in ONE NIGHT (Nothing absolutely NOTHING went fast or easy!) BUT, then again, all I had was time, right? The following night, I went on to assemble the block halves, messing with a mini plastic clamp till I was ready to through that dang thing in the dump LOL BUT I didn't give up, as you can see..... YES I fooled around, and cursed things not done in prior history, BUT, I didn't give up, wasn't about too..... The oil pan, also came out of an organizer, as well as the timing chain cover/water pump. Needless to say, I spent the better part of 5 days to get this engine to where you see it here, maybe even longer! It once took me about a day to get a motor to this stage, but with my hands as they were..... Well, I'm not gonna kick myself over it any longer, I did it, and kept going. BUT part of the issue was trying to re-learn how to use/do things, with hands in the shape mine were. Sadly thats all behind me now, BUT, the one thing, that did not FAIL me at any given time, was my Unimat! I was able to use, control, set up, take down, re-adjust, you name it, with ease! I did A LOT of machining when I was hurting for the accident as it didn't phase me, when I was sore, it didn't make it worse, when my arms or fore arms were tired for over compensation. helped to give me something to do when the hands just hurt to bad to do anything but I wasn't tired to go to sleep, you name it, that one machine has been usable through this whole ordeal! -Needless to say, once I'm back at modeling fully, I got a bit of supply of parts, as well as some new things, to mold, as I made A LOT of parts not found or easy to get these days, from pictures online that I had before all this happened so I just sat down and went like a mad man on the machine when I couldn't stand doing anything else, but couldn't just not do anything...... Painting this motor, well that was an ungraceful thing too! LOL I broke a round bottle of custom mixed paint I made up to get this shade of Turquoise, for the Mopar engines of that color as its REAL close, if not dead on. Done before my hands got mangled, BUT in order to make this engine as it would have been in '68, I needed that bottle of paint open, AND it happened to have been put into a 1/2 ounce ROUND bottle.. the bottle I to this day, can't open! I literally sheered the top of the bottle off, as I tried gripping and turning the lid with a pair of vice grips in my 2 fingered right hand, as it was clamped in a bech mounted Pana-Vice..... Between the vice jaws and the vice-grip pliers, I made one hellofa mess LOL Needless to say, I got the engine painted, in all of it, BUT I had a mess to clean up at the same time, NOW however, that Mopar engine Turquoise is in a square Testors thinner bottle!!!!!!! One of the big ones, 1.75 Ounce bottles as I had quite a bit, mixed up. In the end, I only lost 1/4 ounce of paint. Still ouchin over that one, not that it hurt me, but the paint loss, hurts (Its a custom mix I did with paint I can no longer get!) About a week in on this model, I on-and-off worked on other things too, as I mentioned, made up a LOT of master copy parts for molding when I'm able. I to date still can not hold a container, that has "stuff" in it, and use the other hand to mix it by stirring, how mold making/pouring is done. When I'm able too tho, I got A LOT to make molds for...... (I want to post them, but I have to see if there is an area for it) IF there is, I'll post a link here to see what I machined out. More to follow! Stay tuned....

Thanks Gator! Yeah its time I get something going. Not on this build, tho, If I'm gonna "ruin" something I'd much rather it be something other then my Father & Son builkd so these 2 are on hold till I feel I'm able to do the fine work I was doing to start with on them (I'm still unable to run my air brush) BUT, I can run a spray can and brush paint so. as well as glue..... BUT these 2 trucks are kind of special to me in the way one was built after a truck I owned like the model, and the other was built after a truck my Dad owned both at the same time/era. SO its kinda tied in with the healing of the loss of my Dad last year...... SO, with that said, I have some catching up to do! Be sure to see/watch whats coming from me in the "car" area....... As I took a '68 Plymouth Roadrunner, built it, and got it ready for body paint, when I'm able, that helped me heal, and get A LOT of my hands (both of them) dexterity back.... It WAS seriously lacking for a bit!

Nicely done under the hood! Great looking model!

Dale, THAT looks SHARP in black........... Nice work man! -Also nice added Blower...... you have to add that to the kit or was it with it? (I got the kit, but have it packed away for a bit till I get other projects done BEFORE I go starting another one!) Didn't think that Willy's would look so good in black!

Can it be.... Tom? CC? -Bet you can't guess who I am LOL

On the way Tom!

-Interesting way to "use" the forms, took a bit to figure out to "click" on the "arrow" pointing at my user name!

Ira, Had to post...... Since my accident, I haven't been on much, slow going, healing, BUT, I seen you finished "Dodger"..... NICE work man! The whole build tho, creative, INTERESTING, and just calls out something "different"..... NICE job! -LOVE the coior!

Tom & Carl, Thanks guys, and yes attitude is half the battle. Still limited, modeling-wise, BUT I'm "working" at the bench..... Just can't sit around any longer. Skipp, That "silver" sadly is a custom mix of my own. I make it to be as close as I can to be bare cast-iron colored. Its basically Testors "Steel" #1180 OR Testors Model Masters #1780. Then mixed in Testors Gloss Black #1147 or Testors Model Masters #17038 Till you get the shade the shade I did. NOW I'm learning theres a actual shade by Testors under their "Metalizer" line. (I got a good supply of it an learning the shades of it for Auto use, as the Titanium #1404 is REALLY close the same color/shade, BUT it can be polished and needs "sealed" after polishing is done. I have noticed the sealer gives it a shine, which I'd have to dullcote over the sealer as bare cast-iron isn't real shiny. Thanks tho! I'll be back to these once I have a working/usable left-hand......

-ALL our "models" are inaccurate.........FIRST & foremost..... WE ALL model in plastic!!!!! MOST if not all the "things" we model, train, planes or automobiles, ARE/WERE some sort of METAL structure, with some "plastic" inter-twined for "shape" sake....... Among other things made from plastic, BUT most have more "metal" in them as a standard build medium. We as moders, its the other way around, THOSE made of metal (trains come to mind), brass for instance, cost an arm & a leg to own!!!! (I know, I have a few brass HO scale steamers!!!!) One of which prices out now at $1,000!!!!! SO yes, we will pay for "accuracy", BUT don't need, or want to "always" spend that kind of income, so plastic it is......

Tom, Well, the investigation on the fuse proved faulty, BUT because there is no USA "Chain" it goes back over-seas. Problem with that is our laws vary so much....That when purchased, MY signature upon delivery signed off the responsibility to me, ALL of them even in time of disaster, basically a waiver.... It was looked into 3 days after the fact. The whole investigation was handled by the local fire marshal department, my co-worker was relieved of duty as it was to close to home by law, his department handled it, including lawful responsibility. I have to be honest here, I'm just glad to be alive, what I withstood in the blast, well, had I been slightly turned from the position I was hit in by 4-5 inches, I wouldn't be here at all..... I went through the blast of 1 1/2 to 2 sticks of TNT. BECAUSE I was a "hire" the town is covering all my medical for it as well as meds (I was on some heavy pain meds in the beginning) ALL Dr. visits, everything pertaining to the injury, as well as all surgeries, bandages, even as much as Tylenol over the counter. -I am also getting weekly compensation as well, which isn't to bad. Needless to say, I'm 1/3rd through it, the hardest part I think is behind me now......